for going live. Good evening, let's begin our
evening service by standing and singing 129 at the cross, 129. Alas, and did my Saviour bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes
that I have done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace
unknown And love beyond degree At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun
in darkness hide And shut his glories in When Christ the mighty
Maker died For man the creature's sin At the cross, at the cross,
where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled
away. It was there my faith, I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. But drops of grief
can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself
away, Tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Thank you. I would like to read Psalm 98.
Psalm 98. O sing unto the Lord a new song,
for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm
hath gotten Him to victory. The Lord hath made known his
salvation, his righteousness hath he openly showed in the
sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth towards the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and with the voice of a psalm. would the trumpets
and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof and the world and they
that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands,
let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for he cometh
to judge the earth with righteousness, shall he judge the world and
the people with equity. Our heavenly and merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing us to assemble together and to worship
you. Father, will you remember us
this evening? And will you pour out your spirit
and your blessing upon us? Father, give us an appetite and
ears to hear the wonderful news for sinners. And Lord, remember
brother Eric, where he helps us stand before us again. Father,
will you go before him? And will you give him, Lord,
the words to speak that you would have us to hear? Lord, remember
him in mercy. Give him freedom in speaking.
And Lord, continue to be with him and Michelle as they labor
with us, Lord. Give them strength and health
and courage to go forward. We thank you for them. And Father,
remember us all together as this small local assembly. It is such
a great blessing to have a place to come to where there is much
religion and much darkness. But Lord, you have chosen to
allow this little group here to hear the unsearchable riches
of our Lord Jesus Christ from week to week. Father, remember
us. We do not know what lies ahead,
but all things are perfectly in your control that we may rest
in you, Lord. We are so easy to fret and to
worry and to be consumed with the things of the world. But
Father, will you pour out your spirit upon us this evening that
we may receive rest for our souls and that we may once again Rejoice,
Lord, in what you have provided for sinners, a complete salvation,
where you have said it was finished. It is finished. Oh, Lord, that
we may come to a greater understanding of this. And will you remember,
Lord, our loved ones, our children, our families? Lord, open our
mouths that we may speak what great things you have done for
our souls. Father, give us an opportunity.
And remember, Lord, all your servants, wherever they labor,
for Jesus' sake alone, amen. Let's sing 232. When I see the
blood, 232. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle your soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. ? Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save ? All he has promised that he will do ? Wash in the fountain
open for sin ? And I will pass, pass over you ? When I see the
blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass,
I will pass over you Judgment is coming, all will
be there, each one receiving justly his due. Hide in the saving,
sin-cleansing blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. And I see the blood When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. ? Oh, great compassion, oh, boundless
love ? ? Oh, loving kindness, faithful and true ? ? Find peace
and shelter under the blood ? ? And I will pass, will pass over you
? ? When I see the blood ? When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Good evening. All right, take your Bibles,
turn with me to Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah 59. Now, what our Lord shows us here
in this text is that man's salvation It's not a failure for someone
to be saved due to anything, any shortness, any weakness,
any failure on God's part. Man fails to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ because he has no love for God in his heart. He
has no need of God. He has no need of the Savior.
The Lord tells us in verse 2 of Isaiah 59, your iniquities have
separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his
face from you that he will not hear. The problem lies in here,
in our hearts. The problem is, is our hearts
are black. Our hearts are dark. Our hearts
and minds are enmity against the true and living God. So beginning
in verse in chapter 58, as we've been seeing the last few weeks,
our Lord has been correcting his people. Look back at verse
one of Isaiah 58. when the Lord sends his prophet,
telling his prophet, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house
of Jacob their sins. God does this exposing of man's
sin for purpose. He does it for a purpose. He
makes us to know what sinners we are because He has a gracious
purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ. for you his people whom he's
chosen and put in Christ's care before the foundation of the
world. God's purpose to you is that he would be gracious. He will be gracious to you who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe on Christ because
God is gracious to you. That's why we have a hope And
that's why we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've titled
this message, To Show You Your Need of Christ. To Show You Your
Need of Christ. That's why the Lord shows us
what we are by nature. He does this on purpose to make
us see our need of Christ. That we would cry out to the
Savior whom God has sent, Lord, have mercy on me. the sinner. Have mercy on me, the sinner.
Lord, I need your grace. I need your mercy. I don't need
more religion. I need your grace and your mercy.
I need the blood of Jesus Christ whom you've sent. So first, the
Lord makes it very clear that He's not the one lacking in power
to save a people. Look at verse 1 of Isaiah 59.
Isaiah 59 verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it
cannot hear. Your God is able to do all things. There's nothing that He cannot
do. He's able to do all things. He is God. He's the true and
living God. There's only one God. There can't
be more than one God. And there's but one God, the
Lord Almighty, our God, our Savior, the mighty God. And so our God,
he hears all, he sees all. There's nowhere where we can
run to be hidden from God or to escape from his knowledge
of us. He knows all, he sees all, he
hears all. It's that he has no fellowship
with the carnal man. He's not here to meet the needs
of the carnal man and do the bidding of the carnal man. God has no, there's nothing that
requires God to do anything for a sinner. There's nothing that
God owes the carnal man. And so this people that he's
speaking of here in 58 and 59, these people are rightly described
as a carnal people, a people whose heart is enmity against
the true and living God. Recall back in Isaiah 58 verse
three, remember how this people spoke to the Lord? Remember what
they said in verse 3 there? Wherefore have we fasted, say
they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our
soul, and thou takest no knowledge? They were demanding of God payment
for their sacrifice. They were demanding payment for
their religious service and works. They expected God to take notice
of what they were doing and to give them their due as a result. And the Lord describes their
religious works in this manner. At the end of verse 3, He said,
Behold, in the day of your fast. Their religious works are described
here as a fast, as a sacrifice, as an affliction of their soul. Of the day of your fast, ye find
pleasure and exact all your labors. You want payment for all your
labors. And all that we do, all that
we earn for our labors is condemnation and wrath. We accrue, we build
up a debt of sin. And we owe God perfect obedience
and we can't pay it. We can't work down our debt. We have no righteousness. We
have nothing to lay claim to God's mercy or God's forgiveness
or God's love or God's blessings. And so, just as we saw in chapter
58, now we see in chapter 59, these are religious things that
are being spoken of here. And the sins that are described
are religious sins. And these are things that men
call good works. These are my righteousnesses.
These are my good works. And God calls them filthy rags. filthy rags, works of darkness.
They're not good, they're evil. We do them for our own glory.
We do them for payment from God. Our Lord shows us that our ways
are the ways of darkness, our thoughts are foolish, and God's
wise and we're ignorant. And so the Lord teaches his people.
Turn over to Romans 8. Romans 8, and let's look at verses
5 through 8. Romans 8, 5, for they that are
after the flesh, that's a description of us, they
that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit, that's
something that we by nature know nothing of, except God reveal
his son to us. For to be carnally minded, which
we are by nature in Adam, to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. Cannot be done. And the people
described here in our text in Isaiah 59, they're religious. They're religious, but they worship
God in form only. They're religious, they do the
services, they pay attention to the ordinances, and they perform
them, and they're there when the door opens. They have the
outward form, but there's no love of God in their hearts.
There's no love of God, there's no fellowship with God, and so
the Lord tells them, this is the problem. Verse two, Isaiah
59 verse two, your iniquities, it's your iniquities, have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear. But the thing for us to remember
in this as we go through it is these iniquities and these sins
are religious iniquities and religious sins. They're religious
in nature. And so the Lord here describes
our false ways using metaphorical language. And metaphorical language
is taking words that literally describe one thing but when applied
to another object, fill out its meaning and give us an insight
into what it is that we're really doing. And so he's taking literal
things and describing them in language so that we see how our
religious works, the works we call good, are really filthy
and full of wickedness. And we saw that use of metaphorical
language in the last chapter where the Lord describes what
he does for sinners in the preaching of the gospel and how that he
blesses his people with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. And so now he's taking that metaphorical
language to describe our works by nature for the purpose to
make us see our need of the Savior, the one whom he sent, that we
would know peace and that we would be comforted, not by our
own works of righteousness, which cannot save, but by the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why God brings us to know
these things. He's making us to know, I've
got a need, Lord. I need your salvation. I need
to hear it. Let me hear the voice of the
Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy
on me. Have mercy on me. Save me, Lord. And that's what the Lord brings
us to see. So this description here describes our dead works
of dead religion sinners. and that we may see our vile
nature, and to see that as this chapter goes on, we won't get
through it all, we'll just get through verse eight, we'll see
that the one who makes the difference isn't us, it's not our repentance,
it's not our turning around things, it's not us getting things right
and doing things better, the difference maker is God, for
Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. All right, let's read verse three
now together. Isaiah 59 3 for your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity your lips have spoken lies your
tongue hath muttered perverseness so our Lord here is describing
our religious fruits as iniquity and sin and he tells us here
your hands are defiled with blood now there are murderers that
murder people every day. And certainly any time a life
is taken unjustly, it's murder and it's sin and iniquity. But
this is speaking of religious sins, sin which is committed
in the heart, the heart of men. and hatred against God and against
other men. There's a hatred there. There's
an enmity in us against the true and living God. And so it speaks
of the sin of men who are already condemned. When Christ came into
the world, we all in Adam were condemned. We all were justly
condemned by God to eternal separation and darkness, to eternal wrath
and judgment and punishment against the true and living God. We were
condemned. And it was only by the grace
of God that we were delivered from that condemnation. So that in John 3, 18, he says,
he that believeth on Christ is not condemned. There remaineth
therefore no more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, doing fleshly religious things,
but walk after the Spirit, by faith, trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ, that his blood is sufficient for me. For me. what a what a
glorious gracious God but he that believeth not is condemned
already that's where we all were that's where we all were in Adam
when Adam fell and we sinned in Adam we were condemned but
our God delivered us by the grace of God in Christ because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God that's
why he's condemned he's condemned already Otherwise he would believe
God would deliver him. He would save him out of that
pit of death and darkness. So we see how that all men by
nature in Adam are born sinners, born enemies against the true
and living God. So that when the light of the
world came into the world robed in flesh, humble, and came to
do that work for us, for his people, we took him and we crucified
him. We thought, aha, there's the
heir. Let's take him and the inheritance
will be ours. We'll show God. We'll do things
our way, the way we want to do them. We don't need God to tell
us or do for us. We'll do it our way. It says
in Acts 4, 26 through 27, the kings of the earth stood up. And the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel. So all people are guilty. people of high degree and people
of low degree, of Jews and of Gentiles, whether they rule them
or they're ruled by another, all people took Christ and crucified
him. They were all gathered together. And a man thought, we've done
it. We've got it. We've destroyed the work of God. And yet God in weakness was so
much stronger than man's strength. And God in wisdom was so much
wiser than man in his cleverness. And God, through the wickedness
of man, wrought our salvation. He wrought our deliverance. and grace and empower because
Christ was crucified, yes, when they were gathered together against
him for to do whatsoever thy hand, Lord, and thy counsel determined
before to be done. God could not be defeated. Your salvation could not be destroyed. God loves you, his people, his
lost sheep whom he gave to Christ, and nothing comes between that.
Nothing's gonna separate you or pluck you out of the hand
of your God in whom you now hope and believe and trust and cry
out to for mercy and for help and deliverance. He's your God,
He's your Savior, trust Him, believe Him. So our Lord says,
for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. And this implies that they're
taking their fingers and they're just reaching out and grabbing.
Iniquity they're just taking in they're just just saying this
is my religion. This is my life. This is my Salvation
I've got it. I know how to do this now and
I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna work at it and I'm
gonna bring life to myself and Paul even acknowledges their
zeal over in Romans 10 In verse 2 He begins, he says, I
bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge, not according to the knowledge that the spirit
of God gives you when he shines the light of Christ in your heart
and you see all things. I'm the sinner. I need the grace
of God and God has saved me by the blood of Christ in whom I
now trust by his grace. That's the knowledge that God
gives to his children. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
And so men can be zealous, and men can be very sincere, but
we can be very sincerely wrong in our zeal of God, and thinking
that it's our works that make the difference. God makes the
difference through Christ. through Christ. And he says,
your lips have spoken lies. Your lips have spoken lies. Man
doesn't speak according to the truth of the gospel because he
doesn't know the gospel. He still looks to his own hand.
He still looks to his own works, his own decision. his own ways,
his own thoughts. He doesn't know the truth of
the gospel. And so we as men, we can say many things that sound
good, especially when they're in the context of religion. That's
why it took so long. So people hear the gospel preached
and it never, They never hear it until the Spirit reveals it
to us that it's not my works, it's not my doing, it is the
grace of God through Christ that saves me. It's the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why God's being merciful
and gracious to me. Not because of anything I've
done, not because of anything I've put away, but because he
will be gracious and merciful to his people in Christ. And
the Lord tells us, If they speak not according to this word, it
doesn't matter how religious we are, how sincere we appear,
how spiritual we are, it's because there is no light in them. The Lord brings us to see Christ
is salvation. We love doctrine, and we love
good works, and we love our God, and we love to serve Him. But
that's not why God loves us, because we know good doctrine
and true doctrine, and we can discern between truth and that
which is false. And God doesn't love us because
we do good works, and He doesn't love us because we love Christ.
We love Him because He loves us. And we do good works because
we love Him by His grace and want to honor Him and do love
our brethren and do care for our brethren. And we learn the
truth because it glorifies our Savior with whom we're in love
with. We love Him because of His grace
and mercy toward us, that's why. And so, men and women, we must
be brought to see we need Christ. Christ himself is the very salvation
that God has provided for his people. You know, the Jews, when
you think about what we have today under the banner of Christianity,
well, the Jews had every benefit as well themselves. They had
the law, they had the lineage, They had the priesthood, they
had the prophets, they had all the types and the shadows and
the figures of Christ. They had Moses, they had the
Psalms, they had so many good things and yet when Christ stood
before them in the flesh, they didn't see that He is salvation,
that He is the light of God. which is sent into the world
to save his people from their sins. They didn't see the Lamb
of God, they didn't see him who saves his people, because we
must be born again. That's what Christ said, ye must
be born again. We need the Spirit whereby we
see the truth of God. We need the Spirit's regenerating
power, otherwise We're just dead religionists. We're just going
through the motions and going through the form. Except God
have mercy on us by the Spirit, but for Christ's sake. So when
the Spirit teaches us, that's when we cease to speak those
lies. And we don't continue speaking
lies about Christ anymore. You'll worship and glory in him,
because you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Christ is the truth, and Christ is the one who sets you free. That's why we look to him, being
set free. So then he says, your tongue
hath muttered perverseness. Your tongue hath muttered perverseness. And so men speak perversity when
they speak about their will, their free will. When men boast
about their free will and what they do for God and the choice
they made, when their neighbor or their sibling or somebody
that they know didn't make that choice, they look at their choice
and say, I did it. God saved me because of my choice,
because of my will, my free will. Well, free will is the spirit
of Antichrist. Free will is the spirit of Antichrist
and men in nature are under that false spirit until the Lord shows
us, no, it's not by your will, it's not by your choosing, it's
by the grace of God. It's by the grace of God. You
know, when you read about in 2 Thessalonians 2, when you read
about that man of sin being revealed, the son of perdition, well in
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, there's a perfect definition for what
free will is. It describes free will perfectly.
Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, Who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so
that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God. That's free will. That's what
free will does. Free will stands in there and
says, I'll choose. I'll make the decision whether
or not God can save me. It's my choice. And he stands
in the temple, which whether you believe in God or not, your
body is the Lord's. It's the Lord's. And so the spirit
of Antichrist takes that which is the Lord's, the temple, and
man makes himself to be God, claiming and boasting of his
free will, all the while being deceived and holding on to a
lie. Because it's not how we're saved.
We're not saved because of our will, nor for our works. I say
this because in 1 Corinthians 3.17 Paul says, If any man defile
the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of
God is holy, which temple ye are. And so the Spirit of God
dwelleth in his people. in his people. And so when we
stand in ourselves and make a boast that we have free will to choose
whether or not God is going to save us, that's antichrist. That's Antichrist, standing as
though he's God. And so that's not how we're saved,
we're saved by grace. As Paul said in Romans 9, 16,
so then it's not of him that willeth, it's not our free will,
nor of him that runneth, it's not our works, but of God that
showeth mercy. All right, now in verse four.
Isaiah 59, 4. None calleth for justice, nor
any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity and speak
lies. They conceive mischief and bring
forth iniquity. Well, none calls for justice
because they love the perversity of their ways. The last thing
we want is the light of God shining in upon our works and showing
us what we are. and showing the filth of our
works. So man by nature doesn't want the truth. We love darkness. We love darkness until our God
has mercy on us in Christ. And so because man loves darkness,
all he can bring forth are works of death. Turn over to John chapter
8. Let's go to John 8 and we'll
pick up in verse 41. John 8.41 Our Lord says, speaking
to the Jews, people that are religious, ye do the deeds of
your father. Then said they to him, we be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God.
And Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, ye would
love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not
understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my
word. Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,
for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you
the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He
that is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them
not, because ye are not of God. And so we see that man's heart
blind and man's heart is fat so that it cannot hear. It will
not believe. His ear is heavy, he will not
hear. His eyes are blind, he will not
see. And until the Lord lifts the
veil that is on our hearts and until the Lord turns our heart
to see Him, and gives us grace, filling us with the Spirit and
giving us life and shining into our hearts the truth and the
light of God and the face of Jesus Christ. Until He does that,
we don't see and we won't hear. But for you that are His, it's
because God has done that for you. He's lifted off the veil.
He shined His light, the light of Christ, into the darkness
of your minds and hearts He's turned your heart to behold the
servant of God who takes away the sin. He's the one who's given
you a spirit whereby we're born again of the seed of Christ so
that we stand complete and whole in Christ. All right, verse five. They hatch cockatrice's eggs. and weave the spider's web, he
that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh
out into a viper. So these words, this primarily
here in verse five, it's speaking, it's describing fruit, it's fruit
which we bring forth when we're dead in trespasses and sins and
laboring in dead letter religion. In Romans 7 verse 5 he says,
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were
by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Now, when you look at this egg
of the Adder, it appears to be an egg, something good, something
wholesome, something that can be eaten. And they think that
this egg that they have is going to strengthen them spiritually.
It's going to do them good before God. It's going to help them
in some way. When we eat of our own flesh,
when we eat of our works, it's the viper's egg, it's the adder's
egg, it's the cockatrice egg that breaks forth and is full
of poison. It just kills the soul. It does
no good for us. We're just feasting on death. Proverbs tells us, there's a
way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. And so that's what we bring forth. All right, now the next verse
has to do more with the garment, what man manufactures for his
covering. He thinks that he's gonna have
a fine, he's gonna spin himself a fine garment, a fine robe of
righteousness, and that he's gonna appear before God in his
courts in the day of judgment, and God's gonna say, well done.
That's what he's expecting to hear. But the Lord corrects our
vain deceit yet again. Verse six. Their webs shall not
become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their
works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence
is in their hands. This describes our fig leaf religion,
which we learned from our parents, Adam and Eve in the garden, when
they thought they were going to be as God, knowing good and
evil. The problem is they had no heart, no ability to choose
that which is good. Once they rebelled against God,
we died spiritually. And all they could do is choose
that which is evil and darkness. And so hearing God's voice, they
ran off into the woods, they found fig leaves, and began to
sow a covering for themselves. And that's what we do by nature.
That's why man can be very religious and be very spiritual. And he's
just sewing together a fig leaf apron to cover his nakedness.
But when he stands before God, he realizes this isn't gonna
cut it. This won't do it. And by then
it'll be too late. Except God show you now, today,
in the day of grace, that our works do not save us. They don't
make us righteous by what we do. And so the Lord warns us,
he says in Isaiah 28, 18, for your covenant with death shall
be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be
trodden down by it. There's only one who delivers
from the overflowing scourge. It's Christ. It's Christ. If you would be righteous with
God, Your righteousness is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Cry out to him for mercy. Seek him for his deliverance. Seek him for forgiveness, because
in him is fullness of joy forevermore. He's a willing savior to all
who need him, to all who ask. So the problem isn't God, the
problem is man. Hold your finger there in Isaiah
59, and let's go to Romans 3. Romans 3, where Paul describes
what we are by nature. Romans 3, verse 10. We'll read
down through verse 14, and then we'll come back to Isaiah 59. Paul says, as it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh God.
How does that for your pride? It strikes against our pride. It shows us what we are by nature
and our dependence upon the Lord for mercy. They are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." Now
don't lose your place there in Romans 3. We'll come back there,
but let's turn over because this is where Paul is quoting from
in these next verses. He quotes from Isaiah 59, 7,
and 8. Their feet run to evil. And they make haste to shed innocent
blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of
iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of
peace they have not known. They know not. And there is no
judgment in their goings. They have made them crooked paths.
In other words, what we do is criminal, and it needs to be
punished. It deserves punishment. Whosoever
goeth therein shall not know peace, because Christ isn't there. And Christ is the peace that
God establishes with his people. He meets with his people in Christ
for Christ's sake. That's where God is propitiated
of his wrath. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
who came, taking our place as our surety, and went to the cross
to sacrifice himself unto the Father to put away our sins. That we would be righteous and
whole and complete in Him, having no stain, no sin, no iniquity,
no trespasses to answer for. Christ answered all for his people
so that we stand complete and whole in our Lord and our Savior. And so the reason, as I said
before, go back to Romans 3 verse 19, the reason why Paul declares
what we are in our nature, what sinners we are. It's to bring
us to the conclusion here in verses 19 and 20, now we know. that what thing soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in the sight. For by the law, by our own vain
religion, is the knowledge of sin. Our Lord makes us to see
that our works are futile, our works cannot save. What we try
to do for God doesn't get it done, because the law of God
demands perfect obedience, a perfect righteousness, and the only perfection
is Christ. And those who come to God, to
the Father in Christ, they are perfect. And they are whole and
righteous. And they feed upon fat things,
good things, things of value, because it's all Christ. And
we stand before our God in a robe of righteousness, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a robe dipped in His blood. And we are
complete in Him. Trust Him. And so, our God describes
this here in the beginning of this chapter. It's to strip us
down, to make us see that, Lord, I don't want to appear before
you in my own works of righteousness. I don't want you to examine me
according to what I've done, or what I've said, or what I've
thought. Lord, receive me in Christ. Receive me for Christ's sake. That's the one in whom God is
well pleased. He's well pleased with his son
and he's well pleased with all who come to him, believing, trusting
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for their righteousness. God's
provided the salvation of his people. Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. He sent His only begotten Son
as the Shorty, as the Savior of His people, and that one is
the risen Savior. He has been raised from the grave. He's not there. He's raised,
God declaring, you that believe on Him, just. You're justified. You are righteous in Christ. He succeeded in that which He
came to do. He's the successful Savior. And
he, that one says in Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Because God hears the
needy sinner. He hears the one who calls upon
him for Christ's sake. He'll not turn away from that
one. He'll be gracious to you who
call on him and need him. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts. Amen. All right, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your mercy. Lord, we see what we are in this
flesh. We see how that you strip down
your people, that we have no hope in our works, that we have
no hope in our flesh, in our ways, our thoughts, that we have
no hope in our heart. But Lord, don't leave us there.
Give us to see your Son. Give us to see what you see in
your Son, that we may look to Him and trust Him wholly, that
we may believe on Him and have no confidence in this flesh.
but every confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we're weak. Lord, we are sinners and we are
full of iniquity and sin and darkness by nature. But Lord,
you've shown your light in our dark hearts in the face of your
son Jesus Christ. Lord you you expose everything
and show us all things so that we see It's not by my hand that
I'm gonna be saved. It's by your grace. It's by the
blood of Christ Lord We pray that you would continue to bless
your people comfort our hearts in Christ And let us be comforted
in him and in him alone and Lord gather together your people in
this body here We may hear and be established and grow and be
fed by the words of your grace. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 512, Saved by Grace, 512. Someday the silver cord will
break And I no more as now shall sing But oh the joy when I shall
wake Within the palace of the King And I shall see him face
to face And tell the story saved by grace And I shall sing him
face to face and tell the story saved by grace. Someday my earthly house will
fall. I cannot tell how soon it will
be. But this I know, my all in all,
has now a place in heaven. for me. And I shall see him face
to face and tell the story saved by grace. And I shall see him
face to face and tell the story saved by grace. Someday when fades the golden
sun, Beneath the rosy-tinted west, My blessed Lord will say,
Well done, and I shall enter in to rest. Then I shall see
him face to face, and tell the story saved by grace. Someday till then I'll watch
and wait, My lamp all trimmed and burning bright, And when
my Saviour o'er the gate, My soul to Him may take its flight. And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story saved by grace. And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story saved by grace.