Only God | Isaiah 33:2-16

It was the summer of 2007. Probably as hot as it is now. My wife and I had one child seems like another life ago, nine month old son. He had been through a phase where he would wake up right across the hall in his crib and cry. And I would go in and in the middle of night, pick him up, bring him back to my bed and lay with him just for a minute and he'd go right back asleep, then I get back out of the bed, take him back to his crib and then put him back and then he just sleep rest at night. wasn't too bad, right? Well, it's one night. He woke up around to 230 Like I said, just just been a few days had been doing this. So I went in and got him across the hall, put them in our our bed and lay there. And after a few minutes, I thought myself Well, time to go put them back. But I just you know, I didn't feel like putting them back. I just didn't. And I said, You know what, I'll just let him sleep with us tonight. In the bed. Two hours later at 430 That morning, smoke alarms went off in his room. There was a fire in his room. Right? Normally he'd been in there for who knows how long right? With the smoke and everything. So I woke up forgetting he had been in the bed and ran into his room and saw the fire and thought someone had stolen my baby and set my house ablaze. very confused, and we realized he was in the bed and we got a mountain called the fire department and everything Long story short, we had a fire. We often talk about how clearly clearly God was in that Amen. Clearly God woke him up. Clearly, God told me you know what, just leave me in your bed today. Only God can do things like that. Amen. You probably have a story like that that has happened in your life. Today we're talking about the things only God can do. Only God can do. We're in Isaiah 33. Starting in verse two, I'm just gonna read through verse six. Oh, Lord, be gracious to us. We wait for you be our arm every morning. Our salvation in time of trouble. At the tumultuous noise, people's flee. When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers as Luke asleep, it is leaped upon. The Lord has exalted before 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 Zions treasure, Father in Heaven, to read this. Lord, we pray that you would be the stability of our times our personal lives, our church lives, the lives that we live here in this town and state nation, you will bring stability to us that only you can today. Father, I pray that You would speak through me today in this message that your Holy Spirit would speak forth. That those in here today and those watching online would receive your word today. And realize that only you can do certain things in your in their lives. And they would turn to you for those that we love you We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. As we read through this book of Isaiah 33. Today, I skipped ahead a couple of days. At this point in Israel's history, the northern kingdom, which was called Israel had been destroyed by the kingdom of Syria, Syria been going through and destroying countries left and right. And then a 2010 to 20 year siege. The northern kingdom Israel finally Phil, and now the Assyrians were, were on the doorstep of Judah, the southern kingdom, its capital, being Jerusalem. And this is where Isaiah prophesied. This is where he served this is where he spoke the word of the Lord. And because of King Hezekiah, one of the few good kings and his devotion to God. The Assyrian army were on the doorsteps but they never conquered Jerusalem. Hezekiah actually invited some of the surviving northern kingdom citizens to come and live in Jerusalem. But there was this constant threat of the Assyrians potentially come conquering judo. So the citizens were constantly torn between trusting the Lord or giving in to what seemed like the inevitability of a conquering foreign nation. But as we're seeing for our pastors today, only God can help you. Only God can help you in your times of trouble. So I want to give today four ways that God can help you. And only God can help you and your circumstances. Number one, only God can bring salvation to your life. Only God can bring salvation to your life and if you know this truth, if you know this truth, but it's worth really sinking in and thinking about. And the previous chapters, God's people have been looking to Egypt, of all places, for possible help from the Syrian invasion, in fact, before these in these chapters before Isaiah spoke a lot to them, about not putting their trust in Egypt to save them from a Syria but but to put their trust in the Lord. And apparently, miraculously, that people actually listened. A few times we see this in the prophets, they listen to them, first to they said, Oh, Lord, be gracious to you. We wait for you. Be our arm every morning. Our salvation in the time of trouble. It's a wonderful sound. When God's people finally call out to the Lord, Amen. So wonderful sound. When God's stubborn, obstinate, sinful, wandering people finally call out to the Lord. They finally realize that, that only God can save them. That only God can give them the salvation that they need. And as such, the people now put faith, their faith in how God will will ultimately deliver them. This is what they're saying, you will deliver us. Again, God had not delivered them yet. But they're praising Him as if He already has. And that they will, he will deliver them from this thread. He said in verse three. At the tumultuous noise, people's flee, when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered in your spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers his look asleep, but he's left upon. What he's saying is that God's people are anticipating a day, where their enemies are vanquished. And they will be as numerous as insects, picking up the spoil of their enemies, and said only made possible because God alone brings salvation. The struggle for looking to others to save us is nothing new. And even if you KNOW Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. If you've received him for salvation, still, every day in our lives, we still are prone and tempted to look at false saviors who promise things that only God can give us. We all have those temptations. What is it for you? What what are you tempted by to save you? What are you tempted by to, to come into your life and ease your pain? What what do you look for, toward? God gives us many good things in his life and, but when we make them our Saviors had become problems. God's given us family. We live our families. We do anything for our families. But our families can't save us. Our spouse can't save us. Our children can't say this. Our parents can't say this. They can give us wisdom. They can give us advice and support and love. But they can't save you from whatever you're going through. About friends friends in the same way. God gives us friends. But they can't save us. Sometimes we develop codependent relationships on people thinking that they're gonna help us at all times and they can't. Maybe you look outside of relationships and maybe look to your career advancement or your retirement to save you. Maybe it's education, knowledge, maybe it's money and wealth. assets, security. Maybe it's just things like nice cars, or big trucks, which we don't have any of those in moncks corner. Maybe it's drugs. Maybe it's alcohol. As you run to when times are hard for young people, maybe it's being cool fitting in. We all look to people or things to save us. We look to them all to give us a little relief from the outside. Invasion coming into our lives. We all feel the Assyrians at our door threatening us. But like God's people must be reminded that God is the only one who saves. Only God can bring salvation to your life. Secondly, only God can bring flourishing to your life. Only God can bring flourishing. Something flourishes when something thrives. Only God can bring that first five, the Lord is exalted. For He dwells on high He will FILL Zion with justice, righteousness, see, when God is our Savior, when he's your savior, my Savior, our collective Savior, He fills people. He fills people with justice. He fills people with righteousness. When God is is king in our lives, we are people who are just we are people who are fair. We are people who are righteous. When God is exalted. We flourish we become the best version of ourselves when Jesus Christ is truly leading us and we're following become the best version. When God is exalted. He brings flourishing to our lives for six and will be the stability of your times. Abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge, the fear of the Lord Zions treasure, see when we when we put God first, we flourish. He brings that I love that phrase that stability in our times. Isn't that what most of us are looking for? Stability in our times. When you have an unstable culture. When you have an unstable city, or nation, you can bet you can guarantee that people are not putting God first. If there's instability they're putting themselves first. But putting God first enables us to put others first which are called to do you've heard the acronym before having joy. Jesus first, others second, yourself third. Well, people don't live a joyful life they live a Yogge full life. Good get yourself first, others second, Jesus third. Or maybe it's your edge I don't know English major. That's the world we live in. putting God first enables us to put others first. Only God can bring stability to a country. Only God can bring stability to community, to a church, to a family to any organization. And it gives us an abundance of salvation. And when we put him first he gives us an abundance of wisdom. And it gives us an abundance of knowledge. If you can think of a governmental policy that makes no sense. You know why? It doesn't make sense because it's not wise. And why is it not wise? Because whoever put it together did not seek the Lord I guarantee you. seeking the Lord is fearing the Lord, respecting the Lord. But how do you respect a god you don't believe in? Well, you can't. The irony is that only God could bring this stability to our lives that we all so desperately seek. Three. Only God can bring peace to your life. Only God can bring peace to your life. We see in verses seven through 12 The opposite of peace. We see disobedience and judgment. Only God can bring peace. Look at verse seven. Behold their heroes crying the streets to invoice a piece we literally if you Take this verse, look at different translations, you'll see wildly different translations because the Hebrew, most scholars will say is really unintelligible. They can't translate it because there's nothing to look at when you translate words you have to have other contexts to look at and things and so no one really knows what verse seven means and kind of have an idea. But what it is, is the beginning of a section of the limit. The next few verses paint a picture of moral corruption. I paint a picture of spiritual depravity and desolation. It paints a picture of the opposite of flourishing, and that is decline, the opposite of peace. And that is judgment. And this is what we see here. Verse eight. He says the highways lay waste, the traveler ceases. covenants are broken. Cities are the spies there's no regard for man, the land morons and languishes the land morons. In languishes. It says, Lebanon has confounded and withers away, share and is like a desert and Buchon and caramel shake off their leaves. When God is judging land, as he was judging Israel in parts of Judah, this time, when God is judging the land, there's no peace. There's no regard for mankind, which is why the judgments coming. And it says Even nature cries out. In morons, it makes you wonder about the connection between moral depravity and natural disasters, this makes you wonder about it. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, 2005 or so, there's a Southern Baptist seminary down there was New Orleans has a lot of spiritual darkness. People were quick to jump on the fact that this is God's judgment for New Orleans. And then as soon as people jumped on that people are quick to jump back on it and say, Well, how do you know it may not be it might just be the weather? Well, we may never know the truth about that one. The Bible tells us very here right here, that there's a connection between disobedience, moral depravity, and natural disasters. Even when things are so bad, the Bible says even the land acts up. Even the land cries out. And it makes you wonder if the problems we have in our climate, which everyone agrees that it has changed on some level. It makes you wonder if the problems we have in our climate are related to our spiritual condition. Many would scoff at that I would scoff at there being a spiritual connection. But the Bible seems to speak to that. Someone say that. That is humanity's fault. For the extreme weather, we're having the heat we're having 18 have died in Arizona this week from the heat. But what if the extreme weather was not caused by our negligence? What if it wasn't caused by things we put in the air? What if it was caused by our moral and spiritual depravity? Oh, yeah. Mankind calls climate change, not the way you think. That seems to be what is being hinted at here. What Isaiah is saying, We don't know. And I'm not trying to make a statement on that. I'm just saying. We think we have it all figured out. Don't we think we have the old world figured out how to solve everybody's problems? The Bible tells us Oh, it's more complicated than that. It's a spiritual issue. It's a moral issue. Because God will not allow moral depravity to continue to exist. Look at verse 10. He says, Now I will arise. Now I will lift myself up and now I will be exalted. There comes a day where God steps in, he gets up, he rises, any judges. That's what he says. Now I'm stepping up, right. I know, I know what he feels like. I'll be sitting in my recliner, reading, watching something and I'll hear a little scream in the house, my kid and then another screen. Then I'll hear some scream. So horrible can't possibly made by a child. And then that's when dad gets up and takes names Amen. I think I think the father is the same way. Because it's a lot of grace. But then he gets up. When he gets up, he's coming with a rod. Give verse 11. He says, you conceive chaff. You give birth to stubble your breath as a fire that will consume you and the people's will be as burned to line like thorns cut down that are burned to fire. People give birth, he says, To chaff to, to, to stubble, which is useless things. When when we're wicked, we give birth to uselessness. That's where conceding uselessness. And he says your own actions bring their own destruction. One of the push backs that we get, you might get or that you may you may even have for modern people is why would God judge people? Especially the the doctrine of hell, why would God do that? Well, over and over. The Bible makes it very clear that people are not condemned by God. They're not condemned by God. They're condemned by their own sin, throne actions. Look at John's three, starting in verse 16. Many of you know 316, but you don't know maybe 17 and 18. Look at 316 for God, so loved the world, love the world so much that He gave His only Son, that whoever would believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. We know that far. Right? Amen. But verse 17, gives us more context for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. That's not why Jesus came, Jesus did not come to condemn you or me, we were condemned or any. But in order that the world might be saved through him, that's why Jesus came. Jesus is not God's the judgment, Jesus is God's salvation. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he did not believe in the name of the only Son of God. The opposite of peace is judgment. We bring judgment into our own lives. But through Jesus, God brings peace. Only God can bring the peace you need. Number four. And only God can bring security to your life. Only God could bring security to your life. Verse 13, says this, hear you who are far off, hope we missed, we get you who are far off what I've done, and you who are near acknowledged my mind. See when people hear about the works of God. People hear about what God's done. It has one of two effects. One, they'll run to Him for salvation. Or two, they'll run from Him for separation. I thought we are when we have unconfessed sin in our lives. We don't want to be in here. But when we turn to Jesus, this is where we want to be Amen. This is where we want to be. Most Israelites ran from him. Verse 14 says this, the sinners in Zion are afraid, trembling has seized the godless who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? And the answer is that no one can, unless they've been made right by the blood of Jesus. Look at Romans five, verse eight, but God shows His love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't come for us because we're good. We have it all figured out. What would the point be? Don't help my children when they don't need help. It's called getting in the way. Help them when they needed. First nine, since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall be saved by Him from the wrath of God. God saves us from his own wrath through Jesus. Our sin has to be dealt with somewhere somehow. Or you wouldn't be a just God a righteous God. And you want to just God in your life trust me. We've been made right we've been justified but to God but Jesus were righteous in our standing before God Not because of anything we've done, but because of what Jesus has done. So to live, we live this this righteous life, because Jesus compels us to through His Spirit. That is an every believer. If you know Jesus Christ mean you have one common bond, at least. And it's the most powerful bond you can have, as the unity of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit of God and you that I do, because he go 3627 And I will put my Spirit within you and calls you. He does the word calls you to walk in My statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. Were born again, which is how we can walk in his ways. This is how we can withstand this, this consuming fire of God. Look at verse 15. He who walks righteously and speaks up rightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands less they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, who shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks, his bread will be given him his water will be sure. Only God can bring us that security, we so desperately seek only God can bring us that water that lasts forever. Only God can give us that fortress of rocks that we need when the day of adversity is here, only God. We're going to have our time of response today. How is the Lord speaking to you? Are you guilty of turning to other saviors? Are you guilty of running to other people or things rather than God? Let me ask you a question to ask myself. When I'm guilty of that, how's that working for you? It's not. Maybe today you need to repent from that and come running back to Jesus. And he's there for you. Maybe you find yourself today in a big struggle. Big struggle, big adversity. I'm down here every every morning. I'm more than willing to pray for you. I might not hold your hand today. But I'm more than willing to pray for you. More than willing to come down front on the steps and pray to the Lord today. Maybe you've been running from God your whole life. And today's the day Today's the day that that you've called out to God to save you. Now you're ready to turn to Him for salvation. Now you're ready to be born again. Now you're ready to be His child. Today is the decision to make. Make that decision today Heavenly Father, we thank you for your son. And you look down upon mankind. And you knew from the garden Lord, Abba Neve. Very beginning of time as we know it that we were going to need to help the Lord You created us to bring You glory. You save us to bring You glory. And to bring us goodness. Surely Lord, Your goodness saves us. And Father, your Word says that your kindness leads us to repentance. To father today as we close our time together, that we would turn back to you what you've given us. We praise your name for your salvation, that we would run to you because only you can do the things in our lives that we need. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.