Amen. OK, Isaiah chapter 33. Now, like I said, we're just coming up to halfway through after
this chapter in our Isaiah Bible study on a Wednesday evening. Last week, of course,
we were in Isaiah 32, where he continued to prophesy of what was coming imminently to
the people of Judah. So this seems to be the subject now in this passage, these chapters
of Isaiah. This time he was focusing on the aftermath of this Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem
with a king reigning in righteousness. We looked at how some of this period of Hezekiah's
reign pictured events in the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, such as his recovery
from certain death after three days and the signs in the heavens preceding it. And it
was also Jesus Christ being prophesied of in Isaiah 32, with the first part of the chapter
focusing for me on his first coming and the results of that, with then a warning to the
women at ease, the careless daughters, the first application being the complacent women
living through the later years of Hezekiah's reign. But we looked at how you can apply
it to complacent, believing women today, not taking their massive responsibility seriously.
I talked about God's children specifically there. The chapter finished with a reminder
that eventually, though, that second coming of Christ is coming with a glorious time for
all those that are saved, and an exhortation to therefore work to get more people saved
with that in mind. Verse 17, just to finish off that chapter, said,
And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness
and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure
dwellings and in quiet resting places, when it shall hail coming down on the forest, and
the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send
forth thither the feet of the ox and the asinine. And Isaiah 33 begins like this, verse
1, says, Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled. And dealest treacherously,
and they dealt not treacherously with thee. When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt
be spoiled. And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously
with thee. I'd like to pray, then, we're going to get started. Father, thank you for your
word, thank you, Lord, for this chapter of the book of Isaiah. Help me to preach these
verses clearly, Lord, help me to preach them in a way that people will be able to follow
along, to pay attention, to not drift off, Lord, and to really apply the talking points
to their lives where possible, Lord. Help me to preach full of your spirit, everyone,
to have attentive ears, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Okay, so it said, Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled. And dealest treacherously,
and they dealt not treacherously with thee. When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt
be spoiled. When thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously
with thee. And we're back to focusing, like I said, on the imminent coming invasion of
the Assyrians. Isaiah emphasised in this chapter the victory coming to those that have their
trust in the Lord. Okay, that's what he's going to emphasise here. But here in verse
one, he's starting, though, with a warning to the wicked amongst them, to those that
don't have their trust in the Lord. Okay, he's been warning many of Judah throughout
this book so far, those that put, for example, you know, famous passages, like they put sweet
for bitter and bitter for sweet, etc., and he's been warning the people there amongst
them in Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom there of Judah. Here he's warning the covetous
spoilers of his people, the treacherous amongst them. He said, Woe to thee that spoilest,
and thou wast not spoiled. And dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee.
When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled. And when thou shalt make an end
to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. And there's probably a bit of a
reminder there that how you behave will come back to bite you eventually. There is that,
yeah? You go around treating people badly, you're going to be treated badly yourself.
If you spoil or nowadays applied to us, maybe if you steal, if you take things that aren't
yours, it's going to happen to you eventually. Okay, that's just the way life goes. If you
deal treacherously, maybe you betray people's trust, you break deals, you violate the faith
or allegiance put in you, people will deal treacherously with you. That's just the way
it goes. You know, things come around like that, especially if you're a child of God,
that's going to happen. And even if you're not, you know, people in the world a lot of
the time, if you're dishonest with people, people are more likely to be dishonest with
you. Just the way it is, isn't it? Okay, that's the way life goes. Well, here are those that
didn't trust in the Lord, though. And with that, you know, remaining therefore within
the walls of Jerusalem. That's where God wanted them. That's what so much of this preacher
has been about. Stay in the walls of Jerusalem. Put your trust in God, not in Egypt, not in
wherever, not in fleeing. Put your trust in the Lord. Well, those that didn't do that
were to be spoiled. The Assyrians were to break the previous agreement. They were to
deal treacherously with them. Remember, there'd been an agreement and we've looked, we've
compared many times. We've seen how they came the first time, but then they ended up going,
there was an agreement, they were under tribute, and then they seemed to break that. Whoever
did that first, regardless, that seemed to be what happened. And as opposed to, so those
that put their trust in the words of God being prophesied by Isaiah, who were those that
waited on the Lord. It said in verse 2, O Lord, be gracious unto us. So not those, not
the spoilers, not those that dealt treacherously. He said, O be gracious unto us, we have waited
for thee. Be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
So Isaiah is calling for God's grace to his people. What seems to be required? He said,
we have waited for thee. So we have waited for thee. That seems to be required. He's
saying, be gracious unto us, we have waited for thee. Waiting for the Lord is a big theme
in a Christian life. Okay, it's a big theme. As you read through your Bible, as you read
through the New Testament especially, you're seeing Regulus being told, you know, to have
that patience, to not make quick decisions, to think things through. So often in life
the temptation is though to do the opposite, isn't it? The temptation in life often is
to make a quick decision, to make a rash decision, to not wait on the Lord to solve a problem,
to take it into our own hands, to trust someone else, to trust something else, to rely on
someone or something other than the Lord. And as time goes by, when you're in a bad
situation, you're in some sort of trial, some sort of temptation, often the temptation then
gets stronger not to wait on him, doesn't it? So when you're in a situation, you kind
of, you know you need God to come through, and as time goes by, the temptation gets stronger
not to let God come through, or not to allow him to in terms of, you're going to try and
take it into your own hands. You're more likely to think, well, I better do it my own way,
I better do this, I better do that. But so much of the Christian life is about patience.
It's a big part, it's a big theme of the Christian life. Patience at doing things God's way will
work out in the end. Okay, that's a big part of the Christian life. Turn to Romans chapter
5, Romans 5. So maybe, for example, it's patience that raising kids God's way will
be successful in the end. Maybe it takes some patience, maybe it takes a bit of, look, this
is tough, you know, maybe you feel like they're not responding to this chastisement maybe,
or maybe, you know, this kind of having them at home homeschooling and having, you know,
maybe you know, having a large family or something, is this really the right way? Because I'm
finding it hard with one, I'm finding it hard with two. And it's patience to know that,
no, when you do it God's way, when you do it right, when you put that diligence into
it, when you treat them as that heritage of the Lord, when you chastise them biblically
but you also love them biblically, you try and do things God's way, you can, if you're
patient and you do it God's way, it does work out. Because it is a lot easier. Sometimes
when those, you know, those young kids, they're playing up, they're tearing about, it's easier
to maybe just try and bribe them. It's easier to turn the other cheek, especially when you
think I'm going to have a tantrum if I deal with this. I'm going to have, you know, a
kick off if I try and deal with this. It's easier not to. But you put the time in, you
put the effort in, you put the work in early, and you will reap the results. Maybe, maybe,
maybe it's patience that loving your wife, leading by example, will get you through a
rough patch. Because sometimes you don't feel like it will. Sometimes you can feel like,
you know, as a husband out there, you can feel like this isn't working. You know, maybe
you're in a hard situation in your marriage, a hard situation in your relationship. Should
I really bother doing it God's way? Yeah, do it God's way. Do it God's way and have
patience that things will work out if you do your bit. Focus on yourself. It's such
an important, believe me, this is such an important part of marriage. Focus on yourself.
Stop focusing on your wife. Stop focusing on what she does and doesn't do. Stop focusing
on how she behaves. Focus on yourself, how you behave. That's all you can really control
is how you behave. Focus on yourself. Have that patience with that, that when you do
that, things do work out in the end. Maybe it's patience for women that's submitting
to your froward husband, regardless of how he's leading you, will be the best thing in
the long run. Maybe a lot of women out there just feel like, well, you know, I don't like
the way he's doing this, I don't like the way he's doing that. Is that really going
to work for me? This isn't working. I'm submitting to him and he's still acting like a jerk.
I'm submitting to him and he's still acting like a froward husband. No, when you do it
right, when you're patient, just be patient, be patient, do what God wants you to do, things
will work out in the end. You need patience in the Christian life. There aren't quick
fix solutions. And so often we want the quick fix, don't we? We want the quick snap your
fingers, this is what will solve it. Oh, well, I've read this, this worldly advice that if
I do this, if I say this, it's like, no, no, no, do it God's way. Have patience and things
will work out. Maybe it's patience that God will solve your financial problems if you
keep working hard and put him first and not your career first. That's one that can take
some patience from people. Sometimes it's tough. Some people do live paycheck to paycheck,
don't they? Some people are living, it's hard, it's rough, and people start to think, well,
maybe if I cut down a bit on what I'm doing for God. Maybe if I cut down on church services.
Maybe if I just cut down a bit on the soul winning. Maybe if I cut down on this, things
will work out financially for me. Maybe if I cut out the tithing. Maybe if I, whatever
it is, but you put God first. You have that patience that when I put God first, things
will work out, opportunities will arise, things will be beneficial, but you need the patience.
It's not a quick fix. Maybe it's patience that God will deliver you from a bad situation
if you resist the temptation to lie, to somehow sin your way out of it. And that can be a
temptation for many, can't it? You've got yourself in a situation, a fix is a problem,
and the temptation, well, if I just say this, if I just lie, if I just cut my way out of
it, a little bit of sin will get me out of this situation, but it's the patience, no,
you do it God's way, and God will deliver you. Patience is such a big part of the Christian
life, but what if you're impatient? What if patience isn't your strong point? How
might you get that patience then? Some people just aren't, right? Some people are impatient
people, aren't they? Some people find this part hard. Well, Romans 5, you turn to, says
this in verse 1. Romans 5, 1, it says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the peace with God isn't through our patience,
it's not through our works, our avoidance of losing our salvation or something, the
peace with God is by faith, isn't it? It's by trusting the one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. Okay, that's how we get that peace. That's the only way we
are justified. But after that, we also have access to God, calling him to receive his
grace in life as well. Verse 2 says, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we
glory in tribulations also. So why on earth would we glory in tribulations? Distress,
afflictions, vexations, they're hard, they're often painful, aren't they? Why would we glory?
Not only so, he said, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience.
It's because the more tribulations that we go through, the more patient we can become.
We can get more patient. The more you learn that God will get you through it. Because
that's what happens, isn't it? The more things you go through, and again, it's not just what
I go through things, that's why. No, depending on how you respond. But if you respond with
patience, if you do wait on the Lord, you keep seeing the Lord coming through for you,
coming through for you, you start to get that patience with it. You start to understand,
yeah, God is going to come through for me, this is going to be alright. And with the
patience, then the more experience you get. You said in patience, experience, and experience,
hope. So you got the patience, you get that experience, you learn to hope in God more
and not in man. Not in your abilities to solve problems. So you have hope that doing things
God's way will work out for the best every time. Every time. But it takes experience,
doesn't it? How do you get the experience? It comes from being patient. Which requires
what? The tribulation in the first place. Hence, glory in tribulation. Which sounds
like a strange thing, but you're going to get more patient, you're going to get therefore
more experience, you're going to get more hope in God coming through. So the key though
is to attempt that patience in the tribulation. Because you could go, well, it's fine, I'll
just go through some tribulation, I'll get patient. No, but you've got to try and be
patient in the tribulation. It's no good if every time you go through tribulation, you
just respond by sinning. Or you go through tribulation, you just respond by not being
patient at all and just trying to solve it all yourself. You have to be patient, right?
Otherwise, you'll never get the experience of being patient. How can you have experience
of being patient if you're never patient? But when you do, and you have that hope in
God coming through for you, he won't let you down. Verse 5 says, And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us. So we have the Holy Ghost who can and will guide us through all situations.
Obviously, don't quench him. And don't keep going through tribulation but failing
with the patience part. Don't waste the tribulation, basically. You've got some tribulation,
you've got some hard times in your life. Don't waste it. Learn from it. Grow from it.
Be patient and see God come through. Wow, that was amazing. Because you're going to
go through it anyway, right? So don't waste it. So how to help yourself succeed with the
patience set. Maybe that's a weakness for you. Maybe it's like, okay, that's all
well and good, but I'm still impatient. Yeah, I'm going through tribulation, but
I don't have the patience. Well, turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, where we see that patience
is something that we can achieve in the Christian life. Okay, something that is achievable.
Even if you say, oh no, I'm an impatient person, it is achievable. You can achieve
it. In 2 Peter 1, God through Peter shows us a process that gets us there and beyond.
So we're told of the great and precious promises in 2 Peter 1, and then this in verse
5. He then says in verse 5, and beside this, giving all diligence. Notice that? Giving
all diligence, hard work, putting effort in. Attention, giving it attention and effort.
Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. Notice that it's not automatic. No, it's
not automatic. None of this is automatic. You need to give it all diligence. You want
to add virtue. You want to add knowledge. You need to give it all diligence for that.
Does it just come because you're saved? You need to work at improving yourself in
life. It's a bizarre attitude to have, to think that you don't need to improve. And
there are people out there like that, and sadly there are Christians out there like
that, who just think they've got it all solved, they don't need to improve in life.
I mean that's a bizarre thing to think, isn't it? Look, we all have a load of thoughts.
We all constantly need to strive to improve. You need to give all diligence to improve
in life, right? Giving all diligence. And some people do, they just think that the problems
they experience are all someone else's fault. Everything they go through is always someone
else's fault, there's always a scapegoat, it's never their fault, it's always someone
else, never your fault, nothing you could have done differently. Come on. You could
always have done something better, really, couldn't you? You could always have handled
that relationship problem better. You could have always have handled that parenting better.
You could have always handled something better. We can all improve, can't we? And we need
to give it all diligence. Or that you're excused, and this is another thing you notice, and
people do, and I think more so nowadays as well, there's a lot of this sort of buck passing.
Everyone's excused because of X, Y, Z in your life. Whatever happened in your childhood,
whatever happened, you know, recently, or maybe in your adulthood, or something else,
it's mommy-daddy issues, it's never your fault. There are people like that, aren't
there? They're frustrating to deal with. X, Y, Z, do you know what X, Y, Z in your
life means? That you need to give even more diligence to improve. It's like, right, I've
got some issues, I've got some problems, and understandable, right? I've had some problems
because of my past, I've had some problems because of the way I was raised, because of
this that happened, because of that that happened. So therefore I need to give all diligence,
even more diligence, even more reason to give all diligence to improve. And the work at
things to try and improve and not just give myself a get-out every time. He said, and
beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. So he
said, add to your faith virtue, which is moral goodness, basically. We need to add to our
faith the moral goodness. So yeah, you're saved, doesn't mean you're suddenly a morally
upright person, doesn't mean you're suddenly a good person, doesn't mean you've suddenly
got this virtue just because you're saved. A lot of saved people, sadly, have lousy morals.
It's not automatic. You need to give all diligence to become virtuous. You need to put effort,
time, you need to think about it and spend some time meditating on it. Being honest with
yourself, going, yeah, I was a bit dishonest then. Yeah, that wasn't virtuous, that wasn't
the right thing to do. No, that wasn't righteous. Be honest with yourself, right? And it's a
desire then, isn't it? It's a desire to do right, to be upright, honest, to have decent
morals, yeah? And if you have that desire, that will, that strength to want to get right,
because that's what we should have, shouldn't we? Yeah, yeah, look, we're all going to get
it wrong, right? We're all going to fail. We're all going to have times where we're
not virtuous, right? But if you have the desire, you want to, you're trying to put some diligence
into it. You're like, look, I want to be. You're praying to God, you say, help me to
be better, help me to be a better person, be a more honest person. Not just, oh, well,
it's all right, you know. Oh, that's all that, you know, that's all the holy of the
nows, emblems, you know what I mean? Virtue. Yeah, no, no, you're like, look, I want to
be a better person, God, yeah? If you have that, if you have all of that, yeah, that
strength to want to get right, from there we can then add knowledge, the knowledge of
what God considers right and wrong, yeah? God's will in our lives. He said, giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. So we add knowledge,
right? And true knowledge really requires living it, doesn't it? You ever notice that?
Being a doer of the word. It all starts to make sense when you start living for God,
don't you? You can read the Bible through a hundred times and not go to church and not
do anything for God and not start trying to work for him, not start trying to serve him,
and you just don't really have the knowledge. Yeah, you have a superficial knowledge. Yeah,
you have some understanding, you can remember dates, you can remember people, you can memorize
stuff, but a knowledge of actually living for God, seeing it applying to your life,
right? He said, and to knowledge though, so you've got that virtue, you've got that knowledge,
temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness. So to knowledge, what
is temperance? Temperance is moderation, or another common word that we might use is self-control.
So moderation, self-control. We need the knowledge of what we need to be controlled
about, don't we? You kind of know what it is. You've got to have that will to want to
be virtuous. You want to get that knowledge about what to be virtuous about. Once you've
got that will to want to be virtuous, you need to have that knowledge of what to be
self-control, what to be temperate about. The word of God helps us to resist the flesh
and have self-control as well, doesn't it? So when you're in the word of God, when you're
getting that knowledge, you start to understand more what you need to have that temperance
about, and then with that temperance, with that self-control, patience. So the patience,
and particularly we're looking at in tribulation, in affliction, in trials, in looming trouble,
the ability to wait on the Lord and not just fold like a cheap deck of cards every time
there's a problem, every time there's trouble, every time there's an issue, just giving,
just fold. The ability to do that requires temperance, which requires knowledge, which
requires virtue in the first place. And with that, we're more able to become the complete
Christian, aren't we? So once you get that, you need that, you need to strive to get that,
to get that patience on the back of all those other things, to then become what surely you
want to become. You want to become a complete Christian, you want to try and be the real
deal, right? Verse 6 says, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and
to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barrowed
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you want to be a fruitful
Christian, don't you? You want to be an effective Christian? Well, it requires patience. So
with all that in mind, if patience is something that you feel is lacking in your life, work
hard, give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, pray to God to help you with it, you
know, say to him, I want to do the right thing, God, you know, I want to do the right thing,
I want to do your will, not my flesh's will, gain more knowledge, read more, learn more,
apply more, get more temperance or self-control discipline in your life, and you know one
way to do it, just, you know what, just the self-discipline of reading your Bible helps
you get some temperance in your life. If you could get that discipline, that self-discipline
of right, in the morning, I set my alarm, I get up, I read my Bible. That takes some
temperance and it will help you with temperance in other areas of your life, because now suddenly
you're having some self-control, you're having some self-discipline. Right, in the evening
I read my Bible before I go to bed. Right, this is when I pray. And you start to add
those things from that knowledge of living for God, doing how God wants you to. Right,
on a Sunday and Wednesday I'm at church. I have the self-discipline, I have the self-control
to say that's what I'm doing, that's what I'm going to be, and you'll start to see it,
being able to play it in other areas of your life. And then, and then with all of that,
you work on being patient on the back of that, holding out for God to come through for you,
which is what we want to be able to do, don't we? And the more you do that, the more you
start to be patient with the situation, you wait, and then you see God come through for
you, and you're able to wait, and you're able to be patient. Sometimes you feel like you're
put to the wire a bit, you know? Well, you feel like you're, man, this is getting close,
this is a close call, you know? And, you know, we had a situation recently, I saw you just
pull him up like Lucky, for example, with work, right? And, you know, yeah, sorry if
you don't want me to mention this, but he had an offer, I'm not going to go into detail,
but he had an offer of a job a while back, but it wasn't the right thing, because it
basically wouldn't have been God's will to sort of work. Oh, I'll get going, he can share
with you if he wants, I don't know, right? So we talked about that, and he could have
been impatient then, he could have gone, well, I haven't got much time left, I need to get
this job, right? For various reasons. He needed work, right? But he said, no, I'm not going
to do that job. We talked about it, he, you know, he didn't need me to say it, he already
made the decision, right? But, you know, he made the right decision. He waited it out,
he's patient, and now he's blessed with something where he's not wondering if this is basically
moral or not doing this job, you know? But it took some patience, didn't it? It took
waiting hours. Sorry, Lucky, too much. But, and you could all probably think in your lives
of many situations like that, where you've been patient, you knew, well, I could do this,
I could jump the gun, I could choose, but I'm going to wait. And when you do that, you
see God come through, don't you? He comes through.
Okay, then you could confidently ask God, like, like Isaiah did in Isaiah 33, too, where
he said this, in Isaiah 33, too. O Lord, be gracious unto us, we have waited for thee,
be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. And believe me,
it's much better to have God as our salvation in the time of trouble than anyone or anything
else. You want God to come through for you, right? Not anyone else. To be there to protect
us every morning, knowing that he's got whatever situation you're in. Is that a great thing
to get up in the morning and just say, yeah, God's got this, God's going to do all this,
it's a bit rough, this could get a bit, this could go to the wire, but I know God's got
it. That's a good feeling to have, isn't it? And it's not because we deserve it, it's because
of his grace. He's there to be gracious to us, like I said there, but you have to believe
and you have to wait. However, many people it seemed didn't when the Assyrian army rolled
into town. I might mention this a few times in this, just to help you with this, and it
helps me when I'm reading this, the Assyrian army were terrifying. Okay, this was a terrifying
army. They used to do things like flay people alive, like skin them, as a punishment, because
the way that they had people submit to them and to go and to pay the tribute was just
classic fear. Scared of going against this army and not doing what they said. These people
were rolling into town. Hezekiah especially would have been tortured horrendously to death,
and other leaders of Judah and specifically in Jerusalem at this time. This was really
scary stuff, right? And don't get me wrong, getting killed is scary, right? It wasn't
just getting killed, it was getting tortured beyond belief, yeah, as well. This was scary
stuff. And you could say understandably, but ultimately God still wanted him to rely
on him. Said in verse 3, at the noise of the tumult the people fled. At the lifting up
of thyself the nations were scattered. And your spoils should be gathered like the gathering
of the caterpillar, as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. So
the Assyrian army was really though a judgment of God upon the many that had rejected him,
wasn't it? Nations or people, we might say, another way of saying it was scattered. The
spoil of all those surrounding cities of Judah was gathered. If you've ever seen, if you've
ever tried to grow vegetables and had caterpillars going through them, I don't know if you've
ever seen that, yes. I remember once we were trying to grow, we had like a big old vegetable
garden in one of our houses, but I'd never netted it all off. And once the butterflies
started laying the caterpillars, it was like a daily thing just squashing caterpillars
all over the leaves. And they go through it quickly, they're just like decimating nice
broccoli plants and other things, and it's pretty annoying. Why didn't I net it? Okay,
but anyway, point being, yeah, they decimate things quickly, as do locusts, okay. The destruction
that locusts can cause, especially a swarm of locusts. And this is what was to happen
to those that didn't trust the Lord. Verse 3 said, at the noise of the tumult the people
fled. At the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. And your spoils should be
gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar, as the running to and fro of locusts shall
he run upon them. The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth on high. He hath filled Zion
with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy
times, and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. So first fulfilment
being Hezekiah's reign, on the back of them eventually surviving what seemed like, I said,
not just scary, but just an inevitable conquest by this mighty Assyrian empire. The Lord being
exalted, many of the bad guys gone, Hezekiah ruling in righteousness, okay, that's what
was going to happen there, as we know that they ended up succeeding and the Lord came
through for them. But the proof of doing what God says, getting them through certain death,
okay, that's what was going to happen, wasn't it, for those that stayed and relied in the
walls of Jerusalem. The wisdom and knowledge we saw here of God would have been then more
readily relied on. His salvation, along with a healthy fear of Him too, would have been
on the back of all of that, right. And isn't that one of the results of God coming through
for you? It does strengthen your faith, like I said earlier. When you get that right and
you have that patience, then afterwards it's like, wow, you get that experience, you get
that hope of God through that. You're more likely to do it His way next time, aren't
you? That should be a result. So yeah, I did it God's way, I waited, I saw God come through,
and then the next time it comes, you should be more likely to do that again, unless you're
stubborn, unless you're foolish. That's what you should do, you'll learn from it, right.
He said in verse 5, the Lord is exalted, for He dwelleth on high, filled Zion with judgment
and righteousness, and wisdom and knowledge should be the stability of thy times and strength
of salvation, the fear of the Lord is His treasure. But ultimate fulfillment will be
when the Lord returns. So there is, I believe, here a picture, a foreshadowing of what's
going to happen in the future. When He returns, He's going to be ruling from Zion, hence filling
it with judgment and righteousness. So the wisdom and knowledge from Him and the saints
ruling and reigning with Him, being basically what makes that thousand years so stable.
It's a wisdom, the knowledge, with salvation proclaimed loud and clear, with all these
saved people ruling and reigning, obviously, alongside Christ, and fear of the Lord. He's
going to be much more likely with His physical presence on earth as well, isn't it, on the
back of, you know, like that three and a half years of God's wrath as well. But before that,
there's a three and a half years of tribulation, before He returns, which is pictured here
by the Assyrian Empire, specifically in this passage and some others we've seen. So there
are different pictures we're seeing here, it is the tribulation. He said in verse 7,
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without. The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
So just to remind you, crying in the Bible is referring to shouting, yelling, we might
say. Here I believe he's saying that they will be without or outside the city shouting.
Those who try to negotiate peace with them will be weeping bitterly. We see in 2 Kings
18, okay, and you don't have to turn there, you can if you want, I'm just going to quote
one verse, but in 2 Kings 18, we see that Hezekiah had already previously given them.
We see 300 talents of silver, 30 talents of gold, all the silver from the house of the
Lord, the treasures of the king's house when they first rock up, okay. Gold from the temple
doors and the pillars too, so he just gives them, he seems to just give them everything,
okay. Those ambassadors that negotiated, they would have been pretty bitter when the army
showed up, you can imagine, wouldn't you? Those that negotiated this, it's not that
he was just out there stripping off things, they've negotiated with this Assyrian army,
they've given them all this stuff, all this gold, all this silver, and now the army's
there. That wouldn't have been a very happy time. And just to remind you that they had
already come up against cities of Judah and taken them. 2 Kings 18, 13 says, now in the
fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, verse 13 there, did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come
up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. So again, it wasn't that they
just kind of bee-lined for Jerusalem and, oh, there's a little siege and they're lucky,
they went, this is a horrific time. They took all these cities. Lachish, for example, was
besieged for a long time, it was a, you know, a strong city, they ended up taking it, they
were doing horrific stuff to people, this was a bad time for Judah, okay. Hence here
in verse 8, Isaiah said, the highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth, he had broken
the covenant, he had despised the cities, that's what I think he's talking about here,
he regardeth no man, the earth mourneth and languishes, Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down,
Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. So all places
that the Assyrians seem to have invaded, with the result being that people aren't, I think,
maybe traveling around, so the wayfaring man ceaseth. So people aren't traveling around
during this time. You've got this Assyrian army just destroying cities of Judah. The
he here referring to Sennacherib, who for me I think quite clearly also pictures the
Antichrist in the end times, doesn't he? Here he broke the deal made when Hezekiah, I think,
gave him all that silver and gold. The Antichrist will also, I think, have some sort of so-called
agreement with Christians, okay. He doesn't just come in all guns blazing, does he? You
know Mark 13, 22 says, For false Christs and false prophets shall show signs and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. So to seduce them, that's to make them believe
that they're right, like to even, if it were possible, had it been possible, they would
be seducing to thinking these people were legit, they were the real deal, potentially
even, you know, the second coming of Christ. But I think also that people will be conned
by him for a time as he rises to power. Do you remember, we looked at the pictures in
Joseph's life at the end of Genesis, if they're anything to go by, he's going to seemingly
offer some solution to the world, some sort of peace solution, some sort of maybe during
famine as well, food solution. He'll seem like some sort of saviour, but then things
will turn. And they'll turn for everyone, ultimately. He said in verse 8 here, The highways
lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth, he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised
the cities, he regardeth no man. So it's not that the Antichrist is just going to be, well,
best buddies with all the world, but it's only the Christians, because ultimately it
seems that everyone would have perished in the future when we see the prophecies had
it not been for what's going to be the Christ's return. Matthew 24, 22 says, And except those
days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those
days shall be shortened. So that's what's going to happen, but it could have been to
the point, if Christ doesn't return in the future, no flesh will be saved. He regardeth
no man, we see here, which I believe is a picture of the Antichrist, he is at least
a foreshadowing, you might say, of him. Verse 9 says, The earth mourneth and languisheth,
Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, Sharon is like a wilderness and basin, and Carmel shall
shake off their fruits. And back in the immediate fulfilment, though, of what we're seeing here,
this was all of God, and it was to get a reaction from his people, and also to sort the wheat
from the chaff too. And ultimately, look, God allows a tribulation, God allows a great
tribulation, okay, but here this is clearly of God. He said that in verse 10, Now will
I rise, saith the Lord, now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive
chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble, your breath as fire shall devour you, and the people
shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Remember,
he's been warning them and warning them, this is what's going to happen, this is what's
going to happen, and now they're going to get it at the hands of the Assyrians. But
he's saying that they're going to bring forth chaff, which is a waste product when harvesting
grains and stubble, he said here as well, you shall bring forth stubble, it's the stump
left in the ground after harvest. So it's just the worthless stuff, the useless stuff
at the end of barley or wheat harvest. And I think he's saying that the destruction of
the region by the Assyrians will leave them with chaff and stubble. So like I said, they're
going to take all these cities, it's going to be all the cities of Judah, they're going
to be going through the whole land, there's not going to be much left, right? That's what
they're going to end up bringing forth nothing, okay, stubble and chaff. Then he talked of
them being burned like lime, which was apparently made, by the way, in a kiln, okay, so it
was made at heat. Some might, some think maybe with thorns used as kindling, okay, so maybe
you could say that, where he says, and the people should be as the burnings of lime,
as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. But the image, regardless, is of them
being burned, which apparently as well was how the Assyrians dealt with rebellious cities
and nations as well. So when they did rebel, those that were under tribute or didn't allow
them to basically bring them under tribute and to become part of that empire, a lot of
people and places were getting burnt as well to the ground, razed to the ground. But there's
a picture I believe here too, okay, with those being warned here, being the subject still
from verse one, that's who's being warned. The spoilers, the treacherous, who fled according
to verses three to four in this chapter, still the same subject here, instead of trusting
in God's word and the safety of Jerusalem. So it's those that have rejected God and will
end up being burned in the fire, which we see in the next couple of verses being everlasting
fire, okay. Said here 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 has surprised
the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with a devouring fire? Who among us shall
dwell with everlasting burning? So the everlasting burning is being helped and eventually the
lake of fire, which perhaps helps explain verse 11, where it said, Ye shall conceive
chaff, ye shall bring full stubble, your breath as fire shall devour you. So it's a bit you're
thinking, what does he mean your breath as fire? Your breath sometimes applying to your
words. For example, Psalm 33 6 says, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and
all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. No, it can't apply to your words, right?
And according to Matthew 12 37, it's our words that will ultimately either justify or condemn
us. He said, For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
So it's the unsaved breath or their words that condemn them to hell, or we could say
devour them as it says here. Verse 14 said this with that in mind, The sinners in Zion
are afraid. Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with
a devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? So the sinners
being the unsaved, the hypocrites being the wicked. So definitely a spiritual application
too with the unsaved and the fakes among them being those that will dwell with everlasting
burnings, right? Being hell. But the first application being the Assyrian army coming.
And these people, like I said, were the many that lightly fled before the Assyrians arrived.
They weren't trusting in the Lord, only to be lightly captured and killed in these surrounding
cities. The historical records, by the way, just interestingly of the Sennacherim prism,
have the Assyrians claiming at least, then again, you know, this is what they claimed,
that they conquered and destroyed forty-six cities of Judah. That's quite a lot, right?
So that's what they claimed, at least with the Assyrians and have been found in their
historical records. Whereas I think the ones that had strong faith, those of Judah, those
of Jerusalem that did, that trusted in the Lord, were the ones that then stayed and survived.
Verse 15 says, He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth
the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holdier 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. Now, if you look at that, notice how there's a correlation between the strong
faith, the patience, and righteous living. So he said here, he that walketh righteously,
which is basically godly living, isn't it? Walking righteously, trying to do the right
thing, trying to behave the right way, trying to live as God wants you to live. Living righteously,
which by the way, has to therefore, if you're going to live righteously, it's going to include
being in the house of God. It's going to include those things that you might hear repeated
time and time again, but there's such a key to it. Are you really living righteously if
you're forsaking the assembling of yourselves together? Are you really living righteously
if you're not doing the Great Commission? Are you really living righteously if you're
not meditating on God's word like we're commanded to? Are you really living righteously if you
don't have a prayer life? Are you really living righteously if you're not doing those things?
No, but in all areas, right, it's just trying to walk righteously. He that walketh righteously,
trying to live the godly life, the Christian life. He said, and speaketh uprightly. So
speaking uprightly is speaking honestly, sincerely. It's someone who's just, you can
take what they say at face value, right? It's just someone who's honest. He's not sneaking
around, not trying to deceive, not trying to come up with a cunning way of getting out
of this, getting out of that. Just someone who's just upright, honest, sincere, right?
Despising the gain of oppression. So they're not covetous. They're not ripping people off.
They hate that. They hate people oppressing people. They hate that sort of stuff. They
refuse bribes, it says here as well, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes.
He doesn't want to have them. He doesn't want to basically shake his hands. I don't want
that. I don't want to be bribed. He's basically trying to live honestly, not just be bribed
in life, not to give favor to people that give him things. He keeps away from the bloodthirsty,
said here, stoppeth his ears from the hearing of blood. So basically, he doesn't want to
be around it. I think you could say maybe not around bad people. He doesn't want to
be around those bad people, hearing the stuff that they get up to. Avoid seeing evil, he
said as well. He said, shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. So you can think of a few ways
you can apply that, but he basically tries to keep away from bad stuff, keeps away from
bad people, from bad things. He said, he shall dwell on high. That's the person. His place
of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His water shall
be sure. And we saw in 2 Peter 1 that with all diligence had virtue, then knowledge,
then temperance to get that patience and godliness, didn't we? And it seems to me, I don't know,
I see a correlation there. Turn to Matthew 24. These were the types of people, Matthew
24, that made it through this tribulation. Yeah, that's what it just said there. That's
what we just saw. The types of people that were going to make it through this tribulation
coming, that were going to dwell on high, that were going to have their defense the
munitions of rocks, that bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure, that it even
be provided for, was the person that walketh righteously, speaketh uprightly, despite the
gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holy bribes, that stoppeth his ears from
hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. It was the person that I think
was diligently adding virtue to his faith, adding knowledge to his virtue, adding temperance,
getting that godliness, etc., on the back of that. That's the person that was going
to get through, that will get through that tribulation, that will wait on the Lord.
Not those with the most backup funds in the tribulation. And, you know what, I think it's
the same with the tribulation to come. It's the same type of people that will make it
through the great tribulation, isn't it? Not those with the biggest bank balance. Some
people think, that's how, if I invest in gold now, if I invest in, like, what's the
cryptocurrency, whatever it is, right? Yeah, we'd better invest in the best cryptocurrency
right now, we might get it through the tribulation. That's not how you get through the tribulation.
People honestly believe the Christians out there, they've got stockpiles of all sorts.
People with, like, bug-out plans, and, you know, all the guns in the world and everything
else, and that's how we're going to get it through, they think. They've got the most
food reserves. But that's not the people that are going to get it through. The people
in the UK with the best air rifles. They ain't the ones getting through it, right? Or maybe
it's, oh, okay, no, no, pass it, haven't I? They've got a crossbow. Anyone ever looked
at crossbows before? Is it just me? Let me show you one, right? I'm kidding. Some people
think that's what's going to get them through the tribulation. Look, crossbows cool, yeah?
You can't, you know, you can't really have much else that's lethal here that you can
fly by. Problem is, is that the police and the army have something a bit better, right?
You're crossbow and getting you out of it. It might help you if the moors ride into town
on the camels or something, right? But throwing knives, all that stuff. Some people, they're
like, I've got the armoury, I've got the food, I've got the dried food, I've got the money,
I've got the like the cave somewhere that I've earmarked that I'm going to get. That's
not how you're getting through it. It's those in the will of God. It's those doing God's
sins. It's those living as close to God as possible. Matthew 24 and verse 12 says, and
because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And what's ultimate love?
What's loving your neighbour ultimately is preaching the gospel to him, isn't it? But
he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. And it's not because he's
hiding out somewhere. It's because what? Verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come.
That's how you endure until the end. And let me tell you what's going to make you be more
likely to be preaching the gospel till pretty much the end, until it's time to flee, until
it's that final part, that final time. To have that, to not have your love wax cold
is being in the will of God. It's to be walking righteously, speaking uprightly, despising
the gain of oppressions, shaking your hands for a hold of your bribes, stopping your ears
from hearing the blood shutting your eyes from seeing evil. It just comes back to living
right again, doesn't it? It comes back to living for God. And that's how you keep going.
That's how you keep sowing. That's how you're more likely to be patient in those times.
That's how you're more likely to have that faith and hope that God's going to protect
you through this. And I don't need to go and run off to wherever and hide somewhere.
That's not how you're going to survive it. It's enduring until the end.
He said, he shall dwell on high, verse 16, back where you are in Isaiah 33. That person,
that righteous man, that upright man, he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall
be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be shore. Ammunitions
here are fortifications, defenses. He will be provided for as well as it seems. Bread
shall be given him, his waters shall be shore. Okay? Verse 17, thine eyes shall see the king
in his beauty. They shall behold the land that is very far off. So first application,
I think they're going to see the twilight years of Hezekiah's reign on the back of that
invasion and them surviving it. But ultimate application is the king coming in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory, I think is what he's talking about here. They'll see
the king in his beauty, beholding heaven as the sky departs as a scroll, perhaps. Verse
18, thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where
is he that counted the towers? So I think he's saying that it won't come to pass, okay?
With thine heart shall meditate terror. So it'll only be contemplated, thought about,
but they won't actually have to deal with the terror. Yet the scribes, the receivers
or maybe treasurers, those that counted the towers, so these people that were basically
that didn't believe they would make their way through, they will be gone, okay? Because
where are they? They fled. They were foolish and I think ultimately they'll probably be
dead. And it makes you think of 1 Corinthians 1.20, that verse, doesn't it? Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Have not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Which is what happened here. You know, the wisdom would have been
to get out of there, wouldn't it? Get out of Dodge. The wisdom would have been just
leg it. The wisdom would have been, have you seen how many siege towers they've got?
We've got no chance. The wisdom would have been to get away. But God makes foolish the
wisdom of this world, doesn't he? Because true wisdom, the right thing to do is to alarm
God. And you can imagine people, you know, here, the safest place was within the walls
of Jerusalem. And what was within the walls of Jerusalem? God's house. God's house. Being
as close to God's house as possible. And you can imagine people in the tribulation
to come saying, you need to flee. You can imagine like other Christians, you can imagine
even maybe family and friends that maybe aren't even saved and they're seeing the persecution
coming now on believers and saying, look, you just need to do as they say or you just
need to do this or you just need to get out of here or you need to do whatever. You need
to renounce God. You need to pretend to not be saved. You need to pretend to be something
else. You just need to do something. You can imagine there'll be a lot of wisdom of
the world, won't there, to get through it. There'll be people maybe who are trading
on the black market and doing things and coming out with the ways they're going to get out
of it. And you can imagine all these different ideas of things coming. But I think the safest
place will be close to God, receiving his protection. Safest place will be, until it's
impossible, in God's house, doing the things of God, soul winning, in your Bible, doing
what God wants you to do. And I think you'll find a way for us, right? He said, thou shalt
not see a fierce people, verse 19, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive,
of a stammering tongue, as like foreign languages, that thou canst not understand. So I think
he's just saying, you're not going to see it, they're not going to get in. Those flaying
people alive, Assyrians, won't get to you. They're not getting in the walls. You're not
going to see them. It's not going to happen. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.
Solemnities being religious ceremonies. It's where it was happening. It's where they were
doing the sacrifices. It's where God wanted them, right? Look upon Zion, the city of our
solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall
not be taken down. Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of
the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad
rivers and streams, where it shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship
pass thereby. They're basically saying they're not going to take down that tent. It's a tabernacle
that shall not be taken down. Not even one of the stakes shall be removed. They won't
be sailing into those rivers and streams. Verse 21, wherein shall go no galley with
oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. Why? For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is
our lawgiver, the Lord is our king. He will save us. And that's the solution to all of
our tribulation, isn't it? That's the solution to our trials, to our problems, to our afflictions
in life. Let God deal with it. Let God do it. Don't try and take it into your own hands.
Don't do it the world's way. Let God deal with it. Let him judge things. Let him tell
us how to behave. Not someone else, not something else. Let him lead us. Let him save us. How?
Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Wait for him to come through. And he does come through,
believe me, he does come through. By tacklings are loosed, they could not well strengthen
their masks, they could not spread the sail. Then is the prey of a great spoil divided,
the lame take the prey. So, I think it's talking about here those that flee. So the people
will be divided with those that flee becoming prey, maybe even to the lame, he's saying,
as opposed to those that stay in Jerusalem. So that it's divided, the lame take the prey,
but then verse 24 says in the inhabitant, so that's those in Jerusalem, shall not say
I am sick, the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. So, I think those
that trust in the Lord will be protected and forgiven, and he's giving them that opportunity
again. He's saying you still have that chance. You still have the chance to dwell therein,
you'll be forgiven for your lack of faith, you'll be forgiven for wanting to flee, you'll
be forgiven all of that, but ultimately what is it as well? It's another picture of salvation,
isn't it? The inhabitant shall not say I'm sick, the people that dwell therein shall
be forgiven their iniquity. Those that put their trust in the Lord will be forgiven their
iniquity. That's a picture of salvation there, and that for me is how to understand
Isaiah chapter 33, great stuff in there, and I think it does help to remind yourself of
what they were coming up against and what was rolling into town, the Caesarian army,
but ultimately it comes back to what waiting on the Lord, that whole chapter was really
about waiting on the Lord. And on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the lessons that we can get out of that chapter
of Isaiah, Lord, and I hope I've preached them accurately and also in a way that people
will be able to take home that message, Lord, and the main message being to be patient and
wait on you, Lord, in hard times and times of tribulation. And Lord, help us to all do
that, help us to understand that the tribulations we go through should increase our patience,
but we also need to work at that, work at being patient, by ultimately being in the
things of God, trying to be virtuous, trying to acknowledge, learning, growing, getting
that temperance, and with that then that patience, Lord. And help us to all want to be more patient
in life, to wait on you more, to put things in your hands more, Lord, help us to do that.
This week going forward, Lord, with everything that we come up against and onwards, beyond
that as well, Lord, help us not to just forget this message, help us to just remember that
it's a big part of our lives, tribulation and being patient through it, Lord. Help us
to all get home safe this evening, to return on Sunday for the Saturday marathon, for those
that make it there as well, Lord, for that to go great, in Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.