Isaiah chapter 33 this evening.
Let's just read verses 1 through 6. Isaiah 33. 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. And when thou shalt make an end
to deal treacherously, then they shall deal treacherously with
thee. O Lord, be gracious unto us. We have waited for thee. Be thou their arm every morning,
our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the
tumult the people fled, at the lifting up of thyself the nations
were 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. The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth
on high. He hath filled Zion with judgment
and righteousness. and wisdom and knowledge shall
be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The
fear of the Lord is his treasure. Let's pray together. Gracious Father, I pray as we
look into your word tonight that you would open our eyes and hearts,
Lord, our ears. Teach us of yourself. and we
see our Savior exalted as it's declared in the text that He
is and shall be. May we worship Him there as Isaiah
did of old and see Him high and lifted up and see His glory filling
all the heavens and the earth. Thank you for Him and how in your grace you've condescended
to take up the cause of worms like us You're our victorious
champion and defender. You've won the victory for us
over all of our enemies. And may we see that here, delight
in our Savior once again, in His precious name. Thank you. Verse 1, God declares that
all of His enemies, you notice these, they're described as those
that spoil though they weren't spoiled. They did so unprovoked. They did so shamefully and for no good reason. And God's enemies are our enemies.
Those whom God said he will spoil and deal with here. They're his enemies
and ours. And you notice that they get
what they deserve. They get exactly what they deserve. They shamelessly
spoiled the innocent, dealt treacherously with them. And so that's exactly
what's going to happen to them. Exactly. It's going to come right
back on them. You know, the world calls that
karma. You've heard that. What goes around comes around.
But a long time before that, heathen phrase was ever coined.
God called it reaping what you sow. I found that a lot of the idolatrous
and heathenistic sayings of this world were said better and first
by God. We come up with some ridiculous
version of them believe in all kinds of things, anything but
what God said. Reaping what you sow, because God's a God of strict
justice. You're going to get what you
deserve in a sense, aren't you? Our hope is that we deserve heaven. We deserve his favor, and that
happens by Christ. Now the wicked, they take the
good of this earth by force and treachery. That's what's happening. They deal treacherously. They
take what they want. They see things in this world
that they covet, and they take them by oppressing others, by
spoiling others. In other words, you're stealing.
That's what that's talking about. You're stealing it. And with
treacherous dealings. But God said his people are going
to inherit the earth. Doesn't look like that now, does
it? Doesn't much look like that now, but God is going to destroy
the wicked along with the earth that they've spoiled. He's going
to make a brand new one for us and just give it to us. Just
like he always has, he made paradise and then made me and put me in
it. That's what he's done for us spiritually. He said, I go
to prepare a place for you, and he did. Before I was ever born,
he prepared a place for me in paradise. That's pictured, of
course, by Adam, just being Adam and Eve, being dropped in the
most beautiful, perfect paradise that was prepared for them before
they were ever created. He's going to give us a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now specific earthly nations,
or maybe a certain one, it's debated in the commentaries who
specifically is referred to here. The that spoil us, who is that
specifically? Well, we know that's every man
by nature. We're a bunch of theathen, treacherous, crooked heathens
by nature, all of us. But it may be talking about specific
earthly nations at that time, or maybe just one. But as always,
the spiritual picture Here is that God, in and by Christ his
Son, in the person of Christ God, triumphs over all of our
mutual enemies, his and ours. They deal treacherously, they
hate him, they oppose him, they despise us for his sake, both
our physical and our spiritual enemies. He delivers us from
them, including our own selves. Never forget, when you talk about
your enemies, You are one of them. Always remember that. He's going to destroy everything
and everybody that's against me, including me. The me that
is contrary to the Spirit, to the new man. Got to go. Listen to this. Now think about
this. Think about all of our enemies.
Who's the first person you think of when you think about the enemy?
Who's the enemy? For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil. He's there in that verse one,
isn't he? He's a spoiler. He's a treacherous one. He's
our enemy. And notice in every one of these,
I'm gonna read you several verses of scripture, passages of scripture,
talking about our enemies and how he's gonna deal with them.
And notice that it's he personally that's gonna deal with them.
He took flesh and blood so that by his victorious death, he could
destroy our enemy, Satan. That's just simple, isn't it?
1 Corinthians 15, 54, so when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, And this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed up in victory." There's another enemy gone. Who
conquers death? He does. How? By dying. And then
living again. Galatians 1.4, Christ gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. He might save us from this wretched
world that we live in. Isn't that good? Aren't you glad
to be saved from this world? We already are, according to
the will of God and our Father. Paul, in chapter 7, I'll read
you a passage of scripture from Romans 7, because it's so long
and so much of it has to do with this, but you remember what Romans
7 deals with. Paul mourns his old sin nature.
Would we say we're our own enemy, aren't we? He confesses there
that because of his own sin nature, because of one of his me's, there's
two me's that Paul talks about in Romans 7, and one of those
me's can't honor God as he would, he won't let him honor God as
he would, but yet Paul asks and answers a question in chapter
7 of Romans verse 24 and 25 that pertains to our text. He says,
O wretched man that I am, who is going to save me from the
body of this death? Who is going to save me? Who
is going to deliver me? Who is going to destroy the me which must be destroyed before
I can ever see God? Who is going to destroy the me
that will not honor God as he ought to be honored? that causes
it to be so that I can't do what I want to do. And it forces me to do, and again
we're not making excuses now, it's me forcing me to do it.
So whose fault is it? Me. But which forces me to do
what I don't want to do. There is a me that don't want
it. And then he answers the question,
who's going to deliver me? I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. I'll be saved from myself. And
bless God, His own law now, in a sense, God's own law, in a
sense, is done away with. Oh, Chris, what are you saying?
I wouldn't say it if God didn't say it. In a sense, I said, His
own law is done away with, but only as it stands as a record
of my debt before God. Have you ever wondered about
this verse? Where did you get that from, Chris? Colossians 2.13, And you
being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, with Christ, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us. What's the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us? The law of God, the precepts
of God, the commandments of God. Which was contrary took us and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. He forgave us
all trespasses by blotting out that handwriting of ordinances
against us. So he does, even his own law is destroyed in a
sense, in this one sense, as it stands as a record of my sin
against God. Nails it to his cross, done away
with. I understand that God's law,
strictly speaking, is not ever blotted out. He's exalted His
word above all His name. His truth endures forever, but
only in the sense of the law as it is a record against us.
It's Exhibit A in the court of God's justice, isn't it? It stands
on the record as incriminating evidence against me. And in that
sense, it's taken away. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. Thank God He took it away. He nailed it to his
cross. What a picture that is. And so
God destroying all of my enemies is my deliverance. That's my
salvation. It's called salvation. God destroying
every enemy, including me. He got to kill you to save you,
didn't he? And what's beautiful now here in this text is God
is purposing our salvation from our enemies In verse one he said,
everybody that deals treacherously with me and with you, and everybody
that's spoiling you now, and robbing me of my glory, and that's
scriptural too, although we can't literally do that, but you understand
that, in the sense in which that means that, they're all going
to be done away with. They're going to be spoiled.
They're going to get what's coming to them. They're going to get
what they deserve. And so he purposes that in verse one, and
in verse two, here's us praying for him. God says, I'm gonna
destroy them all. And then what do we say in verse
two? Oh Lord, save me. Save me from being one of those
that you're describing in verse one. How's he gonna do that?
Be gracious to me. Be gracious to me. This is God's
way though. We pray, Lord deliver us from
them and before we even pray it, He's already spoken it. And
this is the God now that says, I've spoken it, I'm fixing to
do it. And He will have us pray for
it. This is a beautiful, you know where I'm probably going.
But listen to the beauty of this. I want you to turn there, and
I'll be brief tonight, but look at Exodus 36. Exodus 36 36, I want you to look
at this passage of scripture because this is so beautiful God's purposes he said, you know
verse one of our chapter is so certain in it. It's just it's
gonna happen if you're if you're one that deals treacherously
and and You're a thief before God. You're going to be dealt
with. Look at his same language in
Exodus 36, 36. Then the heathen that are left
round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places and plant that that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken
it and I will do it. He's going to destroy all of
these heathen round about him. He's going to build up his people.
He's going to prosper his people. I've spoken it and I'm fixing
to do it. And thus saith the Lord God,
verse 37, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel to do it. You see that? He said, I'm going
to do it. I tell you what else is going to happen. You're going
to beg me to do it. Isn't that beautiful? When God's
going to do something for you, he's going to cause you now.
Now we know there's exceptions to this. He grants us things
that we're too stupid to ask for. But we're talking about
the big stuff now. The big stuff. You're going to
ask him for it. He's going to make it happen.
And he's also going to make happen you coming to him for it and
saying, Lord, make it happen. What a wonderful God. He said,
I'm going to be inquired of to do it. I will preach you with
men like a flock. You're going to ask me to do it, and I'm going
to do it. I've already spoken it, and I'm going to do it, and
you're going to ask me. That's what's happening in our
day. God doesn't do business the way we do. Aren't you glad?
Aren't you glad of that? God does business as one who
does as he pleases, as one who knows all things. And as one
who does all things well. That's the way God does business.
Because that's who He is. So we pray. We pray to Him. Who
else are we going to pray to? In His purpose and providence
we pray. And by His precept we pray. He's
commanded us to, hasn't He? What a gracious commandment that
is. He commands us, ask me so I can give it to you. You don't
have what you need because you haven't asked before. Now ask
me. And in expectation of His glorious
promises, we pray. And we pray this way, O Lord,
be gracious unto us. True prayer acknowledges that
anything we receive from God, anything but hell, is because
of His grace. We receive it from pure grace
of God. It's an acknowledgment of sin,
isn't it? To say, be gracious to me. It's an acknowledgment
of sin because it's because of our sin that we deserve nothing
good from Him. We can't pray, Lord, give me
what's coming to me because what's coming to us is wrath. Why? Because I'm a wretched sinner.
I deserve His wrath. So Lord, be gracious to me. We deserve nothing good. We need
grace. Sinners need grace. We don't want what's coming to
us. Do you? We want grace. 2 Timothy 1-9, who hath saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Well, Chris, if he gave it to
us before the world began, why do we have to pray for it? We
don't have to pray for it. Oh, yes. Yeah, that's God's way. If He's
given it to you in Christ, He's given you His grace in Christ
before the world began. One of these days, if you hadn't
already, you're going to beg Him for grace in Christ. Lord, be propitious unto me on
the mercy. That's what the public can pray.
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He's standing at the mercy seat
when he said that. Be propitious. Receive the sin
offering at my hand. The one offering for sin that
you'll accept. Your lamb, your son, his precious
blood. It's an acknowledgement of our
dependence upon him. Be gracious unto us. We're waiting
on you. You see that next phrase? We're
waiting on you. Why are we waiting on God? Because
we depend on Him. We're looking to Him. We're stretching
up to Him. We're waiting for Him as a baby bird waits for
its mother to come by with a word. So it's an acknowledgement of
our dependence upon Him. It's an acknowledgement of our
inability. We wait on Him because what else are we going to do? Why are you waiting on God, Chris?
What else am I going to do? I can't do anything about it
myself. Nobody else can help me but Him. I think I'll just
wait right here. How about you? I can't do anything. To whom
shall we go? Let's decide something. No! That's the last thing you
want to do. Let's wait on God. Let's have
a revival. Let's plan a revival, you know,
and have a... No, let's wait on God. I pray
God that God would grant us revival. I think the church should be
praying for revival. But that comes from Him. We can't
plan that. We can't have that next week.
We're going to wait on Him. That's what we've got to do now.
You can do a rain dance if you want to, but it's going to rain.
If you dance long enough, you know, it'll probably rain while
you're dancing. And you'll say, oh look, the rain dance worked.
But you know when it's going to rain? When God sends it. That's
what it's called. It's an acknowledgment of our
inability. It's an acknowledgment of His ability. We're waiting
on Him because if He will, He can. That's why I'm waiting on
Him. No matter what it is, He can.
He can. He is able. This is everybody's favorite.
You've got a list of favorite scriptures. This is probably
on it. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think. He's able. Ephesians 3.20. It's an expression of confidence
in His power, isn't it, to wait on Him. And being fully persuaded
that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. I'm talking about Abraham. Abraham believed God. When God
said he could do it, Abraham believed that sure enough he
could do it. It's an expression of faith. We wait on him because
we believe his promises. We're waiting on his promises
to become reality because I believe them. It's faith. Paul said on that ship, the sinking
ship, He said in Acts 27, 25, Wherefore, sir, be of good cheer,
for I believe, God, that it shall be even as it was told me. It's an expression of resignation
to His will. Faith is not believing that God's
going to do what you want Him to do. Faith is believing that God will
do what He said He'd do. If he hadn't told you what he'll
do, then what you need to do is just be happy with whatever
he does. That's what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said. Listen
to it now, Daniel 3.17. If it be so, if this is the way
it is, Nebuchadnezzar, you said that if we don't bow down to
your God, we have to go in the fiery furnace. If that's the
way it is, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine
hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up. He can deliver us. And he will
deliver us one way or the other. Even if we burn up in there,
we'll be free of you. But if he doesn't deliver us
from the furnace, We're still not going to bow down to your
God. We're going to worship Him. You see that? That's waiting
on Him. That's sure enough waiting on
Him. Resignation to His will, whatever it is. And the third thing we see about
true prayer in this verse. It acknowledges that anything
we receive from God is pure grace. It's waiting on Him for all these
reasons and many more. And it's thirdly this. True prayer
sees that God is Himself. The one who prays truly sees
that God Himself is our strength and our salvation. You see that
in verse 2? Be gracious unto us, Lord. We've
waited for You. Be Thou, there are. Who? Your peoples. Be thou their arm
every morning. Our salvation also. You be our
arm. You be our salvation. And then
we sure know that the arm is strength and arm represents strength. Be our strength. And you yourself
be our salvation and we be plumb saved in. Our trust is in Him, not in points,
not in stances that we take, not in creeds and statements. Christ is our salvation. He doesn't just provide it or
send it. He is it. Christ is the door. He said,
I am. You remember what he said to the Jews, if you believe not
that I am, you're perishing your sins. And
he told them in that same context, he said, you're going to perish
in your sins. Because if you believe not that I am, you're
going to perish. That's why I said to you, you're fixing to perish
in your sins. Because you believe not that
I am. And you know what they said? Who are you? How many times
had he said, I am, I am the door, I am the way, I am the life,
I am that bread. He said, I'm the same one I've
been telling you from the start that I am. I am. From the beginning. What did Moses, Moses said the
same thing. Who shall I tell him you are? I am. He's been
saying that how long, how many times has he said that? I believe my brother will rise
again in the resurrection. I am the resurrection, Martha. I am. Who do you trust in? What do
you trust in? Now the time of trouble, he said
salvation in the time of trouble. The time of trouble is when we
see that we need to be saved and what we need to be saved
from. Because we're crying out for salvation in the time of
trouble. That's just another way of saying
Lord save us when we need to be saved. And when we need to
be saved is when we see what we are. Why we need to be saved. And here's the thing, we need
to be saved. We don't need a helping hand. We don't need a leg up.
We don't need a chance. We need to be saved. That's what
he said, be our salvation. We don't need somebody to meet
us halfway. We need to be saved. We are lepers in need of cleansing
from an incurable and horrible disease. We need to be clean. Lepers just
have one need, don't they? One desire. To be clean. We're bleeding out in the ditch
and we need the Good Samaritan to come where we are. And do everything for us. Sinners when they pray They also
remember how that God always has been our Savior That's what
verses three and four about We know that God we know what God
can do don't we because we've seen him do it? Verses three
and four At the noise of God just makes a noise and everybody
it scatters And that noise of the tumult
there, that's translated by many this way. At the voice of the
angel, the people fled. At the voice
of God's messenger, the messenger of the coven. You know the word
angel means messenger. And Christ is the messenger of
the coven. At his voice, the people fled.
At the lifting up of thyself, The nations were scattered. Now notice those two things. By faith, we know that if Christ
but speaks the word, if he just speaks the word, it's done. He
said he's gonna scatter our enemies. He's gonna cause what our enemies
deserve to come down on their head. How does he do it? Just
says it. Just speaks it. How are we going to be cleansed?
Just speak the word, Lord. Just say it. At the voice of the angel, I
don't know Hebrew, and I don't know if that's accurate or not,
but I know this. I know that all Christ has to do is say the
word. And our problem, whatever it
is, goes away. He says, thy sins be forgiven
thee, and they're gone. He says, peace be still, and
he is obeyed. He says, let there be light,
and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in
the sinner's heart at the voice of the angel. And when he's lifted
up, when he lifts himself up, He says in John 12, 32, and I,
if I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all unto me. It says
all men unto me, but that word men is in italics. He's going
to draw every one of them to him, all of his sheep, all of
his elect, all of his people. I'll draw all when he's lifted
up. And our text says, at the lifting
up of thyself, We know that he's the one that
did that he lifted himself up on the cross And draws all unto
himself by the accomplishment of redemption He draws his elect
to himself and scatters everybody else Verse four when the enemy is
scattered If victory is accomplished, there are spoils of that victory.
Now this is a picture that everybody knew what this had to do with
back then. He speaks our language, doesn't he? God condescends to
speak our language. They knew what this was about.
When there's a victory in battle, there are benefits from that.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ won the victory for us, the spoils
are great. Paul described them this way,
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That's what we get because
he won the victory for us. And these comparisons here to
caterpillars and grasshoppers, your spoils shall be gathered
like the gathering of the caterpillar as the running to and fro of
locusts shall he run upon them. That's the ease with which he
spoils them. And we, the spoils are gathered
like a plague of locusts come through and eat everything in
sight. Christ's victory over our enemies is complete and total. And he just gives us the victory.
It's ours to take. We just pick up the spoils. We receive the spoils because
of what he accomplished. And there's one certain result
of all of this. There are many. But here's an
important one, the purpose and sure result of all of this, the
salvation of God's elect, the destruction of our enemies, and
thus our salvation, Lord be our salvation. And when he is and
because he is, what's going to happen? He's exalted. The exaltation of Jesus Christ,
verse five, the Lord is exalted for he dwelleth on high. He is
filled with judgment and righteousness. That's a reference to his redemption
at Calvary also. When did the Lord bring in everlasting
righteousness for his people at Calvary? When did the judgment
of God, when was the judgment of God satisfied and fulfilled
for his people in his kingdom at Calvary? And here's why. Colossians 118,
he Christ is the head of the body of the church. The church,
by the way, which he purchased with his own blood, Acts 20,
28, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things, he might have the preeminence. You see why
John said he must increase. Because of all that he is and
all that he does, because of what he's doing right now, because
of who he is, he's God's lamb. Because of what he's going to
accomplish, that taketh away the sins of the world, he must
increase. And I'll take my place in the
dust at his feet. He's exalted for a purpose, isn't
he? We see that in the Word of God. He's exalted to save. He said in John 17 to, you've
given me power, Father, over all flesh, that I should give
eternal life to as many as you've given me. This is why he's exalted
in this earth, to give life to the sheep of God. And being exalted,
he's filled his kingdom with judgment and righteousness. He's
fully satisfied the justice and judgment of God by bearing the
judgment of God against us and brought in everlasting righteousness
for his elect. And he's filled, he's filled
it. You see that? He's filled Zion. His kingdom. There's no room for anything
else in His kingdom, but His judgment, His calling the shots,
His sovereign reign, and His righteousness. And that kind
of sound, you know, that's why we pray, Thy kingdom come, because
His kingdom is full of judgment and righteousness. Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth, just like it is up there in heaven.
And in verse 6, finally, Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability
of thy times. Wisdom and knowledge and the
strength of salvation. Wisdom, knowledge, and strength. Now think about this. Wisdom and power. Wisdom, knowledge, and strength. unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. So that's referring to him, of
course, there in Isaiah 33, chapter 33, verse 6. Wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of thy times. What is that wisdom and
knowledge? Christ is the wisdom and power
of God, and strength of God, the right arm of God. He sits at the right hand of
the majesty on high. That signifies power. All authority,
he said, is given unto me in heaven and earth. And it is. And that's the stability of his
kingdom and his times. That's an interesting way to
put it. The word there is stability. It's the faithfulness or the
trustee. It means trustee. The trustiness
of his times. You know, we say, it's common
for us to say, boy, the times that we live in, we live in troubled
times. That's true in an earthly sense,
but you know, we're also living in his times. This is his time. We think about the kingdom of
this world, and we, yeah, sure enough, there's troubled times,
but when you start thinking about his kingdom, he is the stability of his times. I live in pretty good times.
if we are in His times. Because, you see, if we're in
His times, if we're in His kingdom, and He makes all things beautiful
in His time, and Christ is the beauty of His time, He's the
stability, the faithfulness, the trustiness. I can trust Him
in His time. All my times even in this world,
or in his hand. And he's the strength of salvation.
You see that? And strength of salvation. Christ is the strength of salvation. How do I know I'm saved? Why
can't I take it to the bank that being saved is all that That
the scripture talks about being secure and safe, though the worlds
may crumble. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against us. What's my confidence regarding
salvation? The one who saved me. If it's
he, who is he that condemneth? How do I know that there's not
a crack somewhere in my defense? It is Christ that died. He's
the strength of salvation. You see that? The Lord is my
light, David wrote, and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Romans 5, 6, For when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ That's strength and that's power. His death is a powerful. He won
the victory over every enemy as verse one refers to by the
power of his death. It's a victory accomplished when
I was without strength. He did everything. When I couldn't
do anything, he accomplished his sin atoning death for me. For the ungodly. You see how
that the The tenor of that passage, that verse there, when we were
yet without strength, he did something. When I couldn't do
anything, he did something. What did he do? He died for the
ungodly, that's what. He's the strength of my salvation. The fear of the Lord, that last
phrase there, we'll close with it. The fear of the Lord is his
treasure. Well, that makes you think, doesn't
it? What is the treasure? What is valuable to you? What
is... Well, I'll tell you what God's
treasure is. If God gives you something of any value, you know
what He's going to give you? It starts with reverencing Him. I didn't make that up. Think
about this with me. The fear of the Lord is His treasure. If God gives you reverence for
himself, in other words, you believe that he's who he says
he is, you believe him, you have great treasure that few will
ever possess. And listen to the way Solomon
described it. Solomon said the fear of the
Lord, and that's what our text is talking about, the fear of
the Lord is his treasure. He said the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of something else. It's the beginning of what? Wisdom. What does that mean, the beginning
of wisdom? Well, that word beginning there,
it means the first thing. The first thing regarding wisdom
is what? Reverence God. Fear God. The beginning of wisdom. And here's what he said about
wisdom. Proverbs 4, 7. Wisdom is the
principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. Now remember,
this is the man whom God gave more wisdom than he ever gave
to any other man. And he says, you better get some
of it. You better get some of this now. This is what you want. This is the principle thing. God said, what can I give you?
God, the word treasure is storehouse in this verse, by the way, the
store, God's storehouse is what? The fear of God. That's where
it starts. And that's basically what he
said to Solomon, wasn't it? He said, Solomon, ask me. Here's
my storehouse. What do you want out of it? Isn't
that what he said to him? And you know what he said? Lord,
give me wisdom. I please the Lord. And Solomon
said, the first thing, when you first have wisdom from God, the
first thing is you're going to fear him. You're going to reverence
him. It's going to matter to you what he says. You're going
to pay attention to him. You're going to worship him.
You're gonna honor him. That's where it starts. And wisdom
is the principal thing. With all of your getting, here
I'm continuing in verse 7 of Proverbs 4. Get wisdom and with
all of your getting, get it. With all of your getting. Proverbs
3, 13. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise
of it is better than the merchandise of silver. What is it? It's the
treasure of the Lord. If God opens His storehouse to
you, you're going to know Him. You're going to tremble before
Him. You're going to love Him. You're going to be in awe of
Him. It's better than silver, the
gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies,
and all the things that thou canst desire are not even to
be compared unto her. Wisdom. You see that? And the
first thing, the principal thing with wisdom is reverence for
God. So you see what he's saying here?
Isaiah says, fear in God, that's the treasure of God. If you reverence
God, God has opened the storehouse and bestowed his favor upon you. That'll help me sleep tonight
because I believe I know him. I think I know him. He's been
gracious to me. He's revealed his son to me.
I see how God can be just and justify me. To fear God is to know Christ. How are you
going to know Christ? How are you going to know God?
No man hath seen God at any time. Well, how do we know that? The
only begotten hath revealed him. You remember the first thing that thief on
the cross You know he's hanging there with
that other thief and he's railing on the Lord just like the other
one is. It says that clearly in the scriptures that he mocked
him. And then we know from the account of the Word
of God regarding him that at some point while he was hanging
there he realized who that was on that cross. Hanging next to
him. He realized who that was. Clearly. And you remember the first thing
he said? Don't you fear God. To fear God is to know his son.
When you know who that is you're dealing with, when you know who
it is that hung on that cross, you're going to fear him. You're
going to fear God. And it's going to be a marvel to you. You'll
see people mocking God and Counting the things of God is trivial
and pursuing the things of this world as though they were actually
important and the things that really are important, what God
said doesn't matter to anybody and you know what you're going
to think? Don't you fear God? Don't you fear God? Don't you
care that God has spoken? Don't you care that everything
you do is counter and contrary to everything he said? Don't you care? That he said
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified and there
you are working your way to heaven? Doesn't that matter to you? Don't
you care that he said you search the scriptures because in them
you think you have life, but you won't come to me. The only
way a sinner can have life is to come to me and you will not
come to me. Though all of the word of God
says come to me. Doesn't that matter? Doesn't
it matter that your preacher doesn't tell you the truth? Don't
you fear God? Paul said in Philippians chapter
3 that everything else, and you think about this, because
the most important things to us are our things. It's really
kind of easy to say, well, this world is worthless. But what
about me? Paul said everything about me
is done except this I've got to have him I Want to know him I want to
apprehend him I'm pressing I'm running for him I'm running toward
him May God give us grace may he give it away. He opened the
storehouse of his grace and be himself our salvation and and
cause us to see him as such. Thine eyes have seen thy salvation,
for I have seen him. By the grace of God, I have seen
him. May that be true of all of us. Let's pray together.