Isaiah 33:10-22 (KJV)  Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.  [11]  Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.  [12]  And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.  [13]  Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.  [14]  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?  [15]  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;  [16]  He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.  [17]  Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.  [18]  Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?  [19]  Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.  [20]  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.  [21]  But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.  [22]  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Audio of Sermon: 

God is love.

We know that God is love. The Scripture teaches us that God is love. The Bible says:

1 John 4:7-8 (KJV)  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  [8]  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

There is nothing that I like preaching more of than the Love of God. It is the Love of God that brought about His Gospel. God loves us, so He reaches out to save us. But in talking of the love of God we often forget something very important.

God is love, but God’s love has a standard.
God is love, but God is also holy and righteous.
The righteousness of God places demands on His love.

One of the most famous texts of Scripture states:

John 3:16 (KJV)  For God so loved the world, that HE GAVE his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

How did God GIVE His Son? He gave His Son to die for us. He gave Jesus to suffer on Calvary, to pay the penalty of sin. He gave His Son to be whipped, to be brutalized, to be nailed to a tree. God loved us enough to forgive us, but only when His justice was expended on His Son. The Scripture declares:

Colossians 2:13-14 (KJV)  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;  [14]  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS;

God is LOVE, but God is first and foremost JUST. As we are told in our text today:

For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
he will save us.

The God Who loves us is first of all our Judge. He establishes right and wrong. He alone has the right to codify what is right and wrong. The Lord Who loves us is our Lawgiver. He knows what is best and what is not best. Finally, the Lord Who loves us is our King. He rules over His people. Let’s look at these truths.

The LORD Is Our Judge

It is God Who judges right from wrong, good from evil. God knows what is best. We as humans only have a limited understanding, but God has infinite understanding. He is Judge. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 75:7 But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.

Psalm 50:6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.

God is our Judge. I read a wonderful illustration in last Sunday’s Sunday School Lesson. (You need to go to Sunday School so you can learn God’s Word. God is the Judge.)

An old man lived in a tiny villiage, and he owned a beautiful white horse. His neighbors told him such a beautiful horse would be stolen, but he refused to lock it up. One day the horse was missing and his neighbors told him, “See, we told you so!”. He simply replied, “Whether I have been cursed or not, how can you know? It is not my place to decide.” A week later the horse returned to the stable. It had siomply run into the forest, and when it returned, a dozen wild horses came with it. The neighbors said “You were right! It was not a curse, but a blessing.” The old man replied “Who is to know?” The next day the old man’s son was injured when the herd of horses stampeded. Again the neighbors declared the man cursed, but the old man replied “Who is to know?” A few weeks later the country entered into a war and required the young men to enlist. Because the old man’s son was injured, he was exempt. The neighbors said “We were wrong. Your son’s injury was a blessing after all.” The old man simply replied, “Who is to know?”

I thought that was a very good illustration with one exeption – we cannot know, but God knows. God is the Judge. He is always the Judge. He knows right from wrong, good from evil, and establishes what is and is not normal. The text says:

The LORD is our Judge

The word capitalized LORD is the Eternal Name of God. The Great I AM – the Ever Present Creator – is our Judge. God begins our text today by warning:

Isaiah 33:10-12 (KJV)  Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.  [11]  Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.  [12]  And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

What we ourselves conceive as right or wrong from our own finite minds is not right or wrong, but wishful thinking. As we moved into the 21^st Century Progressive Thought and Progressive Politics became popular. Who doesn’t like Progress?

I love Progress! I love that I can get in a car and in about 7.5 hours see my grandchildren. In the days of the horse an buggy it would have taken myself and my wife 2 weeks or more to get where our grandchildren are.

I love Progress! I love that I can access the Internet, a World Wide Web of knowledge. It’s like having a portable library. Are there bad things on the Internet? Sure. Just don’t access them. Use it for good. To research years ago I had to go to a library and pour through books. The Internet has made research easier. I thank God for it.

I love Progress! I preach every week to you, and post sermons on Facebook and on my WordPress Blog. I reach several thousands all over the world with the Gospel of Christ. We couldn’t do that before, but we can now. Praise God for it.

I love Progress! Medical progress has wiped out diseases that used to take whole cities out. We no longer have Small Pox or Black Plague infestations because of medical progress. Thank God for the advances that medicine has made.

Yet with every wonderful advance of progress, one of the worst things that has come out is Progressive Thought.

Mankind has made itself a judge as to what is right and wrong, and as God said “If you conceive chaff, you will bring forth stubble, and the your breath shall catch you on fire.” It is not “Progressive” to turn away from God as Judge to become our own arbitrators of good and evil. It was dangerous in the Garden of Eden, and it is dangerous now.

Planned Parenthood released the 2017 statics, telling us proudly that they killed 321,384 babies last year. This is about half of the population of Nashville, or more than the population of Columbia, Mount Pleasant, Spring Hill, Murfreesboro, and Pulaski Tennessee combined. Progressive thought says that the child in the mother’s womb is a lesser important life than the mother. Yet the Bible says that the child in the mother’s womb is planned of God.

Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV) For you {O God} created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God is our Judge. Who shall be in Heaven with our God? Shall I? Shall you? If God is your Judge and you honor Him by obedience then you shall be with Him in eternity.

The LORD Is The Law Giver

Salvation is by faith and not by works.

We are saved by placing ourselves in Christ, trusting Him fully for our salvation. This is the grand theme of Scripture. We read:

Romans 3:28 (NKJV) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Though salvation is indeed by Grace and not by works – I certainly do not wish to put this aside – God is still the Law Giver. For many years the Church in America has promoted a nominal type of Christianity as normative.

You can say the sinner’s prayer, then go back to living your life as you did before you were saved. This type of pitiful preaching has flooded America with pseudo-Christians, people who know the vocabulary but not the Father, Son, nor Spirit. I read an article by Baptist Ethicist Russell Moore where he stated:

“I do not believe that we’re living in a post-Christian society if you define Christian the way that the New Testament does. When people ask me that, I usually say we’re living in, at best, a pre-Christian society. I don’t think there’s a golden age in the past where there has ever been a nostalgic Christian society … There was a previous era {in America} when people had a certain basic understanding of biblical truths and some connection to the church. That brought some benefit because, in many cases, there was some sort of stable understanding of morality. But it also brought a lot of drawbacks because a nominal Christianity doesn’t save.”

When a person is saved by faith in Christ there is always – ALWAYS – a point of CONVERSION. A converted person begins to desire to live for the Lord Who savcd them. A converted person is not sinless, but a converted person loves the Lord more than his or her self.

There is what the Bible calls “fear of the Lord”, a respect for the Judge Who saved us.

Look at our text once more. We read:

Isaiah 33:14 (KJV) The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. …

Before salvation there is NO FEAR in sinning against God. Hypocrites and false converts are not ashamed of sin. But those who are CONVERTED begin to understand that God – our Lord – is the Law Giver. We read in the last half of this verse:

… Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?  

The “Devouring Fire” is a reference to God. The Bible says that:

Deuteronomy 4:24 (ESV) For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 9:3 (ESV) Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God.

Who shall dwell with “The Devouring Fire” that is God our Creator? We read:

Isaiah 33:15 (KJV) He that WALKETH RIGHTEOUSLY, and SPEAKETH UPRIGHTLY; he that DESPISETH THE GAIN OF OPPRESSIONS, that SHAKETH HIS HANDS FROM HOLDING OF BRIBES, that STOPPETH HIS EARS FROM HEARING OF BLOOD, and SHUTTETH HIS EYES FROM SEEING EVIL;

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? The one who WALKS RIGHTEOUSLY – that is, according to God’s direction. The one who lives according to His standard, for HE IS THE LAW GIVER.

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? The one that SPEAKS UPRIGHTLY, according to the words of the Lord. What God says we say. How God says, we do.

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? He that despises gain from oppression. The thief and swindler shall not be in Heaven, for these people worship mammon and not the Magnificent God Who saved us.

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? He that shakes his hands from holding brides. The person who can be bought will not be seen in glory. We who are His are purchased not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? The one who stops his ears from hearing of blood, the one who refuses to plot and plan and backstab and murder others. Those who sneak around carrying tales to gain control of God’s Church will blister in hell eternally.

Who shall be in Heaven with the Father, Son, and Spirit? The one who shuts his eyes from watching evil, who spends his time honoring God not the devil or satan.

Those who are saved by faith in Christ walk righteously. For us The LORD is our Judge. We live to serve Him. We love to serve Him. We walk righteously, for God calls us to righteousness. He says to those whom He has saved:

1 Peter 1:15-20 (NKJV) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

Salvation by faith in Christ always brings a change to a person’s life. We stop living for others and what others think is acceptable and begin to live to please our Father Who loves us. It is not PROGRESSIVE to walk away from the Father. It is REGRESSIVE, devilish and satanic. It is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE. We are to live so as to please Him Who gave Himself for us.

We are to live to honor our Savior and Lord.

Galatians 5:19-21 (NASB) Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB) Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Saved by faith in Christ God is still our Law Giver. He establishes what is right and what is wrong behavior. We are to live for our God knowing that one day we will stand before Him and give an account of our lives.

The Lord Is Our King

We are not King, but the Lord is our King. We live our lives to honor Him. We live our lives, if we are saved, at His command. Because we have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are entered into His Kingdom, and will one day see Him face to face. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 33:16-17 (KJV) {The Saved} shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.  [17]  Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.  

In this life we live with the Lord as our King, and when we depart this life we will continue to live under His rule. As the Apostle said:

Romans 14:7-12 (NKJV) For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written:

“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

God is our King. There is coming a Judgment Day. Are you living for Him? If not, do you belong to Him? I cannot answer that question for you, but you had better make a choice now. Will you please the world, or will you please the LORD your King? Joshua put it plainly:

Joshua 24:14-15 (NKJV) Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I choose to follow my King, the Lord Who loves me. His side is the winning side! May God touch your hearts with His Word!