Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Isaiah, chapter 26. The prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah
the prophet, God's prophet, in the days that he prophesied in
Judah, in Jerusalem. And in chapter 26, and the title
of the message is, A Song We Need to Sing. a song we need
to sing. Now the Bible's full of songs. Sometimes they're called Psalms,
the book of Psalms. And these are songs of worship
to God. And you'll remember in the New
Testament, especially in the book of Revelation, it speaks
of the multitude of sinners saved by grace. and how they gather
together in glory to sing a new song. And that new song is worthy
is the lamb that was slain and that lamb is Christ. And what
it's talking about is as by nature, as we are naturally born into
this world as lost in our sins, fallen in Adam, born spiritually
dead and depraved in sin, spiritually dead and depraved. We sing songs
all the time, but our songs are not truth. Even in religion,
our songs are songs of self-righteousness and work salvation, things like
that. But when God brings us to see
and to know and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for all
of salvation, to see His grace and His glory, He puts a new
song in our hearts. He gives us a new heart and gives
us a new song. And that new song can be seen
in many forms. We read about the song of Moses
back in Exodus 15. And then again, as I mentioned,
we read about the song of the redeemed in Revelation 5. Maybe we'll look at that in just
a moment. But here, Isaiah the prophet is prophesying of a time
to come in Israel's life, in Judah's life, where the Messiah
would be on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, he would come. Isaiah
had spoken of it back in Isaiah chapter 7, a virgin will conceive
and bear a son. He'd spoken of it in Isaiah chapter
9 when he spoke of a son is given, a child is born, a son is given,
Christ is coming. And his goal in preaching these
prophecies was to show the people that their hope was not in themselves,
their hope was not in their works, their hope was not in the physical
temple, or their nation, or their king, or their armaments, or
their alliances, their hope of salvation. was always and is
always by God's free and sovereign grace in the glorious person
and the finished work of Christ. And this is a song we need to
sing. Look at verse one of Isaiah 26. He says, in that day, the
day of the Messiah, and it's the day of salvation. Now people,
God's elect, were saved in the Old Testament before Christ came
to this earth to die on the cross, to obey the law and die on the
cross. But that salvation was always based upon the certain
surety that Christ would come and that he would die on that
cross and put away the sins of his people, Jew and Gentile,
and work out a perfect righteousness whereby God could be just to
justify them. So in other words, what I'm telling
you is this, when you go back into the Old Testament, and you
can read about this in Hebrews chapter 11, and you can read
about it in other passages too. When God saved Abel, for example,
you remember Cain and Abel? Well, Abel is my brother in Christ. He believed the same gospel that
I believe. Now, there are certain details
about the life and the ministry of the Messiah that Abel didn't
know, but he did know how God saves sinners by grace based
upon the blood of a substitute. the blood of the lamb, which
pictured the lamb of God, the Messiah to come. And we know
that because the Bible tells us that he did. In Hebrews 11
and other places, Abel brought a lamb slain to sacrifice. And Abel did that by faith, that's
God-given faith. Cain rejected it. And he brought
the works of his hands. So Abel's lamb was a picture.
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those sacrifices, God laid down
the meaning of those sacrifices back in Genesis chapter three,
right after Adam and Eve fell, and they made fig leaf aprons
to cover their nakedness. That's symbolic of man's efforts
to hide his shame, to hide his lack of righteousness. And you
remember in Genesis 321, God slew an animal and made coats
of skin And what he was showing there is that sin brings death. And that's how God's justice
is satisfied. But a human being or an animal's
death won't do it. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin, but it's the blood of the promised
Messiah, the one promise first in Genesis 3.15 as the woman's
seed. And he's coming. He is a divine
person. The woman seed, the woman has
no seed. So that speaks of his virgin
birth. He's going to be conceived in the womb of the virgin without
the aid of man, but by the Holy Spirit. And he's going to bruise
Satan's head. He's going to crush Satan's head.
In other words, the condemnation that Satan brought in, he's going
to overturn that by satisfying the justice of God as their substitute. their surety, their substitute,
their redeemer. He's gonna go under the wrath
of God as the substitute of a people whom God had given him before
the foundation of the world. And that's not everybody without
exception. I know the Bible says, God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. The
world there is not everybody without exception. The word world
does not refer to everybody without exception. You can see that in
passages like 1 John 5, 19, and 20, where John said, we are of
God and the whole world life in the wicked one. The world
there means God's elect all over the world, out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. So in other words, when a believer,
when a sinner was saved back in the Old Testament, it's the
same way that a sinner is saved today in the New Testament age. It's by God's grace through the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what Abel saw. Now again, there are certain
details that he didn't know. He didn't know that he would
come out of Abraham, for example, or out of David's tribe. He didn't
know that. And there are other details,
but that he would be born in Bethlehem. He didn't know that,
but he knew the gospel. And we do too. So in that day,
verse one of Isaiah 26 is the day of the Messiah. And here's
what they're saying. For Abel, it was the day that
God revealed himself. But technically, it's that day
that Messiah would come. This song shall be sung in the
land of Judah. Now, what is the word for this
song? We have a strong city, it says. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Now, do you reckon he's talking
about physical Jerusalem? Well, if he is, this prophecy
is a failure because the city of Jerusalem fell. It fell several
times, but the one that we can mention, you know, I've told
you before, Isaiah prophesied about 700 years before Christ,
about a hundred or so years before Jeremiah, maybe 150 or so. And at the end of Jeremiah's
prophecy, that's when the Babylonian army led by King Nebuchadnezzar
came down on Jerusalem and lowered it to the ground. I mean, just
tore it up. Now it was rebuilt. Later on,
God brought it back because he wasn't through with it yet. He
wasn't through with it until the Messiah actually came into
the world. So it was built back up, but later on, when the Messiah
came and did his work and finished it, the city of Jerusalem was
destroyed again for good in AD 70. Now there's a city there
now, but it's nothing like what it was and it never will be.
It never will be. And what he's talking about there,
the strong city, is the heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem. You can read about that in Hebrews
chapter 12, where they say, in salvation, we didn't come to
Mount Sinai, the law, which was attended with thunderings and
lightnings and manifestations of God's wrath. Anybody who is
seeking to be saved by the law, it's a failure. But we came to
Mount Zion. Now Mount Zion, there is a physical
Mount Zion, but this Mount Zion is a picture, a type of the church. We came to the people of God.
We came to Christ and into his church. And to the heavenly Jerusalem,
the spiritual Jerusalem. You can read about it in the
book of Revelation. And that city is a strong city
because it's the city of God, not built by man. And salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. In other words, the
defense of that city is the salvation. that God has given His people
that cannot be reversed and cannot be lost. It cannot be penetrated
by the enemy. The Bible says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's people? God's elect. It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. You see, a person who is saved
by God's grace is saved forever and ever and ever. And the reason
is, is because it's not conditioned on that person who is saved.
It's conditioned on that person's savior, his substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he'll never fail. He shall prosper, Isaiah
says in Isaiah 52. He shall not fail nor be defeated. Nothing that man can do can come
against it. No weapon formed, Isaiah said. No armory of man, no matter what. Satan's accusations cannot stick
to God's people. Why? Because their sins, now
you could say, I'm a sinner. But God doesn't charge me with
my sins. Again, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? What'd he do with those sins?
He charged them to Christ. What did Christ do with them?
He went to the cross and died in my place to satisfy justice
for my sins. And in that transaction, he established
a perfect righteousness that cannot, there's no flaw in the
righteousness of Christ imputed to me. I stand before God in
a righteousness in which God himself can find no flaw, no
chink in this armor. It's not one that I worked at.
If it was one I worked at, God could find all kinds of flaws
in it. but it's not, it's the righteousness
of God. The Bible says, for the gospel
is the power, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, the
Jew first, the Greek or the Gentile also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just, the justified shall live by faith. The justified,
those who are forgiven of all their sins, those who are declared
righteous by God, they live by looking to Christ. And I'll show
you that in just a moment here. Look at verse two of Isaiah 26. It says, open ye the gates that
the righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in. Now,
who is this righteous nation? It's certainly in the people
of Isaiah's time. Again, go back to chapter one
and see how Isaiah identifies them. A sinful nation, a people
laden with iniquity, a people who are sick and putrefying sores
from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. Somebody
says, well, they must have repented. No, they didn't repent. And this
righteous nation, who's he talking about? That's the nation of God's
chosen people, chosen before the foundation of the world by
God, sovereignly, not looking down through a telescope of time
to see what they would do or not do. Oh no, that's not biblical. That's man's concoction to giving
some room to glory and boast. This is the nation of God's chosen
people, chosen before the foundation of the world, given to Christ.
Remember he said, in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he had given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. This is
the church, the redeemed of the Lord. The church for whom Christ
shed his blood. This is his sheep. This is the
righteous nation. They're righteous not by their
works, but they're righteous in Christ. For he is the Lord,
their righteousness. And how do you know who is a
member of this righteous nation? It says, they keepeth the truth,
there's the ones who enter in. What is it to keep the truth?
It's to believe it. God brings his people to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. Now in that state of having
been born again by the Spirit, brought to faith in Christ, they
struggle through this life, not kept by their own power and goodness
and efforts, but kept by God. And they will not totally forsake
Christ. Now they may stray for a little
bit. We see that in instances in the scripture, where some
of God's choice servants strayed a little bit, got off kilter
a little bit, but God did not let them totally go. Those who
claim to believe the gospel and totally leave it, unto perdition,
they never were saved. That's apostates. But none of
God's people, true people, are apostates. They will believe
unto the end because they're kept by the power of God's grace
in Christ. They will persevere in the faith
because they are preserved by the grace and power of God. and
they believe. They believe the truth. Look
at it again. That righteous nation which keepeth
the truth may enter. They don't believe a lie. You're
not going to enter this nation and be a citizen of this nation,
this heavenly nation, by believing a lie. Paul wrote in Galatians
chapter one, he said, though I or an angel from heaven preach
any other gospel than that which we have preached, let him be
anathema. No, a lie leads to death and hell. Only the truth
as it is in Christ, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace.
Free will will not get you into glory. No, sir, that's a false
gospel. I may preach a message on that
one day here on TV. But this righteous nation, They're
washed in the blood of Christ, clothed in His righteousness,
and they will be born again by the Spirit, brought to faith
in Christ. God-given faith, faith, for by
grace are you saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Faith is not the product of any
goodness in you or me. Faith is not natural to the natural
man. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Faith is the gift of God. It
comes by revelation through the Spirit under the Gospel, from
faith, knowledge revealed, true knowledge, truth revealed, to
faith, truth received. And if you've been born again
by the Spirit and you know the truth, there's three things I
can tell you about yourself from the Bible. You cannot ignore
it, you cannot deny it, and you cannot leave it. You cannot,
because God won't let you. That's what the Bible says. Well,
look at verse three. Now listen to this. He says,
thou will keep him in perfect peace. Perfect peace. Some literal translations say,
thou will keep him in peace, peace. Peace with God. That's what it's talking about.
And who is it has this perfect peace, this peace, peace? Whose
mind, their thoughts, their imagination, their heart, is stayed, fixed,
established on thee, because he trusteth in thee." Now there's
the mind fixed on Christ. That's what a believer is. His
salvation. He doesn't look to himself. He
doesn't fixate on himself. He looks to Christ and fixates
on Christ. Look over at Hebrews chapter
12 with me. This chapter falls right after
chapter 11, where we had a listing of Old Testament believers who
went through so much persecution in their lifetimes, but they
were kept by the power of God unto salvation and unto glory.
And it says in chapter 12, verse one, it says, wherefore, or for
this reason, seeing we also are compassed or surrounded about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, these Old Testament believers.
who were saved by grace, kept by grace, and who died in the
faith, God-given faith. So great a cloud of witness,
let us lay aside every weight, every burden, the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience, that's endurance,
the race that is set before us. In other words, as we run the
race of a Christian life, Okay? Let's lay aside everything that
would hinder us. And that would include anything
that would hinder me from doing one thing. Look at verse two.
Looking unto Jesus, the author, that is the beginner, and the
finisher, the completer of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of God, at the right hand of the throne
of God. Now, how am I gonna lay aside
every weight that would hinder me? And what is that sin that
so easily besets us? It's unbelief. It's doubts. Now, a true believer, a sinner
saved by grace, is not in a state of unbelief. But he or she still
has the flesh to deal with. Sinful flesh. And it's a struggle. The Christian life is a struggle.
It's a warfare. It's called in Galatians chapter
five, the warfare between the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and
the flesh. The Holy Spirit, who gives us
life and indwells us, is at war with our flesh. so that the flesh
cannot overcome us and cause us to totally leave Christ. The
Spirit is there and He's given us a new spirit, a new desire
to look to Christ and stay with Him. But in the flesh, There
are always doubts, fears, self-righteousness, and we struggle with it. I preached
a message years ago on the Christian life, and I made this statement.
I said, I don't want to oversimplify things, but there are really
three words that characterize the Christian life. Number one
is standing. A true Christian knows that his
or her standing before God, is in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness. And that can never change, because
Christ can never change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So He's the yea and amen. The
second word is state. Now, if we're believers, we know
that our state in this earth started out in the darkness of
sin and unbelief. You hath he quickened who were
born spiritually dead, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
We started out in a state of darkness and unbelief, but in
God's appointed time, He sent the Spirit to bring us under
the preaching of the gospel, and we were born again by the
Spirit. He gave us new life. And so our
state in this world is sinners saved by grace, regenerated and
called by the Holy Spirit, converted to Christ, looking to Christ.
And that's our state in this world, looking unto Jesus. And then thirdly, the word struggle. From that time on, we're in a
warfare, an inner warfare between the spirit and the flesh, and
we're engaged in it. And so the flesh will always
inspire us to throw weights and burdens in the way of our Christian
life, whatever that is. But the sin that so easily besets
all of us is unbelief and doubts. and especially when we see so
few who believe the truth. How do we combat that? What's
the remedy? Looking unto Jesus, the author,
our salvation, the author and the finisher of our faith. Keep
your eyes fixed on Christ. And that's what he's saying here
back in Isaiah 26, verse three. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace, peace, peace, whose mind, heart, Conscious will is stayed,
fixed, established, immovable on thee because he trusteth in
thee. Fix your gaze upon the glorious
person, the finished work of Christ. That's my hope. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. all other ground is
sinking sand. And so he says in verse four,
the end of this song, trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the
Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. The song goes on, but we'll quit
there. The song is everlasting strength. What is the song? Oh,
I've got a strong city. I've got a, I've got a savior
who can save. He didn't try to save me. He
saved me from my sins. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 317-07. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.