Please open your Bibles this
morning to Isaiah 33. Isaiah chapter 33, and I'll begin reading in verse 13. Hear ye that are far off what
I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge
my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with
the devouring fire. Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously and
speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that
shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his
ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing
evil. He shall dwell on high, his place
of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given
him, his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King
in his beauty. They shall behold the land that
is very far off. The title of my message this
morning is in the form of a And it is simply this, can you dwell with the fire? Can you dwell with the fire? This Old Testament prophet Isaiah
is the prophet most often quoted in the New Testament. And in places and portions like
this, the Spirit of God likens Israel's reception or rejection
of the gospel or the prophecies of Isaiah to the reception or
rejection of Christ in the New Testament. Hold your place here
and turn over to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 and verse 15. He says, And how shall they preach
except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the But
I say, did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish
nation I will anger you. But Isaiah is very bold and saith,
I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, All day
long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people." And then not only Paul there in Romans
10, but also the Lord Himself in John chapter 12. Look over
in John chapter 12 where much the same thing is said by our
Lord here in John 12 beginning in verse 37. But though he had
done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
him, that the saying of Isaiah's the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our And to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and
hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw His glory, Christ's glory, and spoke of Him. Now, what our Lord says through
this prophet in Isaiah 33 this morning is this. He commands
everyone to hear." That's always the command. Listen. Hear. And he says that because of who
is speaking. This isn't merely a man, but
this is God speaking through this human mouthpiece. He says, hear. When you look
in the book of the Revelation, he says this, He that hath an
ear, let him hear. And that is a God-given spiritual
ear, an ear of faith. He that hath an ear, let him
hear because of who is speaking and because of what is being
said and talked about. This has to do with your soul
and mine. This has to do with eternity. This is more than life and death. This is the Word of God. And not only that, but because
to not hear, to not listen and heed is to be lost, is to be
without hope. is to be condemned, is to be
in a position where there is no other possible remedy for
our situation. And then also because to not
listen, to not hear Him and heed Him is to be in rebellion. And it is to face the sure judgment
that we hear God talking about again and again all through these
books from one end to the other. He says we are to hear. Not just sit here, but to hear,
listen, meditate on and think. And he addresses two groups of
people here. And it may be that he addresses
the people here as they are in two different characteristics.
If you look at it here, he says that they are, first of all,
those that are afar off. Is that the Gentiles? And those
that are near, maybe that is the Jews he's talking about.
Or maybe it's the same group of people. One, he says, in Adam
are afar off, and the other, he says, in Christ are near. But he addresses them, and he
gives two commands. Two commands. Verse 13, he says,
Here ye that are far off what I have done." And that is what the gospel is
all about. The gospel is not that which
we are to do, but the gospel has to do with that which God
has done. It begins with God. It ends with
God, and it has God everywhere in the middle. Salvation is of
the Lord. Hear what I have done. And the confession of men and
women in our day who have heard the preaching of this day, their
confession is, if you hear them, you will hear what they have
done. And then he says this also, he
says, acknowledge my might. Don't talk about your will and
your decisions and what you've done and your strength and all
these things. He says, acknowledge my might,
my power, my authority. And so that's why the Lord's
people are taught to pray just exactly that. Thine is the power,
and thine, therefore, is the glory. Not only are we to acknowledge
His might in creation, which He surely was mighty in creation,
and in providence, He is mighty in providence, ruling and bringing
all things to pass, but especially in salvation. Acknowledge His might. Hear Him. Hear what He has done
and acknowledge it, which is to receive it and believe it
and glorify it as He has done all these things in Christ. Isaiah says in another place,
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government, all of the government, shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He'll have all these
names because He will be all these things and do all these
things. And then in another place, Isaiah
again, in Isaiah 63, begins that 63rd chapter saying this, Who
is this that cometh from Edom? The place of the enemies. The place of the fallen. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength,
who is this? And here's the answer, I that
speak in righteousness. Mighty to say. Mighty to say. If there is one that we need
to be mighty in every It is the One who would be our Savior and
therefore save us from all our sin. And this is the One we must
have, the One that speaks in righteousness, mighty to save. He says, Hear. Hear you that are far off and
you that are near. Hear what I have done. Acknowledge my right. And then he says that this is
the reception of that hearing that goes forth. If you look
here, he says there's fear and surprise. Fear and surprise. I remember reading somebody's
biography, I don't even remember who it was now, but I'll never
forget the title of it, and it was called Surprise by Grace. Here these are, and it says that
they are in Zion. Where is Zion? What is Zion? Zion is the church. And this
is the only place among the Lord's people where what God says, spoken
in the power of His Spirit, this is the only place, this is the
only body, if you will, wherein that which God says brings fear
on the one hand and surprise on the other hand. That is in
that place and amongst that people where God is proclaimed for who
He is and for what He has done. Because it's only in His true
church that we hear that He is holy. It is only amongst His
people where the gospel that sets Him forth as just and as
righteous and as sovereign who sets him forth as much as he
is in one sense as he is in the other, the one who will by no
means clear the guilty, who is at every moment angry at the
wicked, a hater of sin, a god of holy wrath. Ask yourself this question. How can anybody hope to dwell
with God for eternity when they have no desire to hear His Word
or His Gospel now? How can anybody have any desire
or be able to dwell with God in eternity when they don't even
like to be in the presence of His people who will be with Him? in eternity. How can it ever be that men could
ever love God and be in His presence when they despise what He is,
God manifest in the flesh? It says here, and sinners are
afraid. I think it might have been Spurgeon,
I don't know, but one of the old preachers said, he said,
a sinner, I mean a real, bonafide, confessing, humble sinner, a
sinner is a sacred thing. The Lord hath made him thus. The only people who acknowledge
themselves as sinners for what God says a sinner is in this
book are those that the Spirit of God has worked in their hearts
so that they are made to know themselves to be such. A lot of people walk around and
they say, well, I know I'm a sinner. No, you don't. Or you would have
fled to the Lord Jesus Christ. You would have cast off every
other hope and fallen at His feet for mercy if you knew, if
you really believed you were a sinner. And you would have had this fear,
the fear of the Lord, that He says is the beginning of wisdom. which would be, as a sinner,
to be afraid to stand before this holy God without a mediator,
without a perfect righteousness, without a sacrifice that he'll
accept. And it says the hypocrites were
surprised. What's a hypocrite? Well, a hypocrite
simply, the word simply means something like a play actor.
Playing the part. Acting religious. All these things. Playing the part. Acting. People
who profess religion. People who are outwardly moral
people. And people who do for unseen
reasons. And yet, God looks at the heart. We can play act before each other. We can make each other not only
think that we're something that we're not, but think it to the
point that they brag on us, and they count us, and they even
distrust themselves in the light of what we appear. But he sees past the mask. And he knows what is in the heart
of men and women. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our motives. He knows our plans. And all of
these things take place among a people here that he says, in
Zion. And there comes up a question. Look back at verse 14. The questions come up like this. Who among us shall dwell with
the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting Now, the first thing that strikes me about that is
these that are awakened, these that are made afraid, these that
begin to fear, these that are surprised, which is simply all
of God's people, all the inhabitants of Zion, that He brings the gospel
to bear in their hearts and minds, to bring them to life. They say, who among us? That's why my question this morning. Can you dwell with the fire? When the writer of Hebrews is
talking about how that the Lord's people, the church, this Zion,
how different it is for them than it was for those under the
law. He says this in Hebrews, "'For
ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that
burn with fire.'" Now, what we have at Sinai, Mount Sinai, and
the law, and Israel standing there at the base of that mountain. Moses acting as a mediator. What we have there is a picture
of God showing us how that we cannot approach unto Him and
be accepted by Him in and of ourselves. Because the Apostle
reminds us of that. He says, that mount burned with
fire. He said, we're not come unto
blackness and darkness and tempest, which that's what characterized
that mount, blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. Those that heard the voice of
God, face-to-face you might say in one way, they said, don't
even let that word be spoken to us anymore. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
that mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." What was going on on that mountain?
God dwelt in that mountain. And He was giving to Moses, Moses
on the behalf of that people below, and to anyone who would
seek to come before God and be accepted by God on the basis
of what they are or do. He was showing them how utterly
impossible it is. He said if an ox even touched
that mountain, it would be killed. If God were to speak to you and
me face to face of that which He requires, we wouldn't last an instant. The psalmist said this. If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, sin, O Lord, who shall stand?" You see, this passage seems to
be parallel with others like the one that I read in Psalm
15. Which said, if you remember,
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in
thy holy hill? For as we read in Psalm 24, who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand
in his holy place? We ought to find out something
about God right here in how He is described. The devouring fire and everlasting burnings. You see, God is very often in
this book characterized by fire. I was thinking about it. Fire
is one of the most mysterious and amazing things that there
is in this world. When you hear on the news that
out in the West There are over like a thousand wildfires burning
up valuable property, valuable resources, and do what they will. You can't stop it. Oh, they might get a break in
the wind. And they might be able to stop
it then. But who controls the wind? Or they might get a change in
the moisture, the humidity, and it might help them, and they
might be able to do something then. Or it might rain. But it can't really do anything. It just burns. It just consumes. And these things picture God's
purity, his holiness, his justice, his word, his sovereignty. As a matter of fact, the apostle
is led by the Spirit of God to sum God up as that. He says in Hebrews 12, wherefore
we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
godly fear, for our God is a consuming Now, you wouldn't even want to
tackle one of those wildfires, would you? You wouldn't want
to go and face your home if it was on fire. He said, our God is a consuming
fire. Now, can you live with the fire? You know, it's amazing how merciful
God is to stupid people like we are, and yet He condescends
to liken Himself in just one, what we would call an element
of nature, and shows us the impossibility of us or anything about us or
done by us ever standing the glorious bright white holiness
and justice and righteousness of God. The Apostle says, the Most High. He doesn't dwell in temples made
with men's hands. He says, in another place, God
that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord
of heaven and earth, He dwells not in temples made with hands. There was a time in the book
of Numbers where two men sought to offer up to God strange fires. There was a time when men sought
to take and usurp the authority of those appointed of God and
to stand in the place of God. And on one of those occasions,
it says, as they did that, that there came out a fire from the
Lord. and consumed 250 men that offered
incense." Now, you mean to tell me that 250 men led by false prophets,
but yet still obeying them, taking censers in their hand, containers
in their hands, burned incense, and they went in and offered
that to the Lord? He wouldn't accept it. Fire came
out from the Lord and consumed every one of them, burned them
up. When Uzziah, a king, thought
he would act in the role of a priest and offer a sacrifice, did God
accept it? He smote him with leprosy, of
which he finally died. Or when Uzzah reached out to
just simply study the Ark of the Covenant, where it says in
the book of Exodus that between those golden cherubs over the
Ark of the Covenant, God says, that's where I'll dwell. He just
reached out to touch it when the ox cart shook. And God smote him dead. Can you live with the fire? Can unholiness even begin to
approach or be accepted by absolute holiness? Can we ever be looked
at in favor by Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity? The heavens are not even pure
in His sight. The angels are not pure in His
sight. Who will he accept? Who can stand in his holy presence? Who can measure up to his law
or satisfy his justice? Who can endure his infinite wrath
that's described as an unquenchable fire? Who? Well, actually, The answer comes
back here in verse 15. And whenever in script you find
this type of question, you're always going to get an answer
so similar to this. It's amazing. He that walketh up, he that walketh
righteously. and speaketh uprightly, he that
despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding
a bribe, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts
his eyes from seeing evil." But if you notice here, it says,
He. He. Here's the standard. Here's the
singular person. Here's what's required of this
God who's a consuming fire. And He gives six things. That's man's number. Do you know
that? Six. Everybody's always talking about
666. It doesn't matter where you're at. If it even comes close,
If that's the next number on the ticket or whatever, uh-oh,
666, I don't want that ticket. All that means is simply everything
man-made has the curse of God on it. Everything. But here he gives six things
which pictures the total person. has to do with the feet, the
tongue, the mind, the hands, the ears, the eyes. He that walketh
righteously, perfectly righteous before God,
he that speaketh uprightly, tells nothing but the truth, no lies,
praises God, gives God all the glory, He that despiseth gain
of oppression, no deceit. He that shakes his hands of bribes,
is just, has no ill-gotten gain. He that stops his ears from hearing
of blood, to gossip and rumor and all these things, revenge
and such, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil, In other words, who has no sin. A perfect, righteous, sinless
person. He can live with the fire. And you know what? God has not
changed. That's what all people in our
day are told. virtually, and that's what they
want to hear, that God is not now the same way He was in the
Bible. He said, I'm the Lord, and I
change not. He has not ever changed. He has not ever diminished. And
so when you read as you do in this text and in Psalm 15, it's
always He that walks in righteousness, not just the one who desires
to do, but the one who does, not just the one who desires
to be, but the one who is righteous. It's always that answer. A perfect
person. Look back over in Psalm 24. have the same thing. Psalm 24, verse 3, ìWho shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully.î Who can? Well, I can tell you
this, not me. Not me. And I can tell you this also,
not you. And I'll give you the benefit
of the doubt of being a far better person in every way than me. Still, not you. Somebody likened sinners and
their works and their achievements and their imagined righteousness
and accomplishments. They imagined them to be like
the fleas that all got together and had a contest as to see who
could jump the nearest to the moon. And here's one flea over here,
he jumped an inch, and another flea over here that jumped six
inches, but here's another flea over here that jumped three feet.
But how far is that from the standard? Not any sinner, not any son of
Adam in themselves, Because all have sin, and none are righteous,
and none are good, and all are enemies by nature, we are all what God says we are. You know, it kind of comes down
to this. How good do you have to be to go to heaven? What would you have to do for
God by way of works or sacrifice for Him to be able to accept
it? Well, all through the Old Testament,
all those different sacrifices that were required under the
Levitical law, they all said the same thing. and whosoever offereth a sacrifice
of peace-offerings unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow, or a freewill
offering of beefs or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. Well, you do your best. Well,
you do your best. There are a lot of people who
are going to do their best and perish. Because they can't live with
the fire. They can't live in the presence
of this perfect, pure, righteous, glorious, so
glorious that you can't even look upon Him. So glorious that when He revealed
Himself to Moses, it was in the form of a bush that just burned
and was not consumed. so glorious that He reveals Himself
in His Son as the Son of Righteousness. Who can dwell with the fire? Look back here in Psalm 24 again
at verse 7. He goes on, Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty? The Lord mighty in battle? Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in." Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. The Lord of hosts. The
Lord Jesus Christ. The King of glory. The King of
kings. How is it that He can dwell with
the fire? Because He is fire. Because He
is God. Because He is perfect. Because
He is righteousness. And like can dwell with like. I remember one Sunday morning,
I got up years ago and there was a bad fire. out in the Holly Shelter Refuge,
Game Refuge. And you could just see that smoke
from that fire for miles and miles and miles. It rose up in
such a fire. And they had no way of stopping
it. And so on that particular Sunday morning, the firefighting
plan was that they would light a backfire. And they would start that fire,
a control fire, and it would be burning to meet the other
fire. And I must have timed it just
right when I stepped out on my porch. Because when those two
fires came together, it looked like a nuclear blast, a mushroom
cloud. So that stopped the fire. You know, we have a saying, you've
got to fight fire with fire. Well, in a way, that's the way
this is. The only way we can live with the fire is if we're
in the fire. We're in Christ. We can't in ourselves dwell in
the fire, but for all who look to Him as their representative
and substitute, they can dwell with God in Him. That's the only way. The only
way we can live with the fire, dwell in the fire, is to be in
Christ. Is that a possibility? Well, he said this. Christ did. So many walked away from Him.
This is not for us. This is too hard to even begin
to understand. He said, He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood, All they had a mind for was what was physical
and literal and external. So they didn't have any sense
of what he meant as far as believing on him and trusting in him and
spiritually appropriating him for themselves. But he said, he that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Because you see, the one that's
spoken of here is Christ. And not only Christ, but all
His people in Him. He walked righteously all His
days on this earth before God's perfect law. He spoke like no
man ever spoke truth, praise, glorifying God at every word. He knew no sin, and that in order
that He might be made sin for us. He dealt justly with men,
but most of all, He dealt justly on behalf of
his people with God and satisfied all that justice claimed against
us as sinners and lawbreakers, satisfied every claim by that
blood that he shed. He heard and obeyed the words
of the Father for us. He looked not to this world but
to the will of God and the glory of God. Everything is in Him, and if we're in Him, we're safe. He is the only man that fits
this description. He is the one mediator between
God and men. He is the one righteousness and
the one way and the one salvation. But as He is, so are we in this
world. You see, He has not changed.
But He has changed us, making us one with Christ. Now, about the best picture I
know of this is over in the third chapter of Daniel. Turn back
over to Daniel chapter three. Now, we've got a lot of names
for these fellows. Most of the time they're called
the three Hebrew children, except they were grown men. Daniel chapter 3 and beginning
with verse 22. Therefore, because the king's
commandment was urgent, what was that? Because they wouldn't
bow down to his idol. The penalty was that they were
to be thrust into this fiery burning furnace. Because the king's commandment
was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew
those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." The very
ones that the king ordered to throw them in that furnace, it
was so hot they couldn't stand the fire. Burned them up. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto
his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? And they answered and said unto
the king, true, O king. And he answered and said, Lo,
I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and
they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son
of God. What made them safe and the very
ones that threw them in there be consumed? How were they able
to live with this fire that is more than just a literal fire?
It's a representative, symbolic fire of all of judgment and wrath. How? That fourth person. That fourth person is Christ. And you see, the only way we
could ever be saved from this sin that requires death,
requires hell itself, is in Christ. And this is a picture of just
exactly what took place in His cross death, in which He literally
went through the hell that we deserved and we in Him. He didn't escape it. He went
through it. It burned on Him with the heat
of divine wrath and with punishments beyond anything
we could imagine. but surely what we deserved. And we came out, we came through
in Him. There were some people who deny
eternal punishment. Years ago they used to call them
No hellers. No hellers. They didn't even
believe in hell, you know. Well, Christ had more to say
about it than anybody else. And I'll take his word for it.
But the truth is, there is no hell for believers. They've already been through
the fire of God's judgments in Christ. And they now are possessors
of a perfect righteousness in Him, so that like can live with like. Holiness can live with holiness. Righteousness with righteousness,
because He hath made Him to be sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. in him. That's who can live with the
fire. And that fire becomes a warming. You ever If you never was able to go hunting,
I kind of feel sorry for you because I've been almost frozen
to death and come back somewhere and we build a fire and that's
the most wonderful feeling. And that's what God is to his
people. Warmth, comfort, rejoicing. What does he say is the result?
Verse 16, He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be
the munitions of the rocks. They'll be safe. All will be
safe in Him. They'll be seated with Him in the heavenlies on
high. They'll be safe. They'll be satisfied. Bread shall be given Him. His
water shall be sure. And he said, Thine eye. You know,
Scripture would make no sense. I used to, could not figure this
out, how it would seem like it would change one sentence from
the other. It would seem like it was talking
about an individual, and then it would seem like it was talking
about more people. Why is it like that? Because
they're one and the same in Christ. Christ and His people. It says
what he'll be, and they'll be in that. Then it says, Thine
eyes shall see the King in his beauty. And they shall behold the land
that is very far off. The Lord's believing people,
they see the King in his beauty. And because of his grace and
mercy and righteousness given to them as a gift and their sins
put away, they can behold that land that is afar off. They can
view it with hope and expectation and consolation. And they can say with Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God." heathen religion, they have trials
where people walk across coals and ashes and hot stones and
such as that. Really impressing. Sometimes spiritually the Lord's
people have to go through things like that. And most of the time they're
far more fierce than literal fire would be. But they don't amount to much
if you know you've already been through the fire, eternal fire. And that in Christ,
God in grace has made you such That you can dwell with the devouring
fire. You can dwell with the everlasting
burnings. Holy. Gloriously holy God. Can you dwell with the fire?
In Christ. In Christ. Our Father, this day we give
you thanks and praise for that salvation, that safety,
that security, that mercy, that grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we cannot express to men
and women the glory of it. We can only just impart, repeat,
point out that which you've said. May you, by your Spirit, bring
each one who hears this to look outside of themselves
to Christ, to realize what he has accomplished for them in
His coming, in His life, in His death and resurrection. Grant it, Lord, that it might
bring forth in them and from them praise and thanksgiving,
worship. Help us, Lord, in the week that
is before us. Glorify yourselves and give us
strength and grace that we might walk before you in thanksgiving. We do thank you and we do praise
you for all things. In Christ's name, amen.