Brethren, let's go back now to
Isaiah 3. The next question that we come
to here now in our questions series, this is where God asks
a sinner a question. And He says in verse 15, What
mean ye that ye beat that you oppress my people to pieces,
and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of hosts. Now God is speaking here to religious
leaders in Judah, in Jerusalem, and He's speaking to their self-righteous
followers. So it's the self-righteous here,
the leaders and those that follow them, the same ones that crucified
Christ. That's who He's speaking to.
The high priests, the priests, the Sanhedrin, which was the
council, the great council. He's talking to the scribes and
the Pharisees and all the great hosts that followed them and
thought they were saved by the law. And the Lord's asking this
in defense of those that He calls My people. Now God's people,
you know, are His elect. These are those God chose in
Christ before the world was made. We say before the world was made
because it's important to understand that God's election had nothing
to do with us. It was not based on anything
in us or anything foreseeable about us. God chose whom He would
by His free grace. That's who His elect are. Now
most people think that everybody in Israel are God's elect. But
the fact here that he's talking to the majority in Judah, in
Israel, and he's saying, he's calling them the wicked. But
there's a remnant in the midst of them that he's calling my
people. And that tells us that not everybody
in Israel are God's elect. And Paul said it in Romans 9.6,
Not as though the word of God hath taken an effect, for they
are not all Israel which are of Israel. They are not all Israel
which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they all children. Because it's written in Isaac,
that is, in Christ shall thy seed be called. That is, they
which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. And so God here in this passage
divides the whole world into two kinds of people. He divides
it up there in verse 10 between the righteous and the wicked.
He says, ìSay ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him.î
And then in verse 11 he says, ìWoe unto the wicked.î The whole
world is divided into children of the flesh and children of
the promise. Whenever Adam sinned and he cast
the whole world into sin, All men fell in at Him. God came
and He said this to the devil. He said, I'll put enmity between
thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. Her seed is Christ. There's Christ
and all God's elect in Christ, and then there's the devil's
seed, those that God did not elect. That's all people are
in those two classes, the wicked and the righteous. And when we
see Cain persecute Abel, and then later we saw Ishmael persecute
Isaac, and then here in our text we see the wicked persecute the
righteous, We're reminded of what Paul said in Galatians 4.29.
He says, as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the spirit, and even so it is now. And when
it comes to self-righteous leaders, teachers, preachers, Christ said
this, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay
them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move
them with one of their fingers. So the wicked always persecute
the righteous. That's just how it is. The righteous don't persecute
the wicked. We want to see men saved. We don't want to rail on men
and condemn men and persecute men. It's always the wicked who
persecute the righteous. Now the good news is you shall
be well with the righteous. because God standeth and judgeth
all the people for the sake of His people. So it will be well
with the righteous always. Now I want to divide this into
three points. And then we'll look secondly
at the righteous and then hopefully we'll have time and we'll see
God's declaration concerning each. Now let's look at the wicked. The wicked are against the Lord. Verse 8, He says, Jerusalem is
ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings
are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of His glory. And you
know where the tongue comes from. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks. So this is what's in their heart
and in their works. Now the judgment I read to you
earlier that came on Israel, on Judah, came because all their
words and all their works were against the Lord. And they're
against the Lord because they were against the Lord's Christ.
And the reason they were is because they commended their own works
and at the same time rejected God's very glory who is Christ
Jesus the Lord. They provoke God to His face
before His eyes. He says there, they provoke the
eyes of His glory before His eyes. They provoke Him by their
works, commending their own works and rejecting Christ. And Christ
Himself is the glory of God. Remember when Paul said, when
He shined the light into our hearts, He revealed the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus? Christ is the glory of
God. And by rejecting Him for their
own works and their own wisdom and their own gospel, they are
rejecting Christ. And the wicked are proud. They're
not only against God in their works, they're proud of their
works. He said in verse 9, that the show of their countenance
doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom.
They hide it not. Their sin, that he speaks of
here, are their very best religious works. That's the sin that he's
talking about. We saw that in the first chapter
when we saw how religious they were. We're not talking about
wicked, lewd, sin, although they were guilty of that too. But
they were a very religious people and what they were proud of was
their religious works. But God says their pride shows
in their countenance. Our Lord put it this way, all
their works they do to be seen of men. And God said their countenance
is a witness against them. What's it a witness to? What
does it declare? What is the proud countenance
being? Men are so proud of their works.
I thought this was amazing that the very thing God says here
to describe the wicked is the very thing that makes up 99%
of religion in our day. proud of their works, proud of
all their doings and what they've said to people and what they're
doing, you know, before men. But God says this pride of their
countenance is a witness against them. And here's what it bears
witness to. Psalm 10 verse 4 says this. It says, The wicked, through
the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all His thoughts. Now, Scripture tells us Christ
is the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
of His people. And so God calls all self-teaching,
self-justifying, self-sanctifying, self-redeeming works the sin
of Sodom. And we remember from the first
chapter, we saw recently that sodomy typifies will works religion
because neither one produces fruit. A man and a man can't
produce fruit. Neither can a man standing up,
preaching and telling other sinners what to do to be righteous and
holy. It never produces fruit. That's
spiritual sodomy is what that is. And then he says here that
we could oppress the righteous with a false gospel. Verse 12,
ìAs for my people,î verse 12, skipping down, ìAs for my people,
children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my
people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy
the way of thy paths.î The men who teach Will Works religion
are children in understanding. That's what He means here. They're
children in understanding. They do not know and preach Christ. They're blind. Christ said they're
blind leaders of the blind. That's what He called them in
His day. Remember when Nicodemus came to Him and Nicodemus kept
saying, How can these things be? He said, You must be born
again. You must be born of the Spirit. And Nicodemus kept saying,
How can these things be? How can these things be? And
the Lord said, Are you a master in Israel and you don't know
these things? You're a teacher teaching sinners
and you don't know the gospel? They're children in understanding.
That's what he means here. And they're women, meaning they're
weak and effeminate. Meaning they're unwilling to
stand the persecution that comes with preaching the cross of Christ.
Remember what Paul said in Galatians 6.12, he says, as many as make
a fair show in the flesh. That's what we just saw. They
are proud of their works and they make a fair show in the
flesh. As many as make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain
you to be circumcised. They constrain you to do something.
Always putting a constraint on you. Always trying to get you
to do something. And why do they do that? Only
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. They
are not willing to suffer And if you preach this gospel and
you declare the truth of the gospel, you shall suffer for
the gospel. I have a friend who's just about
to graduate from seminary. I haven't seen him in years.
He's just about to graduate from seminary. And I'm thinking about
asking him when he graduates, I'm going to tell him I'll give
you $100 if you'll preach Romans 9 in truth, your first message
out of the seminary. I guarantee you won't do it.
Because if you preach the truth, you're going to suffer persecution.
And most of the time that persecution comes with, we're going to get
us a new preacher. One that don't preach Romans
9. But that's the case. That's what
he's talking about. And so the wicked, he says here,
they cause God's people to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Now what is our paths? The way
of our paths is Christ the way. the gospel of Christ. And he
says here, they destroy the gospel of Christ and cause you to err.
Now, listen to what Christ said. Let's look at some of these in
Luke 11, 52. Our Lord is speaking to these
men. And it's amazing to me that religion
will read these same scriptures and preach on these things, but
somebody else is the Pharisee. Somebody else is the wheel worker. But this is the Lord describing
all preachers and people who bring folks under the law and
tell you you can be made righteous or holy by your works under the
law. Listen to what He says, Luke
11, verse 52, ìWoe unto you, lawyers, for youíve taken away
the key of knowledge.î Thatís Christ. The fullness of Christ. Christ who fulfilled all righteousness
for His people. You've taken away the key of
knowledge. You entered not in yourselves and them that were
entering in, you hindered. Go over to Matthew 23. It tells
us over here that they major on the minors. Telling people
what they need to be doing outwardly and how they need to be walking
and all of this. But you see, when you mingle
grace and works, You totally omit the weightier matters. You totally omit the gospel altogether. If you just preach the walk of
a believer and you don't shut sinners up to Christ, you omit
the gospel altogether. Look here, Matthew 23, 23. He
says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law." That is, the weightier
matters of the gospel. Judgment. They don't preach Christ
fulfilling the law for God's people, justifying God's elect,
accomplishing our redemption so that now God is just and the
justifier of His people. He says you omit mercy. Because
God is just and justifier, it's just for Him to show mercy to
His people. You've omitted faith, the gift
of God, which is by His grace, that gift through which, by believing
on Christ, we establish the entire law of God, because Christ established
it for us. See, you've omitted those things.
These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone.
We ought to teach believers to adorn the Gospel in our walk.
but we ought not do it omitting the gospel of Christ, Him crucified.
And that's what the wicked, he says here, do. So look what Christ
calls the wicked, verse 24, ye blind guides. And here's what
he's saying, they're guilty. You strain at a gnat and swallow
a camel. Major on the minors and totally
forget about the major things. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within they're full of extortion and excess."
Now there's the oppression we're talking about in our text. Because
they preach the law in order to extort men, in order to have
men pay tithes to them, and in order to oppress you with all
sorts of excessive law. And he says, that's what's in
the heart. And he says this, you blind Pharisee, cleanse first
that which was in the cup and the platter. That's what we concentrate
on. You know how we do it? We trust
the Holy Spirit to do that work through the preaching of Christ
our sanctifier. We preach His faithfulness and
trust the Holy Spirit to form Christ in His people and cleanse
the inside. And then he says, then the outside
of them may be clean also. If the inside, if God gives you
a new heart, the outside is going to be taken care of. Because
you are going to want to follow Christ and walk after Him. And
instead of using the law though to give the knowledge of sin,
go to Matthew 5. Instead of using the law to give
the knowledge of sin, they bring the law down to a man's level
by teaching him that it's the outward that's important. And
they never speak about the fact that the heart is wicked. The heart is wicked. A man who
tells you how to be born again, he is not preaching the heart
is wicked. Because he is telling you, you can do something. A
man who is telling you, you can be righteous by your works, he
is not preaching that the heart is wicked. The man who's even
teaching self-sanctification, he's not teaching that the old
man of sin prevents you from ever making yourself holy. But
look what Christ said, Matthew 5.17, ìThink not that I came
to destroy the law or the prophets. Iím not come to destroy but to
fulfill. For verily I say unto you, ìTill
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.î Godís law must be
honored. It must be fulfilled. ìWhosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
shall teach men so.î Thatís what will workers do. They break the
commandments and teach others to break them. And he says, he
should be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Not that he'll
be in the kingdom of heaven, but that's what he'll be regarded
by those who are in the kingdom of heaven as least in hell. I'm telling you, those fellows
who preach works and who preach a false gospel, that's going
to be the least of the least in hell. I would not want to
go to hell knowing I led a host of people that are going to be
there and have free reign to do to me what they want to do
to me. That will be hell. That will be hell. Look here.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. That's Christ. He fulfilled the
law and He teaches us that it's through faith in Him that we
fulfill it. Now watch this. I said to you,
they would teach that it's just the outward. Watch this, Christ
says, I say unto you, except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, usually in
no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. He's saying He's that
righteousness. We've got to have Him. You've
heard that it was said by them of old time. This is what the
Pharisees taught. And men of old, will workers,
thou shalt not kill. Outward only. He says, and whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto
you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
that is, in the heart, just angry in the heart, he has broken the
whole law. He shall be in danger of the
judgment. And the false rulers taught, whosoever shall say to
his brother Rekha, or fool, shall be in danger of the council.
And they meant the council of men. Christ says, whosoever shall
say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. He means God's
judgment. God's judgment. So you see, they
weren't teaching that the problem we have is the heart. That wasn't
what they were teaching. Because they were teaching men
the law. And men who tell you you can keep the law, they're
doing exactly what these men did. You and I can't keep the
law before regeneration and we can't keep it after regeneration.
Christ came to fulfill the righteousness of the law because we can't do
it. We cannot do it. No matter what, sin is mixed
with all we do. We can't keep the law. But here
is something else they did. Go to Matthew 15. You know it
said there, the inside is full of extortion and excess. Look
at Matthew 15. They made up their own laws and
their own traditions. And they actually taught those
as being more important than God's commandment. Look here,
Matthew 15, verse 1. Then came to Jesus scribes and
Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their
hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto
them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor
thy father and mother, and he that cursed his father and mother,
let him die of the death. But you say, Whosoever shall
say to his father his mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me. And honor not his father his
mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment
of God, if none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, where
did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw nigh unto me
with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their
hearts is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And all of this we're
looking at, we could say a whole lot more about this, about the
wicked, but this is what's being taught in churches all around
this nation. And it has been for years and
years and years. So when you read the first part
of Isaiah 3 and you see the judgment that came upon Israel and you
see how much it resembles the judgment in our day, now you
know why. This is why that judgment came
on Israel because of the wickedness in the pulpit and the wickedness
of those that followed them in the pew. This was the cause of
it. But this is the oppression, this
is the mind of all men by nature that come into this world. So
all God's people come into the world under this very same oppression. This is the mind and the sinfulness,
the wickedness of all God's elect people. those He calls the righteous. This is how we all thought we
were to be saved, was by our works. Everybody thinks that.
You realize, this is what they were teaching in Israel. The
difference was they had the oracles of God and was using the law
of God to do it. But outside of Israel in Isaiah's
day, the heathen was teaching the exact same thing. He was
teaching salvation is by man's sacrifices and man's works as
he sacrificed toward his idol. It was the same thing. The only
difference was they were doing it in Israel using God's own
Word. And when Christ came, they were still doing this exact same
thing. Amen to that, doing the exact
same thing. But you and I came into this
world thinking this is how we were going to be saved. I can
remember being young and thinking and reading the scriptures, and
reading the scriptures looking for a way I could have life,
looking for a way I could be saved, for something I could
do. And I found plenty. You'll find
what you want in this book. Whatever it is you're willing
and looking for, that's what you're going to find in this
book. God be thanked, He gives His people a new heart and a
willingness to look for Christ. And that's what you find. It's
Christ. But I'm making this point because all God's elect have
to be saved from this oppression. We have to be saved from oppressing
ourselves with this oppression. So if there's no difference between
the wicked and the righteous by nature, how then are any going
to be saved? How is it going to be well with
the righteous? Who's going to make the difference? Now let's
look at the righteous. Isaiah 3.13. Here's the difference. The Lord
standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people. The Lord
will enter into judgment with the ancients of His people and
the princes thereof. For you've eaten up the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses. In the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross, God stood up to both plead the cause of His people
and to judge His people. He is the advocate, He is the
lawyer who pleads our case with God and He is God who is the
judge of our case. That means if God is for you,
who can be against you? You got it made if God is for
you. He is the lawyer and the judge. And what he says goes,
Christ is the righteous man who presented himself to God to be
made sin for us. When he did that, he laid down
his life, the just for the unjust. He came to God sinless, presented
himself to be made sin for us. And when the Lord laid on him
the iniquity of all his people, verse 14 says, to the wicked,
the spoil of the poor is in your house. And when the Lord laid
on Christ all the iniquity of His people, when He made Him
sin for us, the spoil of the poor was found in His house.
He was found to be the one who was guilty before God because
God had made Him sin for us. And so God stood and judged Christ
in the room instead of His people. And verse 15 says, God shall
enter into judgment with the ancients of His people and the
princes thereof. Who is the ancient of God's people? The ancient of days, Christ the
Lord. Who is the prince of God's people? Christ Jesus, the prince of life.
And when He made Him sin for us, He judged Him. He entered into judgment with
Christ. The judgment we're talking about here was between God the
Father and Christ His Son, our substitute, our head. And all
His ancients, all His elect ancients, all His elect elders, and all
His elect princes, which is what He's made all His people, princes
unto God. All of us, brethren, were in
Christ, His elect, were in Christ when He judged Christ. And so
we were judged in Him. He says, verse 15, What mean
ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of
the poor, saith the Lord God of hosts? When God judged our
substitute, remember what He did? He gave His back to the
smiters and He gave His face to the smiters. They beat Him
with that scourging whip, remember that? And then they smote Him
with the reed, that little cane they made. And our old man of
sin on the cross, our old man of sin was crucified and destroyed. It can't be judged again. It
was crucified that old man of sin, all our sin, past, present
and future. All the sin of all God's elect,
that old man of sin was crucified and destroyed in Christ on the
cross. He cannot be found anymore. That old man of sin is gone before
God. All the sin of his people is gone before the judgment seat
of God. Because Christ stood up and he
pleaded the case of his people and God judged his son instead
of his people. And now that old man of sin is
gone. I cannot, this is what's astounding now, get this, this
is so, before the law of God, before God's holy all-knowing
judgment seat, I cannot sin. That's what he says, remember
what scripture says, and in Christ there is no sin. All of you standing
here, sitting here now that are in Christ, you cannot sin before
God. Now in our flesh, that's all
we do is sin. But that old man that's doing
that sinning has already been crucified and destroyed before
God because we were in Christ. And when Christ arose, we arose
in Christ. And so Christ will not allow
His people to be smitten anymore. We cannot be smitten by the law.
But then when Christ found us, we were under the oppression
of oppressors like this. Maybe it was our own oppressive
mind in which we thought we had to do this or that, the other
thing to be saved. Or it may have been the fact
that your mother and father didn't even have to be religious. And
they were oppressing you, telling you there is something you got
to do to be saved. Men, religious or irreligious, believe this
is how you are saved, by your works. Or if you were in religion,
you were being oppressed with this oppression, that you have
to do something to be saved. That is where Christ found us
all. Under oppressors, under men, either our own mind, Our
mother, our father, our friends, religious or irreligious, who
were telling us, you got to do something to be saved. And that's
what we thought. And that's where He found you and that's where
He found me. And I grew up in a gospel church. I wasn't being
oppressed by the preacher. I was being oppressed by my own
mind, my own wicked heart and other wicked sinners telling
me, oh, that can't be true. And that's where He found us.
And due to Christ's righteousness, Christ stood up and He pleaded
His righteousness before God to send the gospel to you, His
lost child. And God judged. Beholding the
righteousness of Christ, God judged that since Christ paid
the debt of that lost child, God judged it to be just. He
must send the gospel to them. And He must send the Holy Spirit
to you. And He must give you faith, life and faith in Christ. And so He sent the gospel and
He called you to Christ. And when He made Christ your
all, He brought you out from under that oppressive, wicked
yoke that you were under. And now brethren, we can say
with Paul, go over to Galatians 2.19. We can say this with Paul. This is the passage that actually
made me preach that message down in Florida. I read this and the
fact it was in first person just really, really hit me. And so that's why I preached
that message down in Florida. Galatians 2.19. You can read
this first person, you that believe on Christ. I through the law
am dead to the law. I through Christ obeying the
law and going under the justice of the law, I am dead to the
law that I might live unto God. How so? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. How so?
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of
God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And so now, I do not
frustrate the grace of God. Because if righteousness comes
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now, I said all that
to say this. This is my main point right here.
When you see here what Christ did for us on the cross, and
you see what Christ did for us in establishing righteousness
in our heart, and you see what He did here for Israel, for His
elect, the Israel of God, that little remnant in the midst of
that whole nation, understand this, right now, day to day,
in our lives, from now to the end of our lives, God knows what
we're facing. He knows when we're being oppressed
and He will not allow it to continue forever. He will not. The Lord, when He beholds you
being oppressed, the Lord will stand up to plead and He'll stand
to judge the people. Now, that's great comfort for
you, believer. If you're oppressed, do you feel
oppressed? Are you oppressed? Well, the
Lord will stand to plead and God will judge the people on
behalf of His people. Psalm 12.5, He says, in His time,
Christ knows and He said in His time, in Psalm 12.5, For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, saith the Lord, and I will set him in safety from
him that puffeth at him. You know, when we have people
that are against us, and boy, they can rage and they can say
all kind of mean things to you. God says, they're just puffing
at you. They're just puffing. God said, I'm going to rise and
I'm going to set you in safety from him that puffs against you. He said, for the Lord will plead
their cause and He will spoil the soul of those that spoiled
them. Go to Proverbs 23.10. I came across this this week.
I love this passage. Proverbs 23.10. You know, whenever
men try to bring us back under the law or they try to bring
you under a false gospel, they are trying to remove the old
landmark. That's what they are trying to
do. Trying to remove the old landmark. Look at this verse
right here. Proverbs 23.10. Remove not the old landmark,
that is the boundary line. And I wrote this down. Remove
not the no trespassing sign that Christ put around His people
when He purchased us with His own blood. Christ is saying this
to the wheel worker and the man that comes along and he's got
a new gospel or whatever and he's trying to take down and
trespass and bring you under that word. Christ tells him,
don't you take down my no trespassing sign, don't you take down the
boundary line that I put around my people when I purchased them
with my blood. Look here, and enter not into
the fields of the fatherless, though my people might seem to
be as helpless as an orphan, don't you enter into the field
I purchased for them. Why not? For their Redeemer is
mighty, and He shall plead their cause with thee. You know, if Christ stood up
to the devil, and He stood up before the law of God, and He
stood up before that whole host of angry wicked men, do you think
anybody that's going to come up against us is going to be
any match for our Redeemer? Nobody. Nobody. I want you to
behold what He did for Israel, and I don't know if I have time,
but go to Isaiah 5.5. I want you to see what He did
for Israel. to that whole nation, and he
did this for his people. Verse 5, I'll tell you what I'll
do to my vineyard. I'll take away the hedge thereof,
and it shall be eaten up. I'll break down the wall thereof,
and it shall be trodden down, and I will lay it waste, he said.
Look at verse 7, For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel
and the men of Judah, his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment,
but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry. You remember
when Christ came, he gave the same parable. He looked the Pharisees
in the eye and he said, when the time of the fruit drew near,
he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits
of it. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and
killed another and stoned another. And he sent more and they did
the same to them. And last of all, he sent his son. And he
said, surely they'll receive him and they'll reverence him.
And he said, but they took him and said, this is the heir. Let
us seize on him. Let us kill him and steal away
his inheritance. Christ said, what do you think
the man that owns this vineyard, what do you think he's going
to do to men that did that? And those Pharisees said, he'll miserably
destroy those wicked men and he'll let out his vineyard unto
other husbandmen and render him the fruits in their season. And
Christ said, did you never read in the Scriptures, the stone
which the builders refused is made the head of the corner?
And He said, I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken
from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
That's Christ's people. That's His elect from all over
the world. And He said, and whosoever shall fall on this stone, on
Christ Himself, he'll be broken. But on whomsoever He shall fall,
He'll grind him to powder. So, after Christ called out His
elect out of Israel, you know what He did? After he called
out that remnant that he said is going to be well for the righteous,
after he called them out of that nation Israel, he destroyed Israel
in 70 AD. Completely destroyed it. And
he's done with it. He's not using it anymore. That
nation that's there now was created by men. It wasn't created by
God. But he called his elect out before he did it. And that
shows us a little example of what he's doing with his whole
world. He's going to call all his elect out. And when he's
called the last of his elect out, He is going to destroy this
world just like He did Israel. So brethren, let me just read
what He says to you now. Here is what He declares. Woe
unto the soul. Woe unto their soul. It says
this to the wicked. Verse 9. For they have rewarded
evil unto themselves. Verse 11. Woe to the wicked,
it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall
be given him. To the wicked. Anybody sitting here now attempting
to come to God by your works. by some goodness in you. God
says, everything you're doing, everything you are, everything
you're doing is sin. And so God says, I promise you,
I will give you the wage you have earned. You've been working
to earn something, to earn a reward, I'm going to give you the reward
you've earned. And He says there, the reward
of His hands shall be given Him. And in Romans 6.23 he put it
like this, the wages of sin is death. But now to the righteous,
he says verse 10, say ye to the righteous that it shall be well
with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. The fruit
of Christ's doings. That's the fruit of our doings.
What Christ did, that's what we're going to eat. That's our
life. What Christ did, that's our fruit. We have His righteousness. We have His holiness. We have
His free redemption. We have wisdom from Him. Everything
we need is all from Christ. And that's what we're going to
eat. He put it like this in Romans 6.23, The wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Now
go with me to Psalm 128. What I've been trying to show
you here is in everything God did to Israel, He destroyed an
entire nation for His elect remnant that He says are the righteous
in Christ. He destroyed a whole nation. You hear me and Brother
Don and other preachers say that God will turn the world upside
down for His people? Go home tonight and read Isaiah
45. I've given nations for you and
people for you. That's what God's going to do
for you. Don't worry. Look to the cross and see how
He pleaded His case and how He judged you so that now there's
no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. Look how
He sent you the gospel and brought you this word of grace and gave
you faith to believe in Him and saved you from the oppressor.
And look how every day since you believed on Him, He's done
the very same thing and kept saving you from the oppressor
and promises He shall. And know this, Psalm 128.1, Blessed,
happy is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in His
ways. For thou shalt eat the labor
of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with
thee. That's God's Word. That's God's
promise. We're standing on the promises
of God. There it is. It shall be well with thee. Let's sing it. Amen. Okay.