Isaiah chapter 10, we'll begin
reading in verse 1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous
decrees, and that right grievousness which they have prescribed, to
turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from
the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey and that they
may rob the fatherless. And what will ye do in the day
of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far? To
whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your
glory? Without me, That's the title
of our message. Without me, they shall bow down
under the prisoners and they shall fall under the slain. And
for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still. Well, I want us to look here,
first of all, at the unrighteous and their decrees. Verse 1 there
says, Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, that write
grievousness which they have prescribed. Who are them? Who
are them? The them mentioned here. The
simplest answer to that, it's anybody who sets forth unrighteous
statutes, unrighteous precepts, unrighteous decrees. I'll show
you that this is speaking particularly of those who are leading in this
world. Kings and priests and prophets.
Look at Micah chapter 3. Micah chapter 3 and verse 9. Hear this, I pray ye, Micah 3,
verse 9. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads
of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, that
abhor judgment. That's who these are. They abhor
judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity, the heads thereof. That's who
we're talking about. Judge for reward. The priests
thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Judges, priests, prophets. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. And he says, therefore shall
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places
of the forest. Now, notice here that they did
this to build up Zion and Jerusalem. Zion and Jerusalem speak of the
church of the Lord. This is unrighteousness in the
name of righteousness. This is unrighteousness designed,
meant to build up the church of God. This is covetousness
in the name of glorifying the Lord. Now the Lord Jesus Christ
applied this to the Pharisees and the scribes when he walked
this earth in his name. He said, woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites. You read there in Psalm 32 where
it said, blessed is the man in whom is no guile. The spirit
God creates is not double-minded. It's of one mind, the mind of
Christ. It's set on Christ. It has an
appetite for Christ. That man's blessed who's been
born of God because there's no guile in him. in that new man. But he says here to them, you
devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the
greater damnation. Unrighteous decree was the fleshly
rule of the Pharisees and the scribes. It was the fleshly rule
of the Judaizers in Galatia. It's the fleshly rule of religionists
in our day who glory in your flesh, who glory in men's flesh. That's what Paul said about the
Judaizers. They glory in your flesh. What does that mean? It means
that through the decrees, through what the statutes they have taught
and prescribed, because they have constrained men into an
outward appearance of righteousness, These unrighteous men and women
really do think that Christ will reward them for this. They really
do think that this is the building up of the church. This is how
you build up Zion and how you build up Jerusalem. These decrees
are the result of these decrees, this outward form. is the many
wonderful works that men will come before Christ one day and
say, didn't we do many wonderful works? This is the casting out
of devils, wherein men will rejoice and say, didn't we cast out devils? And it's really covetousness
It's really a gain that men seek because they think through this
gain, through these precepts and these decrees, they can save
themselves from the power of evil. That's what all covetousness
is. It's thinking that because I've
done this, God's going to reward me for this. Listen to Habakkuk. Woe to him that coveteth an evil
covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high,
that he may be delivered from the power of evil. This is how
the unregenerated man thinks he will come into salvation. This is how he thinks he will
be saved from the power of evil. This is what Paul meant when
he said, they glory in your flesh. They glory in what they can get
you to do. Now, they're actually saying
that by this power, by these decrees, by exercising and enforcing
these decrees, we have built Christ's church. We have built
it. We have made it. What you see
and what you hear is because of the decrees we've set forth.
We've made it what it is. God will not share his glory
with another. God will not share His glory
with another. His Son will have all the glory. He will have all the glory in
sending forth the pastor. He will have all the glory in
teaching that pastor. He will have all the glory in
directing His steps. He will have all the glory in
sending forth His Word through the man. He will have all the
glory in preserving His written Word. He will have all the glory
in applying it to our hearts. He will have all the glory in
bringing those down that need to be brought down and lifting
up those that are feeble. He will have the glory in it. Men will not have that glory. The glory belongs to Him. The
religion of this flesh, the religion of my flesh and of your flesh,
our natural born religious inclination is to seek a reward. It's to
seek a pat on the back for what we've done. If you look up the
word reward, rewards in scripture, it never applies to a believer. A believer is not seeking rewards. A believer is not seeking rewards. God is called a rewarder. He
is. But if you do a careful reading
of Hebrews 11, 6, it's not a reward that we're seeking. It's Him. It's Him. Scripture says, without
faith it's impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek rewards. No. That diligently seek Him. He's the reward. He's the rewarder
and He's the reward. But what are these unrighteous
decrees? What are they? Let me show you
a few opposites, a few contrasts here to get you in the mode of
thinking. You remember the one we saw in
Acts 15.1. Certain men which came down from
Judea taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Here's a righteous
decree. Here's a righteous decree. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. That's a righteous
decree. Let me give you another unrighteous
decree. You remember when the Lord gave sight to the blind
man, and the Pharisees brought him before the Sanhedrin in the
synagogue, and it said that his parents were afraid to say that
this was their son, to say much about him, because they were
fearful. Because those in the synagogue had made a decree that
if anybody professed Jesus Christ, he'd be kicked out of the synagogue.
That's an unrighteous decree. Here's a righteous decree. Verily
I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Do you see the totally different
spirit of these two decrees? Totally different. An unrighteous
decree is about what you must do and you must not do. The righteous
decree is about what Christ has done and is doing. You understand
that? Now, we can learn something about
these unrighteous decrees by what they do. This is my second
point. The motive of unrighteous decrees.
The motive of unrighteous decrees. The Lord declares the true motive
of all unrighteous decrees. He gives them to us right here.
Isaiah 10-2. To turn aside the needy from
judgment and to take away the right from the poor of my people. that widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless." Now, first of all, this is a
description of God's elect. This is a description of all
those God purposed to save before the world began. This is a description
of those that have been called out by His grace. They are poor
and needy. They're the Lord's people. They're
poor and needy in themselves. They're widows who need Christ
their husband. They're orphans who need the
everlasting Father, Christ our Lord. They are my people, he
said. They're my people. All unrighteous
decrees are against the Lord's people. You can mark that down. All unrighteous decrees, the
Lord says, are against my people. All right? If you're poor and
you're needy, if you're a widow and an orphan, then you know
you need your case to be handled by a just judge. That judge is not by the eye
or the ear. You remember when the Lord said,
He said, I say unto you that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. He's speaking of both
the righteousness they thought they had worked out, but also
the righteousness that they decreed was necessary to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And that righteousness, which
they decreed, the precepts they taught that were unrighteous
before God were based on nothing more than what the eye can see
and the ear can hear. Those are unrighteous decrees. There is absolutely no way you
can use the law, the Ten Commandments, to rule a man without judging
by the eye and the ear. There's no way. There's absolutely
no way you can do it. But you have no understanding
of true judgment and true righteousness. Listen, look with me over to
Isaiah 11 and verse 3. Here's the one who is the just
judge and who is the righteousness of the believer. Isaiah 11 verse
3. This is speaking of Christ, the
Lord. And the Lord said, and I shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meat of the
earth." Aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful that our
Savior has called us out and has delivered us from unrighteous
rulers with their unrighteous decrees who judge unrighteous
judgment by what the eye can see and the ear can hear. And
that you have one over you, over your heart, dwelling and abiding
within you, who judges Righteous judgment who reproves you who
rebukes you according to what you need that he knows you need
in your heart Don't you rejoice in that that's a that's a great
great great blessing And I need righteousness to be established
for me. I need my right to the throne
of God's grace established so that it can never ever be taken
away from me by anyone or anything in me or anyone else. I need to be judged by the just
judge and I need to have my right established by another. Look
over at Romans chapter 3 verse 20. I dare say there's no one, probably
no one out there who claims to believe
the sovereign grace of God that could not tell you this passage
is the very heart of the Gospel. But there's a key difference
between the way God's people see this passage and the way
those that haven't been saved by God's grace see this passage.
Romans 3, verse 20. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin If if if we all saw this the same that'd
be the end of the law right there That'd be the end of that be
the end for which it was given and the end the end of what it
will do But we don't all see it that way. Oh, we all know
this passage But we don't all know this passage now look but
now The righteousness of God without the law is manifested. The righteousness of God has
nothing whatsoever to do with you and me and our obedience
to the law. Nothing. Nothing. The law was
given to say that you're guilty and that you can't justify yourself
to shut your mouth so that now you'll listen to what God says.
Now here's what He says. The righteousness is manifest
without the law. It's witnessed by the law. Everything
the law says guilty about us, the law says Christ is righteous. It says the opposite about Christ
of what it says about us. It says of Him not guilty. Perfect. Through and through. Thought,
word and deed. And it's witnessed by the prophets. Everything God's
Word has said from beginning to end has been about this righteousness. Christ the Lord. Now look, even
the righteousness of God. This is the righteousness of
God. That is a great, great interpretation of the next phrase. We're talking
about the righteousness of God. We're not talking about the righteousness
of men. We're talking about the righteousness of God. Which is
by a faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The righteousness
of God is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And it's unto all and it's upon all them that believe. For there's
no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. He couldn't have been by our
faithfulness because we're all sinners. We're guilty. But we're
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth. God set Him forth
for all eyes to be upon Him, for all doctrine to be concerning
Him, for everything decreed to have its end in Him. Because
He is the propitiation through faith in His blood. And God set
Him forth to declare His righteousness. How He is right in putting away
the sin of His people. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. He's just, his law is satisfied. For he who knew no sin was made
to be sin. God will in no wise clear the
guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. God will not pour out his wrath
upon an innocent person. Therefore, he who knew no sin
was made sin for us. He bore the wrath. He bore the
penalty. He bore the guilt. He bore the
sin that we are, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And therefore, God's just. He's just in pouring out
His wrath on His Son because He was made sin for us. He's
just because His law is satisfied toward all of those for whom
He represented. He's just because His law has not been altered.
Satisfaction has been made completely. And He is the justifier because
the righteousness of God is manifest in God at Calvary. The Son of God and His fidelity
to God. Therein is the righteousness.
He's the just God and He's the justifier. Now then, where is
boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Now here's the difference between
a righteous decree and an unrighteous decree. The unrighteous decree
says with the lips, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,
but in the heart believes that this is, that the boasting is
by the law of works. That my salvation is by the law
of works. That's what the unrighteous man
believes. If he didn't believe it, he wouldn't
go on telling people that they are yet under the law of God
when God says clearly Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to all who believe. But then there's a law of faith.
This is the law written on the hearts of sinners that God saves. This is the law written on an
inward man. It's not the Ten Commandments.
Do you know you have that law written on your heart already?
You're born with it written on your heart. Did you know that?
Read Romans chapter 2. The Gentiles who have not the
law are a law unto themselves. They bear witness that they have
the law of God written on their hearts and in their conscience.
They either accuse one another or excuse one another. Every
single person born into this world knows what's right and
knows what's wrong. Everybody does. That law is written
on the heart by nature. The law God must write on the
heart is the new covenant. It's the new decree. It's a decree
that we don't know, that we don't have anything, any knowledge
of whatsoever as we're born into this world. It's a new covenant. It's a new law. It's a new rule. And this word decree, brethren,
is translated from a word whose original meaning is, which original
meaning is lawgiver. The one who sets forth a decree
is a lawgiver. The one who sets forth a decree
is called a governor. The one who sets forth a decree
is called an inscriber, an engraver. The one who decrees the righteous
decree is the Lord. He's the king, he's the priest,
and he's the prophet. He's the one. And everybody else
that tries to be the king and the priest and the prophet is
unrighteous. And every decree that comes out
of their mouth is an unrighteous decree. Every one of them. Listen,
he said, this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people. This is not
the law of the Ten Commandments. It's not. It's the law of liberty.
It's the law of faith. It's the law of Christ. This
is the law that God writes on the heart. It's the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He makes us to behold that He
is the one who is the lawgiver and His decree is righteous.
And the laws of God written on the heart govern the believer
so that we live by the declaration of Christ Jesus our Lord. We
live by one doctrine. We live by one declaration. We
live by one chief decree in which all the decrees of God have their
end. And this is His decree. And this
is His covenant which He writes in the heart that He has created
anew. It is finished. I'm not trying to justify myself
before the law of God because the law written on my heart says
it is finished. You're justified. I'm not trying
to keep God's law. I'm not trying to keep the Ten
Commandments of God. I'm not trying to. Because what's
written in my heart in the righteous decree is, it is finished. You have kept it. You have perpetually,
continually kept my law. I'm not trying to earn a righteousness
because the decree written in my heart is, it is finished. You've been made the righteousness
of God. I'm not trying to make myself
separated from this world and appear separated from this world,
and I'm not trying to make myself appear holy before men, because
the decree written in my heart is, it's finished. You're separate
and you're holy. The reason I'm not trying to
pay by my servitude so that I can buy myself out of debt is because
the decree written on my heart is, it is finished. You are redeemed. You're bought
with a price. You're not your own. The reason
I'm not trying to make you see my observance of a Sabbath day
is because I've been perpetually resting in Christ since the day
He made me to rest in the glorious truth that it is finished! And I've been resting ever since.
Every single hour of every single day is a Sabbath to me. In Christ my rest. Every single
one. unrighteous decrees, laden men
with heavy burdens. Let me show you that. Luke 11,
verse 46. Luke 11, verse 46. And the Lord said, Woe unto you
also, ye lawyers, For ye laden men with burdens, grievous to
be born, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your
fingers." You want me to tell you what these burdens are? Unrighteous
decrees expose sin. And you know what sin is to one
who knows God? It's a burden. You know what
unrighteous decrees do? They point out to you and to
me continually that we are sinners. Now, that wouldn't be a bad thing
if it was to teach us our need of Christ alone. But these decrees are given to
make a man see you're a sinner. Now, you need to go to Sinai,
to this law, and see here is what the law says that you must
do. And so the unrighteousness of
the decree is that it not only exposes your sin, but it gives
you some inclination now that if I just reform, I've made up
for it. I've taken care of it. And I'm
better. Liberty is knowing that there
is nothing left for me to do to be eternally free. It is finished. If you'll look with me, Galatians
chapter 6. The law of Christ, the righteous
decree by which the believer is governed, The rule of the
believer's life, the very righteousness of Christ, the law of Christ
teaches me to put up with sin, to put up with the burden. Just
put up with it. In myself and in my brethren. That's what it teaches me. Put
up with it. It ain't going to change. It
ain't going to get better. Just put up with it. Ignore it. Point them from it. Now look. Galatians 6.1. Righteous decrees
teach us to bear the burdens. Put up with the sin. Bear the
sin in you and in your brethren. It's what it is. It's what it's
going to be. Look. Verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness. Considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill
the law of Christ. I know that. And you who are
born of God know that because this is the law written on your
heart. It's not to lay an excessive, grievous burden on your brother
who's overtaken in a fault by whipping him more and more, kicking
him while he's down because he hasn't obeyed the law. It's to
bear that burden, that sin, that fault that he's overtaken in.
Bear with it. Pair with it. Put up with it.
Overlook it. And restore him back to Christ.
That's the law God writes on the heart. That's the righteous
decree written on the heart. Why is it? Because the restoration
is to know that it has not affected whatsoever the fact that the
righteous decree states It is finished. And if you believe
that, if you really believe it is finished, you will bear with
another's burden rather than using the law to put more burden
on him by exposing more sin in him. That's the law of love. It's
the law of faith. It's the law of liberty. It's
the perfect law of liberty. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
What is it? And James said, the perfect law
of liberty, the royal law of liberty. All right, now. You see the difference
here. His yoke is light and easy to
bear because we know that. The very God of peace sanctified
you wholly. Your whole spirit and soul and
body will be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? Because He said, it is finished. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. There was never a time with an
eternal God that the works were not finished. They've always
been finished in eternity. And then in time, He came and
He performed the work and finished the work and said, now it is
finished. And then again in the season
of His love, He comes to us in the heart and He writes this
decree in the heart of His people and He declares to us personally,
it is finished. And fully, finally, freely, forever,
He will raise us in body, soul, and spirit to be with Him. And
one more time, the righteous decree, the righteous anthem
will be, IT IS FINISHED! Oh, what part of finished? We can't get that, can we? Finished. Finished. And yet, unrighteous
decrees. I said all that to say, here's
what an unrighteous decree is. It says, it's not finished. It's
not finished. And here's why, verse Isaiah
10-2, to turn aside, to carry about, to turn you away from
seeing Christ, to turn you out of the way which is Christ, and
it's to turn away the needy from Christ in whom all judgment is,
and in whom judgment is satisfied. It's to take away the right,
the righteousness, Christ our righteousness from the poor of
my people, that widows, Helpless, helpless widows might be the
prey of such effeminate hucksters that they may rob orphans. You know, I can't think of anything
worse than somebody who would rob an orphan or take advantage
of a widow. Can you? Can you think of anything
worse and lowly and despicable? That's lower than a snake's belly.
That's worse than chicken dung. That's about the worst thing
there is. And God says that's exactly what they are. Well,
here's the Lord's questions. Thirdly, Isaiah 10, 3. And what will ye do in the day
of visitation? And in the desolation which shall
come from far? God's coming. God who knows the
heart is coming. He's going to visit. He's going
to come personally and visit. What will you do in that day? To whom will ye flee for help? Where will ye leave your glory?
Are you going to hide your glory somewhere from God so you can
come back and get it once all this is over with and done? You
and your glory is going to be gone if you trust in an unrighteous
decree. The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love
to have it so. And what will you do in the end
thereof?" the Lord said. Well, in Revelation, He says,
The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman,
and every free man. That's a description of the unrighteous
men who trust in unrighteous decrees. They're kings, not in
heaven's glory, but kings of the earth. They're great men
in the earth. They're rich men in the earth.
They're chief captains in the earth. They're mighty men in
the earth. They're bondmen in the earth.
And they're free in the earth. They're legalist and they're
lawless in the earth. Well, he said, they hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And they said
to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face
of him that sitteth on the throne. Oh, there is a king after all. There is a mighty man after all. And He sits on the throne. And
they said, hide us from Him and from the wrath of the Lamb. Have you ever seen a lamb full
of wrath? If we come to God outside of
Christ the Lamb, we're going to find our lamb full of wrath.
In righteous wrath. And here's the Lord's exception.
Verse 4, this is what this word without me means. It means except
ye. Men have their except ye's and
the Lord has his except ye. And here's what his is. Without
me. Not without your Sabbath day
observance. Without me, he said. It doesn't
say without your discipling of my people. It says without me.
It doesn't say, without your turning men back to the sins
of their flesh, it says, without me. It doesn't say, without your
law keeping, it says, without me. It doesn't say, without your
self-denial, your sacrifice, your many wonderful works, your
religious devotions, your prayer meetings, your witnessing campaigns,
it says, without me. This is the three in ones except
ye. Examine yourselves, whether ye
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates." Without me, he said. What if I come into
God's presence without Christ? Verse 4. Without me, they shall
bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the
slain. And for all this, his righteous
anger will never be turned away and his hand will be forever,
eternally stretched out in righteous judgment. Now let me give you
three things. Examine those things that we
say and we do and we teach. Are they righteous decrees or
are they unrighteous? How do I know? We need to examine
them according to God's Word. His Word is our only guide. Contrary to popular belief, it's
not a catechism written 200, 300 years ago, 600 years ago. I don't care which one you resort
to. That ain't it. That ain't it.
It's this book right here. This book right here. When you
go to one of those and you read the first article in them and
it says we have no other rule of faith but the Word of God,
take that catechism and throw it in the trash and go to the
Word of God. All right? If that's what he said. All right? Have your conversation honest
among the Gentiles. that whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." How is that? What is the good works he's talking
about? You're going to say, well, I saw sin. I saw them rebel. I saw that they're nothing but
sinners. But they were honest with me and told me that. They
told me what God's Word says, that there is no righteousness
but Christ alone. And that I can't deny. They told
me. That's the only good work God's
called me and you to do, is to be honest with folks and tell
them it's finished. The work's finished. It's done.
Well, secondly, do the things that we say and do take advantage
of the Lord's people? Or do they comfort the Lord's
people? What's our message to those who
don't know the Lord? This is what the Lord said concerning
His people, and we need to remember this. He suffered no man to do
them wrong. Do you hear that? Do you hear
that? We live in a tumultuous time.
God suffers no man to do His saints wrong. He reproves kings for their sakes. saying, Touch not mine anointed,
and do my prophets no harm." Everything that's happening right
now, everything that's going on with our government right
now, every law that's being passed, every decree, no matter how unrighteous
it is, or if it's a righteous decree. If it's going forth right
now, you can be persuaded, you can be sure that it is for you
who trust Him and know Him. No use in complaining about it.
No use in complaining about the King who gives it. He said, I
give kings for your sakes. He's given us one for our sakes.
And that one's giving the Crees for our sakes. And we can rest
in the fact that no harm shall come to His anointed. He won't
allow it. She just won't allow it. But
here's the third thing. Let us ask ourselves this question. What will I do in the day of
visitation? To whom will I flee for help?
Where will I leave my glory? If you're His, if you belong
to Him, in the day of visitation, You'll flee to Christ your help. You'll flee to Christ your Deliverer.
And all the glory that you have, any glory that you have whatsoever,
you'll be happy and glad to leave it in the earth. Burn up and
devoured and turned into nothing. that you may go into His presence
and be with Him in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." The answer of all these questions
is there in verse 4, without me, without me. except you have the Lord of hosts,
God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no righteousness,
there is no comfort, there is no salvation without Him. All our decrees are unrighteous
decrees, but with Him we have the rest of knowing. It is finished. Finished. It's finished. When we take this cup and this
bread, I pray he'll remind us one more time, one more time,
as we remember his broken body and his shed blood, every believer
will remember, it is finished. That's the righteous decree.