I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57. A few
months ago, I spoke out of these first two
verses in Isaiah 57. And this morning I'd like to
speak out of the first two verses again. There's something that I am convinced
that the Lord has shown me in these two verses that I'd like
to share with you. I'm going to read the first two
verses Then I'm going to read out of Matthew 11, verses 25
to 30. We're going to stay in Isaiah
57, but I want to look at Matthew 11. Isaiah 57, verse 1 and 2,
"...the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. And merciful men are taken away,
None considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace, they
shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Now, Matthew 11, I'd like to
read verses 25 to 30. The Lord had just told a group
of people in the preceding verses before verse 25. He had told
them that concerning the mighty works that had been done in their
city. He said if those works would
have been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, he said those cities would have
still been here. those cities would have repented. He said they'd have been alive
and well today. And then our Lord began to pray. In verse 25, and it says, At
that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Now listen,
what he has just done is thanked the Father for sovereign grace. I thank you. I thank you. He
had just told a group of people, he said, now if the mighty work's
done here, had been done there in Sodom and Gomorrah. They'd
have still been there. And then thanked his father that
God hid those things that he had just mentioned from the wise,
those who think themselves to be wise and prudent. You revealed
among the babes. And then he begins to speak to
his people Verse 27, All things are delivered unto me of my Father,
and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any
man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Then he says unto them, Come
unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light." Rest for your souls. Now concerning Isaiah 57, and
that's what I want to speak on that thought, that subject, rest,
rest for your soul. The righteous perisheth. Now, when we looked at this verse,
these two verses a few months ago, and this is absolutely so. The righteous perisheth. and they physically die and enter
into eternal rest. The righteous perisheth. Men and women justified by the
imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ die just like
the unrighteous die. And immediately the righteous
behold the Lord Jesus Christ to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord, to see Him, to know Him. And they die at an appointed
time, just like the unrighteous do. We were talking a few minutes
ago about Brother Cody Groover leaving this world. The Lord
took him. And I'm convinced He beholds
right now the very face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same Lord
Jesus that ascended in the very presence of His apostles. They
watched Him. He was talking with them. He
was there. He was there. And the Lord ascended
up into heaven. The clouds received Him. And
the Scripture says concerning the righteous, perishing and
no man layeth it to heart. That is those that know not the
Lord, they don't care and they don't realize the significance
of it. As a general rule, God's people
are tolerated by the world. They show them somewhat respect. But the believer dies, and the
unbeliever doesn't grasp hold, they don't lay it to heart, they
don't understand. This world is taken up with things
and mess and stuff, and all the while the Scripture says merciful
men are taken away, and the world doesn't even Consider that the
righteous are taken away from the evil to come. The world does not even take
to heart that God's sovereign hand, mercifully, kindly, tenderly,
brought His own unto Himself. What happened? Well, He just
died. He just died. No, a sovereign act of God Almighty
took place. And we have no earthly idea why
at this time. Suffice it to say, it was the
Lord's will. But I do know this, based on
that Scripture right there, they're taken away from the evil to come. They're taken away from the evil
to come. Knowing that a man dies on purpose,
right on time. I'll be honest with you, my first
thought, my daughter called me and she said, have you heard
about Cody?" And I thought, well I know a few Codys. I said, well
Cody who? And she said, Cody Groover. And
I said, no. And she said, well he died. And
in the first few moments, I mean I was just, I thought, you know, let me see
if I can compute what you just said. I thought, I just spoke to Cody two nights
before. He and Winner were going to a
movie and we were just laughing. Cody and I always got along real
good. I said, well what are you going
to see? He said, what difference does it make as long as you're
with your wife? I thought that was kind. And
thinking that, you know, I'm so thankful the Lord raised him
up and put him there, sent him back. He left a good job and
sold everything, moved to Mexico. Went with him, faithful, faithful
wife, faithful missionary wife. And Walter and Betty, Dad and
Mom, you know, have been down there almost 50 years. And it
just appears as though that the Lord has moved them out and raised
up Cody and Winna in those churches. Cody's always here, here, here,
here, here, here, taking care of this. And he was telling me
what they were doing. I'm so thankful that the Lord's raised
up a man to be a help and an encouragement and a pastor down
there in Mexico. He's the only one. He's the only
one that I know of. Down there. And the Lord said,
your work's over. Your work's done. And I thought to myself, his ways are not my ways. His
thoughts are not my thoughts. The righteous perisheth, the
old man layeth it to heart. Merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace. We just read, you'll find rest
for your soul. You're going to enter into the
very presence of God Himself. And behold, the Lord Jesus Christ,
called out of this world, robed in the righteousness of Christ,
no sin to answer for. The blood of the Lord Jesus now
has settled the case of every one of God's saints. And the
Scripture says they shall rest in their beds, specifically speaking
of being in the ground. in the grave, sleeping in the
Lord. Each one walking in His uprightness. I looked up that word walking
this morning. Each one walking. Here's what it means. Departing,
going away, proceeding. They shall rest in their beds,
departing, in His righteousness, the margin there before Him,
walking before the Lord in the Lord's righteousness. Now I know this, humanly speaking,
we don't understand all these things. I know that, I know that.
But suffice it to say, is it not comforting to behold the
Word of our God in sustaining and the keeping of His people?
We don't understand. We don't understand. But the
Lord does all things well. And He has done that which is
right and honorable. And for that, we bow in absolute
submission and thanksgiving unto the Lord. Now, the Scripture
sets forth that the righteous man is going to die just like
the unrighteous. leave this world in peace. But
I want to look at something, and this is what I was talking
about now, what I'm about to tell you. Something else that
happens before we physically die. Something else happens.
There's another death that's spoken of concerning a believer. Now here's the mark of those
that have a good hope that when they do die physically, I'm telling
you, it was instantaneous. As far as I know, this is what
happened. He died. He just died. Before you know it, before you
can think, before you realize what was happening, if you've
ever passed out, Do you remember passing out? No. No. You might have gotten a little
dizzy or something like that before. I'm not saying you didn't
do that. But I'm telling you, if you've
ever just fainted, there's just a complete loss of memory. I don't even remember it. Never knew it. Before you know
it. So I'm going to go back to verse 1 and just look at something.
about a dying that's taking place right now in this life before
we die physically. And here's the mark of a believer.
This is a mark of one that's got some hope. The righteous
perisheth. Now remember that ETH. There
is a continual dying in this world, right here, for the righteous. The righteous perisheth. Now this perishing that I'm talking
about right here actually begins at conversion. The Apostle Paul
declared in Romans 7-9, for I was alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came, sin revived. And listen to what he
said, and I died. Now did he die physically? No. He didn't die physically.
Well, what happened? Well, before conversion. A lost
sinner, one without an understanding of the spirituality of the law,
I mean the holiness of the law, the strictness of the law, thinks
himself somehow to be right with God. Somehow. He doesn't understand that salvation
must have this one element The law's got to be satisfied. Because
here's the bottom line. The soul that sinneth, sinneth
against what? Against God, against God's law,
against God's right, against God's Word. The soul that sinneth,
what's going to happen? He's going to die. No ifs, ands,
or buts. A man that has ever sinned. Let me tell you something. There's
going to be a death. There's going to be a death,
I'm going to tell you right now. People without any religious
affiliation, somehow they think that spiritual eternal death
is not going to come to them. They just don't... They don't
worry about it. They don't have any thinking
concerning it. It's just not that big a deal.
Well, what's going to happen when you die? Well, I'm going
to just trust the good Lord. Well, let me tell you something. The Lord who is good is going
to take care of it. And I can tell you right now
this foolish thinking that somehow God is not going to be just That's
nothing more than the wows of the devil telling you, don't
worry about it, it ain't no big deal. Don't worry about it. Everybody
goes to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven, they
say. Concerning those who are religious
and moral in their own thinking, They've somehow satisfied God's
demand by their self-righteous works. One thinks that the Lord
is not going to do that because He's a loving God, and a loving
God just doesn't send people to hell. The other one thinks,
I've satisfied God, like that rich young ruler. What does the
law say? Well, he named off all the Ten
Commandments, and he said, All these have I kept from my
youth up." You know what the problem with that is? Paul says,
I was alive without the law. Before the law came in power
to my understanding, and I realized the demand of the law, the spirituality
of the law. He said, I thought myself alive. Even Paul the Apostle, Saul of
Tarsus said concerning The law touching the righteousness which
is in the law." He said, I was blameless. I was blameless. You know, you'll never find a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I've kept the law of
God. That's just the farthest thing
from their mind. But when the light of God's Spirit
shines in the heart, of a sinner in divine regeneration. When that sinner sees something
of the evil of his heart, and let me tell you something, I'm
absolutely convinced that, you know, you do see something. I
know we see something of our inability in regeneration. But
I'm telling you, the older you get, the more you see it. I mean,
you talk about growing in grace, Growing in grace is you grow
more and more aware of yourself as being born in Adam. You that,
you know, like me, start to get some age on you now. Let me ask
you something. Are you not more aware, do you
not see more and more of the sinfulness of that old man, old
wretched man that I am? Oh, that old man that lives within. We see the spiritual impotence
that's in us, unable to satisfy God's law. I know that. I can't do that. I'm not blameless
before God's law, except in Christ, not in myself. If I can find
any hope outside of Him, then I'm deceived. But by the grace
of God, a believer sees something concerning this continual perishing,
the righteous perisheth. I die daily. Listen to Romans
6, 6-9, knowing this, that our old man, is crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin.
If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth
no more. Death has no more dominion over Him." Here's what Paul said.
He said, this old man that's in me, that I've got, that's
going to be with me for the rest of my life, that old man with
which I was born, that man that I received from my father Adam,
that makes up in that old man, that's the will and the affection
and the actions of that carnal nature, that old man, that man
right there was crucified with Christ. Now listen to what he
said. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him. That's pretty plain. Our old
man, this old man right here, owes a debt to God's law. And Paul said that old man is
going to be dealt with. Now apart from being found in
Christ, This old man is going to die under the judgment of
God when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin at Calvary. What did God the Father do? He
forsook him. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? I'll tell you why. Sin was found
there. The wages of sin is death. It
was found on our Lord. He was made sin. But this old
man now is still present with me. But I'm going to tell you
something for a believer, the debt, the debt of this old man
being paid. My debt's been paid, but just
the very presence of me, of that old man, grieves me. He's with
me. The penalty of what I've done
has been put away. Oh, our sins as far as the east
is from the west, but the presence of them, the burden of them are
still there. Yes, the righteous perisheth. And no man layeth it to heart. No man outside of Christ cares
about that issue. To a believer, warring against
this flesh is a daily occurrence. You go to work, you're at home,
you go to sleep. I mean, there's a battle that
is continually going on. An unbeliever does not even know
what you're talking about. That's not even an issue with
them. The believer sees this battle
as something that he never gets away from. It's just there. He
wakes up in the morning But this believer is never satisfied to
just shirk off that there is a battle. You could say there's
not a battle going on, but a believer says, oh yes, there is. Paul
the Apostle said in Romans 7.15, for that which I do, I allow
not, or I know not. For what I would, that do I not. For what I would do, I want to
be walking in consistency before God. I want to pray as I ought. I want to. I want to read these
scriptures as I ought to read them. I'll try to read and there's
times I'll be reading something and so help me, I'll read it
and I'm done and I'm thinking, what did I just read? What did
I just read? No man lays that to heart but
a believer. Nobody struggles with that but
a believer. Nobody understands the dealings
of that old man but a believer. And merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. Merciful men In death, they are. They are taken away. That's what
we just looked at. But I'm talking about right now.
What's going on with me right now? Merciful men are taken away. What do you mean? They're gathered,
they're fetched, they're recovered, they're restored in regenerating
grace. God takes merciful men, those
made so by the grace of God. They're taken away. They're fetched. Is there any left of the house
of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? Well,
yeah, there's a young boy, his name is Mephibosheth. Jonathan was his daddy. Where
is he? He's in Lodibar. We'll fetch
him. Go get him and bring him to me. In regenerating grace,
those who are the objects of God's mercy are fetched. They're taken. They're recovered. They're restored
in regeneration. And here's some of them sitting
here this morning, gathered out of every Nation, kindred, tribe,
tongue, state, community. Almighty God does something for
them that they cannot do for themselves. They can't fetch
themselves. They're out there in the wilderness
of unbelief, and Almighty God comes to them in power and in
regeneration under the preaching of the glorious gospel of Christ,
and He effectually Having given them a new heart, He calls them,
and they come, willing in the day of His power, and reveals to them that He's
removed the dominion of that old heart, though it's still
there. They know it's there. He reveals to them that you've
been rescued, rescued from the penalty of sin. I snatched you. as a brand out of the fire. And
the religionist doesn't even think about that. All he thinks
about is that, I've made my peace with God. Verse 2 says, He shall enter
into peace. He shall come in. He shall abide
in peace. At death, yes, absolutely at
death. But right now, Right now, the
Lord's promised it. Listen to John 14, 27. Peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. I give you peace. Let me ask
you this. You that know Him, do you not
enter into this? You're a struggling sinner. And you know it. Almighty God
has been pleased to reveal to you what you are. But He's revealed
to you that all of your hope is in Christ. And He's settled
your heart. You say in your heart, the Lord
is my shepherd. The Lord is my rock. The Lord
is my fortress. The Lord is my refuge. The Lord's
my peace, not my works. That doesn't give me any peace.
I don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about that
foolish thought. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds. When a believer dies, as I said
a few minutes ago, Will they put that body in the ground?
Yes, they will. Yes, they will. And what's going to happen? Well,
the Scripture says, in that great day, the trumpet, God's going
to sound, the dead in Christ are going to rise. They're going
to be changed. A twinkle of an eye, before they
ever knew what happened, it was over, and we met the Lord, and
there we saw Him, there we are. And they are going to realize
today is a day of judgment. Is that going to happen? Absolutely.
But now what is it talking about? It says, they shall rest in their
beds. Listen to this. I think this gives a good explanation. Song of Solomon 116. Behold,
and I cannot tell if this is the Lord speaking to His church
or the church speaking to the Lord. Behold, thou art fair,
my beloved, yea, pleasant. Also, our bed is green. I looked it up. It's flourishing. You know, before conversion,
a believer rested in his own works. Now you know that. Before conversion, a believer
who was an unbeliever, before conversion, He rested in his own will, his
own ability. But that bed that he rested in,
that wasn't a bed of security, was it? Absolutely not. Hold
your place. I'm almost done here. Isaiah
28. Turn back to Isaiah 28. Look at these verses right here.
Isaiah 28, 18 to 20. Here's the bed. Here's the bed
that's there. Verse 18, Isaiah 28, 18, Your
covenant with death shall be disannulled. Your agreement with
hell shall not stand. And the overflowing scourge shall
pass through. Then you shall be trodden down
by it. For the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you. For
morning by morning shall it pass over. By day and by night it
shall be a vexation only to understand the report. But listen to this,
for the bed, That is a false security. False security. The bed is shorter than a man
can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than he
can wrap himself in it. That bed, that false security,
false hope that you tried to lay down in, Take yourself and
cover yourself with a blanket that's just not big enough. You
pull it up and your feet's exposed. You cover your left arm and your
right arm. It's just not big enough. It's just not going to cover.
There's just no security. There's no comfort. There's no
warmth to it. All but for a believer. He shall
rest in his bed. That is of God's sustaining grace. comfortable and peaceful. Each one, each one of God's people,
those that are perishing daily, I die daily. Dying to self, dying to sin,
knowing that I have no love, no appreciation, hate it, hate
it. That believer, each one walking
in Christ's righteousness, walking in His righteousness. That is
the righteousness of the saints. That's the wedding garment of
God's people. There is a peace for God's people,
peace for their souls. And in that day in which they
are taken out of this world, oh, they'll realize the fullness
of it then. But right now, We do see through
a glass darkly. There is some comfort. There
is some peace. There is some hope. We have a
hope right now. We have a firm confidence that
what we believe is so because it's based on God's Word. We
back it up with something. We back it up with Him whose
Word is true, that Word that shall never fail, never pass
away. Lord bless the word to our hearts
for Christ's sake.