Preaching Isaiah 33:1-6, the speaker contrasts Assyria's historical destruction of Judah with Christ as the ultimate stability against modern political volatility. He critiques liberal theology denying biblical miracles, citing God's angel destroying 185,000 Assyrian soldiers to fulfill prophecy. Drawing from Titus 2 and Hebrews 6, he argues that divine grace cultivates sober-mindedness, self-control, and earnestness, urging believers to imitate faithful predecessors like their parents. Ultimately, this steadfastness counters slothfulness, enabling Christians to display composed fortitude amidst trials while awaiting Jesus's appearing as the Prince of Peace. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Why We Leave Five Star Reviews00:04:58
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Everybody asks, but I'm going to tell you why.
When you give us a positive review, what that does is it triggers the algorithm so that our podcast shows up on more people's news feeds.
You and I both know that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries aren't.
We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
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We've got several hundred reviews so far, but we'd like to reach a thousand reviews by the end of this year.
The year of our Lord 2024.
If you haven't left a review yet, take a moment and help us achieve our goal.
Thank you, David.
It's wonderful to be reminded of the law of the Lord and especially the fifth commandment.
God's law is certainly for our good, as we just heard, and it is good for us to honor fathers and mothers who have done so much for us.
So it's a privilege even to be reminded of that.
There'll be a lot in today's sermon which might reflect back to the fifth commandment.
So let's refresh our minds or keep that in our minds as we now move forward to hearing the word preached.
It's a pleasure to be able to preach this morning.
Again, as I said, Pastor Joel's gone, and I always consider it a great privilege to be here.
And pleasure to preach for or preach in the place of Joel when there's opportunity for him to rest.
So, if you have your Bibles or a copy of the sermon notes which are in front of you, please direct your attention now to the text at hand.
If you'll notice, today we're going to be pausing our sermon series through the book of Matthew and preaching through at least a one off sermon through the book of Isaiah.
And today's sermon is titled Christ, the Stability of Our Times, which is a phrase which is taken from Isaiah chapter 33.
Therefore, today's primary text will be Isaiah 33, verses 1 through 6.
And as I mentioned, I plan to incorporate or synthesize other portions of text from the book of Isaiah as well.
So, as is our tradition here at the church, would you stand with me as I read today's text?
When I conclude reading it, I will say, This is the word of the Lord.
And as a congregation, I will ask that we respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
Once more, today's text is Isaiah 33, verses 1 through 6.
The Bible says this Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed.
You traitor, whom none has betrayed.
When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed.
And when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
O Lord, be gracious to us.
We wait for you.
Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
At the tumultuous noise, peoples flee.
When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered, and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers.
As locusts sleep, it is leapt upon.
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high.
He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times.
Abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated and join me now as I pray.
God, we thank you, oh gracious Father.
We thank you of your word again, which reminds us of the truth of things.
It's easy to lose our heads or be distracted or run in the way of our sinful passions, Lord, and you command us not to do so, Lord.
You ground us in your perfect steadiness, in your perfect constant steadfastness, oh Lord, and you remind us through texts such as these that you are the stability of our times, Lord.
Each and every person who lives, In each and every day, Lord, each and every time that a Christian has found themselves, Lord, you have been the stability of that time, oh God.
And we thank you that you ground us, you keep our feet planted, us firm in you, oh Lord.
We thank you that in Christ, you help us not to lose our heads.
You help us to remain constant, always moving forward, always our eyes fixed on Christ.
And we pray that you would help us to do so through a glimpse of your word today.
Help me to preach your word faithfully, O God.
You know that I need your help, Lord, so please be with me and please be with this congregation as well, Lord.
We pray that they would hear your word, Lord, and that you would grant to us the fruits of responding to your word in faith, in obedience, and in worship to you, God, as we continue to worship you on this morning, God.
Grounded in God's Word Today00:02:39
Be glorified, be blessed, and be with us, God.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So I first became a Christian when I was about five or six years old.
And the story of God's grace at work in my life is a testament, first and foremost, of course, to the grace of God in Christ.
At a young age, he revealed to me that I was not merely the product of evolutionary forces or chemical processes, but was purposefully created by God to know him, to trust him, to love him, and to obey him.
Such is the same story for each and every one of you as well.
With the help of my parents, I realized that God loved me, but this specific love was a special kind of love.
It was not merely the kind of love that every proverbial man or woman. Has sought for that every poet has gushed about or that seems to be in the air at Christmas time in the Hallmark movies.
Instead, God's perfect love is exhibited chiefly in his grace, his unconditional, unmerited favor given to his image bearers through the life, death, and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ.
Whenever I think of these younger years, I think of my parents, and I'm especially grateful to them.
They both grew up in unbelieving homes and were saved in their 20s later in their life.
Though they may not have known it at that time, God used their lives in the mustard seed of faith that He planted in each of them to correct and completely alter the trajectory of our family's life.
I thank God for this and I rejoice in His grace to me in first saving my parents.
Because of this, my sister and I grew up knowing the Lord, and now too, my children have the blessing of growing up with Christian parents, but also Christian grandparents.
So, this is a blessing that I thank the Lord for often.
Though I understood God's grace from a young age, it wasn't until I moved out on my own and started attending a newly reformed church in San Diego where I began to develop a hunger and thirst for reading the scriptures.
Since those years, God has used his word to wash me, to train me, and to sanctify me more into the image of Christ.
There is much we can glean from the word of God as it is taught, preached, and applied to our own hearts, our lives, our institutions, and our society.
It truly is a living and active word, and the one who spends his days drinking deeply from it will have no lack.
Finding Hope in Isaiah's Prophecy00:06:52
To this day, though, some of the most challenging books for me in my yearly Bible reading have been the works of the prophets, particularly the major prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.
As I've grown, I have even come to appreciate some of the minor prophets for their appointed message and their seemingly consistent train of thought.
Arguably, all of us remember the story of Jonah for this reason.
It's easy to follow.
Earlier this year, as well, as we preached through the book of Ezra, we saw how the minor prophets Haggai and Zechariah spoke to the people in the midst of the rebuilding of the second temple.
The major prophets, on the other hand, have remained a challenge in my study of the word, and I would dare to suggest that maybe that is true for some of you as well.
I would often get lost while reading such books, not knowing who the prophet was speaking to.
What he was addressing and what his words meant for Christians throughout history in the ages to follow.
For these major prophets and for the book of Isaiah, which we will be focusing on today, context is key.
Therefore, our study of the book of Isaiah must begin with the first verse of chapter 1.
Isaiah 1, verse 1 reads The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
In this verse, we learn that Isaiah prophesied the Lord's words to a specific people, the southern kingdom, namely the kingdom of Judah, which existed prior to the period of the exile to Babylon.
He prophesied these words to the kingdom of Judah at a specific time, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, we learn from the text.
So his prophesying spanned the reigns of four different kings throughout Judah's history.
Meaning that Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord to take up residence as a prophet and to speak his word for over 40 years.
We should expect nothing less from one of the Lord's prophets, but this single fact is remarkable.
Throughout the course of the book's 66 chapters and 40 some odd years, Isaiah prophesies with consistency and clarity.
Ironically, and maybe not surprising, but many liberal and critical theologians, for them, this fact is an impossible reality.
Many of these theologians have sought to explain this away by stating that the book of Isaiah is really a collection of the words of not one, but three different Isaiahs.
These are the same scholars who dispute that the miracles of the scriptures could not possibly have happened and were merely embellished and fantastical accounts of natural occurrences.
You think of the flood or other such characteristics that happened in the scriptures, they've tried to explain away as merely embellished accounts or natural occurrences that.
People were taken away or carried away in their explanations.
You see, such theologians claim to follow Christ and yet have traded the wonderful inheritances of special revelation and sovereign providence for a palatable Christianity to gain the approval of the elites and the skeptics of our day.
Such scholars have the appearance of godliness but deny its power and ultimately do more to undermine the truth of Christ and lead many astray into.
Doubts through their contextualizations.
Instead, as we've said, we see the remarkable consistency of Isaiah's word and message throughout the 40 years and various kings that we see ascend to the throne.
In fact, it is safe to say that during Isaiah's prophetic tenure, nearly everything is changing, while the constant thread is Isaiah's word to the people.
Despite changing circumstances and the passage of time, the word of the Lord remains constant and steadfast.
Isaiah himself prophesies this in Isaiah chapter 40, where he says, The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
We can see this over the course of short intervals of time, as well as the course of the history of the world.
God's word and the unfolding of his providence are consistent and steady despite the changing of the guard, the rise and fall of dominant civilizations, and when it seems sin and darkness are triumphing over the earth.
This is an encouraging and timely word to us.
As Americans of the 21st century, we have grown accustomed to measuring time by four year cycles.
Our politicians are often willing to say whatever is needed to protect their seat for the next election cycle.
One leader gets elected and makes progress in an area only to have it completely stripped away by the next administration.
As Solomon wisely observed in one of my favorite books, in the book of Ecclesiastes, he writes I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun.
Seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool.
Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.
This also is vanity.
In looking back on the last few years, I don't know if I can speak for many of you, but it seems to me that COVID and 2020 happened such a long time ago, nearly 10 years ago.
But then when I think that was only four years ago, I'm always astonished.
Perhaps this is because new technologies have seemed to increase the speed at which time passes, or because we live in a particularly volatile political climate.
I, like many of you, as David just said, are praising the Lord for the outcome of the election that just occurred this week.
But we would be naive to say that our work is done, or that stability has been achieved.
In fact, the work is only just beginning.
And if history bears repeating itself, we may find ourselves in a similar state.
Of affairs come 2028.
Despite the apparent truth in these realities, there is a line that runs deeper.
The truth that girds the Christian in the midst of chaotic and volatile times is found in our text today in Isaiah 33, verse 6.
Stability Amidst Chaotic Times00:02:01
He will be the stability of your times.
The word of the Lord endures forever, and He will be the stability of your times.
One of the most striking facts of this word that's spoken by Isaiah is that, unlike many of his other prophecies, which were foretold to be fulfilled in a future day, this spoken word brought present hope to the people of Judah and was also an everlasting promise.
In that way, it was directed to the people of Judah and also for all of God's people in all times and places.
All Christians can rejoice in the reality that Jesus Christ provides peace in the present day.
And is himself a stability of their times, no matter what day and age they may find themselves in.
As Isaiah sought to encourage the people of Judah with these words, so we too must find comfort in them in the present day we find ourselves in as well.
But one aspect of Isaiah's prophecy and ministry was to warn the people that there would be no peace or stability as long as they embraced sin.
In fact, God warned the people that rampant sin and rebellion would be the surest way to bring about God's judgment, leading to strife and challenging times.
This, in fact, is exactly how Isaiah begins his prophetic ministry in the beginning of the book of Isaiah.
He was first called by the Lord to prophesy during the period or the days of King Uzziah of Judah.
According to faithful historical commentaries, to set somewhat of a context, this period was a time of relative.
Stability for both the northern and southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah, respectively.
This was largely in part because the main powerhouses of the day, Egypt and Assyria, had directed their attention elsewhere for the time being.
King Ahaz and the Sign of Peace00:11:22
Therefore, Israel and Judah were surprisingly able to extend their territories to the same extent as it had been in Solomon's kingdom.
For the time being, there was the appearance of success.
The kingdoms had extended their borders.
The peoples enjoyed many treasures and were prosperous.
The land knew peace for a time.
But the Lord, through the mouth of Isaiah, warned the people that such peace and prosperity would not last.
In Isaiah chapter 2, he prophesies against the people and their sin.
Isaiah chapter 2, verses 6 through 8 reads For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is filled with idols.
They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
At the time, the kingdom appeared to be prospering.
The land was filled with silver and gold, horses and chariots.
The land had the appearance of wealth, success, and military strength.
But these became more precious in the eyes of the people than the Lord Himself.
This was the crux of Isaiah's cries against his people.
Prosperity is not always a sign of God's blessing.
By prizing God's gift and the comfort of material blessings, Judah forsook gratefulness in exchange for entitlement.
They ask not how they could use their wealth as instruments of righteousness, but how they could spend it further on their sinful pleasures.
And this in turn gave birth to idolatry.
They craft and create idols of wood and stone and neglect proper worship of the triune God.
Instead of charting a course of faithfulness for their posterity, they abandon their heritage and become like the peoples of the land, worshipers of wood and stone, of what their own fingers had made.
On the outside, Judah seemed to prosper, but Isaiah properly diagnoses the situation.
Judah was in disrepair and on a collision course with exile, abandonment, and fading into oblivion.
Isaiah prophesied of a day when the veneer of prosperity.
Would be torn asunder.
He does so just a chapter later in Isaiah chapter 3, verses 18 through 26.
In that day, the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets and the scarves, the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes and the amulets, the signet rings and nose rings, the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks and the handbags.
The mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
Instead of perfume, there will be rottenness, and instead of a belt, a rope, and instead of well set hair, baldness, and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth, and branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle, and her gates shall lament and mourn.
Empty she shall sit on the ground.
This prophecy from Isaiah in this day came in many iterations in the years that followed.
After Uzziah's death, Judah soon found herself at war with her brother, the imploding northern kingdom.
Even worse was the fact that Assyria finally had united and strengthened to become a formidable and undeniable force to be reckoned with.
In addition, a crumbling Egypt could no longer be counted on, and Judah was left to face these new dangers with a weakened stamina and little will to fight.
To add to this was the fact that it had been Foretold by one of her own prophets that the kingdom deserved every ounce of what was headed her way.
The possessions and prosperity it once had held so dear would be graciously stripped away.
Through all of this, Judah would be brought back to the place of trusting in the Lord.
But this would occur after many years and after many warnings and encouragements from Isaiah the prophet.
So after Uzziah came Jotham and then Ahaz.
We read of the failings of King Ahaz in Isaiah chapter 7.
And how his actions set the stage for what we read of in Isaiah 33.
Isaiah chapter 7, verses 10 through 17 read Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord your God.
Let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.
And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also?
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed.
From Judah, the king of Assyria.
In this prophecy, Isaiah foretells both Judah's future judgment and future blessing.
The Lord speaks to King Ahaz and entreats him to ask for a sign.
In response, King Ahaz feigns humility.
He responds, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test, in verse 12 there.
If we're not careful, his response may seem to us to be genuine, to be righteous.
As we heard from the Gospel of Matthew recently, even the Lord Jesus refutes Satan with these words.
In Matthew 4, verse 7, he says, Again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
So Ahaz is not putting the Lord as well to the test.
But Ahaz's response to the Lord is presumptuous, it is foolish.
He refuses God's help in order to continue in his idolatry.
You see, to accept the Lord's help would be to reject God's help.
Judah's horses, chariots, and idols.
Accepting God's help would be to oppose Assyria and inevitably cut off the stream that provided such riches, treasure, and idolatry, which Judah greatly esteemed.
Matthew Henry writes about this in his commentary as he states The true reason why Ahaz would not ask for a sign was because, having a dependence upon the Assyrians, their forces, and their gods for help, He would not thus far be beholden to the God of Israel or lay himself under obligations to him.
He would not ask a sign for the confirming of his faith because he resolved to persist in his unbelief and would indulge his doubts and distrusts.
But Ahaz would learn quickly that choosing Assyria meant that not only would Judah have God as her enemy, but Assyria as well.
Isaiah prophesies this exact word of judgment The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house.
Such days as have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria.
Judah, after sowing in unrighteousness and idolatry for many years, would finally live to see the fruit that came from such sowing.
Ahaz believed that he could persist in unrighteousness and not see the consequences for his actions.
He would have done well to heed the warnings of the Proverbs.
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?
Judah had viewed Assyria as a source of security, fine treasures, and scandalous forms of worship, but would soon find that Assyria and her sins would be a source of misery, judgment, and suffering.
Therefore, Isaiah speaks this word of judgment Assyria is coming.
And Judah will suffer for her sins.
But even in this word of judgment, we see a better word of blessing.
This word of blessing, you may know, was the promise of the coming Messiah, Emmanuel, Christ Jesus.
He would be born to the virgin, fulfill all righteousness, and save men once and for all from their sins.
King Ahaz did not deserve to hear this blessing, and yet the Lord gives it.
This is remarkable.
The land of Judah would taste the wrath of Assyria soon enough, but would live to see a future day when God himself would step into his creation, take on flesh, die for the sins of his people, and rule over them with perfect grace and dominion.
The promise and blessing of the Messiah came many years later, but was one that true worshipers of the Lord could cling to as they prepared to face the wrath of Assyria.
The promise of future blessing in Emmanuel provided present stability as Judah understood the reality of God's imminent judgment by Assyria.
So, too, when we, faced with the grim reality of challenging times, difficult providences, crumbling tyrannical governments, and every sort of hardship in life, ought to be refreshed as we remember that God kept his word.
Emmanuel did, in fact, come.
He has redeemed us from the curse of sin, and of the end of his government and of peace, there shall be no end.
You see, this is a precious and emboldening reality when the hardship does, in fact, come.
And in the book of Isaiah, we see the judgment of Assyria come in the later chapters.
The Rabshakeh at Jerusalem's Gates00:15:06
In Isaiah chapter 36, now in King Hezekiah's reign, we read the grim account of King Sennacherib's envoy, which was led by the Rabshakeh.
As it approached the gates of Jerusalem.
Many of you may know this, but in the ancient world, the city center was the safest place for citizens of the land to find refuge and protection from raiders and invading armies.
A person would merely have to enter the city's gates to be safe from such dangers.
For ancient cities like Jericho, Jerusalem, and the like were protected by their stout walls and armies of archers and additional defenses which were positioned strategically atop the walls.
Many invading armies then began to develop a tactic known as a siege, where they would camp outside the city's walls and cut off all flow in and out of the city.
Additional resources would be prevented from coming into the city, and therefore the people would be forced to exhaust their food and water sources until there was nothing left.
If the army laying siege was patient enough, they simply had to wait until the people of the city were sufficiently starved before the walls were broken and the city.
Defeated.
In this case, in Isaiah chapter 36, the sieging army surrounds Jerusalem, striking fear into the people of Judah and mocking the one true God.
If you have a Bible with me, you can turn with me to Isaiah 36.
We'll read the account of this siege and the words of the Rabshakeh, beginning in verse 4.
Once more, Isaiah 36, beginning in verse 4.
And the Rabshakeh said to them, Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, On what do you rest this trust of yours?
Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war?
In whom do you now trust that you have rebelled against me?
Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it.
Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God, Is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar?
Come now, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria.
I will give you 2,000 horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it?
The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it.
Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.
But the Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you?
And not to the men sitting on the wall who were doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us.
This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria Make your peace with me, and come out to me.
That each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will deliver us.
Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?
Where are the gods of Sephiroth?
Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
But they were silent and answered him not a word.
For the king's command was, Do not answer him.
Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn.
And told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
You see, in that text, with a loud voice and in the language of the people of Judah, the commander of Assyria's army, he terrorizes God's people.
He mocks them and their God.
He calls them back to their idolatries, supposing that Hezekiah's removal of the high places was wrongheaded and tempts them with the gift of comfortable lives in the land of Assyria.
Which was a land of grain, wine, bread, and vineyards, he says.
The Rabshakeh attempts to direct Judah's attention away from God and his word and to the words of the truly great king, he supposes the king of Assyria.
He says that no God has been able to withstand the power of Assyria and supremely underestimates the sovereign Lord of all.
You see, in this interaction between the Rabshakeh and the watchmen of Jerusalem's walls, We see the Rabshakeh commit two fatal errors.
In the first, he certainly underestimates the Lord, but also Judah and her king.
These are not the same people in Isaiah 36 as those in the opening chapters of the book.
And King Hezekiah is no Uzziah or Ahaz.
The people had been prepared for Assyria's coming for years.
With Isaiah's warning chapters before, they make an effort to return to the Lord.
Judah seeks the Lord, albeit imperfectly, and removes the high places and pursues proper worship.
Hezekiah, the righteous king, leads the people in prayer and despises not Isaiah's prophetic office.
At this point, Judah has changed.
Unlike their predecessors, the people and their king reject the temptation of idolatry and seek a word from Isaiah and help from their God.
The word that they receive comes in Isaiah chapter 2.
37.
When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, Say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.
It may not be obvious from that text, but this word from Isaiah highlights the second fatal error made by the Rabshakeh.
You see, the Lord used Assyria to judge Judah for her sins, but equally, and if not more so, the Lord providentially causes these events to happen in order to judge Assyria for her sins.
Assyria was a wicked nation, committing a number of gruesome atrocities and exalting themselves against God and his people.
And this is one of the beauties of the book of Isaiah.
There are many judgments foretold against the people of Assyria.
Of Israel and Judah, God's own, but also a number of blessings.
Many of these blessings were specific to Israel, but so too, many of these blessings came as promises from God that He would also judge Israel's enemies for their sin and the harm that they had caused His own people.
Specifically, Isaiah prophesied judgments from the Lord against many of Judah's enemies, including Assyria, just a few chapters before this, in chapters 28 through.
And this brings us all the way back to Isaiah 33, our primary text for today, where we see the judgment of Assyria foretold in the word of God.
So let's go back and read our text again as we remind ourselves of this prophecy.
I'll begin with verses 1 through 4.
Ah, you destroyer who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor whom none has betrayed.
When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed.
And when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
O Lord, be gracious to us.
We wait for you.
Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
At the tumultuous noise, peoples flee.
When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered, and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers.
As locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
In these verses, Isaiah begins his prophecy by directly addressing Assyria.
Assyria is the one who is identified as the destroyer and the traitor, there in verse 1.
In recent years, Assyria had rapidly been gaining strength and flexed its power through conquest and destruction.
Through Tiglath Pileser, the Assyrians had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and banished its people into exile in 722 BC.
And although the southern kingdom of Judah had once been considered an ally, its kingdom and spoil were next on the menu.
In this way, Assyria became known not only for destruction, but for betrayal.
As we read the account, Judah would soon find Sennacherib's men at the gates and their trust betrayed.
But they had learned that Assyria had committed treason against the Lord and his people many years before.
Assyria had been the source of many iniquities and idolatries.
Including those which had tempted and led the people of Judah astray.
Thus, Isaiah prophesied that the Lord was about to hang a giant millstone around Assyria's neck.
The destroyer would find himself destroyed, and the betrayer would at last himself be betrayed.
Look to the words of Matthew Henry, who writes on this in his commentary.
He writes He that spoiled the cities of Judah shall have his own army destroyed by an angel.
And his camp plundered by those whom he had made a prey of.
The Chaldeans shall deal treacherously with the Assyrians and revolt from them.
Two of Sennacherib's own sons shall deal treacherously with him and basely murder him at his devotions.
The righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin.
The righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin.
This may be a tough pill to swallow, but we know this to be true even today.
For example, America has prized promiscuity.
And sexual deviancy, and have allowed these sins to run rampant.
It should be no surprise to us then that certain types of diseases, abortion, and even fertility issues are more prevalent.
At another level, if you gain a reputation of being a dishonest person, you shouldn't be surprised when you find that you aren't believed when you do attempt to tell the truth.
And the glutton may find one day that his own insatiable appetite will be what kills him in the end.
So, too, as Isaiah prophesies, the destroyer himself will be destroyed.
He may have evaded it for quite some time, but this too shall come to pass.
Assyria had exalted himself against Judah and against the Lord God, but would soon be laid to waste in a moment.
This is exactly what we see Isaiah prophesying in verses 3 and 4.
At the tumultuous noise, peoples flee.
When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered.
And your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers.
As locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
At the sound of a rumor, the Rabshakeh fearfully abandons his pursuit of Judah and flees to his homeland.
In a moment, the angel of the Lord strikes down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers without a single skirmish.
The people of Judah were kept safe and were able to gather the spoil of Assyria as the caterpillar gathers.
And leap upon it as the locusts leap.
The resounding cry of victory belongs to the Lord.
And even before Assyria was on Judah's doorstep, the Lord promised through the mouth of Isaiah here in chapter 33 that this would happen.
Therefore, they had great assurance in the midst of terror to pray, as Isaiah does in verse 2 O Lord, be gracious to us.
We wait for you.
Be our arm every morning.
Our salvation in the time of trouble.
No longer were they trusting in their idols or in the provisions and protection of foreign lands, but had been given grace to wait on the Lord.
They pray for strength to endure the day of fiery trial.
They pray and hope that not one of them would lose courage or faith in that day, that Hezekiah would be given strength to lead God's people, and that Assyria would be sent packing all for the glory of God.
Anchored in God's Perfect Stability00:06:30
So, one particular comfort that we should come to the people of God is a realization that both Christians and non Christians like sin.
In the case of the book of Isaiah, both Judah and Assyria were guilty of sin and idolatry.
Judah was surely judged for her sins.
This was the primary reason that Assyria had come to Jerusalem by force.
God had sovereignly moved on the hearts of Sinacherib.
And the Assyrian army to act as the means by which his people would be judged.
But for the people of God, God's fatherly displeasure and discipline is always to create in us more repentant, faithful, loving, and obedient hearts, that we might be brought to the place of trusting Jesus and desiring to be more like him.
When the Lord disciplines one of his own with rebukes for sin, he consumes like a moth what is dear to him.
And in its place bears the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
For Assyria, on the other hand, and for the unrighteous alike, God's judgment for sin will either soften their hearts and turn them to Christ, or further harden them into condemnation, into destruction.
God endures with much patience, and even at times prospers these vessels of wrath for a time to bring glory to himself, and also so that the people of God may marvel at his grace and power.
The Assyrians had fallen into the pits they had dug themselves, while Judah found themselves holding steady in Christ, the stability of their times.
So, this is the promise that we too must remember.
And I leave you with as we now look at these last two verses, which are present in Isaiah's prophecy verses 5 and 6.
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high.
He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
And he will be the stability of your times.
Abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.
God is exalted.
He will be glorified in his destruction of the wicked and unrepentant by perfect justice and holiness, and in his salvation of the elect by grace alone.
He alone dwells on high and is himself the source of justice and Righteousness and stability, which we see in the text.
The one who makes the Lord his trust will find no lack of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
He finds these fruits come in abundance, and above all, the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
One of the beauties of these verses and these promises is that the Lord is the source of such fruits, and he gives these freely to those who trust in him.
And so, Christians of all people are to be marked by salvation, wisdom, Justice, knowledge, righteousness, and stability.
No matter what takes place in life, the Christian must remember that God Himself is not surprised or swayed by disaster or man's evil intentions.
God had called Assyria to rightfully judge Judah for her sins, but also to judge Assyria for hers.
Assyria had intended this for evil, but God had meant it for good.
And being fully omniscient, God is perfectly stable.
Immovable and immune to chaos and anxiety.
And for those who make God their trust, their anchor and ballast in life, they find that God is the stability of their times.
The Christian, no matter what time, place, or circumstance he or she finds himself or herself in, can ride the waves of uncertainty or hardship by being grounded in salvation, wisdom, and the fear of the Lord.
As Judah was urged by Isaiah to trust that God was the stabilizing force in all of their days, so too should the Christian remember that the Lord grounds his people in his perfect.
Steadiness.
For before the creation of the world, to 700 BC, to 33 AD, and to the present day, November 10th, 2024, the Lord has been the stabilizing force of history and has always maintained a remnant of believers.
He promises that those who put their trust in Christ will not be put to shame.
So, as Christians, if Christ is truly the stability of our times, What kind of fruits should this fundamental truth produce in us?
We've discussed a few of those, but again, we must start with the reality that steadiness, composure, and stability are directly tied to an understanding of God's grace expressed in the face of Jesus Christ in the gospel.
It is impossible for one to be anchored in the stability of the times without a recognition of that same person's sin and need for God's forgiveness in Christ first.
There is no peace apart from the Prince of Peace.
Many today have attempted to find peace or solace in life through a positive outlook or meditation or tropical vacations while still harboring sin and denying the reality of a holy and just God.
No, we must first recognize the state of our souls and the reality of judgment apart from the grace of God in Christ.
When we first find peace with God through faith in Christ, Then he bears in us the fruits of stability.
And so, with this foundational understanding of the gospel at work, what particular fruits does the Lord bear in his people by trusting in the stability of their times?
Embracing Sober Mindedness and Control00:14:34
We've said there are doubtless many, but I propose three key fruits that we may focus on for today sober mindedness, self control, and earnestness.
So, let's delve into each.
Of these three fruits as we close.
The first of these fruits is sober mindedness.
1 Peter 1, verses 13 through 16 reads Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that we brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
Since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.
In 2 Timothy 4, verse 5, As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
In his recent book, Leadership and Emotional Sabotage, Joe Rigney defines sober mindedness as a state of sobriety.
A sober minded person is free from the influence of chemical substances such as alcohol or drugs.
But also from being ruled by his passions and emotions, those that wage war against his soul, according to 1 Peter 2.
Therefore, Rigney argues that sober mindedness must include three key elements clarity of mind, stability of soul, and a readiness to act.
We see this in the passage from 1 Peter, which I just read, where the one who is sober minded has also prepared his mind for action.
One who is sober minded is not paralyzed with fear, but can think clearly through noise, chaos, and volatility, and short a course through tempestuous seas.
Today, so many seem to be embittered and enraged by every trivial matter and lose their heads with the changing of the winds.
Chronic anxiety, depression, and envy have been embraced en masse, and many of our leaders find themselves at the whims of society's most emotionally unstable members.
Instead, it is the Christian who must stand apart and be marked by sober mindedness.
We must be marked by a stable constitution.
Mental fortitude, and the strength to rule over our passions.
We do this by anchoring ourselves in the stability of our times.
We must desire this and pray for this for ourselves, but also that God may grant this to our leaders, the fathers and heads of the families we belong to, the young men who will grow up to become heads of households one day, our pastors and our elected officials, just to name a few.
As we saw from the book of Isaiah, it was Two leaders in Judah's day, King Hezekiah and Isaiah himself, who were examples of sober mindedness.
Upon learning of the coming Assyrian siege and invasion, the people presented themselves before Hezekiah in great fear.
And instead of panicking, Hezekiah prays.
He seeks the Lord and summons Isaiah to hear the words of the Lord.
And Isaiah, with steadiness of mind and soul, delivers the message.
Judah will be spared for the time being and must keep close to the Lord, the stability of the times.
The second of these fruits, which we see being born in Christians as they keep close to the stability of their times, is self control.
Look now, Titus 2, verses 11 through 14 read For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
And to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
As we said previously, sober mindedness, as it always thus leads us, To a readiness to act.
Therefore, self control must necessarily follow sober mindedness.
Sober mindedness does not merely create people who are unfazed and immovable, but those who are proactive leaders in righteousness, truth, and beauty.
See what Paul says to Titus in Titus chapter 2 For the grace of God has appeared, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
That's sober mindedness.
And to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
Self control.
Christians are to be marked by a renunciation of their sinful passions and emotions, which seek to dominate and gain control at the level of desire and affections.
But thus, having a cleansed and sanctified conscience, the stability of soul leads not merely to a defensive posture, but to one that also seeks to cultivate, build, and bear fruit.
One of the key markers of self control is endurance.
We bear witness to the faithfulness of the stability of our times when we live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, but also as we exhibit patience in waiting for Him.
See how Paul continues this train in the passage to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Living in light of the Lord.
Who is the stability of our times, will cause us to be self controlled and upright in the present, to be patient and enduring over time.
As we said before, this promise from Isaiah regards the stability of the Lord, which he provides in the present day, but this promise is an everlasting and enduring reality.
This fact alone gives us faith, hope, and assurance to remain composed amidst trial.
To fortify ourselves for the next, and to live our lives with the full expectation that God will be glorified in all of it.
This is how the Christian can prepare himself to bear the weight of old age, the rise and fall of governments and kingdoms, the loss of a child or a spouse, all of it.
Self control produces in us endurance, patience, and earnestness, the last fruit we will discuss for today.
As we look to earnestness, look to Hebrews chapter 6, verses 11 and 12.
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
This endurance that self control brings, as we've discussed, will inevitably lead us to earnestness, a spirit of sincerity.
Zeal, confidence, and joy as we progress on through the Christian life.
In the book of Hebrews, the author exhorts the readers to this spirit of earnestness, of assurance, and hope, and he warns them against a spirit of sluggishness and slothfulness.
The fruit of earnest endurance reflects the confidence that we have in the steadfastness of God, the stability of our times.
That they would be delivered from the Assyrian invasion because God had faithfully spoken it by the mouth of Isaiah the prophet.
So, too, we can rejoice knowing that God may present us with a great trial or a bout of suffering in this life, but this will be to bring about our good, as God has promised.
He will also see to it that we will be ultimately and finally delivered from sin on that great day.
And as those who trust in God and His promises, we should seek to finish the race at the peak of our stride, our eyes fixed on Jesus with joy, confidence, and peace.
According to the book of Hebrews, one of the chief ways that we can grow in a spirit of earnestness and confidence is by way of imitation.
The author says, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, I have learned this from my parents, who were an example to this, not perfectly, but at least that a Christian should be marked by hope, composure, and a certainty in God.
For those of you here, we have a wonderful example of earnestness in the older generation who are present here this morning.
Every generation has its sins, and we should be honest about these.
But we do have before us many fathers and mothers in the faith who have been wonderful examples to us in this spirit of earnestness over many years of life.
We should seek to honor them, as well as the many centuries of Christians who have come before.
They are deserving of great honor and respect, and we would do well to listen to them and imitate them and look to, as David began this whole service by speaking on the fifth commandment and the glory that's contained therein.
We have many examples, and lastly, we have the examples of those who are recorded in the pages of Scripture the patriarchs, the apostles, prophets, and men and women of faith who exhibited a steady earnestness amidst sin, both their own and those of their enemies.
As well as trial and persecution.
Through all of this, they maintained so remindedness, self control, and earnestness.
And it was to such people that this promise came.
Isaiah chapter 9, verses 2, 3, 6, and 7.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy.
They rejoice before you as with joy at The harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.
On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice.
And with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Let's pray.
God, we thank you.
You're so undeserving, Lord.
We remember, Lord, that we often crumble under pressure.
We know that even for the Christian, Lord, that there are many weights, Lord, and sin even clings closely.
For the Christian, we lament the sin that still exists.
Remains, Lord.
But earlier in this service, we confessed our sins, God, and we heard your assurance of pardon, God.
And so we rejoice and dwell no longer on the sin that remains still, Lord, but the fact that you have redeemed us from our sins through Christ and through Christ alone, Lord.
And so, as your people, Lord, we should be abounding in sober mindedness and self control, in a spirit of earnestness, of joy.
And assurance, and all of these things are fruits that you give to your people, to Christians.
We thank you, God, that you have transformed and redeemed us, Lord.
We thank you that you have given us new hearts to behold and treasure your word, O God.
And we pray that you would write it upon us, Lord, that you would help us to grow having heard your word this morning.
Help us all to glorify and praise you, but also, Lord, that we might bear much fruit for you, O God.
We want to please you.
We want to grow the inheritance that you've given us, God.
We want to give much glory to Jesus Christ.
And we pray that you would help us to do so, Lord, in each and every day, as you are the stability of our times, God.
And so we pray that you would help us to be marked by steadiness, to be marked by confidence, and to be marked by a state of constance, constance for our children, for our spouses, for our homes and the places which we work, for our city, for our land.
You would use Christians mightily for this fruit, Lord.
That many would look to Christians and say, Why are they so content?
Why do they have such a composed fortitude or such a composed state of mind?
And we pray that we would always say it's because of Christ, the stability of our times.