All right, good evening, brethren.
It's good to be with you all. It was really good to be at Joe's
on Sunday. That was a real joy to see you
all again and just to have that fellowship together with one
another. It was a real joy and a treat to myself and I could
tell to many, well, to all of you. And so I'm thankful for
that. And next Sunday, we'll look forward
to doing the same again. we'll get together there in their
barn where there's plenty of room for us to spread out, so
we're thankful for that. All right, now tonight let's
open, we're gonna be in Isaiah, but let's open with Romans 8. I'll likely read from this passage
again in Romans 8 as we are going through the message. But let's read in verse 26, Romans
8, 26, and we'll read down through verse 28. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, Father, we thank you for gathering
your people together again tonight, assembling us in spirit with
hearts looking to you, Lord, to glory in the God of our salvation,
to honor your name, to give thanks to you, to praise you, and to
seek you. Lord, that we would hear a word
from our God, and that we would be made to hear it in truth.
And Lord, that we would receive it by your Spirit into good ground
prepared by you. And Lord, that we would believe
the words of our God. Father, we confess our weakness.
We confess that we ourselves are sinners and have nothing
good of this flesh to bring to you or to claim any righteousness
of our own. Father, all our thanks and praise
and hope is fixed in your righteousness, in your salvation that you provided
in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you would bless
this hour that we are gathered here now, that You would bless
Your Word, Lord, that You would cause it to go forth without
interruption, that You would draw in Your people, draw in
those that need to hear this Word, causing them to seek the
only true and living God, that they might know the true salvation
who is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Father, bless Your
people. You know our cares, our fears,
our worries, the things which trouble us. Lord, You know the
things that we have need of. Help us, Lord. Help us in our
infirmity. Help us even to... Lord, that
You would intervene for us and intercede for us. and give us
the things that we have need of, even though we ourselves
are so ignorant and foolish and don't know that which is best
for us. But we know that the God we serve and love, that you
know, and that you do all things well. We pray that you would remember
your people, especially those in Danville, who've recently
lost their pastor. Lord, that you would keep that
flock, that you would feed and nourish that flock with the gospel,
that you would give that assembly wisdom, direction, your spirit,
leading them in the paths of righteousness, to do that which
is to the praise, honor, and glory of your name. Help your servants scattered
throughout the country. Help those men there. Raise up
those that can go and help them and minister the gospel of Jesus
Christ to them while they seek to know your will. Father, that you would give them
wisdom. Bless Shelby. Help them and enable them to
do that which is right for her. and Lord, that you would bless
them, bless them, give them peace in Christ. Lord, we ask this in the name
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Okay, brethren, we're gonna be
in Isaiah 33, and tonight I wanna look at verses two through six.
Now last week when we were in chapter 32, we saw great promises
of our God toward his people. How that our Savior's work, the
Lord Jesus Christ, his work would bring salvation, would accomplish
salvation for his people. That through the Savior, through
the Christ of God, we would have peace established between us
and God, the God of heaven and earth, and that Christ himself
would effect the righteousness of God's people, that he would
be their righteousness, and that in Christ we are righteous before
God. Look at Isaiah 32, verse 17. and the work of righteousness. That work is the work of our
Savior on the cross. Specifically, when he wrought
salvation, when he faithfully served and obeyed the Father
even unto death, bearing the sins of his people and putting
them away, giving up the ghost when the work was finished. and
this work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness, and assurance forever. And then over in chapter 33,
Isaiah 33, verse one, our Lord gives assurance to his people
that their enemies, those that spoil them and dealt treacherously
with them, that they would be spoiled and dealt with treacherously. Look at verse one, woe to thee
that spoilest and thou wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously
and they dealt not treacherously with thee. Now in our text tonight,
we have what is a prayerful response of the Lord's people to him. Now they've heard the word of
the Lord, They were reminded by the prophet whom the Lord
sent of God's gracious covenant, His love and tender mercies toward
them in His covenant of grace, which He has established and
made with them, looking to the Son for all things, for our enjoyment,
for our peace, for our righteousness. And so now, they know this, they've
heard this word, and they are given faith to believe the word
of the Lord, and they see their sinfulness, and are made to see
their need of God to do this work for them, that work which
they cannot do for themselves, how that God must deal with them,
and save them entirely in grace. in grace, not looking to them
for any works of righteousness which they bring forth of themselves,
but God himself must deliver them. If they are to be delivered,
it's going to be by the hand of God, and it's not going to
be through their works and through things that they've done. But
in spite of the things that we've done, in spite of our sinfulness
and deadness, our God saves his people in grace, in grace. And so they're brought to ask
him to remember his kindnesses, to remember his grace toward
them in his covenant of grace, and to do for them all that he's
promised to do for them in his word, even as the prophet spoke
it. In our text, as we go through
that, I want you to know that there's some that would say that
verses two and three are the prayer of the church, that this
is what the church prays to the Lord. And then verses four through
six is the answer to the prayer from the Lord. But others also
see the whole text, verses two through six, as the prayer of
the saints. that the saints are praying back
and reminding the Lord of the things which he said that he
would do. But whether or not the saints
all these words specifically, whether these came from the saints
in prayer, or if some of the words were spoken by the saints
in prayer, what we actually have here is instruction. The Lord
is actually instructing us in prayer. He's revealing to us
the heart of saints in prayer, and so he's teaching us how to
pray. Now hold your place here and
turn over to Luke 11. And I want you to put a marker
there in Luke 11 when we get there, because we'll come back
a little later. But look at verse 1. We read, it came to pass that
as he, as Jesus Christ was praying in a certain place, when he ceased,
one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. as John also taught his disciples. You see, as saints, we feel our
ignorance, and we feel our hardness of heart and coldness, and the
deadness of this flesh. We see how foolish we can be,
how careless we can be with the knowledge that our God has given
us concerning himself. and that which we've heard concerning
his promises. And we know this, we're brought
by experience to see the deadness, to know the deadness of this
flesh and the inability of this flesh to save ourselves, to do
that which is right, that which is well-pleasing to the Lord. The Lord himself is our salvation,
and we depend upon His grace always. And so, there's a need
within the saints that we find, that we need the help, we need
the guidance, the leading the intercession of the Spirit to
help us in our prayers, because we are so foolish compared to
what we know and what we think we should be. We see such a gap
in ourselves from how worthy the Lord is, how perfect and
holy and righteous He is, and how weak we are in the flesh
to be able to even pray the things that we ought to pray. But in
our text tonight, our Lord gives us an outline. He gives us an
outline and He reveals those things which are bound up in
the hearts of the Lord's saints, in the heart which the Lord has
given us. And so here the Spirit gives
voice to our love to our adoration of God our Savior, to the need
that we have of Him, to confess our need of Him, and to breathe
out those words and promises which we have heard Him speak
to us through His gospel, and laid to our hearts by His Spirit. So I've titled this, The Saints'
Help in Prayer. The Saints' Help in Prayer. Now, when you think of the context
of this prayer that we see here, it helps us to remember what
the Lord has been revealing to his people up to this point,
in the previous chapters, and even throughout the whole ministry
of Isaiah, all right? Isaiah has been ministering to
this people for many years now, and so the Lord's been declaring
his promises and declaring what he's going to do to the enemies,
to their enemies, and how he himself is the one that blesses
the people. That it's not their works of
righteousness that save them, but that it's God's grace and
mercy who determines the salvation of the souls of men and women.
It's God who chose his people in eternity and determined to
be gracious to them and to heal them of their sickness, to put
away their sin forever, to undo the rebellion, the sin and the
rebellion of our father Adam and ourselves in the garden when
we were in him. And so, it helps us to remember
what our God is revealing to us, what he's told us in the
gospel. And so he sent his prophets to
declare the word of salvation in Christ for the people. And
it says in Isaiah 32 verse 1, look back at Isaiah 32 verse
1, we saw he said, behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. And we saw how that the people
in themselves, in our flesh, what we are naturally of our
parents, the things we find funny, the things we take seriously,
our focus, our skills and talents and weaknesses, and the things
that people say are good, the things that people say are bad.
Our flesh, what we are by nature, will not hear the things of God. There is no spiritual fellowship,
no spiritual knowledge of the true and living God in this flesh,
in ourselves. And so we are in complete darkness
to the things of God until, look at 32 verse 15, Isaiah 32 15, until the Spirit be poured upon
us from on high." You see, the Lord Himself gives us the gift
of the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit gives us life in Christ. and the spirit in the time of
love, that God's love is determined upon us to know, to come to know
the things which our God has freely given us in Christ. The spirit gives faith and reveals
faith in the sinner. The Spirit gives life in Christ. The Spirit regenerates us, making
us to know our salvation, making us to know that it's not our
works that have saved us, that it's not our good works that
God is looking at to determine whether or not he will save us
or not. That decision's already been made by God in eternity
past when he chose a people for himself giving them, committing
them to Jesus Christ to do that work of righteousness on the
cross for His people. And so His people then are taught
and brought to know that there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. Even in the smallest of matters,
we depend entirely upon God to do that which is right according
to His will and purpose. that He is doing all things needful
and necessary. And we're brought to see that
we cannot save ourselves. We're brought to see our need
of God's mercy and grace as sinners. Because in this flesh we can
do no good thing because there is no good thing in this flesh.
Right? It's Christ who is our righteousness. It's Christ who is our salvation. And He has made us righteous
in Him so that we are righteous before our God and accepted of
Him." So, our God saves His people entirely by grace. You know,
over in Romans 9, verse 15, our Lord was speaking to Moses. Paul's recording it, but our
Lord was speaking to Moses, and He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion." You see, salvation is entirely in the mind and purpose
of God, what He has determined to do for sinners of His choosing. And so Paul tells us, he sums
it up this way, he says, so then it is not of him that willeth. Well, that goes completely contrary
to the religion of man in our day and the religion of man throughout
history. where man believes that it's
his will that determines whether or not he will let God save him
or not. And that's foolishness. That's
foolishness. That's not what the Lord teaches us. He just
said he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will
have compassion on whom he will have compassion, apart from anything
that the sinner does. Nor is it of him that runneth. In other words, it's not according
to our works of righteousness which we have done, but it's
according to His grace and tender mercy shown to us in the sacrifice
of His Son, Jesus Christ, who obtained eternal righteousness
for His people, so that it's of God that showeth mercy. It's really that simple. It's
of God that showeth mercy. We see that just as salvation
belongeth unto the Lord, all right, just as salvation belongs
unto the Lord to do for his people as he wills, so do our prayers. So do our prayers. Remember what
we read at the beginning of our service over in Romans 8 verse
26. Romans 8, 26, remember these
words from 26 to 28 as we go through our study tonight. Paul says there, likewise. Likewise, just as we've been
saved by the grace of God, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he searcheth
the heart And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the
mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God. And we know, we're brought to
know by the revelation of the Spirit in us that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
thee called according to purpose. according to our God's purpose. And so we know that our God has
a will and a purpose for all things, even for us who are his
people. And so that's relevant to our
text tonight because we see this understanding is expressed in
the prayer of the saints in our text. It's the will and purpose
of God which the saints are made to know by His power for His
glory and His honor that we might know our God and trust Him and
believe Him as He's implementing His will and purpose in the earth. And so it's the will and purpose
of God that we see here through the power and the will of God.
Look at verse 2, Isaiah 33, verse 2. Oh Lord, be gracious unto us. We have waited for thee. Be thou
their arm every morning, right? Our brother's arm every morning,
their salvation every morning, and our salvation also in the
time of trouble. So here we see the saints in
prayer acknowledge their inability to save themselves. It's not
a show, it's not for us to try and master prayer to outdo ourselves
in the hopes that God would hear us, but our God does hear us,
and he helps our prayers, and he intercedes with prayers, with
groanings that cannot be uttered. doing that which we need, because
we ourselves, in our flesh or so, are so often so cold and
foolish and indifferent and careless with the things that our God
has shown us. So the saints are brought to
know their inability, and the saints confess their sin. We
confess our iniquity. It's not about hiding our iniquity
before the Lord in the hopes that he doesn't know or hasn't
found out yet. that we can get one over on him,
but we confess our sin because he knows that we ourselves are
sinners and in need of his grace. And so our saints confess this
because we know that our God hates sin. He hates sin. He's punished all sin and will
punish the sin of the wicked. And so we're brought to, we know
this, just as our God has promised. You know, in his word, our Lord
said in Isaiah 26, verse 21, Isaiah 26, 21, for behold, the
Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of
the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain." So, knowing this
to be so, and having heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, which God sent by the voice of his messenger
to you, brethren, you were given faith, and he formed that faith
in you, revealing that faith to you, causing you to believe
his word, And when you believed, you were sealed with the Holy
Ghost, that Spirit of promise, that gift which He promised to
His people, that we might know the things that our God has done
for us, that we might be led of His Spirit and taught of His
Spirit, and that He would bring forth from us the breathing of
the Spirit in prayer, O Lord, be gracious to us. Be gracious
to us, Lord. Lord, we ourselves are sinners.
Be gracious to us. Remember us, Lord, in your mercy
and in your grace. For we've heard that your anger
is fierce in wrath against the workers of iniquity. Lord, deliver
us. Remember your Son. Remember what you've done for
your people. in the shedding of his blood
to cover us of our sins and iniquities, to make us righteous, to put
away our sin and iniquity forever. And then we're brought not only
to pray for ourselves, but our brethren as well. Be thou their
arm every morning. Those that are among us, and
our brethren scattered throughout the country and the world, and
in the Lord's churches, and those which are to come, knowing that
the days are evil, knowing that the love of man grows cold, and
that the day of darkness is upon us, that the darkness is coming
upon us. Also, and be our salvation also
in the time of trouble. and the time of trouble. Lord,
remember us in your mercy, for we've heard of your mercy. We've
heard of your salvation. Remember us in Christ. Remember your son, because it's
in Christ that we come before you, seeking your forgiveness,
seeking your grace, seeking, Lord, your help for us in the
time of trouble. Now, as we labor in this world,
we do experience tribulations. We do experience hardships and
trouble, trials and afflictions. These things are promised to
the saints of God. Those that would live godly in
this present life, they shall suffer persecution. And so we're
instructed in prayer to look to him. And we read in verse
two, we have waited for thee. We've waited for thee. We're
waiting upon the Lord because we experienced the hatred of
man. We experienced the hatred of
the flesh in ourselves, which is an enemy close to us, in the
weakness and foolishness of this flesh, and in the hatred of those
who hate the true and living God and despise his gospel and
despise his Christ, despise his salvation because they delight
in glory in their own works and don't believe the testimony of
God to his people by the word of the Spirit to us. And so we
know that the Lord himself is going to deal with the wicked
and that means there's going to be a hard times. There's going to be trying times
upon the inhabitants of this earth. They're going to be brought
into great difficulty and very difficult times. We need only
look back in history to see that there have been very many difficult
times upon the earth which have tried the inhabitants of the
earth and dealt with many evils and injustices in the earth. Now through these hard times,
as we ourselves are living here upon the earth and are brought
to know the true and living God, having his spirit, we are brought
to beg for refreshings from the Lord. We're brought to beg and
cry out to him to remember us, to remember his word of promise
to us, and that he would keep our hearts and minds faithful
to Him, fixed upon Him, ever looking to Him, because we see
the weakness of the flesh, and we know this wandering heart,
and so we're always asking, Lord, remember me. Remember me, Lord. Keep me. Don't let me go astray. Lord, keep me. Ever be the delight
of my heart. Ever be my need of salvation. Ever, ever show me, Lord, how
much I need you, keep me Lord, don't let me wander from you. And so even when we don't understand
the why about the specifics of what's going on, yet there's
a desire fixed in the people of God who understand, who want
the will and the purpose of God to be done in the earth. And
so even when it can be painful for us, in those
times and in those seasons of prayer, when we're humbled before
the Lord and we see our weakness, and being reminded of our lack
of strength and wisdom in a situation, the Lord has a way of humbling
the heart, of bowing our heart so that we confess, Lord, not
my will be done, but Thy will. And we trust the Lord. That's
fruit of the Spirit born in us because the natural man doesn't
want to give up those things, doesn't want to have the Lord's
will be done when it's contrary to our comforts and our flesh. But the child of God will continue
to pray, Lord, your will be done. Lord, your will be done. Lord,
help me make it well with my soul, but your will be done.
Your will be done. And so, our Lord, when he was
teaching the disciples how to pray, he said similarly to this
back in Luke 11, verse two. Luke 11, verse two. He said to
them, when ye pray, say, our Father which art in heaven. And
I'm not gonna go deep into this here in Luke 11, but the Lord
our God is our Father. We're adopted sons and daughters
of God. We are made sons and daughters
of God through the spiritual birth of the seed of Christ in
us. And we have by His Spirit now,
being His children, we have the Spirit and are led by the Spirit
to cry, Abba, Father, Father. He's our father. He's our provider
which is in heaven. He rules all things and hallowed
be thy name. He is holy and righteous and
the creator of heaven and earth. He who has the power and control
of all things in his hand, doing according to his goodwill and
purpose. He shows us that He is our Father
and that we know Him and that yes, He's holy and perfect and
set apart and yet through Christ we have gained entrance to the
Father. That we might know Him and call
upon Him and speak with Him as a friend, as one that loves us,
because He does, and He showed us that He loved us when He sent
His own Son and sacrificed Him to put away our sins. And so, He's our Heavenly Father,
and we pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so on earth. Our Lord, we pray, we're brought
to pray that the Lord's will be done. See, we're not looking
to change God's mind, but we know that in prayer, our minds
are set right. Aren't they? Our minds are set
right, because the Lord shows us our need of
Him, and the Lord brings us to see that we are desperate for
His grace and mercy, and so He does this, and our minds are
set right, and that's the wisdom that the Lord gives us in Christ,
to show that He's right, and what He has done is perfect and
just, and it's for our good. And that His purpose and will
is always that which is right, and we're brought, our hearts
are bowed by His sweet power, sweet grace to bow before Him
and to confess our need of Him. Wisdom fears the Lord in the
sense that we're brought to see our God has all things in control,
and he's doing that which is right, and he's working his will
for the glory of his name and the furtherance of his kingdom
as it pleases him. Now, there will be the time of
trouble, it says, the time of trouble, but know that your God
is working his perfect will. Over in Romans 12, verses two
and three, Paul says there, that, well, he says, don't be conformed
to this world. Be not conformed to this world.
Why not? Because this world has the mind
of the spirit of this world, which does not know the things
of God, which despises and refuses the things of God, and doesn't
seek the mind of the Lord. So don't be conformed to this
world. When they examine things and
look at things, they always get it wrong. and when they try to
fix a thing or remedy something, they usually ruin it and it's
usually for questionable purposes and means. So don't look to be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind that ye may prove. See, the Lord's gonna be revealing
this through his gospel word and the spirit laying it to our
hearts And he teaches us in prayer that we may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through
the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to
think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith. And so, We're humble before the
Lord. He's showing us that we don't
know things as we ought to know them. We are found too often to be
very carnally minded and having a confidence and a hope and a
protection of the things that we have in this world, even though
in the spirit we know that the things of this world are passing
away. Now in Isaiah 33, 3, back in our text, we read, at the
noise of the tumult, the people fled. At the lifting up of thyself,
the nations were scattered. Well, here's an acknowledgment
that the Lord is bringing to pass things that must be brought
to pass. That means even though these
might be things that are very difficult and hardships to us
in the flesh. Our Lord, when he was speaking
of his return over in Matthew 24, five through eight. Matthew
24, let's look at that. Five through eight. He lets us know that many shall
come in my name, he said. They'll say, I'm Christ, I'm
your savior, I'm your deliverer. And they shall deceive many. Verse six, and ye shall hear
of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. All right, and that's what we
saw in the prayer there. Our salvation also, be our salvation
also in the time of trouble. For all these things must come
to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows." So while these trouble and confuse
the people of the world, and they're troubled, and tumults
come that cause people to flee, and for nations even to be scattered,
right, though these things come to pass and these trials come
and they afflict the flesh and they try those in the flesh and
they bring hardships and difficulties to the inhabitants of the world
in the flesh. But our Lord, You know, even
though we ourselves may go through hardships, right? If our nation
is brought into tumult and the people are scattered through
some various means, the trust, you that know the Lord, don't
be conformed to the mind of the world. Don't seek to react and
to do those things which the world is doing, but seek Bow
before your Lord and seek to know His mind and seek your Father,
the One who is called our Father in heaven, and seek to know His
mind and His will for you. Remember our Savior and what
He endured in the flesh, though He was despised and rejected
of men." Right? He despised the shame. He went
to the cross willingly, knowing what He was doing, for his people. He said in Matthew 20, when speaking
to the disciples, he said, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the
son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him
and the third day he shall rise again. You see, Christ is our
salvation. Christ is our hope. And He endured
all that mocking and that shame which destroyed the flesh, right? He was put to death in the flesh. He died. He gave up the ghost
to obtain eternal life for you that believe, you that are His
people, you that are the called of the Lord unto this salvation.
and our Savior worked righteousness in that hour. And so we see how
through times of hardship and trials and times that appear
dark to us and dark clouds being gathered and many difficulties,
how that the Lord uses those times to work much good and to
instruct his people, and to spread the gospel, and to call in his
sheep who would otherwise have remained in darkness, but as
it pleased the Lord to call him in that manner and to save his
trophies of grace according to certain manners to display his
power and glory in all things, he can do that, and he does do
that. In fact, it was through affliction of the early church
that the gospel spread out into all the world and reached our
forefathers, and cause that to be established throughout, to
the ends of the earth, to the isles of the Gentiles, to them
which sat in darkness. And so, that may be a means through
which our God sends forth the gospel again before the end comes,
and he gathers in his sheep into the fold. Alright, so, there
may be a scattering and when nations scatter it's a time when
nations when when when a people's lives and livelihoods are turned
upside down all right I can't imagine but in times of war things
get ugly and and and things break down and what we knew and thought
can be all very, very different, and nothing settled in those
times. Food could be difficult to find when people flee and
nations scatter. But remember, as our Lord prayed
when he was teaching his saints, In Luke 11 3, he tells us, give
us this day our daily bread. Lord, provide for us. And so
trust the Lord will provide all things for us, no matter how
things get. And I think that word actually
has an eye towards Christ, who is the bread of heaven. Lord,
ever provide for us your gospel. Though the nations be scattered,
though tumults come and people are troubled and sent running,
Lord, give your people the gospel. Keep reminding them your faithful
word of promise to us, which you've richly blessed us in,
Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior." And so the Lord permitting or
bringing various trials, he leads us by his spirit to pray to the
Father for our sustaining heavenly bread and to keep us and to provide
for us. All right, next we're told in
our text, Isaiah 33, four, we're told what the Lord will do to
his enemies, right? Those who spoiled his people
and dealt treacherously with them. He now says in verse four,
Your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar,
as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. You see, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, and so our God shall exact perfect
righteousness. He shall cause all those who
owe him perfect righteousness, whose debt demands perfect righteousness,
be paid and satisfied, our God shall demand it and exact it
from the people." And this is true even for his people, which
he did, he accomplished that in Christ Jesus, our Savior,
when he died and made us righteous by the death of himself, when
he justified us by the shedding of his own blood, when he put
to death this man of sin, his body of sin, destroying it, delivering
us from the dominion and the power of darkness and spiritual
death. And he gave us life in himself
and brought us into the light to confess that our God has done
this work for us and not we ourselves, but our God has done it perfectly. And so our Savior paid our debt
of righteousness that we owed in full with the shedding of
his own righteous blood. And so we're not the ones that
are going to be spoiled and dealt with treacherously. We've already
been judged in Christ our Savior, but the enemies, they are the
ones that shall be spoiled and dealt with treacherously. In
fact, our Savior, he went to the strong man's house, that
evil one, and he spoiled him, taking out the precious things,
He didn't take everything out of the house. He took the precious
things, those chosen of God and given to Him in eternity before
the foundation of the world, before they did any good or evil.
Our Savior had a people whom He loved and He went into the
strong man's house and He accomplished our redemption. He delivered
us from the house of bondage and the prison of death. And
so we've been delivered. He's plundered him. and taken
for himself a people who are now called after his name. Luke 11 4, we see how that we
see, it's not because we have done anything, but because our
Savior has done all the work. See, he says, to pray, forgive
us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to
us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. All right, now because of this
salvation, our prayer to the Lord declares his praise, his
glory, and his honor. He says back in our text, Isaiah
33, 5, the Lord is exalted for he dwelleth
on high. He hath filled Zion with judgment
and righteousness. And we see that. Luke didn't
capture it, but I'll just tell you what Matthew recorded at
the end of that prayer. He said, for thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. You see, we're brought
to see who gets all the glory, who did all the work, who did
the saving and who accomplished his will and and salvation in
His wisdom and His purpose through His Son, Jesus Christ. And so
by the Spirit, we're led to know that the work is the Lord's,
and that if it's to be done, He must do it. Otherwise, it's
not going to be done for us. And since He did the work, it's
an eternal work. It's an unshakable work. When
the Lord comes and shakes the enemies and destroys them, we
shall not be shaken because our work, what's been done in us,
has been accomplished in us by Christ. And so it won't be shaken. It's founded upon the rock. We have a sure foundation, Jesus
Christ the righteous. And so we shall be made to stand
in the day of judgment of our God upon the inhabitants of the
earth. And so this knowledge brings peace. It's a comfort
to the people of God. And I want you to remember that,
whatever we see or face in the days ahead, this is a comfort,
a word of comfort to you, to remember the promises of God.
As your faith is exercised and you go through the fiery trials,
remember the faithful word of our God and that He's working
all things according to His glory and praise and honor. His kingdom
is being established. His will and purpose is being
done. And so we see there at the end
in Isaiah 33 6, and wisdom and knowledge shall
be the stability of thy times." Right? The whole nation can fall
apart. The people be scattered and sent
fleeing and running away before the Lord. But is that our stability? Is our current economy and how
things are our stability? or is the wisdom and the knowledge
which our God has given us in Christ Jesus the Lord and that
all things are in his hand and he does according to his will
and purpose, which is good and right, he tells us that shall
be the stability of thy times. No matter how chaotic your times
are in the flesh, Christ is our stability and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. We could be stripped of all the
things, all the creature comforts that we have and everything we've
worked hard to gain and obtain. We might be stripped of those
things, but is that our treasure? Is that our treasure? No, the
fear of the Lord is our treasure. They can't take that away from
us. They can't take away that which
Christ has obtained for us. by His righteous sacrifice and
the shedding of His blood and what He accomplished for us.
They can't take that from us, brethren. So the fear of the
Lord, you don't depart from the Lord and side with the world
and be conformed to this world, but you stay upon Christ and
the Spirit will cause you to pray in the Spirit and He'll
breathe those words which you can't mouth or think of yourselves
or struggle to remember. But we have a God who remembers,
and He remembers His Son, and He remembered to send His Son,
and so He'll remember to return for us again, and to redeem that
which He's purchased. And so I pray that that will
be a comfort to you, and that Christ will be an anchor of your
soul, and that you would rejoice in what our God has done through
his son, and he's given you his spirit, and that's his down payment
to us, that he shall return for that which he's purchased with
his blood. I pray the Lord bless that word to your heart. Amen. Okay, let's close in prayer. Our Lord, we thank you, Father,
for your great grace and mercy. Lord, though we in ourselves
are weak, that we and ourselves and this flesh can be so easily
moved. Lord, we ask that Your wisdom
and knowledge, which You've revealed to us through Your Son, Jesus
Christ, and His Spirit in us, Lord, that this would be the
stability of our times, that You would be our anchor and our
strong foundation Lord, that we would not slip and fall and
go the way of this world. Lord, that we would not side
with the wicked and those that have nothing but the spirit of
this world, but that, Lord, you would cause us to indeed flee
to you, to cry out to our Father, to stay upon our Savior. Lord,
that you would keep us. that you would be our salvation. Remind us, Lord, oh, help us
to remember, to know that the fear of the Lord is our treasure,
that we have a more sure hope, a lasting hope in Christ Jesus,
the Lord. Lord, we thank you for this salvation. We thank you for your word of
salvation to your people. Oh, keep us ever looking to you
May we never grow tired of it. Lord, may it be a help to us.
May it nourish us in the new man and strengthen us for the
journey ahead. For the days ahead are evil and
dark, it appears. Lord, but, oh, if we have the
light of Christ, then may that be our light and that be all
that we see, rejoicing in God our Savior. Let us be a help
to one another and be found in you ever. In Christ's name we
pray and give thanks. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.