Series: Isaiah
Title: The Believer's Treasure
Text: Isaiah 33: 1-6
Date: October 24, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Two kinds of people are described in the first two verses Isaiah 33: a people who rob, deal treacherously and a people who trust the LORD to save them
Isaiah 33:1: 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. 2: 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.
All men live in one of these two ways.
Habakkuk 2: 4: Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Why did the king of Assyria rob and take advantage of those who had not done harm to him? What makes men do so? The LORD answered Habakkuk:
Habakkuk 2: 6:…{Woe}…to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!...9:…{He}…coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
Men who are in bondage to sin are motivated by the fear of evil. So they cover themselves with thick clay. Clay is earth. Earthy things--we can see and touch. Those things soothe the conscious so man thinks he is safe and secure from the power of evil. The thicker the covering of clay, the safer he imagines himself to be.
This is man's wisdom, his strength, and reason his treasure--his salvation--is an evil covetousness.
When man's covering of clay begins to grow thin, the fear of evil shakes him to the core. So he strives to get his covering of clay and to keep it no matter what. He spoils men--robs them. He deals treacherously
Examples:
· Nations seek nations to join in alliances with them to protect them from other nations--we naturally imagine that the more nations willing to protect us the safer we are.
· Individual men seek alliances from other men to protect them from the evil of other men.
· The same holds true with with: estates, homes, money, religious devotions and so on
Application: The sinful heart is deceptive above all else and desperately wicked. The very treasure man thinks will deliver him from the power of evil--is just more sin, more evil. This is the cause of all robbery and treachery. It is the evil treasure of natural man. It is robbery and treachery against God, God promises to put an end to the spoiler!
Habakkuk 2: 4: Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
What is the believer's treasure? Isaiah 33: 6:…the fear of the LORD [is] his treasure.
Living by faith is casting all our care into his saving arms.
Isaiah 33: 2: 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.
To save us simply by his grace--"O LORD, be gracious unto us." "We have waited for thee"--we don't run about frantically but we wait for the LORD. Our prayer for one another is "be thou their arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble"
Living by faith is meditating on how God has already conquered our enemies.
Isaiah 33:3: At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
No doubt, this is a prophecy of what the LORD would do in the camp of the Assyrian--He sent his angel slaying 145, 000 in one night. Can you imagine the noise of their cries--their fear! At the noise of the tumult the people fled. "At the lifting up of thyself--the nations were scattered." The men from the nations Sennacherib had conquered were in his army
But at this time, the LORD had not yet done that. But he had done it, many times before for his children. The faith which God gives causes us to meditate on what God our Savior has already done for us. (v18) Thine heart shall meditate terror--not his terror toward us, but his terror toward our enemies. Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers? Where are those men who were wise and strong, who spoiled and robed, who heaped up their towers to save them from the power of evil? Faith concludes with the apostle Paul--…hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:20).
Living by faith we meditate on how richly our God has provided for us.
Isaiah 33: 4: And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
Psalm 69 is a Psalm of our Suffering Redeemer, he said:
Psalm 69: 4: They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
Our own sin robbed God of his glory, and robbed us of beholding his glory, but by his suffering Christ restored the glory of God and by making us to behold his glory in the face of Christ Jesus, the LORD has freely enriched us with the spoils which Christ took back.
Isaiah 53: 11: He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Christ Jesus fulfilled and bore the penalty of the law which he never broke--God freely gives us the spoils of his perfect righteousness. Christ Jesus satisfied justice he took not away--Made satisfaction for sins he never committed--gave us the spoils of free justification. In all God has freely given to his children a better inheritance than we were robbed of by Satan in Adam. By his sufferings and death--he has restored life which can never be lost.
Romans 8:32: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Brethren, mediate on the past: in all temporal things--though our enemies may have taken advantage of us for a season. We know our enemies are but our LORD's army--the rod in his hand--to correct us as a father does his child--to turn us to trust him alone. Then afterwards, he has always taken that which we needed out of the hands of those who spoiled us and put it in our hands. So in the end, our LORD shall give to us ALL THINGS!
Joel 2:25: And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
Oh, brethren--the spoiler, the treachous dealer--is ruled by the fear of evil. He trusts his own wisdom and power and therefore covets an evil covetousness--his treasure is to layer himself in things of clay--to try to deliver himself from the power of evil! BUT BY GOD'S GRACE WE HAVE A DIFFERENT TREASURE ALTOGETHER--the end of verse 6: the fear of the LORD [is] his treasure.
Those born of the Spirit of God are not ruled by the fear of evil because God has graciously given us a treasure more valuable than any thing on this earth--a new spirit--(turn to Romans 8)
2 Timothy 1: 7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Roman 8:14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.”
Here is where we rest:
Isaiah 33: 5: The LORD is exalted. Our treasure--the fear of the LORD--is knowing--THY GOD REIGNETH!--; (v7-9--describe the boasting of the spoilers and the weeping they cause God's people)--do you see the same in this earth around us now! Don't despair--read v10-12.
Isaiah 33: 5: for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. Our treasure is knowing we have a sure dwelling place:-- (v13-17--those who turn from the oppression and bribery of spoilers to the Lord who is our judgment and our righteousness are those who dwell on high where our God dwell.
Isaiah 33: 6: And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, [and] strength of salvation: This treasure God has given us is true wisdom and knowledge. He has and shall save us from the evil, not by our fleshly wisdom, but by his Wisdom and Knowledge. Not by our own fleshly strength, but by the Power of God. He called us to rest in His Wisdom and Power--his judgment and his righteousness--his very glory--all in Christ Jesus. Now our treasure is not "thick clay", not an evil covetousness to save ourselves from the power of evil--but the "fear of God".
1 Corinthians 1: 24: But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
APPLICATION--
God calls on all to look to the land that is far off--to heavenly Jerusalem, to our eternal city--what does the believer see? No wise and mighty men--no scribe, no receiver, no man who counts his towers to rest therein/ What do we see? V19-24
Being outside of God IS the evil you and I need deliverance from. Being out of the everlasting arms of God IS the evil we need to be saved from. Brethren, you have been sanctified from the evil because God has reached forth his hand of omnipotent grace and snatched you from the evil of your own heart, made you to behold you are under the everlasting covering--eternal life, eternal righteousness, safe and secure in the Lord our Righteousness--delivered from the fear of evil, from the fear of bondage--and given the fear of God.
What a gift! What covering! What a treasure!
Amen!