Let's pray.
Lord, how thankful we are for the help
and the comfort that you give to us.
And how, Lord, we can just commit our
ways, our lives into your hands, put our
trust in you, and know, Lord, that you
will work in us your work of grace,
truth, and love.
Blessed, we pray, Lord, the study of your
word today.
Lord, even right now, open up our hearts
to receive and give us understanding, Lord, of
your word.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
Tonight, Pastor Skip will continue to lead us
through the Bible.
This week in Isaiah chapters 32 through 34.
So, I would encourage you to read them
over, and then join tonight as we gather
to study the word of God going through
from Genesis to Revelation and learning what God's
word has to say.
This morning, we'd like to draw your attention
to Isaiah chapter 33 and verse 14.
Here, Isaiah declared, the sinners in Zion are
afraid.
Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
fire?
Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting
burnings?
Isaiah is writing concerning the reaction of the
sinners and the hypocrites in Jerusalem when they
saw how that God had wiped out the
Assyrian army that was besieging the city of
Jerusalem.
The city, I mean, the Assyrian army had
been conquering the world.
The Lord had warned Judah not to go
down to Egypt for help because Egypt would
be destroyed by the Assyrians.
And the Egyptians were destroyed by the Assyrians.
All of the nations have been destroyed by
the Assyrians.
And now the only one that hasn't been
subdued by the Assyrian army is the city
of Jerusalem.
All of the other cities of Judah have
been destroyed.
But here is Jerusalem standing now against the
might of the Assyrian army.
The men of Assyria have been chiding the
men of Jerusalem.
They had said, don't listen to your king
Hezekiah who is telling you to just trust
in the Lord.
What other gods have been able to deliver
their people from our might and from our
power?
What happened to the gods of these other
nations?
And don't you know that your God, Jehovah,
sent us down here to take you as
captives?
And as they were chiding the children of
Israel, Hezekiah said, don't answer them a word,
just trust in the Lord.
For Isaiah had told Hezekiah that God was
going to deliver them from the Assyrians.
Isaiah had told him that they will not
as much as shoot an arrow into the
city.
And so one night the angel of the
Lord passed through the camp of the Assyrians
and he killed 185,000 of their frontline
troops.
The majority of the invading army, 185,000.
In the morning when the men of Jerusalem
awoke, looked out over the wall to see
the Assyrian army.
All they saw were the dead corpses lying
there on the ground as the ones who
were not killed fled back toward Assyria.
They saw what God's fire did to their
enemies.
And when they saw this mighty demonstration of
God's power, fear filled the hearts of the
sinners there in Jerusalem.
The hypocrites were greatly afraid.
They were asking who among us can dwell
in the midst of this devouring fire.
It is interesting that when Isaiah was prophesying
the destruction of the Assyrian army, speaking to
the Assyrians in Isaiah 29 6, Isaiah said,
you will be visited by the Jehovah of
hosts with thunder, earthquake, a great noise, and
with a storm and tempest and the flame
of devouring fire.
They had been warned.
They were going to experience the devouring fire
of God.
And now that it's happened, the sinners there
in Jerusalem are terrified.
Who among us can dwell in the midst
of this devouring fire?
The work of God is often referred to
in the scriptures as a fiery judgment or
a work of fire.
God himself is spoken of in the symbol
of fire.
In Deuteronomy chapter 4 24, it says for
Jehovah, your God is a consuming fire.
He's a jealous God.
In Deuteronomy 9 3, understand this day that
Jehovah, thy God is he which goes over
before you as a consuming fire and he
will destroy them and bring them down before
thy face.
So you will drive them out and destroy
them quickly.
As Jehovah has said unto you in Hebrews
12 29, it just is a very short
scripture that says our God is a consuming
fire.
In our text, he's referred to as a
devouring fire.
The presence of God has just annihilated 185
,000 men in the Assyrian army.
As I said, the Bible refers to the
fiery judgments of God.
We remember how that Sodom and Gomorrah were
destroyed by the fire and brimstone that came
from heaven.
Peter speaks of a day in the future
when the earth and the works in the
earth will be burned up.
Peter said, but the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens will pass away
with a great noise.
The elements will melt with a fervent heat.
The earth also and the works that are
in shall be burned up.
The great tribulation is marked by the fiery
judgments of God.
There in Revelation chapter eight, as he speaks
of the angels that are sounding their trumpets
and there is the corresponding judgment upon the
earth.
He said the first angel sounded and there
was followed after that hail and fire mingled
with blood and they were cast upon the
earth and the third part of the trees
were burnt and all of the green grass
was burnt and the second angel sounded and
as it were a great mountain burning with
fire was cast into the sea and the
third part of the sea became blood.
Hell is described as a place of fire
and brimstone.
So using it as a symbol for God
and the judgments of God, what can you
say about fire?
Well, first of all, fire is everywhere in
our universe.
Out there every star is a ball of
burning fire.
Our sun is a ball of burning fire
throughout the whole universe.
We see fire manifested in the billions of
stars that are out there.
The scientists have a word called aromachesis and
it is a word by which they describe
the slow burning fire of nature.
Aromachesis.
They tell us that it is everywhere.
That slow burning fire of nature that is
gradually consuming all that is material.
The aromachesis.
Put a piece of metal out on the
ground.
Leave it there just for a few days
and as you go to retrieve it you'll
find that there are little specks of rust
already developing.
You say well that's oxidation.
Yes, the scientists call it aromachesis.
The slow burning fire of nature.
The other day I accidentally left a pair
of pliers out in the yard where I
was working on a project.
When I went back a few days later
to retrieve the pliers already the steel was
beginning to rust and little pits had developed
as the slow burning fire the aromachesis began
to destroy even that bit of steel that
was left out in the open.
So aromachesis.
Everywhere.
The slow burning fire of nature.
And so with God.
The presence of God.
It's everywhere within the universe.
We have a theological word called omnipresent which
means that God is everywhere present at once
within the whole universe.
The warmth of his presence is a blessing
to those that are in heaven but the
heat of his presence is a torment to
those that are in hell.
Isaiah said the sinners that were there in
Zion or Jerusalem saw what the fire of
God could do to the enemies of God
and they became gripped with fear as were
the hypocrites.
Their question, who among us can dwell with
the devouring fire?
They saw what the fire of God could
do to the enemies of God and they
were terrified with the realization that they were
sinners and they were hypocrites.
Who of us can survive this fire?
The word dwell translated dwell is the Hebrew
word gore and there are several translations to
this one Hebrew word.
It could be translated who of us can
approach this devouring fire or who of us
can dwell or abide in this devouring fire
or it could be translated flee.
Who of us can flee from this devouring
fire?
Which English word should be used to translate
the Hebrew gore in this text?
And as we read it we realize that
all three translations would be correct.
When you think of God who can escape,
who can flee from God?
If you think of God who can actually
dwell there in the presence of God or
thinking of God who actually can even approach
the fire, the burning fire of God.
In the declaration our God is a consuming
fire, we realize that fire is able to
consume many things.
Here in Southern California we've watched on TV
as these forest fires have consumed vast amounts
of forest territory.
Kay and I drove up to the high
school camp this week to be with the
high school kids up there but again I
was absolutely amazed at how much that fire
burned a while back there in the San
Bernardino mountains.
All of the way from the base of
the hill up to the rim of the
world highway.
The whole hillside from highway 118 going up
out of San Bernardino to highway 38 going
up out of Redlands.
All of the way is nothing but ashes.
You see charred trees standing there which was
once a forest now all you see is
just black trees stripped of their greenery and
just there.
And in places where the fire jumped the
rim of the world highway and went on
down the other side again just the vast
devastation.
We saw houses that were all all that
was left were the rock foundations and all
as the fire consumed the whole hillside and
so many houses and all in its path.
And you wonder who could dwell in the
midst of that devouring fire and you realize
that nothing could survive in that devouring fire.
Thousands of people of course were forced to
evacuate from their homes because of the threat
of that fire.
The hillsides have been denuded as a result
of those terrible fires that raged there for
many days.
But who can flee from the devouring fire?
Who can flee from God?
This past week there's been a major fire
up in the Lake Hughes area.
On one of the sections where the firefighters
were trying to fight that fire they were
withdrawn because the brush was so dry and
the terrain was such that uh they said
that the fire hitting this area could actually
travel at the speed of a hundred miles
an hour.
And that if the firefighters were there there
would be no way that they could run
from or escape that fire.
So who of us can flee from the
devouring fire?
David said, where can I flee from your
spirit?
If I ascend into heaven you are there.
If I descend into hell behold you are
there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and I flee to the uttermost parts of
the sea even there you surround me.
In other words David is recognizing there is
no fleeing from God.
There's no place that you can escape from
God.
So in reality you are in the fire.
So the question really isn't who can dwell
or flee from the fire.
But the question now becomes I am in
the fire.
What is the fire doing to me?
Fire has the capacity to destroy.
It also has the capacity of purifying or
transmitting into permanency.
You take gold and put it in the
fire.
The dross is destroyed and you have the
purifying of the gold through fire.
Same is true of silver.
The purifying of the silver through fire.
You take iron and put it in the
fire and heat it up and you make
steel developing this iron into a more permanent
metal into the steel as a result of
the firing of the iron.
So there are certain things that are purified
or made more permanent through the fire as
there are things that are utterly changed by
the fire.
They say that no matter is destroyed but
you change it into a different form and
so the fires are able to consume so
many things.
And so with us Peter talks about the
fiery trials that God sometimes puts us through.
Some people are destroyed through the fiery trial.
Other people become stronger as the result of
the fiery trials that we go through.
The real issue of whether I'm destroyed or
strengthened is what I am made of.
If I am trusting in my own abilities,
in my own wisdom, in my own strength,
I will find that the fiery trial will
destroy me.
But if I'm abiding in Jesus Christ and
I have my faith and hope fully in
him, then these fiery trials only make me
stronger as I see how the Lord is
able to work even through very trying situations
in my life.
We are told that one day when we
stand before the Lord, our works are going
to be judged by fire.
And as Paul said that he was sort
of a master craftsman, he had laid a
solid foundation which was Jesus Christ.
The only true foundation that can be laid
and men come and build on that foundation.
But he said you need to be careful
how you build on that foundation.
Some build gold, silver, precious stones, others, wood,
hay, stubble.
My works, they can be of gold, silver,
precious stone, or my works can be of
wood, hay, and stubble.
But Paul said one day our works are
going to be judged and many of the
works will be burned up.
Those that were of wood, hay, and stubble,
they will not last the fiery judgment.
However, that which is of gold and silver
and precious stones, that work will remain and
I will be rewarded for that work.
The others will just go up in that
fiery judgment and there will be no reward.
As Jesus warned, be careful that you don't
do your righteous deeds with the motive of
men seeing you do them and thus applauding
and praising you and going around saying oh
do you know he is such a marvelous
person.
I saw him out there the other day
and you know Jesus said be careful of
of the motives for what you do that
you don't do them with the express purpose
of having men see them so that they
will applaud you and pour accolades upon you.
Be careful about that.
For he said you then have your reward.
Your reward is the praise and the acknowledgement
of man.
But he said do your works in secret.
Don't let your right hand know what your
left hand's doing.
Pray to your father which sees in secret.
And that kind of work that is done
just because I love God and I know
he wants me to do it and I
don't care if men know that I do
it or not.
I don't know care if I get recognition
from men or not.
That's not my motive.
My motive is just to please God and
serve God.
Those are the works of gold silver and
precious stones.
Those are the works that I'll be rewarded
for.
Those that were done ostentatiously to receive glory
and all for men there will be no
heavenly reward for those works because they won't
last the fire.
They're wood.
They're hay.
They are stubble.
So the real question of the sinners and
the hypocrites there in Zion should not have
been who among us can approach or dwell
or flee from this fire.
But their real question should have been I'm
in the fire.
What is the fire doing to me?
Is it destroying me or is it transmitting
me into permanency?
Is it purifying me?
And that's the question we should each be
asking today of ourselves.
I'm in the presence of God.
I can't escape the presence of God.
Our God is a consuming fire.
That is he consumes all that is of
the effete.
All that it is of the flesh and
yet that same fire is purifying and can
purify and transmit you into a permanency.
You remember Jesus said God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever would believe in him would not
perish, would not be destroyed.
You're in the fire.
Some are perishing in the fire but God
so loved you that he sent his son
Jesus Christ that in the fire it won't
destroy you.
You won't perish but you will have everlasting
life.
There will be that transforming, the taking out
of the slag, the taking out of the
dross and the purifying and the hardening into
a permanency that God desires the fire, his
fire to do in your life and in
my life.
I'm in the fire.
Am I being consumed, destroyed, devoured or am
I being molded and shaped into the image
of Jesus Christ as a result of the
fiery trials that I endure through his help
and through his strength.
Who shall abide, who shall dwell?
Well in verse 15 Isaiah answered, he that
walks righteously, speaks uprightly, he that despises the
gain that comes from oppressions, he that shaketh
his hands or keeps his hands from the
holding of bribes, he that stops his ears
from hearing of evil and he that shuts
his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell
on high.
His place of defense shall be the fortress
of rocks, bread shall be given to him
and water shall be sure for your eyes
shall see the king in his beauty and
they shall behold the land that is very
far off, that is heaven.
Your eyes will one day see the king
in his beauty and you will be there
to behold that land that is fairer than
day that by faith we can see it
afar.
So I'm in the fire, you're in the
fire.
What's it doing to your life?
Is it bringing you closer to God?
Is it transmitting you into permanency or is
it devouring and gradually destroying your life?
It's a question that we all of us
need to contemplate this day.
I'm in the fire, is it consuming me
or is it transmitting me into permanency?
It all depends on where I am in
my relationship with Jesus Christ.
If I am in him, he's dwelling in
me.
It's only bringing me into that everlasting life,
that permanency that God has for me in
Christ Jesus.
And one day I'll behold the king in
his glory as I'm there in his presence.
The God of fire and I'll be warmed
by that fire of God working in my
life.
Father we thank you that through Jesus Christ
the fire of God is not something that
we are fearing, not something that is terrifying
us today knowing Lord that you've only purposed
to change us into your image to mold
us until we are like you.
Thank you Lord for your fire that works
in our life this day.
I pray father for those whose lives are
being destroyed because they've built on wood hay
and stubble.
Their life is involved in the material things
of this world which are all going to
be destroyed one day in that fire and
there's nothing of permanency in their lives.
Father today may they surrender themselves to Jesus
Christ and know the fire of your love,
the passion of fire of your love burning
inside them.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Shall we stand?
The pastors are down here at the front
to pray for you today.
If in looking at your life, realizing that
you can't escape from God, you can't flee,
you're in the fire and if you see
your life sort of being devoured, destroyed, you're
not made up of the right elements, you
need to surrender your life to Jesus Christ
so that there need be no fear of
the fire of God as it burns everywhere
all around us.
These men are here to pray for you
that help you to come into a real
relationship with God.
We're not asking you to join the church.
We're not asking you to make a pledge
of any kind to the church or to
man.
But we're just telling you, you can have
a living relationship with the true and the
living God.
You can come into an intimate relationship with
God.
You can know that you are saved.
You can know and be assured that the
fire is not destroying you, but is only
purging the dross out of your life to
make you permanent, a permanent inhabitant of the
kingdom of God.
And so that's what the invitation is all
about, to know Jesus Christ and thus to
be secured.
When this world on fire passes away, you'll
know that you will remain because of the
permanency that his love has brought into our
lives.
As soon as we're dismissed, we would encourage
you come forward, meet with these men down
here.
They're here for the express purpose of ministering
to you and praying for you, to help
you not to have to fear the fire
of God, but to rejoice in what God's
love has done and is doing in your
life.
May the Lord be with you, watch over,
strengthen you, purify you, keep you, and may
you come to know that love that God
has for you in all of its fullness
as you give him opportunity to manifest it
to you.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon
thee.