Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 69. This hymn was written by John
Newton. I think it was designed to be
sung on a Sunday, because the tune is called Sabbath, and it's
called Safely Through Another Week, but I think any time we
get together is Sabbath. We get together, and it's the
Lord's time that we get together on, so it's a good hymn to open
with. Number 69. Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in his courts today. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
through the dear Redeemer's name, show Thy reconciled face, take
away our sin and shame. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. Here we come, thy name to praise. Let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our eyes while
we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospels' joyful sound
conquer sinners' comfort saints. May the fruits of grace abound
bring relief for all complaints. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Please be seated. I think in some ways our Wednesday
night services and Wednesday night fellowship is very, very
special, maybe more so than we have on Sundays. I'm thankful
to be here. Let's turn in our Bibles to Psalm
52. Psalm 52. And while I'm thinking
about it, we want to plan to have a cover dish lunch here
on Sunday the 15th of May. So if you want to be thinking
about that, put that on your calendar. May the 15th. My hope tonight is that the Lord
will give us spiritual ears. Anybody can read the Bible and
come to the conclusions that evil is bad and doing good is
good, but if the Lord enables us to see what's meant by these
things in terms of the spiritual that's good and the spiritual
that's bad, then we'll have been blessed. Verse one, why boastest thyself
in mischief? As I said, everybody knows what
mischief is, but the spiritual meaning here is denying Christ
his glory and salvation. Why boasteth thyself in your
works and in your will? Oh mighty man, you strong man,
the goodness of God endureth continually. I'll cause my goodness
to pass before you is what he told Moses. Moses wasn't engaged
in mischief, but he had not seen the goodness of God until the
Lord revealed himself. Thy tongue deviseth mischief
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. The lies of man-made religion
Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak
righteousness. You have spiritual ears to hear
what's being said here? Thou lovest all devouring words,
O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. The righteous also shall see
and fear and shall laugh." We do. We hear what people say about
God. And it's just foolishness to
us, isn't it? It's foolishness. Lo, this is
the man that made not God his strength. He didn't look to Christ
for his righteousness. He tried to establish his own,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened
himself in his, now that word wickedness is the same word,
riches. He's not talking about material
wealth. He's talking about those who believe that their righteousness
and their good works and their decisions are sufficient for
their salvation. And he boasts himself in the
abundance of what he's done. I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. That's where our trust is. not
in works of righteousness which we have done, not in our will,
not in our wisdom, but in Christ. I will praise thee forever because
thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name,
for it is good before thy saints. The title of the message tonight
from Isaiah chapter 1 is, What Does God Call Evil? What does God call evil? Let's
pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we need for you, Lord, to bless
us with spiritual understanding, spiritual eyes, Otherwise, Lord,
we'll do what other men do, and we'll take your word and make
works out of it. We pray that you would cause
us to see our need for Christ and that you would cause us to
see his sufficiency and his glory and his accomplished work and
enable us tonight, Lord, to find in him all our righteousness.
all our goodness before you, and all the justice, Lord, that
you've satisfied through making him an offering for our sin. We ask it in his name. Amen. Number 272. 272. Let's all stand
together. 272. 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, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On priceless solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Please be seated. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 1? Isaiah chapter 1. Paul made this statement about
his life before his conversion when he said concerning the law,
I was blameless. I lived an outwardly moral life. A lot of folks do. A lot of folks do. Most of the
people I've ever met in my whole life are outwardly moral people. They're responsible. They're
kind. They're courteous. They try to
do what's right. If they can't live by the rule,
do unto others what you would want them to do unto you, at
least they live by the rule. Treat others the way they treat
you. Most folks are that way. I'm not in any way suggesting
that men's hearts are good before God. What I am acknowledging
is that most people You would not, as far as their outward
behavior is concerned, you would not categorize most folks as
evil. You wouldn't do it. They're trustworthy, loyal, faithful. I know a lot of people that way.
That may be the threat of the law that makes them so. It may
be the attempt that they're making to atone for their sins that
make them so. But most people are easy to get
along with and good as far as outward behavior is concerned. And when the Lord is dealing
with evil in our text, He's not talking about the murderer. He's not talking about the criminal,
the career thief. Most folks aren't that way. There's
very few, a very few percentage of our population, or of any
population, live their lives that way. He's talking about
those who rob Christ of His glory in salvation. Those who are trusting
in their own righteousness for their salvation. those who do
not believe the gospel. And as we read these verses in
Isaiah chapter 1, we're brought to say, Lord, why didn't you
leave me there? And don't let me go back. What
we're going to consider tonight is what does God call evil? Now we want to be outwardly moral
people, we do. We don't want to be bad people
in terms of our behavior. We want to do what's right. And
that's natural. I've met some folks that are
really, really nice and considerate people. I mean, I've met Muslims
and Hindus You know, I've met some Muslim people that have
bent over backwards to help you out. They will. Maybe all terrorists are Muslims,
but not all Muslims are terrorists. I'm sure, Logan, that you've
met some guys over there in Afghanistan, Iraq, that would lay down their life for their
soldier friends, you know, for their comrades. So when we talk
about evil as God sees it, I hope that the Lord will give us spiritual
eyes to understand what he's saying here. We'll begin where
we left off last Wednesday night in verse 15. And when you spread
forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you
make many prayers, I will not hear. Now if you remember these
first 15 verses of Isaiah chapter 1, he's talking about people
that are engaged in religious activities. He's talking about
people that are praying, people that are making sacrifices, people
that are doing everything they can in order to appease God,
in order to earn favor with God. These are not evil people like
we would consider someone who's outwardly a criminal. That's not the kind of people
he's talking about. He says, your hands are full of blood. You see that in verse 15? Your
hands are full of blood. You don't understand that when
the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out on the house of
David, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, you will mourn for
me whom you have pierced. And they don't mourn for Christ. They don't look for Christ. They're
not longing for Christ. They don't understand their need
for Christ. And so the Lord looks at them
and He says, you're offering up prayers, but your hands are
full of blood. You don't see that the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope for being cleansed.
Or don't lead me that way. Look at the next verse. Wash
your hands. Wash you. How am I going to wash
them? The only thing that's going to
clean bloody hands is blood. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only hope that I have of having. How can I have clean
hands and a pure heart before God? Only if I'm found in Him. That's what the Lord's talking
about here. He's talking about looking to Christ for all your
righteousness. There's too much in religion
going on where self-righteous religious people are pointing
their finger out in the world and talking about the evils of
the world. And generally they're identifying
a very small portion of our society. But, you know, it's just a way
of, you know, promoting yourself and believing yourself not to
be like that. Most folks, most folks in this world that I've
met are as outwardly moral as you are as I am. So, when he's talking about washing
your hands, when he's talking about stopping evil, He's not
talking about stopping. No, I, we would read these passages
before and we would think, well, you know, that's who the Lord's
talking about. He's talking about those folks out there, those
people that are engaged in all that sort of licentious living.
That's the, that's the evil of the world. No, the evil of the
world is not bowing to Christ. That's the evil. That's the most,
that's what God calls evil. He's much more offended. God
Almighty is much more offended by what happens in religious
meeting houses on Sunday mornings than he is by anything that happens
on Friday and Saturday night. And that's what he's talking
about here. Wash you. Make you clean. How am I going to be clean? I'm going to have to be washed
in Christ. I'm going to have to be washed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing
that's going to take away my sin. All my prayers, all my religious
activity, all my outward morality, all the good things that I do.
And they're good. There's nothing wrong with them. Look at the next phrase. Put
away the evil of your doings. He doesn't say put away your
doings. He doesn't say stop doing right things. He doesn't say
stop being loyal, stop being faithful, stop being kind, stop
being trustworthy, stop being considerate, stop being helpful
to people. He doesn't say that. He says
put away the evil of your doings. If you look to what you're doing
in any way as your righteousness, then your doings have become
your greatest sin. You see that? Paul said, I thought that the
things that I was doing, you know, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
circumcised, concerning the law is blameless, and I thought these
things were gain to me. That was the evil of it. It wasn't
evil that he was circumcised the eighth day. It wasn't evil
that he was a tribe of Benjamin. It wasn't evil that he was trying
to live his life by the law or keep the commandments of God. That wasn't evil. The evil of
it was that he thought that it was his righteousness before
God. So the Lord says, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to
do evil. Man looks at the outward appearance.
We look at ourselves and we look at one another and we think,
well there's a good person right there. God's looking at the heart. And he's saying put away the
evil of your doing. Stop doing evil. Stop trusting
in your behavior for any of your righteousness before God. Don't
do it. Boast in Christ. Give to Christ
all the glory for any goodness that there is. I see it, that's
what he's saying, I see it. Other men might not see it. Other
men might boast in you. Other men might think that it's
good, but I see the evil. Learn to do well. Now that means learn to do righteousness,
learn to do goodness. If it is not a faith, it is sin. So when we do those things that
we ought to be doing, we're pointing to Christ, aren't we? We're looking
to Christ from the heart. Seek judgment. Seek judgment. Lord, I need to
have all the evil of my heart put away. I'm self-righteous
by nature. I'm boasting myself by nature.
I'm consumed with myself. But Lord, I need judgment. I
need to know that what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on
Calvary's cross satisfied your justice for my sin. Seek judgment. Now that's just saying, look
to Christ. People will read this and think,
relieve the oppressed. Relieve the oppressed. Men are
oppressed by the law. And religion is all about lawmongering.
Religion's all about telling people what they need to do and
helping them to measure themselves and motivate their behavior and
monitor one another and compare themselves to one another by
the law. And that's nothing but oppression.
And so the Lord says, deliver the oppressed, relieve the oppressed. How am I going to relieve the
oppressed? By telling them they're not under the law, they're under
grace. By telling them that Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. I've
got to be relieved from the oppression of the law. I've got to be relieved
from the oppression of my sin. I've got to be comforted in knowing
that my warfare is accomplished. that all my sins have been put
away. And that's what they weren't doing. They were doing exactly
what's being done in religion today. Offering prayers, offering
sacrifices, pointing at the evils of the world, and pretending
themselves to be right with God. And God says, I see it. You're
not relieving the oppressed. And your hands haven't been washed.
Look what else he says. judge the fatherless men are
without God in this world now God is our father and men by
nature without God so what we're what we're what we're called
on to do is tell men about who God is and how it is that our
Heavenly Father is pleased to save his children through the
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ And so he says, he says,
judge the fatherless and plead for the widow. Now a widow in
this day would, you know, there's no social welfare programs to
help catch those that are, a widow who was without a husband, without
children, she's destitute. And men by nature are destitute
in this world. What are we going to do? How
are we going to earn favor with God? How are we going to put
away our sin? Now, after hearing those verses,
some will stand afar off and they'll think, what hope is there
for me? The Lord has convicted me of
my sin. I am fatherless. I am a widow. I am oppressed. I'm oppressed
by my sin. I'm oppressed by the law. What
do I do? How can I draw near to God? And
so the next verse is a gracious call from God to come. Not to come to the bar of justice.
He doesn't say, come, let us reason together. Let us count
your sin and let us measure it by the law and see how well you're
doing. No, he's calling us to the throne of grace that we might
find help in our time of need. It's a gracious call of a loving
Heavenly Father saying to sinners, come, you can come to me. I love
thinking about the fact that harlots and publicans and sinners
were never intimidated by the Lord Jesus Christ. They never
felt put off by Him. They were drawn to Him. There was something magnetic
about Him, wasn't there? It was the Pharisees that stood
back. It was the self-righteous that
looked down their nose and cast aspersions and judgments against
Christ. But the sinners were drawn to
Him. The same thing is true now. So the Lord is saying, come, let us reason together. For saith the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet, all your sins. I grew up being taught
that there were venial sins and mortal sins. And some sins were
minor and they could just be kind of... But there were mortal
sins. If you did one of those, you
were going to go to hell unless the priest gave you absolution.
And the Lord is saying here, all your sins, which is everything there is
about us, they're like scarlet. and that
they're red, they're bloody, but they should be made white
as snow. When God looks through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ at our bloody hands and in our bloody
sins, our bloody hearts, they're turned white. They're turned
white. I know I told you all that story,
didn't I? About the... You've been to London, you gotta
see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and The
father and little boy, and they're standing inside of a store watching
this parade. I mean, it's pretty fantastic. And redcoats are coming. The
father's looking, and he's talking to his little son. He's saying,
son, look, the redcoats. And he said, oh, no, daddy, they're
whitecoats. And the father looked at him. He said, no, son, they're
redcoats. And then the father realized there was a red film
on the window down below that the little boy was looking through.
And when he looked through red, to red it turned it white. Now
that's the way the Lord looks at us. Though your sins be like
scarlet, they shall be made white as snow. And though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool. All your sins. Not just the bad behavior. Not
just the things you feel ashamed of. But everything there is about
us is sinful. And yet the Lord is calling us
graciously to come into His presence and to reason. This is a reasonable atonement that the Lord has made
for His people. He says, come, I'll show you. I'll show you. If you be willing and obedient, How am I going to be willing? Lord, make me willing. Make me
willing to come. Make me willing to bow. Make
me willing to not see my righteousness anywhere other than in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't lead me to myself. I'll
be just like everybody else. I'll go about trying to live
an outwardly moral life, trusting in my morality for my righteousness. But if you refuse, if you refuse,
if you refuse Christ, rebel against him, say, no, I'm not going to
have that man reign over me. I'm gonna hold on to my righteousness. How much of that do we see in
talking to folks? They don't want Christ. They'd
have to lose too much. If you refuse and rebel, you
shall be devoured with the sword. He's not talking about the enemy
coming into Israel and overthrowing Israel. That happened. But the
spiritual meaning of this is that the tongue of the Lord Jesus
Christ is like a flaming sword in Revelation. He's going to
slay his enemies. And all those who will not bow,
all those who will not confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God,
trust Him for their only righteousness before God, will suffer the sword
of God's wrath, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
Lord, I don't want to be a part of that. I want to hear from
your gracious lips come into my present, thou good and faithful
servant. How has the faithful city become
a harlot? Now, Isaiah is the first prophet
since the time of David and Solomon. David and Solomon were the height
of Israel's history when the Lord was honored and sacrifices
were being made, the blessings of God were on Israel, and now
300 years has passed and Isaiah is prophesying, he's saying,
how is it to become, the faithful city, the city of Jerusalem,
the city of peace where the gospel was preached and where God was
honored has become a harlot. What's a harlot? She's gone after
another husband. She's gone after another man.
Spiritual harlotry is what he's talking about here. That's what we are by nature. If the Lord doesn't make us willing,
if he doesn't arrest us, if he doesn't show us the glory of
his Son, we will change the Creator into a creature and we'll worship
man rather than God. We'll worship ourselves. It was full of judgment. There
was a time when the sacrifices were made and the Psalms were
sung and the people worshiped God and they understood, they
understood that it was the blood of the Lamb that took away their
sins. They weren't that way now. Now
their judgment was my prayers, my good deeds, my outward morality. The difference in my life versus
those people out there. That's now my judgment. I'm judging
myself as to be better than most folks. Righteousness lodged in it. There was a time when David said,
I will speak of thy righteousness and even of thine only. All our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. And, and there
was a time when the righteousness of Christ, the lamb that was
without spot and without blemish was lifted up and exalted as
the only hope of salvation. And now men have perverted the
gospel. They've, they've, they've committed
spiritual harlotry. They've lost the judgment of
God and they're making themselves to be judged and, and they've,
and they've lost all understanding. of what God considers to be righteous. And look what he says, you become
murderers. Murderers. Now there aren't very many murderers
in this world. There really aren't. You know,
percentage-wise, I don't know what the percentage is, but I
wouldn't think that it'd be more than one in a few thousand people
that would murder somebody. What's he talking about here?
If we don't tell people about Christ, we're murdering men's
souls. We're giving them false hope. We're sending them to a devil's
hell and their blood's on our hands. If we're perverting the
gospel, if we're perverting the gospel, I'm not suggesting that
if you miss an opportunity to witness to somebody that their
blood's on your hands. I don't believe that for a minute.
God's going to save everyone of his elect. He's talking to
the church now. He's talking about that false
church who's preaching a false gospel and he's saying that you
are murdering your people. Thy silver? There was a time
when your silver was pure and now it's become nothing but dross.
It's just all the impurities that you've mixed. Were the people
of Israel still practicing the sacrificial system? Were they
still meeting in the temple? Were they still going through
the rituals of the Old Testament worship? Yes, they were. They
were. But they had mixed with that.
Those things that had taken away the meaning of the gospel as
God had given it to Moses. And so they were no longer a faithful
city. Their silver had become dross and their wine was mixed
with water. It wasn't pure wine. It wasn't
the wine of the Spirit of God. It's mixed. You know, people
today, they talk about Jesus, they use this book, they can
tell you the history of the events, they can pray and go through
the rituals of religion, and yet God's saying it's mixed with
water. You ever been there? Lord, why didn't you leave me
there? Everybody else seems to be content
there. Thy princes... He's talking about
preachers now. Thy princes are rebellious. They're rebelling against God.
They're watering down the gospel. They're taking the offense out
of the cross. They're adding... I got a letter
this week from somebody that was trying to... They were trying
to mix free will with God's sovereignty. And, you know, it's the compatibilist
view, where, you know, man still has a free will, but, you know,
God's sovereign, and somehow we're going to marry them together.
Just mixing wine with water, watering down the gospel, taking
the offense out of the cross, letting men think that they still
have power of free will, but, you know, in the end that God's
still sovereign. My princes are rebellious and
companions of thieves, robbing Christ of His glory. Oh, Lord,
don't let me do that." How many times have you failed to acknowledge
the Lord for something that someone, you know, someone boasted in
you about? You just kind of took it to yourself. You know, I do
it all the time, don't we? Everyone loveth gifts. Oh, love
the accolades. Love the approvals of men. And
follow after rewards. Most folks think that salvation
is a reward for their good behavior. And I would say that that's probably
the primary reason why most people are outwardly moral. They're
working their way to heaven. looking to get rewarded for it.
You see, that's what the Lord is describing here. Lord, don't
let me be that way. They judge not the fatherless.
They don't see that men are without God in this world. They don't
see that they're strangers without God and that they need to hear
the gospel. They need to hear about the one
who satisfied the demands of God's justice, who presented
himself before God as all their righteousness. They're not called
upon to come and reason with God and see that their sins,
though they be like scarlet, should be made white like snow.
They're not given that. They're given the law. They're
told how to live. They're told how to fix their
lives. They're told how to be a better
person. Neither doth the cause of the
widow come unto them. Now who would not have pity on
a fatherless child? And who would not go out of their
way to help a destitute widow? Everybody would. You don't have
to be a believer to want to do that. That's just natural compassion
that men would have for one another. And yet, those who are strangers
to God's grace aren't concerned for the spiritual widowness of
men. They're not concerned for the
spiritual fatherlessness of men. They have no concern for that. Therefore saith the Lord, the
Lord of hosts, I love that. He's the Lord of hosts. God hath
made him both Lord and Christ. He's Lord over the living and
Lord over the dead. He reigns sovereign over all
the affairs of all men. We don't talk about making Jesus
Lord, do we? He is Lord. And what he's talking
about here is bowing to him as Lord, the mighty one of Israel. the almighty one, the all-powerful
one, the one who is able to save. He's able to save you. He's able
to save me. That takes a lot of power. It
takes more power to save you and I than it does to create
the universe. God created the universe with
just a word. Let there be and there was. What did it take to
save a sinner? It took the whole life and death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, it took everything
that God did from creation up to the time Christ came, and
it took everything that God did from the time of Christ to our
lives in order to save us. That's what the scripture said.
That's what scripture means when it says all things work together
for good. I'm not just talking about the
minutia of the events in your life and my life. He's talking
about all the events of history. All things work together for
good for them that love God and those that are called according
to God has worked all things together for the good of our
salvation. Everything that was necessary
to save a sinner. I will ease me of my adversaries
and avenge me of my enemies. I'm going to do it. I'm going
to make my enemies my footstool. We come into this world naturally
at enmity with God. We come into this world self-righteous. Now, people look to the change
in their outward behavior as the evidence of their salvation.
I've heard people, well, you know, I used to do this and used
to do that. God saved me. I don't do those things anymore.
Lots of folks change their behavior who don't know anything about
Christ. They don't know anything about
salvation. If you're doing something wrong, you ought to change your
behavior. But don't look to that as the hope of your salvation.
The Lord said, I will avenge me of my enemies, of my adversaries,
and avenge me of my enemies. I will turn my hand upon thee,
and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. I'm going to cause you to see
that the only hope that you have to stand in the presence of a
holy God is based nothing on your outward behavior, nothing
on your morality. It's based completely on the
sacrifice and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. and I will restore thy judges
as at the first." I'm going to give you preachers that are going
to tell you about Christ. This is a gracious call. The
Lord's already told us what's evil and now He's going to tell
us what He's going to do about it. I'm going to change the evil. I'm
going to take away your dross. I'm going to cause you to see
that none of these things are of any value in terms of your
salvation. I'll restore thy judges as at
the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterwards,
thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
city." Oh, that's what I want. You know what you want? In case somebody's listening,
I don't think there's anybody here that misunderstands what I'm
saying, but maybe somebody does. I want to be moral. I want to
do what's right. I don't want to live my life
in such a way as to dishonor the Lord. What he's talking about here
is having a place where Christ is preached and where God's people
see that all their righteousness is bound up. in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can rest in Him. I don't have
to be a... I don't have to deceive myself
and deceive others and making people think I'm better than
I am. I can be with God's people and know that I'm the chief of
all sinners and I'm in need of more grace than anyone else in
this room. I don't have to be a pretender. I don't have to promote my righteousness
as the evidence of my salvation. If that's going to happen, the
Lord's going to have to do it. He's going to have to send us preachers,
and He's going to have to make us the city of righteousness,
the faithful city. Yes, faithful. Faithful to our
spouses, faithful to our friends, faithful to do what's right in
our lives, but faithful to the gospel. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. I'm going to redeem you. There's
only one judgment that I'm pleased with. And that's when I took
the sword of my justice and sheathed it into the heart of my own darling
son on Calvary's cross. That's the judgment that I'm
pleased with. And that's the only hope that
you have, to have your sins redeemed. And the Lord says, Zion shall
be redeemed. Every member of Zion. Every member
of his church. And her converts are going to
be redeemed with righteousness. Whose righteousness? My righteousness? No. But isn't that the message
of religion? You know, if you'll just do a
little more. Be a little better person. God will honor you for that.
God will bless you. God will save you. I want to be a better person.
I want to do what's right. But as soon as I start thinking
that that's somehow going to earn me favor with God, I've
lost all hope of my righteousness in Christ. Her converts. with righteousness. And look at verse 28. You see
that word destruction? Perhaps you have it in your margin
of your Bible. The word there is brokenness.
Brokenness. And the brokenness of the transgressors
and the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord
shall be consumed. Two messages there. God's going
to break the transgressors and the sinners. Somebody wrote me this week and
said, well, you know, the church is kind of like a nut, and it's
got a hard shell, but it's got a nut on the inside. I said,
yeah, and the only way to get that nut is to be broken, is
to break it. And that's it. That's the only
way to get to the nut, is to break the shell. And that's what
God does. He breaks us. He breaks us of
our self-righteousness. That's what He breaks us of.
He causes us to see that the things that we took pride in,
the things that we thought made us better than other people,
was nothing but our self-righteousness and God was calling it all along
evil. It's the most evil thing that
you and I ever did. It wasn't the bad behavior we
did before we became religious. It was the self-righteousness
that we had once we became religious. That's what God calls evil. And so the transgressors and
the sinners are going to be broken together. And they that forsake the Lord,
they that won't come to Christ, they won't bow to him, they're
going to hold on to their righteousness, they're going to believe that
somehow they are better, and they're going to just present
themselves before God with the Lord Jesus Christ maybe helping
them a little bit, but their lives are shining testimonies
of their their conversion. And the Lord says they're going
to be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of
the oaks which you have desired. Now, oaks in the Old Testament,
this is where the temples were set up, under these oak trees.
They would set up these altars and worship. And they shall be
ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be
confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. Aren't you ashamed of every oak
tree that you ever worshipped under? I am. I'm ashamed of it. I'm ashamed
of the self-righteousness that I've still got. I'm just ashamed. I want to be humble. I want to
give Christ all the glory all the time. All the time. And I'm ashamed of the fact that
I can't and that I don't. In my heart, I know, I believe
that He does get all the glory and that He's my only hope of
salvation. But the way I walk around in
this world, I've still got oak trees and gardens that, you know,
that I'm ashamed of. For you shall be as an oak whose
leaf fadeth and as a garden that hath no water. Lord, that oak
tree died. It just died. And when the Lord
shows you the glory of Christ and the hope that you have in
Him for all your righteousness, all those old oak trees just
die. And all those gardens wither up. They just wither up, don't
they? There's nothing to care for them. And the strong shall be as tow. Now that's a flax and that's
what was used as a wick in an oil lamp. And so the strong is
going to be like a wick in a lamp. It's going to be like flax. And the worker, you see that
word maker? It's the word work. It's the
word work. So the strong, this little light
of mine, I'm going to let it shine. That's the strong. He's just
walking around with his head held high and he's letting everybody
see Jesus in him. The strong shall be like a wick,
and the maker, the worker, his works, that which he is doing
as the hope of his salvation, and they shall both burn together
and none shall quench them. Now the Lord tells us in another
place in Isaiah, smoking flax, I will not quench. I will not
despise. So we, you know, Lord, I feel
like a smoking flax. I feel like my light's going
out. I, you know, I need you to flame. I need you to put more
oil in my lamp. But to walk around with my flame
burning, thinking that I'm, you know, I'm somehow somebody because
I'm, the Lord said, my works and my toe. are going to be burned
up together, and none shall quench them." Now for the believer,
that little light that we thought was so glorious, and those works
that we thought were so righteous, the Lord's quenched them, hasn't
he? He's quenched them. So what does God call evil? Most
folks that you and I know in this world, you would not call
an evil person. You wouldn't. Outwardly, the
morality is pretty much the same as yours and mine. But God calls them evil. Because
they've denied Christ, His glory in salvation, and they're holding
on to their own righteousness, performing their religious works
as the hope of their salvation. God's people are pointing to
Christ, looking to Christ, resting in Christ for all the hope of
their salvation. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
You would cause Your Word to be effectual to our hearts and
enable us, Lord, to be humble Children that are
giving to Christ all the glory for our salvation. For it's in
his name we ask it. Amen. 2 32. Let's stand again. This hymn isn't in our digital
hymnal, so we'll have to do this a cappella. When I See the Blood.
I think we've done this once before with piano. Hopefully
you remember it. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle your soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save. All he has promised, that he
will do. Wash in the fountain, open for
sin. And I will pass, will pass over
you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Judgment is coming, all will
be there, each one receiving justly his due. Hide in the saving, sin-cleansing
blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass,
I will pass over you Oh, great compassion, oh, boundless love,
oh, loving kindness, faithful and true. Find peace and shelter
under the blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood When I see
the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass over
you Yeah.