Isaiah 210, enter into the rock
and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the
glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall
be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the
Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon
every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains,
and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high
tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships
of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures, and the loftiness of
man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall
be made low, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the
holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of
the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he arises to
shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast
his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made each
one for himself to worship to the moles and to the bats. to
go into the cliffs of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged
rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty
when he arises to shake terribly the earth cease ye from man whose
breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted
of Isaiah Isaiah said to the Lord now In
verse nine, forgive them not. Forgive them not. Speaking of
the reprobate, who are described here in the text as rank idolaters,
he says to the Lord, forgive them not. And Isaiah's not telling
the Lord what to do. He's simply agreeing with the
judgment of God upon them that had been revealed to him by God.
God had showed him what he was going to do, and Isaiah's just
agreeing with that. But notice the two statements
and who they're directed to in verses 9 and verse 10 there. Forgive them not. Speaking to
God. Forgive them not. Acknowledging
that God, He has mercy on whom He will. And He withholds mercy
from whom He will. And these idolaters who are despisers
of God, they're religious and yet they're Heartless Man-centered
religion defied the very God of heaven He says to God forgive
them not and into sinners. He says this get in the rock
You see how those two go together? Enter into the rock and hide
in the dust If God is going to deal with man in his wrath, and
he will I All sin will be punished. It must be. God can't be God
unless he punishes sin. And he's gonna deal with man
now in justice. And Isaiah's saying now to you,
to me, you're gonna wanna be in the rock. It's as though he's foreseeing
here that God's about to blow this whole thing up. And he's
saying, you better get in the rock. You better get in now.
In Hebrews 10.31, Paul said, it's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. And that's what Isaiah is
impressing upon whoever's willing to read and hear and listen to
this exhortation. It's a two-fold instruction describing
one act. There's one thing you need to
do one command One gospel directive if you will there are two aspects
to it Get to Christ get to the rock But not just to him In him Had in him We must be found
in him Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3, that I might
be found in Him. What does that mean, Paul? Not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
righteousness which is through the faithfulness of Christ. That's
what it means to be in Him. To not stand before God in your
own merits, in your own works, by your own will. To not stand
before God any other way except in Christ. That which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now what does it mean to be found
in Christ? What he said. It means not having
your own righteousness. Abandoning it. Jettisoning it. Rejecting your own righteousness.
It means renouncing my own so-called righteousness and trusting in
him as my righteousness. Taking Christ. Being found in
him. as my representative, as my substitute,
as my righteousness, as my sin offering, and trusting Him as
such, knowing that He's worthy to be that, and that He is sufficient
in that role. It's to be immersed in Him as
my representative, as my righteousness, my redemption, my wisdom, all
that Christ is to the sinner. And the second thing tells us
how you get in Christ, in our experience now. The way you get
in Christ is for God to put you in Him from eternity. But when
it comes down to your experience, how are you gonna get in Him?
Well, let me establish this first of all. The way we are in Christ
is of God. Of Him, of God, are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1.30. But in our experience,
we enter by faith. And faith, when God gives it
to the sinner, it causes several things. But really, the one mentioned
here, I think, is primary. Hiding the dust. What's Isaiah
talking about there? What would you say that has to
do with? Hiding the dust. You remember what Job said in
Job 42, let me read it to you. Job said to God, I've heard of
you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I abhor myself and repent in the dust. And the ashes. I'm going to hide in the dust
now. I see you, and I see what I am, and I'm going to hide now. I'm going to get in the dust.
When you truly believe God, and that's what entering into the
rock has to do with, entering into the rock, the rock of ages,
that rock was Christ, that rock in the wilderness that the water
poured out of, and I guarantee you that this rock No, the rocks
of this world aren't going to work. We ripped that in the later
part, didn't we? They're not hiding the rock,
the physical rock. That's not going to cut it. Enter
into Jesus. That's what faith is. That's
what coming to Christ is. That's what believing God is.
He said, go to my son. Go to Joseph. If you need something,
go to Joseph. And so we do. It's to come to
him by faith. And repentance is the other side
of that same coin. Repentance. Get in the dust. Repentance. I repent where? In the dust, Job said. That's
what this has to do with. Faith, get her into the rock.
Repentance, hide in the dust. You can't get in the rock any
other way but in the dust, you see. You can't truly believe
without a change of heart and mind. And that's what repentance
is. It's a change of mind, a change of heart. That's not going to
happen until you believe they're two sides of the same coin. You
can't repent until you believe. What are you going to repent
of until you believe? And yet, how are you going to
believe God until you change your mind? Same thing. That's why Paul said to the Philippian
jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. But
the Apostle Peter said to the people in Acts 2.38 who had asked
him, what are we going to do? We've killed God's Son. You know
what he told them to do? Repent and be baptized. Oh wait,
he forgot to say believe. No he didn't. It's the same thing.
They're not preaching two different Gospels here. These are not two
different ideas about how to be saved. It's the same. Believe
God is to abandon you and all your thoughts, all your ideas
of who God is and what you are and how God saves sinners. Same
thing, Isaiah is saying get to Christ. Be found in Him and you
can't get to Christ with your nose in the air. You don't get
to him that way. You can't travel the narrow way
that leadeth unto life with your baggage, your tradition, your
work, your will in your hand. You've got to check all that
at the door now, and Christ is the door. If you're gonna be
clothed in his righteousness, you're gonna have to cast off
your filthy rag. That's what we see here, the twofold salvation of God, the twofold
experience of it. Paul called salvation a submission,
didn't he? Getting in the dust. That's salvation
in Romans 10, 1. He said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that God would save
them. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, And going about to establish
their own righteousness, they haven't submitted themselves.
They haven't gotten in the dust yet. Because they don't understand
who God is. They don't know this righteousness
that God requires. He said in another place, you
that would be under the law, don't you know what the law is
saying? You must not have heard the law if you want to be under
the law for righteousness. And sure enough, they hadn't
heard it with an ear of faith, and they hadn't submitted to
God's righteousness, which is what? Christ, the goal of the
law for righteousness, to everyone that believes. The word submit
here, it means they have not subordinated themselves. They
have not bowed. Hide in the dust. Zacchaeus, come down, and I'll
come to your house. This is not an invitation. He
said you're coming that you come down for I must abide at your
house But you're coming down first Verse 11 the lofty looks of man
shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and
the Lord alone Shall be exalted in that day Now here's the thing Isaiah just said, bow down, come
down, get in the dust. Enter into the rock and the way
you do that is in the dust. And then he goes ahead and says
here, you're coming down. He tells you come down and then
he says you're coming down and everybody else is too. You see
that? You're coming down one way or
the other. The lofty looks of man are gonna be humble. You
are gonna end up in the dust. One way or the other. In verse
10, you're graciously commanded to come down right now. Come
to Christ, hit the dust at his feet now. Come now. In verse 11, we're being told
that everybody's gonna wind up in the dust at his feet anyway,
but now is the time to bow. Because here's the thing, if
you fall on the rock, you'll be broken. You fall on the rock,
you're gonna be broken now. You just are. You're not gonna
be the same. But I'll tell you this, if the
rock falls on you, you're gonna be crushed. Either way, you're broken. But there's a big difference.
There's a big difference. Either way you wind up in the
dust, but the difference is life and death This is the message
of the prophet now. This is God's message Get in
the rock Get high in the dust Because sooner or later we belong
in the dust and that's where we're gonna be So you might as
well get there now and it's very important that you get there
now. It's life There is now and there is then in the gospel We've
talked about this before. There is a now and there is a
then. Now is the accepted time. Now
is the day of salvation. Then is the day of judgment and
wrath. That's not complicated, is it? That's real simple. Think about this wonderful, glorious
day that Isaiah is referring to for a little while. May God give us eyes to see,
to see into the future, to see the truth of what he's saying
shall be in that day, in that day. I can't wait. I don't know about you, but,
and I'm one of them. Let me just say that right up
front. I'm one of them. And as one of them, I can't wait
until a proud, haughty, know-it-all, will-worshipping man is brought
down. Can you? Can you? And that includes the old man
in us. This is us now. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. He's going to be exalted in that
day, and I'm going to be in the dust. That's where I want to
be right now, by His grace. Don't you? I sure do. The Lord alone. Isn't that a glorious expectation? Isn't that what we pray for?
That's what we want. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. For thy mercy's sake, for thy
truth's sake. One of these days soon, nobody's
going to be getting any glory but Him. And that's just the
way it ought to be. He alone is worthy, and so He
alone must be exalted. People love to be honored, don't
they? Oh, they love to feel good about themselves. Me, you, and
everybody else. The Lord, He said that the Pharisees
do religious things to be seen of men. because they like the
glory that they get from men. Matthew 6, 2, Therefore when
thou doest thine own, don't sound the trumpet before you as the
hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets, that they
may have glory of men. That's what they're doing. They
want to be recognized. And he said, Verily I say unto
you, they have their reward. That's as good as it gets for
them. That's pretty pitiful, isn't it? Men know how to exalt
themselves in this world. Oh my. But God knows how to bring them
down. Did you think of Nebuchadnezzar
when I said that? That's what he said. He said, God knows how
to bring sinners down. You remember that? Let me read
it to you. This is something we ought to read quite a bit. At the end of the days, Nebuchadnezzar
said, I lifted up mine eyes into heaven. And you know what he's
talking about, the days in which the Lord put him in the dust. And I'll tell you this. This
is not in my knowledge. I just realized this to say it. The command is hide in the dust.
You know how we're going to get there? God's going to have to
put us there. He'll have to put us there. And I pray he'll put
us there now. Now, before it's too late. And
he put Nebuchadnezzar in the dust. Turned him into Revealed
to him what he was already. He didn't turn him into an animal.
He was an animal God was just showing him what he was a beast In the very context of our verse
in Isaiah chapter 1 it talks about there to call us a beast
is an insult to the beast But he said when the Lord restored
my mind to me I When he took me out of the field, and he opened
my eyes, he said, I lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and mine
understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing because they are nothing. And
he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? And at the same time, my reason
returned unto me and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor
and brightness returned unto me and my counselors and my Lord
sought unto me again. And I was established in my kingdom
and excellent majesty was added unto me. But now, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the king. I had a kingdom, but I
wasn't praising myself for my kingdom anymore, I was praising
the king of heaven. All whose works are truth and
his ways judgment and those that walk in pride, he's able to abase. And he's promised us, he's prophesied
by his prophet Isaiah that that's what he's gonna do one day now.
and thank God Nebuchadnezzar praised and extolled the God
of heaven for bringing him into the dust now where we belong
God raised up Pharaoh in order to put him down to make his power
known in bringing down every rival to the throne of his son
but you see he had mercy on Nebuchadnezzar he opened his eyes and caused
him to see God as he is. And he praised and extolled God.
Pharaoh, on the other hand, he brought him down into the dust,
too. But Pharaoh, his kingdom crumbled all around him with
him cursing and shaking his fist in the face of God as it crumbled. And God said, I'll have mercy.
I did that so that you would know that I have mercy on whom
I will and I harden whom I will. to make my power known, to bring
down every rival to the throne of King Jesus. He said, I have
set, Psalm 2, I have set my king on my holy hill. And there's
none like him. There is no other king. He has
no rival. He has no true rival. But do
you presume and pretend to be one? Maybe you do and don't even
realize it. Do you question his providence? Have you ever questioned his
authority? Have you ever rebelled against his will and his way?
Yes. You and me both. Here's the word now. Here's the
gospel. Hide in the dust. Hide in the dust. Enter into
the rock. Enter into the rock. And in order
to do that, you're coming down. You're coming down. Philippians 2.5. Let this mind
be in you. Which was also in Christ Jesus.
who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be
equal with God but he made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men
and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. Of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God
the Father. You see, not just your knee is
going to bow, but your heart is going to bow too. You're going
to say, Lord. He's Lord. May God bring us into the dust
now. Because His Son shall be alone. Exalted. Hide us in the rock. Enter into
the rock. Enter into the rock. Exodus 33
17. Let me read you this. I want
to be But listen to it and the Lord said unto Moses. I will
do this thing also that thou has spoken What what was that
Moses said Lord don't leave us be with us wherever we go. Don't
let us go without you The Lord said I'll grant you that That's
a pretty good prayer pretty good That's pretty good reason for
celebration right there. God's gonna be with us For thou hast found grace in
my sight. Not because you're worth it. Not because you've
done anything to deserve it. On the contrary. But because you found grace in
my sight. And I know thee by name. Whom he did foreknow. He also
did predestinate, call, justify, glorify. I know you by name because
I know you. I'm gonna be with you. And Moses said, I beseech you,
Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. And the Lord
said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. And he said, You can't see my
face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord
said, Behold, there is a place by me though. There's a place
by me. There's a place of communion
and rest and comfort, peace and blessing. There's a place by
me. Where is it, Lord? You're going
to stand on the rock. Where is the place of communion
with God? Enter into the rock. How do you
do that? God puts you in there. No man
can come except the Father drawing. But the command is this, enter
into the rock. Lazarus come forth. Lazarus can't
come forth. But Lazarus is coming forth.
That's how this command is too, enter into the rock. How you
gonna get there? God's gonna put you there. All right now,
I'll be gracious to whom I will. You can't see my face. There's
a place by me. You're going to stand on the
rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by that
I will put thee in the cleft of the rock. You're going to
be in the rock. You're going to be standing on
the rock and you're going to be hiding in the rock and I'll
cover you there with my hand while I pass by. Isn't that beautiful? There's just nothing to say about
that. We should just read that and just let it sink in. Lord
put us in that place. That's what Isaiah is talking
about now. You better get in the rock. How are you going to
do that? Lord put me in the rock. Hide
me in the cliff to the rock. I want to be in that place by
you. Where I can see you globally now. The only place you're going
to see me is in the rock. Now to the believer this is already
true. That the Lord alone is exalted. Isn't that true? It's true isn't it? The Lord
alone is exalted. The heart of flesh is still rebellious
now. But when the Lord comes, He's not going to have any rival
in that heart, in your heart anymore. He's going to give you
a new heart. Did God really goad Saul of Tarsus like a mule? and
bring him into the dust on the road to Damascus at his feet. Did he really do that? You think
about that. Goaded, he said, is it hard for
you to kick against the goads? Goaded him like an animal and
literally put him in the dust on the road. Did he do that? You better believe he did that.
You know why? Because the Lord alone should be exalted. He must be. And it must have worked. Because
thereafter, Paul was all about, I must have Christ. I'm pressing
toward Christ. I preach Christ and Him crucify.
Christ is all in all. And God puts you in the dust.
It always works. It works every time. Does this
book really teach that there's nothing you can do to be saved?
Did God really say to his disciples when that young man went away
sorrowful after the Lord told him to sell all he had and come
follow me? When they said, who in the world
can be saved? That man came seeking, he came
wanting to be saved. He wanted to go to heaven. Who
can be saved then? Did he really say with men it
can't be done? Does God really say in this book
that you are dead in trespasses and sins by nature? Dead now? Does it really teach in this
book that God loves one sinner and hates another before they're
ever born or ever did anything good or bad? Does it really say
that? Does it really say that your
will and your works have nothing to do with salvation? Does it
really say that? It certainly does. You know why?
You know why God saves sinners the way that he does? Because
the Lord alone is going to be exalted. Boasting is excluded. Nay, but oh man, who in the world
are you to even suggest that a sinner be saved any other way?
Who are you? Posting is excluded. Why that
no flesh should glory in his presence? Well, you've got to believe Faith
is his gift The gift of God that he gives to whom he will he said
to his disciples It is given unto you to know what I teach
but to them. It's not given Faith is not you doing something
for God faith is asked to see From God eyes from him to see
what he did for you And God said in Ephesians 2 9
that he saved sinners that way lest any man should boast For
the Lord alone must be exalted. He shall be Listen to it in Ephesians
2 8 for by grace. Are you saved through faith?
And this is something that I've You know how limited we are. We get one thing, or at least
think we do, we've done pretty good. How many times have I quoted
this passage of scripture? How many times have you heard
it or quoted it? But I want you to listen to something. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You
know what the next words are? You're not going to both. You
know why? For we are His workmanship. Salvation is not you doing something
for God. We are His workmanship. And it's
going to be said that way. It's going to be proclaimed that
way. It's going to be acknowledged that way. And He's going to be
worshipped for it. With you or without you. And
me. You see that? We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus under good works, or we would never
do anything for Him. We didn't do anything for Him
when He saved us, and we're not ever gonna do anything for Him
unless He ordained it and works it in us. How low can you go? The Lord
alone's gonna be exalted now. I kinda like it that way. by
His grace. Thank God. Who then can be saved? The Lord alone shall be exalted.
But look at my wonderful work. The Lord alone shall be exalted. He must increase, and I'm fixing
to decrease. How about you? One way or the
other now, now or then, we must Decrease and he must he must
be exalted By God's grace, that's what we
want and we wait for that day We wait for the day that it'll
be true in every sense. He taught us to pray Lord your
will be done Down here just like it is up there unreservedly anxiously
The angels got one thing on us right now, don't they they're
just waiting and to know what His will is so they can do it.
Just waiting. Oh, that it would be like that
here. They bow down to Him up there now. Are we gonna do that
here? We gonna get in the dust. Oh, that will be done on earth.
Humble our lofty looks and bow down our haughtiness and cause
us to see no man save Jesus only. It's true now. It is true now in a sense, isn't
it? Of His people, but in that day. In that day. The Lord alone should be exalted. Thank God for that. Even so,
come. Lord. Jesus. Even so. Lord give us grace, put us where
we belong. Let's pray together.