Isaiah 33
“The Way Back To God”

Introduction
1. Isaiah 33 came out of a setting where God’s people were turning back to Him as their last resort. Egypt had let them down. Assyria kept on coming, reaching, grabbing. King Hezekiah tried to buy off the Assyrians. He withdrew money from the Temple treasury and stripped the god from the doors of the Temple and handed them over to the king of Assyria to get him to leave them alone. As they watched from the wall, the Assyrians weren’t going away. It’s a double cross! “We’ve miscalculated.” “We’ve done everything wrong.” “We’ve offended God.” They realize there is nothing left but the grace of God. They have no where else to go, so they turn to God. HE RECEIVES THEM!
2. What does God say to people who have failed? What is the way back to God?
3. Isaiah 33 gives the way back to God:

What does God say to people who have failed? What is the way back to God?
I. BELIEF IN GOD 33:1-6
God makes a difference when we trust Him.
A. The Spoils of Victory 1
God must take care of the enemy…you can’t!
1.Assyria is the destroying, double crossing traitor who seems to be getting away with everything. The tyrant is doomed.
2.Because the people are turning to God, they are beginning to let God fight their battles. He will do what they never could. Why is the enemy on the run?
B. The Sound of Victory 2
1. Prayer O Lord
2. Provision Be gracious…Grace God Does It!
3. Patience We have waited for thee.
4. Power (You) be Thou our arm every morning.
5. Prospect Our salvation in the time of trouble…
C. The Source of Victory 3-4
1. The people look to God for confidence.
2. They see Him in a new way: They see that all He has to do to scatter the nations is
stand up!
3.Your is plural. 4 They look at the nations with boldness. The powers of evil will be
stripped bare and looted.
D. The Strength of Victory 5-6
All they need is the Lord. The Lord is enough!
1.Who He Is 5
2.What He Does 6
When we really trust God…we find He is there. When God is all we have…God is all we need. When we respect Him enough to let Him take control…He becomes wisdom, knowledge, stability, salvation…OUR ALL!

What does God say to people who have failed? What is the way back to God?
II. BROKENNESS BEFORE GOD 33:7-12
Broken is not shattered into 1,000 pieces, but as a horse that is broken yields to the slightest
touch.
A. God’s Agents 7-8
We say, “I have failed.”
1.Desolation and despair that is what Isaiah portrays. Their ‘peace negotiations’ have failed.
2.The invader is at the gate. HOME-MADE salvation makes a lot of sense…until you try it!
B. God’s Assessment 9
The earth mourns and languishes.
1.In the Bible every place mentioned are pleasant places.
2.No matter where you go or how pleasant (beaches or beauty) you still need God. Being there without God would be Hell!
3.Being anywhere with God (Concentration Camp or Battlefield) is Heaven!
C. God’s Advancement 10
I will arise.
1.When we are defeated, downcast, disgraced and so disappointed. Broken (shattered into 1,000 pieces) with what we have done with our lives…that is when God enters it!
2.God wants to mark your life with a decisive “Now”. “When you sink to your lowest, that’s when I will say, ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’ Now I will arise!
D. God’s Accomplishment 11-12
1. God turns to our Assyria…those things that have defeated and disappointed us…all
the powers that would have destroyed us and speaks their doom!
2. Our part is v. 7 cry in the streets. Admit in the open that only God can save us.
Brokenness is essential because it brings us to God! Your failure is God’s
opportunity. Your sin is God’s moment.

What does God say to people who have failed? What is the way back to God?
III. BLESSING FROM GOD 33:13-24
We come alive to the all sufficiency of Christ. God wounds us, but God also heals us.
A. A New Sense 13-16
1. God is a consuming fire. God is unsafe. 14, 15 We fear the wrong thing. We fear the
Assyrians of our lives. We blame the world for our problems. So, we ask the wrong
questions: Why isn’t God helping me? What practical good is God to me?
2. Now we ask new questions: “Why should God care about me at all?” “How can a
life like mine ever measure up to a God like this.” “Why would God love me?” A
new sense of God is the beginning of renewal!
B. A New Sight 17-20
Eyes…See…Sight…Look
1.A reversal of our perception of reality…Before all Judah could see was Assyria.
2.Now they see the King in His beauty. Then they will see themselves…secure and safe. The enemy that seemed so overwhelming will be seen in a new light.
3.The enemy that stood outside Jerusalem…where did he go? When our eyes behold the King in His beauty, we see everything else in His light.
4.But we all, with unveiled faced beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(II Cor. 3:18) The Holy Spirit does this! He brings us into a new land with secure borders.
C. A New Source 21-24
1. Our Safety 21-22 Broad rivers We delight ourselves in His greatness!
2. Our Salvation 23 This floating disaster win a victory…takes the spoils…Why?
He will save us!
3. Our Scapegoat 24 He heals us. Forgiveness…He bears away. My sins are gone!

My sins are gone!
God says if we trust Him to bear our guilt away…IT’S NEVER COMING BACK!

What If I’m Just A Failure (Poem)