We come to the second hearken
this time. We looked at one last week. Our
text begins here in verse 4. Hearken unto me, my people, and
give ear unto me, O my nation. For a law shall proceed from
me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near, my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people.
The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arms shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment,
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation
shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. I'm tired
of this, my righteousness, my salvation. The Lord Jesus is
the righteousness and the salvation of His people. He's the righteousness
and the salvation of His people. And if He's given you faith and
you believe on Him to be your all, then He's your righteousness
and He's your salvation. Now, he's talking to his people.
He begins out here in verse 4 and he says, Hearken unto me, listen
to me, my people. Give ear unto me, O my nation.
He's speaking to His people, whether they're Jew or Gentile,
male or female, rich or poor, bond or free, educated, uneducated,
wherever they are, He's speaking to His people. Chosen of God,
our Father in Christ, trusted to Christ to save. This is Christ
speaking. He says, give ear, my nation.
He's talking about His holy nation. You know, all people are divided
into two categories in the Scripture. There's two books. Listen, Genesis
5-1 speaks of the book of the generations of Adam. Now everybody
comes from Adam. There's another book in Matthew
1-1 called the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. That's the book
his elect are written in. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ. Christ doesn't speak to all people.
He speaks to His people. He doesn't speak to all nations.
He speaks to His holy nation. His holy nation. He has a people
scattered in every nation, but they all together make up His
one holy nation that He's saved. And He says to you and me, hearken
unto Me. My people, give ear unto me,
O my nation. Now let's hear what he says.
Let's hear what he says. We know who he's talking to,
we know who's speaking. Now let's hear what our Lord
says to us. First of all, he declares the
gospel proceeds from him. The gospel comes from him. Verse
four. He says, now listen to me, for
a law shall proceed from me. Now he's not talking about the
law of Sinai. That law already proceeded from him way back there
at Sinai. He says a law shall proceed from
me. He's talking about the gospel.
He's talking about the gospel. The gospel proceeds from our
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the prophet of his people.
You know, He sets a pastor up as His under-shepherd. And that
word shepherd means pastor. But He's the pastor. He's the
one that does deep teaching, deep preaching in the heart.
The gospel is concerning His person and what He's done. And
it proceeds from Him. It comes from Christ. That's
what Christ accomplished in you when He sent the gospel. He's
the voice who spoke to you. When the gospel came to you and
you heard it for the first time, and you were turned to Christ,
it was because Christ was the one that did the speaking. You
came out of darkness into His light because of His voice. Because
the gospel proceeded from Him. Look at Isaiah 52.6. You know
I like this verse. Therefore, my people shall know
my name. Therefore, they shall know in
that day that I am he that does speak. Behold, it's I. See, he's
still talking in the same context. He's saying this gospel's gonna
proceed for me and you're gonna know it's my voice speaking.
Last time, he used Abraham and Sarah as an example. And here's
what he said back up there. He said, you look, verse two,
look to Abraham your father, to Sarah that bear you. For I
called him alone. Remember? He said, I'm the only
one that called him. The law came from him. The gospel
came from the Lord. I blessed him and I increased
him. And here's what he does through the gospel. Look at verse
3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. This is how he comforts
his people. When you need comfort, I tell
you the one thing you need to do, you need to come hear the
gospel preached. Because this is how he's going to comfort
his people. He will comfort all our waste places. He'll make
her wilderness like Eden. What's our waste places? Everywhere
we go in this world, it's all waste places. But for His child,
He's gonna make your place like Eden. He'll make her desert like
the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving in the voice of melody. Now, listen,
that's what Christ says. Now anybody, and there is a religion
that preaches that Christ cannot bring the gospel to everybody.
He doesn't save through preaching of the gospel. He doesn't save
everybody that way. And they say, you know, if a
man's off somewhere in a jungle somewhere, what about him? Like
that's too hard for the Lord. The Lord created heaven and earth.
He spoke it into existence. But to say that, when he says
right here clearly, this gospel shall proceed from me, that's
to call him a liar. And that's to say he's a failure.
But back in Isaiah 42, verse 4, it said, He shall not fail,
nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth, and
the isles shall wait for his law, for his gospel. Now, when
he sends this gospel, what is the light he gives through this
gospel? What's the light that we're given? It is God's judgment toward us
is settled in Christ. God's judgment toward his people
is settled in Christ. This is the light that he preaches
through the gospel. Look at verse 4. And I will make
my judgment to rest for a light of the people. You see that? The law, the gospel that we preach,
is that Christ satisfied justice for his people. That's the gospel.
That's the light. All gods elect. We fell in Adam. We owed the law justice. We owed it eternal death. We
owed the law perfect obedience. We owed the law what we cannot
pay. Neither one of those could we
pay. We could pay death for our sins, and we could not give it
perfect obedience. But God has made judgment toward
His elect to rest, because our Lord Jesus Christ paid everything
that the law demanded, and He did it for His particular people.
He came to where we are, and He walked this earth under the
law as a man representing all His people. He was sinless, did
no sin, and perfectly obeyed the law for His people. Then
He went to that cross and bore all our sin and God made Him
a curse for us. And by Him pouring out His blood
and His body being broken into the wrath of God, God's justice
is satisfied and God's judgment toward you is settled. He rests. That's the light by which He
gives you light in the heart. That's the light. Go over to
Romans chapter 8. This law He's talking about to
proceed from Him. This is the light. It's the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Look here, Romans 8, 1.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the
law, you see there, that's what proceeded from him. The law,
the gospel of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Nothing wrong with
the law, it was me, I couldn't keep it. You couldn't keep it.
But God sent in His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin to flesh that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. That's the good news, brethren.
The light of Christ that God gives us is, I will make my judgment
to rest for a light of the people. I've made my judgment to rest.
That's the light. The glory of God. You know the
glory I've said to you before is the G-L-O. It's the glory
of God. It's the light of God. That's
what it is. And the light, where do we see it? In the face of
Christ Jesus. Just like He commanded the light
to shine out of darkness in the first creation, He shined in
our heart to give the light of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. This is His glory that He sent
forth His own Son the fullness of the Godhead in His Son. And
His Son came forth and did the work to honor Him, to magnify
His justice, and to show that He's both a just God and a Savior. He's just and the justifier.
This, this is the light, brethren. Go with me to Hebrews 10. Here's
what He does when He sends you the Gospel. Now look, this is what he does.
I know we see this, we've looked at this verse many times, but
this is what he does. Look, Hebrews 10.14. It says,
By one offering Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Them God chose in Christ, sanctified
in Christ in eternity. Christ came and perfected them
forever. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. Christ
said this gospel is going to proceed from me. And he said,
and my light's going to shine, I'm going to show you my judgment
rests, and when that Holy Ghost bears witness, He bears witness
to you that Christ has perfected His people forever. This is the
law He writes on the heart. And He says, verse 17, in your
heart, He says, your sin and iniquity, I'll remember no more.
And then he says to you, and where remission of these is,
where your sins are put away, you can stop working now. There's
no more offering for sin. I'm satisfied. My judgment is
settled. I'm resting in my Son. Now you
rest in my Son. That's what God, that's the light.
And look at Hebrews 9, look at verse 14. And here's what it
does. You were working. You were trying
to make your good outweigh your bad. And you was trying to do
and do and do to please God. It was all dead works. And when
He gives you this light, verse 14, Hebrews 9, 14, the blood
of Christ through the eternal Spirit, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purges your conscience. He washes your conscience from
those dead works so that now you can serve the living God.
Brethren, that's the light. You know, we only have light
to discern this scripture when God gives us the light of Christ.
And that light is to know judgment is settled for us by our substitute. So, listen to what that means.
It's Christ who finished the work. He's our light. So if we're
going to discern these scriptures, God makes you used to go to these
scriptures and when you were in darkness and you were looking
for something you could do to obtain life. That's all you went
to. I know because that's the only
way I read the scriptures was trying to find something I could
do to be righteous and holy with God. When He's given you this
light, now you discern this book in the light of the fact that
all God's judgment rests in Christ and is settled toward you, and
you're righteous in Him. That's how you understand this
book, because that's what this book is declaring from cover
to cover. Hearken to me, my people, give ear to me, O my nation,
for a law shall proceed for me, and I will make my judgment to
rest for a light of the people. Now, what's the result? When
he sends this gospel, hearken to him now, listen to what he
says to you now, verse 5, Isaiah 51.5, My righteousness is near,
and my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the
people. Go with me to Romans 10. Romans 10. Here's what he's telling you
now. Listen. You know, this is to his people.
There might be one sitting here that's his people that don't
know him yet. And well listen, let me tell you what he's saying
here. Look here, Romans 10. He said, my righteousness is
near. My salvation's gone forth. I've done it. I've accomplished
it. That's what it means. It's gone forth. I've accomplished
it. And my righteousness is near. Look here, verse 6, Romans 10,
6. The righteousness which is of
faith speaks on this wise. Say not in your heart, who shall
ascend to heaven? that is to bring Christ down
from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring
up Christ again from the dead. But here's what it says, here's
what the law of faith says, the word is nigh thee, even in thy
mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we
preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. See? He comes to you
in this gospel. This law goes forth from Him.
God shines a light and He says, He says, My righteousness is
near. And you're sitting there thinking, Oh, I'm going to have
to go way over here. I need to do this. I need to
do that. You're looking at all these extreme things you need
to do. And He says, You just believe unto righteousness. You
believe Me? Talk it to me. That's what He
says. And He makes you believe Him. Light shines and you believe
Him. He says, my salvation's going
forth. He says, don't say who's going to go up. That's to bring
Christ down. Or who's going to come up to
bring Christ. He said, my salvation's already done. I finished it.
It's accomplished. Now, believe on me. I'm your
righteousness. That's what He makes His people.
And He says, and mine arm shall judge the people. Here's what
this means. As this gospel's going forth,
It's not going to be the strong arm of mom and daddy that's going
to make you believe. It's not going to be the strong
arm of the preacher that's going to make you believe. It's going
to be the arm of the Lord that's going to make you believe. He's
going to set judgment in your heart so that you have discernment
in your heart. And from then on, listen, He's
going to protect His child, defend His child, vindicate His child,
and I'll tell you something else His arms are going to do. Everybody
that's His enemy, everybody that would harm His children, He's
going to condemn and destroy everyone that despises Him. But
He's going to protect His people. What's the result when he does
this? Verse 5, Isaiah 51.5, here's the result. When he tells you
this, at the end, the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm
shall they trust. Remember what Isaiah says in
Isaiah 53? He says, to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed? He said, who's believed our gospel?
Who's believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? That's Christ. That's what he's
saying here. He said, when I've done this
work, and I've come with my arms, and I've set judgment in your
heart, and I've shined this light, made you see the work's finished,
and I'm your righteousness, and I've brought you, he said, you're
gonna wait upon me. You know what that means? You're
gonna believe on me. You're gonna cast all your care
on me. That's Gentiles he's talking
about. The Isles? Israel wasn't an island. It's
landlocked. He's talking about all the continents
all over the earth. He's people everywhere. Gentiles. It's hard to believe that the
Pharisees did not understand that God had an elect people
among the Gentiles. Isn't that hard to believe? It's
all through the Old Testament Scriptures. They had it. Right
here, it tells you. We've read it over and over.
We've seen it many times in the Scripture that the Lord said
all through it, I'm going to have people all over this world. out of every nation, kindred,
tongue, and people. He calls you to wait on Him.
You know, this is the whole of our life is waiting on the Lord.
That's believing the Lord, trusting on His arm to work salvation
for us. We're waiting on Him. We're waiting
for Him to save us out of each trial. We're waiting for Him
just to bring us through each day. We're waiting on Him for
His salvation, we're waiting for His righteousness, we're
waiting for Him to make all His promises good to us, and we're
waiting on all His blessings to us. Everything, we're dependent
on Him. and we're resting on His arm
for anything, for everything. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Our whole life, we're
waiting for Him to come again. Our whole life is waiting on
the Lord, trusting the Lord. And on mine arm shall they trust. We're trusting the arm of the
Lord. Remember what Paul said in 1
Corinthians? He's the power of God. To us
who are saved, He's the power of God. Those that are perishing,
this gospel is foolishness to them. They don't have to have
it. It's foolishness to them. But
to you that He's called, it's His arm. The power of God is
Christ Jesus. And you're trusting His arm to
save you. Now here's the last thing. This
might be the shortest message I've ever preached. Here's the
last thing. This righteousness and this salvation
is forever. Now this is the good news. This
righteousness and this salvation is forever. Look here now. Here's
His word to you. He says, He says, first of all,
nothing of this world, nothing that you do, nothing of your
old Adam nature, nothing of your works shall last. Now look, verse
six, lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth
beneath. For the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. Listen, don't put trust in anything
in this earth. Don't put trust in anything in
this earth. Are you wishing on your lucky stars? I wouldn't
do that. They all gonna perish. and all,
everything in this earth is going to perish. And I'll tell you
something, if a man's trusting his works, if he's trusting his
works, in the day that he draws his last breath, all the works
he's trusting in are going to perish with him, and then he's
going to stand before God naked, without a covering. Don't trust
in anything in this world, don't trust in anything that's of your
hand. You trust the Lord Jesus Christ only Here's what He's
teaching you. His salvation and His righteousness
is forever. This world and everything in
it is going to perish. Every man is going to die. But
there's one thing that's going to last. His righteousness and
His salvation. Look at verse 6, the end. But
my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not
be abolished. You see, His salvation is called
eternal. He's eternal. He's the Son of
God. Everything He accomplishes is
eternal. He's eternal salvation. And His righteousness is everlasting.
Daniel's vision was He's going to bring in everlasting righteousness. That's what He's done. Now, turn
with me to Isaiah 54. If He's worked this in you and
shined a light in your heart and made you to trust the arm
of the Lord and lean on Him and know He's your righteousness
and your salvation forever, this is His promise to you. This is
His promise. Look at verse 17, Isaiah 54,
17. No weapon that's formed against
thee shall prosper. Now listen, no weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the inheritance,
the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Oh, I love this
next part, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. That's the message of our text,
brethren. My righteousness and my salvation. is what I give
my people. And He is that righteousness.
He is that salvation. Trust the Lord, brethren. Don't
trust anything here below. Trust the Lord only. All right,
Brother Adam.