I highly recommend that you do
turn in your Bibles to the 13th chapter of Matthew, but tonight
we have a lot of Scripture. And yes, I have it in notes this
time. But I've put everything into
the handout to save us a little time from having to jump back
and forth between the Bible and the handout and also I put some
what's before our point and what's after our point so that way you
can take it in context. I begin tonight with our hand
in our handout, Lord teach us the parable of the wheat and
the tares and that's Matthew 13 24 through 30. And then he
explains that parable in Matthew 13, verse 36-43. So let me read those scriptures
with you on page 1 of the handout. Another parable put he forth
unto them. Now remember, the Lord had just
given us the parable of the sower and the good ground, the stony
ground, the different kinds of ground that there were, so on
and so on. He also said this, and I want
to go back to I want to read this to verse 10 and 11 to kind
of lay the groundwork for what we're about to see tonight again.
And the disciples came and said unto Him, verse 10 and 13, Why
speakest thou unto them in parables? And our Lord answered, He said,
Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. So here we go. Another parable put he forth
unto them. saying, The kingdom of heaven
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while he slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? And he said unto them, An enemy
hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them. let both grow together until
the harvest and in the time of harvest i will say to the reapers
gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles
to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn now that's a that's
that's that's a pretty fair parable there, I mean it pretty well
explains itself, but the Lord tells us that he gives these
parables so that those who don't know him will not understand. Our Lord said this in a prayer.
He says, I thank thee, O Father, thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and and hence revealed them unto
babe. So now, let's look at the next
part of this, verses 36, that was verses 24 through 30 that
gave the parable, and then the Lord explains them in verses
36 through 43, which is the second half of page one. Then Jesus
said, or then Jesus sent the multitude away, And I want you
to take note of this. He sent the multitude. The parable
wasn't for everybody. He gave it to everybody while
they stood there and heard what he said, but he has a particular
people that he wants to understand, so he's gonna explain it to them.
He sent the multitude away, went into the house, and his disciples
came unto him saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares
of the field. He answered and said unto them,
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. We kind of
figured that out, didn't we, when we read the first part of
that parable? It's pretty explanatory. It's the Son of Man. The field
is the world. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked
one. The enemy that sowed is the devil. The harvest is the
end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Now here's the
point of the parable of the tares, the wheat and the tares. As therefore
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be the
end of the world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend. and them which do iniquity, and
shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears
to hear, let them hear." Our Lord gives us some great instructions
here through this parable. Some very important questions.
Go to page two, if you would. Page two of your handout. I'd
like to first consider what is so obvious that it's astonishing
how slow we are to learn it. And I spoke that clearly and
slowly because I want you to know that I am right in this
camp. Folks, it's our nature to look
around us and judge the things that are around us. I don't care
who you are. If you think you don't, you're
lying to yourself. Oh, I'm not judgmental at all.
Yes, you are. We all are. It comes to our nature. It's the flesh that rears up
its ugly head in us. There is no such thing as a perfect
or pure church in this world. I want to repeat that. There
is no such thing. That's what our Lord is telling
us here. He's planted the good seed that the wicked one has
come along and planted tares in with it. Every congregation
throughout all time that has ever existed has tares and wheat
mixed together. Now that doesn't mean that there's
somebody within our crowd that we should sit here and say, oh,
who's the tares of our congregation? We may not have any tares at
this moment. There may be someone who comes in down the road that's
a terror. There may be somebody here who
decides not to come anymore. The gospel doesn't affect them
anymore. We know those who have done that,
don't we? We know those who have done that.
We just don't hear from them anymore. And we know they don't
go to church anymore. I don't know what they do, but
they're not worshiping the Lord with God's people. There's no
such thing. as a perfect and pure church
in this world. In fact, churches of God are
nothing more than a bunch of sinners saved by grace. Every
local church, every assembly of professed believers is a mixed
multitude of true believers and people who merely profess but
do not possess faith in Christ. Here's my prayer to me. Lord,
don't let me be one of those. Lord, don't let me be a Judas. Don't let me be one who falls
away. Keep me, Father. I know he will if I belong to
him. In the professing church of Christ, the children of the
wicked one are mingled with the children of the kingdom. They
spring up together, they grow together. This has been the experience
of God's saints in all ages, even in the days of Judas. You
know, Judas preached Christ. Judas sat and ate and worshiped
with all the disciples. And then at the last moment,
he turned against God, because he was never with God. Second
paragraph of page two. Also in this parable, our Lord
teaches us that it is not the business of God's servants to
separate the wheat from the tares. You know, I don't ever look at
anyone as a tare in this congregation. I look at everyone as being a
possible fruit of God, is a possible purse of wheat. The call, the
love of God, the church is built by the Holy Spirit. Christ reveals,
revealed is the function of the Holy Spirit. He builds the church
of God upon one foundation, one foundation, the solid rock, the
cornerstone, Upon this rock I will build my church, saith the Lord,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That's in
Matthew 16, verse 18, of which we'll come to at another date.
What rock is that? The rock that Peter declares
Him to be? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's
in Matthew 16, verse 16. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
anything else is but sinking sand. Folks, we have but one
commission, and it's not to build a church. Now, I want to stop
there for just a moment. There are those who believe that
it is the church's responsibility and purpose to grow and to win
souls for Christ. It's my job, is what they say,
to go out and win souls. And we know people who go door
to door, knocking door to door, They're gonna win the soul of
some poor lost person somewhere, and you just never know, so we'll
go out and win souls for the Lord. My mom used to talk to
me about the services up there in Pollock Pines. I know I've
shared this with some of you at some time or another, but
it was always about how many souls they brought to Christ
that day. I got in trouble one time because
I asked her, I said, well, how many of those souls that came
to Christ today came to Christ last week? Well, why are you
asking that question? I said, because you fed the same
people last week that you're feeding this week. If you were
feeding me every week and I had no other place to eat, I'd come
to Christ every week too. She didn't like that. That didn't
go over too well. One of those times where mama
wasn't happy with her son. But folks, that's the truth about
it. It was all about winning a soul for Christ. It's not our
job to win souls. It's our job. We have one commission.
And it's not to build the church. Listen to these words. And as
ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What is
the kingdom of heaven? It's Jesus Christ, the Savior
of His people. He saved His people through the
shedding of His own blood on that cross a little over 2,000
years ago. That's the message every single
time. He uses that very message to
feed His sheep. to comfort us when the Lord says,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people in Isaiah chapter 41, I think
it is, or 40. He says, tell them their warfare
is accomplished. Well, how is it accomplished?
By the Savior on the cross. Our sins are covered. Preach,
saying the kingdom of heaven is in. That's our commission.
Listen to these words. That was Matthew 10, verse 7.
We read that once already. Listen to these words. What ye
hear on the ear, That preach ye upon the housetops. There's
our commission. Go ye unto the four corners of
the world. Preach the gospel unto every
creature. Our responsibility is one thing. And I want to stop there because
I was talking to Pastor Gene about this this morning. Our
responsibility Notice I started that statement with our. That
means I'm including all of you, I'm including all of God's people,
I'm including all of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ. Our responsibility
is to preach the gospel. Now I'm not meaning that you
all have to get up here and speak and preach. I'm talking about
we have to support it. We have to be behind it. We want
the message to go out into the world the best it can. Use what
we can with the gifts that God has given us. You know, there's
a young lady by, well, she's gone on to be with the Lord now,
she's not young, but Virginia Mayer. She used to call different
people at different times. I remember the first time she
called me, I was like, hello? Hi, John, this is Virginia. Who? Virginia Mayor from the
church. Oh, yeah. Hi, Virginia. You know, the Lord just wanted
me to call you and tell you that I've been praying for you and
that I'm hoping he'll bless you today. That was her mission. That was what God, the gift that
God gave her for me, to pray for me that day. It's still the
same thing. It's still preaching the Gospel
as a group, as a congregation, sending out the Word of God.
It's to preach Christ Jesus the Lord, back in our handout again,
the Son of the Living God, who by grace gave Himself a sacrifice
to save His people from their sins. Preach the Gospel! That's our duty. Some folks think
that their duty is to teach and to correct. I agree with that. I am here tonight
to teach you about grace. I want to tell you, and this
is how I teach, I tell you about He who is gracious. And to correct. Here's how I will correct you.
It's not of works, lest men should boast. That's the correction
that's needed. There's only two ways to go about
salvation, and that is through grace or through works. And it's
not works, it's through grace. So there you go. I have taught
and I have corrected in one message tonight. Preach. The gospel. Listen to these words from Genesis
chapter 6 verse 18. This is the third paragraph from
the bottom of page 2. But with thee I, saith God, I,
saith the Lord, with thee will I establish my covenant. Did you see that? The covenant
is the great covenant between the three and one. It's the covenant
of God the Father giving a people to God the Son, God the Son laying
down His life and paying the ransom price for the people that
God the Father gave Him, and God the Holy Spirit giving them
life to see and know the Lord Jesus Christ whom God had sent. I, sayeth the Lord, will establish
my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark, and thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives
with thee." That's talking about Noah. And that ark is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Noah and his wife and his
sons are the only ones who were brought into that, the only human
beings that were brought into that ark. Thousands of people
lived on the earth at that time and thousands of people died
that day the Lord made things rain except for those who were
in the ark, a picture of our Lord and Savior. Look at the
next one here, down in Jeremiah 16, verse 21. Therefore, behold,
I saith God, I saith the Lord, will this once cause them to
know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might, and they
shall know that my name is the Lord. You see the works here? We don't have the ability to
separate tare and wheat. This is the work of God. Look
at another one here. I think this is so important.
I put a lot of scripture here that says these very things.
Arise and go down to the potter's house, Jeremiah 18.2. And there
I, saith God, I, saith the Lord, will cause thee to hear my words. How is it? It is God who causes
this one to, who's going down to the potter's house in Jeremiah.
He's instructing Jeremiah to go down there. And it's God who
will cause him to hear the words. It's God who will cause you and
I tonight to hear his word. Folks, I'm talking about hearing
with the heart. We all are hearing with the ears
up here, but we must hear with the heart. If we are wheat, if
we were wheat before the world was, if we are those that are
loved of God with an everlasting love, then He will cause us,
our heart, cause us to hear His Word. Look at another one with
me, Jeremiah 32, 38, bottom of page 2. And they shall be my
people and I, Sayeth the Lord will be their God. Page 3. This
one's a little bit longer than those other ones, but it's going
to say the same thing. Let me read for you Ezekiel 36,
22 through 27. Page 3. Therefore saith unto
the house of Israel, this is the Lord instructing Ezekiel,
thus saith the Lord. That's our job. That's what we
do. We go forth and we say, this
is what the Lord is saying. He's saying, I do not this for
your sakes. Did you catch that? He didn't
do it because something you had done was deserving of it. He
didn't do it because you purchased something from him. He didn't
do it because he owes you anything. I do not this for your sakes,
O House of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake." Now, there's
an important reason why God put all of that in there. For his
holy name's sake. Folks, Christ is holy. The Lord Jesus Christ is holy
in all things. He never sinned. He knew no sin
until God made him sin. that day on the cross. He says,
for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen. How many of you are raising up
your hands and saying, that's me! That's me! I know! I know I have profaned the name
of the Lord among the heathen, whither I went, and I will sanctify,
saith the Lord, my great name. which was profaned among the
heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the
heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God,
when I shall be sanctified in you." Now that means set apart,
in you, made holy, in you. When I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes, for I will take you from among the heathen."
Notice who's doing all the work here. Is he offering something
to the people here? Is this an offer that God is
just waiting for them to make a decision for? He says, I will
take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries
and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness,
and from all your idols will I cleanse you." Oh, the graciousness
of our God in the works that He does. A new heart, He says,
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep
My judgments and do them." Ezekiel 36, 22-27. Folks, when men in
their natural state came to the Lord and asked, what shall we
do that we might work the works of God in John 6, verse 28, the
Lord answered them in verse 29. He said, this is the work of
God. Separating The tares from the
wheat is the work of God, not ours. It is not our business
to decide who should receive the gospel and who shouldn't.
Only God, that only God can do the works of grace. He builds
his church alone. We're in our handout, second
paragraph from bottom of page three. We do not have the ability
to separate the wheat from the tares. We're not authorized to
do it. We must never try. We can only
judge things by their outward appearance. We have no ability
to look on the hearts of men. That means that no human being
has the ability to know who is saved and who is lost. If we
try to separate the wheat from the tares, and I'm telling you
this, folks, we will pull up the wheat and keep the tares
every time. Why? Because we're looking with
our eyes of this flesh. Because we see with these eyes
before us. rather than looking to Christ
with the eye of faith, trusting Him to do the work that He says
He would do. If we try to separate it, we
will pull up the wheat and keep the tares every single time.
For that reason, I'm thankful that we cannot discern one from
the other. But both are perfectly known
to God. Lord, Thou knowest all things.
The tares can no more become good seed than good seed can
become tares. They are a totally different
race. Though they grow together until the harvest, as we read
in verse 30 of our text, and though the church of God in this
world will never be free from tares, yet the Lord knoweth them
that are His. That's what we read in 2 Timothy
2.19. He knoweth His people. He knows all things, doesn't
He? Page 4. And blessed are those who by
the sweet effectual operations of His grace, giving them life
and faith in Christ, are made to know whose they are. I believe I belong to Christ. Now I belong to Christ. Now I
belong to Jesus. And to whom may belong? What
mercy it is to be numbered by electing, what mercy it is to
be numbered by electing love among the seed of Christ, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ. Listen to these words from Isaiah
44 verses 1 through 5. Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant
in Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee Fear
not, O Jacob my servant, and thou Jerusalem, whom I have chosen,
for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon
dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessings upon thy offspring, and they shall spring
up as among the grass, as the willows by the water courses.
One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself
by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand
unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Listen
to these words over Isaiah 59, 21, mid-page 4. As for me, this
is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon
thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed-seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth
and forever. We also read in Romans 8, 17,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. And then we read these words
from Galatians 3, verses 16 through 29, now to Abraham and his seed
where the promise is made. This is a distinction, once again,
between tares and wheat. God's elect and reprobates. chosen of God, and chosen vessels
of destruction. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. It wasn't promises made to the
whole world, but to the seed of Abraham. He saith not, and
to the seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of non-effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Wherefore then serveth the law. It was added because of transgressions,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a
mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law
then against the promise of God, page five? God forbid. For if there had been a law given,
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe, but before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
under Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after
that, faith has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Behold, 1 John
3, 1-2, Behold, with manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. That's the same kind of statement
we see over there in Hebrews chapter 10. By one offering He
hath forever perfected Now we are the sons of God, perfected
forever than that are sanctified. It's the same kind of statement.
It's done deal. It is finished, our Lord said from the cross.
Returning to our text, in the harvest time, at the end of the
world, the Lord God will separate the wheat from the tares. And
I give you the verses, our text there in verse 40 through 43.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall
it be the end of this world. The son of man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend. and them which do iniquity, and
shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears
to hear, let him hear." Hear these words. Another angel came
out of the temple. This is from Revelation 14, 15-20. Listen to these words that go
right along with what we just read there. And another angel
came out of the temple. This is the end of times. This
is the Lord sending his angels to reap his harvest. And another
angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him
that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the
time has come for thee to reap. For the harvest of the earth
is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And
another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he
also having a sharp sickle, and another angel came out of the
out from the altar which had the power over fire, page 6.
And cried with a loud cry unto him that had the sharpsicle,
saying, thrust in thy sharpsicle, and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel
thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of wrath
of the wrath of God. and the winepress was trodden
without the city and blood came out of the winepress even unto
the horse of bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs." Folks, none but God can tell tares from wheat until
the harvest time, but at that time, at the harvest time, all
shall be made to know, because the tares will stand tall, and
I forgot to put in there, in there self-righteousness, and
the wheat will bow their heads to the Lord. When the Son of
Man shall come in His glory, it says, and we're reading now
from Matthew 25, verse 31 through 46, when the Son of Man shall
come in His glory, again, we're talking about the end times,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was in hunger, and you
gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, When
saw we thee a-hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed? Or when saw we thee
sick, or in prison, or came unto thee? And the king shall answer
and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Insomuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these brethren, ye have done
it unto me. Then shall you say also unto
them on the left, depart from me, he cursed into everlasting
fire, prepare for the devil and his angels, for I was unhungered
and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in, naked, and you clothed me not, sick, and in prison,
and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, and a thirst, or a
stranger, naked, or sick, or in prison, or did not minister
unto thee? Page 7. Then shall he answer
them, saying, Verily I say unto you, insomuch as ye did not,
to one of the least of these, you did it not to me, and these
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life. Charles Spurgeon commented on
Matthew chapter three, verses 40 through 42, and this is what
he wrote. He wrote, what a description,
the outgathering of all things that offend, and of all persons
who cause others to stumble and who work evil will be a consummation
devoutly to be wished. Not only the hourly wicked, but
the false pretenders, the mock wheat shall be removed. The fate of these ungodly ones
will be fire, the most terrible of punishments, but this will
not annihilate them, for they shall exhibit the surest tokens
of a living woe, wailing. and gnashing of teeth. Sooner
or later, writes Charles Spurgeon, this is what must come of evil
men. I want to stop there for a moment.
This is what each and every one of us have earned. We've earned
that very same thing that Charles Spurgeon is talking about here,
that God is telling us of the wicked. But folks, we have a
substitute. We have one who stood in our
stead and received what is being declared here for you and I. He received it all. He drank
the cup dry that you and I have deserved. By His grace, we are
saved. Let me go on with Spurgeon. He
says, though in this world they flourish in the same field with
believers, and can hardly be discerned from them, they shall
be removed from such honorable association and be cast with
the rubbish of the universe into that great furnace of fire whose
smoke goeth up forever and ever. This is the Son of Man, this
the Son of Man will do with authority. The angels are simply the executioners
of the wrath of the Lamb. Our text states this in verse
43, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their father. The righteous are those sinners
Saved by grace. Remember what we talked about?
What is the church of God? At the very best, it's a bunch
of sinners who are saved by grace. It's not a bunch of good people.
It's not a bunch of goody-two-shoes. It's not a bunch of holier-than-thou. It's sinners. Sinners saved by
grace. You know, I am so blessed. that there's a bunch of sinners
down there in San Diego still getting together. What a terrible
ordeal that they had to go through over these past few years. Long
time ago, one of the ministers being shot by a person next door
to his house, another minister of theirs went off crazy preaching
something that doesn't make any sense, didn't have anything to
do with the gospel, and then they went through what they've
gone through recently. But yet God still keeps them together.
They're still sinners, saved by grace. And what do sinners
do? True, bona fide sinners, those
who know what we are before God, we meet with other sinners. We gather together as wheat and
worship our Lord. The righteous are those sinners
saved by grace of God who have the righteousness of Christ imputed
to them in free justification and imparted to them in regeneration. Now I'm not a big understander
of imputation and impartation. But I know what justification
means. I know it means I'm justified
before God, and I'm only justified in His Son, the Lord Jesus, who
justified me through His blood, who sanctified me through His
blood. I am regenerated. I have been
given a new heart that we were just reading about a moment ago.
I will give them a new spirit, a new heart. Cutting away that
old stony heart that shook my fist at Him and said, I'll not
have this one rule over me. Now I gladly bow my knee to Him
as my Lord. And every one of His people do
the same. A guy by the name of Ralph Erickson,
he wrote this. He said, if you would have righteousness,
you must have it in and from Christ. Amen. He has to give
you both an imputed righteousness, now I understand what that means,
Christ imputes His righteousness to me because I don't have any
of my own, for justifying me and an imparted righteousness
for sanctifying me. Brother Don Fortner wrote this,
he says, by faith in Christ we receive eternally what Christ
has done for us externally. Because we are justified by Christ's
imputed righteousness at the cross, we are sanctified by His
imparted righteousness in the new birth. Page 8. I echo the
words of Isaiah in chapter 61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord my soul. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. Do you know that's with the skins?
Remember the Lord God Almighty made skins? He made coats of
skins when Adam and Eve sinned and covered them? He covered
their nakedness. Because what they were doing
by their own hands could not do it. He hath covered me with
the robe of righteousness. Let me read something for you.
We've got a couple more minutes, and we're on the last page here.
I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to get to this or
not. Over in Isaiah chapter 41, and I'll read this out of my
Bible because I don't have it in the Scriptures there for you.
But in verse 8, we read these words. And I hope to preach on
this this Sunday. But thou, Israel, art my servant. Jacob, whom I have chosen. This is Isaiah chapter 41, beginning
at verse 8. Jacob, whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham my friend. Now we've talked all about those
very things. Israel, we've talked about God's
servants. Jacob, we've talked about his
chosen seed, the seed of Abraham. And he calls Abraham my friend. Verse 9, Thou whom I have taken
from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men
thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen
thee, and not cast thee away. Oh, what words of peace we see in
these words here. Look at verse 10, Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. Folks, I have no other God. I
have no other place to turn to but the Son of the Living God.
There's no other words of life but in these words right here.
Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Do you
know how the Lord strengthens us? By cutting us down and removing
those legs that are underneath us that say, I can do it. No,
I can't. I need the Lord every moment
of every day. Oh, I pray that you do. He says, I will help the Yale.
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. That's what I want to preach
on this Sunday. The right hand of my righteousness. The Lord
Jesus Christ is who they're talking about. The Lord Jesus is the
one who was raised after he had died and rose again from the
grave. The Lord God Almighty raised
him up to the right hand of the throne on high. the right hand
of my righteousness. What was it we were made? He
who knew no sin was made sin that we would be made the righteousness
of God. Not the righteousness of men,
not a righteousness of ours, but the righteousness of God. That's Jesus Christ, the righteous. Behold, it says in verse 11,
all they that were incensed against thee. This is talking about the
enemies of the world, yes, but that's a picture of the enemy
that's within. Our biggest enemy is right here
in our heart, in this flesh. Our biggest enemy is the one
that we fight with daily. We get up and the first thing
we, Lord, I need you today, I need you right now, as I get up and
open my eyes and begin to think. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and be confounded. They shall
be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them. There's another scripture over
where the Lord says, they shall seek thy sins and shall not be
found. You shall not find them, even
them that contended with thee, they that war against thee shall
be as nothing and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I
will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. Boy, is that not rightly called.
Fear not, thou worm, John, and ye men of Israel. I will help
thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Folks, if God be for us, who
can be against us? If he gave his only begotten
Son, how shall he not give us all things? Let's finish in page
8 here. Though in this world the righteous
are slandered and reproached as evil, though they are opposed,
afflicted, and persecuted, in that day they shall shine forth. John Gill wrote this. In the
robe of Christ's righteousness, in perfect holiness of nature,
in all felicity and prosperity of soul, and in the shining,
dazzling robes of glory, in corruption and in mortality, on their bodies
they shall shine forth as the sun, having no spot in them or
upon them. Without any clouds of darkness,
they will be as Christ himself, the sun of righteousness, with
whom and in whose glory they shall appear. faultless, without
spot or wrinkle, before the presence of his glory. They shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their father, is what our text
says. And when Christ our mediator has delivered up the kingdom
to the father, even the father, when he has put all things under
his feet, that God may be all in all, the righteousness shall
shine forth as everlasting monuments and trophies of grace. Listen
to these words of Ephesians 2 verse 7, that in the ages to come he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. What are those exceeding riches?
To the praise, to the honor, and the glory of the triune God.
And I give you three verses right there in Ephesians. You can go
look up at another time where it talks about the praise, the
honor, and the glory. Ephesians 1.6, 1.12, and 1.14. And then our scripture, our text
closes with this, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now I want to take you back one
more time. to what we read in Matthew 13,
verse 10, 11. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know. Well, how are you going to know?
By God-given ear. By a God-given heart. By a God
who in His grace is gracious to you, because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it is not given." Our Redeemer calls us to pay attention to
and reflect upon what He has taught us in this instructive
parable. Blessed are they who have ears
to hear, and hear and understand by His grace the things here
declared. by the Son of God.