Okay, now let's open to Isaiah
46. And I'm glad Art read that. This is really a continuation,
this chapter, of the message that Isaiah was delivering there
in Isaiah 44. And I want you to listen. I want
you to pay close attention. I want you to follow along in
the Scriptures with me. Pay particular attention. Whenever
the Lord had spoken that about Cyrus about how Israel was going
to go into captivity. He said to them in Isaiah 46,
he began to tell them about the idol gods that they would encounter. And he said, those idols have
to be carried. Man makes them. Man brings them
into conception from his brain. He forms them with his hands.
He makes them and He has to carry them around. He has to do everything
for them. And then God says, but I, He said, I am the God
who births my people, who carries my people. And He said, I'll
carry them from the beginning all the way through the middle,
all the way to the end. Even till you have gray hairs,
I'll carry my people and I will deliver them. I will deliver
them." You and I have never been able to make any statement, any
remotely close to that, that we would do something like that,
even to our old age, and accomplish what we said we would. We can't
do it. We couldn't dare do that. And then when he gets through,
he says, He says, now all those images that they pay men to make
and all that, he said, that's all just, they come up with them,
they pay somebody, he makes it, he gives it back to them, they
carry it around, they set it up, they take it down, and there's
a good little profit there between the makers of the gods and the
ones who they pay to make it and all that. And he said, but
listen to me, the Lord said. He said, what I purposed from
the beginning I'm going to bring to pass. He said there in verses
9 and 10, I'm God and there is none else. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is God
and there is none else? He said I'm God and there's none
like me. Not only is there none else,
there's not even any like him. And he said, declaring the end
from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my
pleasure. And what Art just read there
about Cyrus, he brought him forth, called him the man of my counsel,
the one who executes my counsel. And just like he brought Cyrus
forth, Christ came forth, and he executed all that counsel
God made before the world began, and he accomplished every bit
of it. And He spoke it. He'll bring it to pass. He purposed
it. He'll do it. He'll also do it. That's who
God is. God's bringing to pass through
Christ everything which He purposed and predestinated before the
world began to glorify His name in the salvation of His people.
That's what He's doing. Now, people with hard hearts
will hear that message and they'll say, well, I don't like that
kind of God. That's who God is. That's how
God saves His children. That's who He is. And men will
get all hard in their heart and they'll say, but I don't think
it's fair that God is absolutely able to predestinate and rule
every last thing and person in this earth and bring to pass
His eternal purpose in righteousness and truth without using lies
and deceit like sinful, hard-hearted rebels do. Man says, I don't
think it's fair for him to do that. The hard-hearted think
God's unfair to entrust all this into the hands of Christ, and
to foreordain everything in Christ, who is the power and wisdom of
God, come forth and accomplish it, by whose counsel all, by
whose power all God's counsel is executed, and that he gets
all the glory because he's done it all in truth and in righteousness. The truth and the righteousness
that God is. And man says, I don't like that. And he hardens the
heart and he says, that's not fair that God would do that.
And that makes God an unfair God to do something like that.
That's what the stout hearted rebel said. That makes God unfair. Well, stout hearted rebels seek to
forsake their own mercy. But even though they do, even
though they do, after making this declaration, God says, alright
now, here's who I'm going to address first. Is he unfair? Here's who he addressed first.
Verse 12. He come to you, and he's talking
to you. You that's been hardening your
heart and saying he's not fair, he comes to you and says, Listen
to me. You hard-hearted, stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness, I bring near my righteousness.
It shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry,
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. You
see, God ministers. He's anything but unfair. God ministers to His elect right
where they are in whatever state they are in. Look over at Isaiah
51 and look at verse 1. Here he's talking to beginners
in whom he's begun a work of grace. And he says, Hearken to
me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto
the rock which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from
which you were digged. Look unto Abraham your father.
Look unto Sarah that bear you. For I called him alone and blessed
him and I increased him. The Lord will comfort Zion. He'll
comfort all her waste places. He'll make her wilderness like
Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness
shall be found therein. Thanksgiving in the voice of
melody. You see, His gospel declares what He's going to do for them.
So He comforts them. And then you have in Isaiah 51.4,
you've got some that's a little further along in the faith, but
they're still weak in faith, and they still have some fears
and doubts. And he says this to them in Isaiah
51.4, Harken unto me, my people, give ear unto me, O my nation,
for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment
to rest for a light of the people. Look down at verse 6. Lift up
your eyes to the heavens, look to the earth beneath. the heavens
are gonna vanish away like smoke, and the earth is gonna wax old
like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like
manner. But my salvation, my salvation
shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. So his
gospel comforts those where they are. And then he speaks in Isaiah
51 7, and he talks to those who are strong in faith. And they
have a problem. The strong in faith are the ones
who have the biggest target on them, because they're going to
be reviled and reproached the most by self-justifying men. And he says to them, hearken
unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is
my law, my gospel. Fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall
eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like
wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation
from generation to generation." So no matter where his child
is, he talks to his child. He comes and he speaks to his
child to comfort his child just exactly according to our need.
That's what this gospel does. That's what this gospel does.
So back in chapter 46, the first thing he does now is he begins
right where every one of his true children begin. And he says,
Harken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness.
I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. And
my salvation shall not tarry. And I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, my glory. Now let's look first at this
command. He says, hearken unto me. That means listen up. It means pay attention. It means
let nothing distract you. Hear what I am saying and obey
me. That's what it means. Isaiah
is just a man. I say this to you all the time.
Isaiah is just a man preaching that. The people to whom he preached
this saw a man just like you see me standing right here. But
it was God saying this to them. He was saying to them, hearken
unto me. Drop everything, get everything
out of your mind, get everything out of your heart, get every
vain imagination out of your mind and listen, listen. God's Word does not return void.
Now he's saying to somebody here today, hearken unto me, ye stout
hearted. And his voice does not return
unto him void. He don't speak just to speak.
When God speaks, something's going to happen. He's either
calling out one of these stout hearted that he's purposed to
save, or he's going to use this same word to harden the heart
further and further condemn the ones that hear it. So I'd hearken,
I'd listen, I'd pay close attention. Everybody's gonna bow to Him.
Everybody's gonna confess to Him that what He has said is
true. We're gonna do it in this day
of grace or we're gonna do it in the day of judgment. Everybody's
gonna bow to Him. Everybody's gonna hearken to
Him. Now, I hope that everybody in this place falls into that
first number. Sheep of God, chosen of God, called to whom He's speaking. That's what I hope. But you be
sure you pay attention. Be sure you listen because this
word is the message from the king. It's the message from the
judge that you're gonna stand before. It's the message from
the God of heaven and earth. God who rules all things. You
may have called him unfair. You may have said it's not fair
for God to do as he pleases, although you try to do as you
please every day of your life. You know it's fair for God to
do what he will. And he's saying, now, you that's
called me unfair, you that have tried to ignore me and what I've
been saying to you, he says, now you hearken to me. He says,
now I've come near to you so that you are without excuse.
You can no longer say God's unfair because he's talking to you today.
What you going to do with him? What you going to do? He's right
here. He's saying this to you and he
speaks to you so that you're without excuse. And he says,
now it's your responsibility to listen and it's your responsibility
to obey. That's what he's saying. Repent
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he says you're stout
hearted. What does that mean? It means
you're proud. It means you're too proud to
come to God and you're too proud to admit you need God. You're
proud of your own wisdom. You think you've got wisdom.
You're proud of some power, some strength in you. You think you're
self-reliant, self-sufficient, that you do not need God. You're
proud. You're stout against God. You're
mocking at sin. You mock at His people. You mock
at his gospel. You mock at the fact that you're
going to come into judgment one day. You try to make it all seem
as foolish and as goofy and as absurd as you can because you're
trying your dead-level best to get it out of your thoughts.
That's what the stout-hearted are doing. They're trying so
hard to squeeze and squeeze that hard heart and make it just impenetrable
so that they can ignore this message. Now, the stout-hearted
fit into two categories in this world. In Isaiah 48.1, he says
this. This is one group of stout-hearted
sinners. He says, Hear ye this, O house
of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come
forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the
Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth,
nor in righteousness. Now this stout-hearted group,
they claim that they're Christians. They claim that they hold the
name of the Lord, but they have not submitted to Christ. They
have not bowed and cast all into His hands and trusted Him, who
is all their righteousness. They haven't done it. They're
not worshipping Him in truth and in righteousness. Paul said,
I bear them record, they have a zeal of God. He said, but it's
not according to knowledge, because being ignorant of God's righteousness,
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's one group
of these stout-hearted sinners. The other group of these stout-hearted
sinners are looking for wisdom. They're seeking wisdom. They're
seeking wisdom. They're going through this world
and they're looking for something that they can latch on to that
they think is true wisdom. And so when they hear this gospel
preached, they think this gospel is foolishness. They don't need
it. It's not wisdom to them. You
give them some philosopher from ages past that come up with some
crazy theory, and they'll latch on to that. But tell them about
God all wise, and that's not wisdom to them. That's foolishness
to them. The Jews require a sign. Have you been looking for a sign?
God's talking to you right here today, and that's all the sign
you're going to get. A sinful and adulterous generation
seeks after a sign. Christ stood right there in front
and He said, there ain't going to be any sign given but the
sign of the prophet Jonah. He was three days and three nights
in the belly of the well. So shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the earth. He was standing right
there. He is the sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and be with child. and His name shall be Emmanuel,
God with us. He is the sign. When God speaks
to you, when He brings His gospel across your path and He starts
declaring the gospel to you, you've got the sign you're going
to get. You've got the only sign you're going to get. Here it
is. And the Greeks seek after wisdom. That's the second group.
They think that Christ crucified is foolishness to them, but to
them that are called, Now, right now, there's a call going out
so that, generally speaking, this call that's going out will
leave everyone who hears this message today without excuse,
every one of them. We're going to leave out of here
today being either further united to Christ and wanting Him to
be our all, or we're going to leave out of here today being
further hardened and rebelling against Him with more condemnation
upon us for having heard it. And that's up. That's why you
don't prepare messages just off the cuff. That's why you spend
time and you study and you're looking for a word from God because
this is not, it's just not play, it's not games. It's just real. It's, you know, you come here
and you think, well, I'm just going there and it's just like
any other day. Today's not like any other day.
Today, God's talking, God's talking. God's elect begin as hard-hearted
rebels, just hard-hearted, stout-hearted enemies who won't listen, who
turn their back on God and try to walk away from Him. But God
speaks, and to them that are called, both Jew or Gentile,
whether you've been in religion or you never have been in religion,
whether you've been in religion and you think your religion's
wise, or you've been in philosophy and this world's worldliness
and you think that's wise, whichever, when he speaks, Christ Jesus
becomes the power and wisdom of God. That's what I hope happens
today, because here's what all stout-hearted people have in
common, no matter if they're in religion or they're looking
at the world for wisdom. Here's what they all have in
common, verse 12. Far from righteousness. You know what righteousness is?
to be righteous is to have perfectly obeyed the law of God, is to
be completely justified before the law of God without sin, with
perfect, thorough obedience to the law, without sin at all,
is to have no sin, is to be only righteous through and through
before God the judge, God who sees all. God the judge says
of you who have not submitted to his son in faith, that in
yourself, by your own works, with no one else to blame but
self, that you are far from righteousness. That's what he said. That's a
sad, solemn thought if you think about it. If you think about
this thought, there's some sitting here right now who are in the
kingdom of darkness under the power of the prince of the air.
There's some sitting here right now who are unaccepted and unacceptable
to God. And if you die, God won't receive you. He just
won't receive you. God says of all who haven't submitted
to His Son, to Christ Jesus, there's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. You're not convinced of your
sins yet. The stout hearted are not convinced
of their sins yet. The stout-hearted are not convinced
that Christ is the only righteousness God will accept. The stout-hearted
are not convinced that all judgment has been accomplished by Christ
Jesus so that those that trust him have no fear, nothing to
fear. It's all settled. It's all done. I hope, I hope that the Spirit
of God speaks today. And you hear God speak in your
heart and say, hearken unto me, you stout-hearted. that he calls
your name personally, that he makes the word affectual in the
heart. Because when he does, if he does,
you're going to find out that the breaking of that hard heart
is the beginning of the day of grace. And it just gets better
and better and better. And everything you thought was
delight and everything you thought was joy and everything you thought
was something to really strive after and go after, you'll see
what truly is delight and what truly is joy and what truly is
worthy of seeking and going after. And everything else will become
vanity and become more and more vanity to you. That's what I
hope happens. Let's look at this next thing.
How does this righteousness come? Alright, how do I get this right?
How does it come to me? God brings it. Look at verse
13. I bring near my righteousness."
Now, the Lord's righteousness that's spoken of here is the
work of righteousness that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ and He brings to everyone for whom He wrought that work
and plants it in their heart, makes them to see what He's done.
But since God says here that He brings it, and He says He
brings it, then righteousness comes from a source outside of
the sinner. God's bringing this righteousness.
He said, I bring it. So it's coming from a source
outside of me and you. Let's just, just just for the
sake of, of humor in the preacher this morning, let's just pretend
that what I'm saying is true. Let's just pretend there is one
God. Let's just, those who are stout hearted and too wise for
God, let's just for a minute, let's say there is one and this
is him. And this is how he says he really
does bring righteousness. I bring my righteousness. It's
his righteousness. So he can give it to whomsoever
he will. It's his righteousness. So it's
not going to be by my hand. It's not going to be my righteousness
that wrought it. It's his righteousness. He says
he brings it. Now, if that's true, And that
is true. Where does that leave you? The stout-hearted man, if this
is so, and there is one God, and He is the God who says, I
bring near my righteousness, and He's speaking right here
today saying, now you're stout-hearted, and you're far from righteousness,
and I bring near my righteousness. It comes from a source other
than you, and you've got to have a perfect righteousness to enter
into God's presence. Then where are you right now?
Where are you right now? Where does that leave you right
now? Before God delivers his child, he's got to deal judicially
with his child. Before he shows mercy to his
child, he's got to deal judicially with him. That's what this righteousness
is all about. In Adam, we sinned. I'm not sure
I believe that. Let's just say today and say
it so. Let's just say it's so, just for giggles. Let's say it's
so. If that's so, and you're truly dead in trespasses and
sins, if you have a vase and it's shattered all to pieces,
is there any possibility that vase can put itself back together
again? There's not a piece left. There's not anything left that
can even be put together, much less the fact that it's dead
and it can't do it. Now, if that's the case, And
the Lord says, the soul that sinneth shall die. If that's
really the case, and it is the case, where does that leave you?
Where does that leave you? How did this righteousness come
near? It came near because God came near. It came near because
God came down. That God that the stout-hearted
has been charging as being so unfair, this is what He did. When have you ever done anything
like this? Oh, stout-hearted man who's so quick to call God
unfair. When have you ever done anything
for somebody that stabbed you in the back and spit in your
face and gutted you and hated you with everything they ever
done and you did nothing but love them with a holy, fervent,
unchanging, sovereign love? When, stout-hearted man, have
you ever done anything like that? Ever? And yet he came for sinners like
that. He came for stout-hearted, ignorant,
little imps like that to save them from themselves. That's
what this God did. To save stout-hearted rebels
that hated him with every fiber of their being. Now does that
sound like a God that's unfair? Next time you're out stranded
somewhere and you've got miles and miles to walk, and you're
just out there on the side of the road, can't do anything,
there's nobody around, you don't have a telephone, you're just
stranded, starving to death, it's raining, cold, wet, you've
got nothing, you can't help yourself anyway, you're just out there
stranded, and somebody stops to help you, you look at them
and say, it's unfair that you're stopping and helping me and you're
not helping somebody else, and see what they do. See what they
do. See if they don't leave you sitting
right where you're sitting. This is a day of grace, but God
will leave you sitting right where you're sitting. Keep calling
Him unfair. Keep rearing back and shoving
your middle finger in His face. Keep doing that. See what happens.
Well, Christ came. This is what He
did. His children were flesh, and He took the likeness of sinful
flesh. His children were made under
the law, he went under the law. His children were, they could
not obey the law, he did it for them. His children couldn't,
they couldn't die and justify themselves and live. And because
he's God, he could rise from the dead. And because he's man,
he could die. And so the God-man came and laid
down his life to justify these hell-deserving God-hating, face-spitting bunch of stout-hearted
rebels. That's what he did for them.
And you want to say he's unfair? You want to say that God's unfair? That heart is stout, isn't it?
That heart is hard, isn't it? What about somebody that they
go to the Father you love And they slander his name all over
your neighborhood. And they speak every evil they
can about him, so that they turn everybody that they can against
him. They scoff at him, and they laugh at him, and they mock him.
And they speak about the father you love as if he was just a
trifling, no good, sorry, just a piece of trash. Would you lay
down your life for him? Would you go to the cross and
bear the agonies of sin in your body and the agonies of wrath
in your body? Would you do that for them so
that they could go free and do it with a perfect love for them?
That's what the stout-hearted man's been doing against God
the Father all his days, and yet God the Son came and did
that for him. Would you do that, old stout-hearted
man that wants to call God unfair? With a stout-hearted man that
calls God unjust to save in a righteous and holy manner when you've never
done anything righteous and holy and just any time in your life
period without exception. You really want to call that
God unfair? The elect of God, those he does
this for. They have nothing good in them.
They have nothing about them any good. But they're the for
us for whom Christ did all this. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 5.21.
I want to help you read Scripture. I want to show you something
about reading Scripture. When you read this Scripture, Understand that what God did,
He accomplished. Understand that what Christ did,
He accomplished. And it's going to help you to understand that
the for us, for whom He did this for, have everything that He's
promised them. Look at this, 2 Corinthians 5.21,
For He hath made Him sin for us, that we who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now you see, because
He made Him sin for us, the for us that's mentioned here, they
are made by what He's done, the righteousness of God in Christ.
It's done. That means, now that has to mean,
if He's really the God of accomplishment and the God who does as He said,
He said, I spoke it, I'll bring it to pass. I purposed it, I'll
do it. If He's that God and He is that God, that means either
Everybody without exception are going to be in heaven. Or he didn't do this for everybody. Did he die for people already
in hell? Did he? That would be a foolish
thing to die for people already condemned. Everybody for whom
He died, He made them the righteousness of God in Him by what He did.
Look over at Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us. That
means He did it. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Look at Romans 5.8. And hold your place in Romans.
We'll come back here in a minute too. But Romans 5.8. God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Look at Ephesians 5.2. Paul said, Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Look at Ephesians 5.2. walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. He did that for somebody. He
did that for us. And the for us who He did it
for, they have a sweet-smelling savor, a sacrifice, an offering
that He's made for them that God says, I'm well pleased with
it. I'm accepted with it. I'm pleased
with it. Let me give you another scripture. Look at Hebrews 9.24. While you're
turning there, I'll read this to you. John said, Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. We
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Hebrews 9.24, Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true. but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us." He's doing that for us. The for
us for whom He's doing this deserve nothing of it. They deserve nothing
but wrath. They're stout-hearted rebels
against God. And yet He did this for us. All
right, let me ask the stout hearted who says now it's unfair that
God honors his son and glorifies his son and all the works accomplished
by his son and I don't get to do anything and I don't get any
glory and I can't have any boat anything we're in the boat. Okay,
let's ask you this. When's the last time you worked
a long hard day? And you worked so hard that you
were so tired. But you just knew, you knew,
I did what my boss told me to do. I did a good job for him.
And you just know he's going to be pleased with what you did.
You just know he's going to be happy with what you did. And
you go to him to get your pay. And he says to you, I'm not giving
you anything. Would you be happy? Would you
say that that's fair? that he did that, that he didn't
give you what you earned, and he didn't give you what you worked
for, and he didn't give you... that which you accomplished and
what is yours rightfully yours, would you say He's fair? No,
He wouldn't be fair. But the God of heaven and earth,
now if He doesn't give to His Son every one of those stout-hearted
rebels for whom He died, for whom He did the work, for whom
He finished His great work of grace for, honoring the Father
and glorifying the Father, if God doesn't give Him every single
one for whom He died and lets one perish in sin, is God fair? But He is the God of fairness.
He is the God who does exactly as He says He will. His Son earned
His people. His Son redeemed the for us that's
spoken here. And He's in glory right now in
the presence of God interceding for us. And He's going to get
everything that He worked and earned by His own blood and His
own sweat. He's going to get it. Because
He did it. He did the work and God's pleased
with Him. Because God's a God of fairness.
He's not a God that's unfair. Well, since He said it's finished,
what does that mean? That means that He's the one
that did it. One more time, let's look at Romans 5.19. I want you
to look at this again. I want you to get this. I just want you to see this.
All I'm saying to you right now is you just listen. You listen. If God is who He says He is,
and this is how He says He saves, where does this leave you? Where
are you right now? Listen. Verse 19. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. Will you at least acknowledge
that there are sinners in this world? If you just acknowledge
it as being the Charles Mansons and the murderers and rapists,
do you at least acknowledge there's sin in this world? Where'd that
come from? Where'd that originate from? How did men come up with
that? By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. Completely broken, completely
perished in sin, completely unable to put themselves together again.
So by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. Do you
see it? Read it there. As by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. The law entered to say, Here's
how guilty we are. Here's how guilty we are. But
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, by
Him alone, by that One. The Lord says, I bring near my
righteousness. Right now, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Lord our righteousness, He's
near right now. He's brought near His righteousness.
Hearken, O stout hearted, if you could obtain righteousness,
if you could do something to come into God's presence by your
own works, would God have sent His own Son? Would He? Can you confess from the heart?
Can you say from the heart? Can you say this in your heart?
Now let's get real. Let's just get down to brass
tacks right here. This is where the rubber meets
the road. Can you say in your heart you have never, ever, ever
been anything but a polluted, God-hating, stout-hearted, sinful,
wretched, sorry, no good so-and-so? Can you? Can you say that's all I am?
Can you say I've never had a good thought, I've never done anything
but be an habitual sinner all my days? Can you say it and mean it? Can
you say it and mean if God right now threw me into hell, he's
just for doing it. I earned it. I earned it. My best thought has been so polluted
with sin, that it's worthy to send me to a hill 1000 times
over. Can you say that mean it? Can
you say it and mean it that the very from the top of your head
to the bottom of your foot? There's nothing they're worthless,
absolutely worthless. If you can't say it and mean
it, that's what the problem is. That's what the problem is. The
problem is not all this hocus pocus magic smoke screen mirrors
you've been trying to throw up. The problem is you won't admit
what you are. That's what the problem is. God don't save anybody but those
who admit what they are. That's all he says. Can you with
all your heart, can you say with your heart, I believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ is my righteousness? I am completely, thoroughly saved
in Him. He's done for me everything I
could never do. Can you say that and mean it?
If you can't, that's your problem. That's your problem. That's a
stout-hearted man's problem. He can't say he's a sinner, and
he can't say God is the completion of his salvation. You're going
to meet this God. We're going to meet this guy,
and we're going to have to answer to him. We're going to meet this
guy, and we're going to have to talk to him face to face.
And he's going to talk to us. He's going to tell us exactly
what we've been thinking. And he's not going to do it like
men do in court. You go into a court in our country,
and they open up the case, and there's just a certain amount
of people in the room, and they hear it, and everybody's sitting
there. In the day of judgment, all the books are going to be
open. The books of remembrance. God keeps good books. He keeps
good records. And they're going to all be open.
And every thought and deed and every work that's ever been done,
good or evil, is going to all be borne out in front of the
whole court, in front of all that are present. Do you know
how little and embarrassed I don't know. Maybe I said this. I can't
remember if I said this to you before, but I was trying to think
of something. What is something just embarrassing? Imagine a
first day of school. All your friends are out front
of school and everybody's sitting there and waiting on you to get
there and you all excited to be there now excited for you
to be there and you think it's going to be a great day and you
pull up and step out of the vehicle and you ain't got a stitch of
clothes on. and there they are all standing looking straight
at you. And you're just naked as you can be. That would probably
embarrass you, wouldn't it? You'd probably feel pretty small.
And try to run and hide and cover up. We're gonna be found to be
absolutely naked in that day if we're not robed in the righteousness
of Christ. And when that happens, there'll
be no place to run and hide. There's gonna be no place, we're
gonna be there. We're gonna be standing there before him. And we're gonna
deal with this, God. Now let's just say, that this
is the true God and what I'm saying to you so, where does
that leave you? Are you covered? There's only
one covering he'll receive. That's the covering of his son.
That's the covering he made. I think he knows what that covering
looks like. I don't think we're going to be able to fool him
in that day. He knows what it looks like. He made it. He put
that garment together. How am I going to have it? Well,
look at verse 13. It shall not be far off. My salvation shall not tarry.
How near is it? Look over at Romans 10. How near
is it? Well, can you hear this? Can you hear
this? Can you hear it? That's how close
it is. That close. It's that close. There was Isaiah
preaching this Gospel, and there was God just as near as that
Word going out and coming into those ears. Right there, that
close. Just like you're hearing this
Gospel right now. He's brought near when the Spirit of God breaks
that stout heart, creates us anew in righteousness and holiness,
and Christ is formed in you, and you won't even know that's
happened. You won't even know that's happened, or what to call
it, or what to name it, or anything like that. What you'll know is,
I don't have any righteousness. What you'll know is, I need a
righteousness. What you'll begin to realize
is, that one is sufficient for my righteousness. That one he's
talking about, he is sufficiency for my righteousness. And you'll
begin to delight that this sinner who has no righteousness, who's
naked and needs a righteousness, And it's free. It don't cost
me anything. I didn't have to do anything for it. He did everything
and He's brought it near to me. And your heart will begin to
pump and you'll be excited and you'll know, I have this righteousness. It is mine. I believe you, Lord. He's bringing it near. How near?
Verse 6, Romans 10, 6, the righteousness That's what we've been talking
about, righteousness. The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on
this wise. Say not in your heart, who's
going to go up into heaven for me? You don't have to look for
anybody to ascend to heaven for you. That is, to bring Christ
down from above. Don't say, who shall ascend into
the deep? That is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead. This is what the righteousness
of faith says. The word is nigh thee. The word's
near you thee. It's even in thy mouth and in
thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. That's what I'm preaching right
here. I'm preaching to you this word of faith. That if you will
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. He said, I bring my righteousness
near and my salvation shall not tarry. And he says here, with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now look at Romans 3.
Go back to Romans 3. When God grants you repentance,
grants us faith, and we're no longer ashamed to declare in
agreement with God, what God's already declared in His Son.
That's what's going to happen. We won't be ashamed anymore to
declare what God's already declared in His Son. What's He declared
in His Son? What are we no longer ashamed
to declare? Romans 3, 26. To declare, I say it this time,
His righteousness. That He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. You see, the person
who hasn't believed This is what the offense really is. We call
God a liar. We're calling God a liar. And
we're going to stand there with him one day and try to say, bring
forth our excuses. And he's going to charge us.
You're just lying. You're just bringing forth lies
against me. But when you're not ashamed anymore,
you declare, God's just. He's just in everything He said
about me. He's just in everything He's done. He's just in every
aspect. God is just. And He is my justifier. You take sides with Him. You
take sides with Him. Verse 27, where's boasting then?
It's gone. It's excluded. By what law? By the law of works? No, but
by the law of faith. Then we don't boast anymore.
We don't want to. We stop wanting to boast anymore.
We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. That's what we, we're not ashamed to say it anymore.
Now I believe God. He's right. I'm saved, justified,
made righteous without any deeds of my doing whatsoever. He's
done it. And the Lord declares, my salvation
shall not tarry. What does that mean? As soon
as you believe on Christ in the heart, righteousness is yours.
As soon as you confess Him with your mouth, salvation is yours.
It's not something you got to wait on. You got it. That's God. God says, believe on me. You
have eternal life. Man, what if there was a, I don't
know, what if there was a 10-carat diamond sitting right there?
Purest diamond in the world, uncut, just sitting right there.
You can have it. Cheers. Get that close to it. Take it. It's free. Cheers. I don't think it's fair to give
me that. What about all those people out there, out there that's
not getting the opportunity to get this? I guarantee and double-dog
dare the stout man that somebody said something like that in front
of him and says, it's yours, you can have it, it's free. You can't
keep your hand back from reaching out and getting it. I bet you.
I bet you you will not say, oh, that's not fair. Want to cut
it up into a thousand, million little bits so you can share
it with everybody. I guarantee you won't do it. Righteousness
is that near. Salvation is that near. And you're
just too stout-hearted to reach out and get it. Too stubborn,
pig-headed, hog trough, got your head in the hog trough. Saying,
I don't want that. I want this dung. I want to feed
on this pig's vomit I keep stewing up and eating. Smart man, isn't he? Wise man. Stout-hearted man walking around,
boasting of his wisdom, boasting of his credentials, boasting
of what he thinks, what he don't think, says, if God cares what
you think and what you don't think. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
ask you. He said, my thoughts aren't your thoughts. My thought,
as the heavens are higher than you, so are my thoughts higher
than you. You can't even walk out and look into the space and
figure anything out by looking at that. How in the world do
you think you're going to figure out God? This is what he said for us.
He that spared not his own son, but freely delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? When he brings us to say, Father,
your son is everything you've been telling me he is. He is
everything you've been telling me He is. He is wonderful counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He is God of every God, salvation and righteousness and wisdom
and everything you've been telling me He is. You think God's going to hold
back something from us? You think He's going to hold
back something? He did everything to bring that to you so you'd
know it. How shall He with Him? He'll
freely give us everything. He's already done it. And we'll
be justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ through faith in His blood. Well, where's His salvation? Where is it? Here's the last
thing, verse 13. He said, I'll place salvation
in Zion for Israel my glory. Jesus Christ is that salvation.
God raised him from the dead, he's seated at God's right hand
in heaven, Zion. Look at Hebrews 12. He's seated
at God's right hand in heaven. That's where he is. That's where
Zion is, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Zion. And he dwells,
he set him, he places salvation in the hearts of those that he's
called by his grace so that they're living stones, they're his church,
the temple of the living God. And he places salvation in Zion
when he walks through his local assemblies, walking among the
candlesticks, saying to stout-hearted rebels that he's redeemed, hearken
to me. Hearken to me. It's like he just
walks up to you, and for the first time, he just reaches down
and taps you on your shoulder. And for the first time, you wake
up and you realize, he's right here with me. And he says, now
listen, this is what I've done. And it quits being a preacher
talking to you. It quits being mom and daddy talking to you.
It quits being a sister or brother, husband and wife talking to you.
It starts being God talking to you. And you hear him. You hear
what he's saying to you. And he says this to you, Hebrews
12, 22. You're coming to Mount Zion. unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that you refuse
not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven." Well, why did He
set salvation in Zion like that? Why did He raise Christ up there
and why does He set Him in the hearts of His people? Why does
He walk through the churches like He does? He says at the
end of that verse right there in Isaiah, Isaiah 46, 13, He
says, I do it for Israel, my glory. I do it for Israel, my
glory. Israel is Christ's first name. First, it's His name. He's Israel.
He's the head of the church. He does it for Christ, His glory.
That's where God's glory is seen. And He does it for those who
make up His body, because that's where His glory is seen as well.
Did you know that? Let me read you something. Thy
people shall all be righteous. To be all righteous, they shall
inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work
of my hands, that I may be glorified. Christ said, all mine are thine,
and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. That's what he said
to the Father. And in the ages to come, I've got to show you
this, Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, 4. And in the ages to come,
He's going to manifest His glory to all the world. You know where? and you who believe. If you think
about that, God's gonna manifest his glory in you who believe.
Look, verse four, God who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace you're saved, and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that, for this purpose, that in the ages to
come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3.10, it says this,
He did it to the intent that now unto the principalities and
powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold
wisdom of God. He's showing there's some angels
in heavenly places right now and they're looking at what Christ
has done in you who believe and they're marveling at the wisdom
of God and what He's done. because God's glorified in it.
Isn't that something? Isn't that just amazing? Well,
here's the word to go home with. Every stout-hearted sinner, I'm
going to remind you of this again, God has brought near his righteousness
to you today. Repent. What does that mean?
Change your mind. Have a radical change of direction.
Repent from all imaginary righteousnesses. Repent from thinking there is
no God. Repent from thinking that you can come to Him somehow,
some other way. Repent from everything that's
been keeping you from God and believe Him. Believe Him. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without works. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. All iniquity is forgiven. All sin is covered. Man had to be a fool not to think
that's good news. To hear that and still say no,
God? Mm. And everybody here that knows
Him and believes Him, y'all go home today and you just think
about His grace to us. Think about what He, we're stout-hearted
sinners that's been saved by His grace. That's what we are.
And His salvation in every trial now is just as near as it as
it is as he brings it to those who the stout hearted. He's just
that near. We're in our trial and we don't
think it's near. It's just that near. Turn from
every way of trying to save ourselves from it and believe him and his
salvation won't tarry. Our hearts be comforted just
like that. There's peace and believe in the Lord of peace
and just trust in the Lord. That's where we have peace. The
world around you be going to hell in a handbasket and a handbasket
be made in China and sold at Walmart. But if you've got peace
with God, you'll have peace and you'll be at rest. And think
about this, in the day when He makes up His jewels and He gathers
all His children together, He's going to come to be glorified
in us. And we in Him. And there won't
be any loss. There won't be any schism in
the body. There won't be any undone. I think it was John Newton
that said, in that day, I'm going to be surprised that there'll
be some there that I didn't think was going to be there. And there'll
be some that won't be there that I thought was going to be there.
But the biggest surprise of all, I'll be there. I'll be there. Mm. Harkin. Harkin, you stout-hearted. Amen.