All right, have a good evening.
All right, our text is gonna be in Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28, we'll be looking at
verses 18 through 22. Now, we've been going through Isaiah
for some time here, but it's been a couple weeks, so we'll
have a little bit of a review as we're building up to and going
through some of these earlier verses. But, What impresses me
as I was looking over this text, again in Isaiah 28, was just
how open and honest and clear the Lord is with us, with all
those who hear his word. And he's very generous in sending
his word to the people. He's not hiding anything. He's
not keeping back from us what we need to hear. man. He addresses man in what
he needs to hear in that he's a sinner, that he cannot save
himself, that there is salvation which he's provided in his son,
and he shows us the very need that we have for grace. He's
making it very plain and evident throughout the scriptures that
man cannot save himself. And so the Lord here by Isaiah,
he's declaring to Israel and then to Judah, he's letting them
know that they're drunk. They have much doctrine, much
doctrine, much learning, but they are drunk with the spirit
of the age. They're despising the truth of
God and they've rejected God's rest for the weary. The very
salvation God has provided for his people, these that are hearing
Isaiah, they're rejecting that. They're not hearing what the
Lord has provided for the salvation of his people. Look at verse
16, Isaiah 28, 16. Here he shows the salvation,
which is Christ saying, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone, that is
one that is tried and proven, and he himself is a trying stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth
shall not make haste. They shall not be ashamed, they
shall not be confused or confounded, but the Lord shall provide for
them. So God, what he's doing is putting salvation right in
the face of man, right in man's face, so that they see, it's
plain, how utterly ignorant and in darkness we are by nature.
Now those that remain in that darkness, those that do not hear
the voice of the Lord, they don't see their ignorance, but we that
are delivered from the darkness, we look back and see what God
has delivered us from. That we were born into that ignorance
and we were in darkness and yet he's shown us great grace and
mercy in delivering us through his son Jesus Christ. One such
example is when Christ came to the Jews and he tells them plainly
in John 5 39 and 40 he said ye search the scriptures for in
them you think you have eternal life. Men and women today look
in this book and read this book looking for answers and looking
to know How can I live a better life so that God will receive
me in the end and that I'll have a better judgment day? What do
I need to do, Lord? They search the scriptures for
in them they think they have eternal life, but he tells them
that right in front of your face and you're not seeing it, these
scriptures that you're looking to to find out how you can save
yourself are the very scriptures that are pointing to me. These
testify of me. And then he tells us plainly,
and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. No man comes
to Christ except the Father which hath sent Christ draw him. And so man's will, apart from
the Holy Spirit, man's will is not to believe on Christ, not
to look to the salvation of the living God. Again, Paul, when
addressing the Corinthians, tells them in 1 Corinthians 2, 7 and
8, he said, but we speak the wisdom of God. We're declaring
plainly the wisdom of God in a mystery. That which was hidden,
even the hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. We're making it known, we're
declaring it plainly, and yet, because man is born in sin, born
in corruption, and utterly dead to spiritual things, and having
that veil over his face, He does not hear or receive the things
that are being said unless the Spirit brings it with power into
the heart. And so he says, none of the princes
of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. And so the Lord then in our text,
in Isaiah 28 verse 17, He proves his work. He shows us that his
work in Christ, his salvation in Christ, is proven and sure
and fit for our need, and he proves that the works of man
are insufficient for man's need. They're not able to save. Verse
17 says, judgment also. Will I lay to the line in righteousness
to the plummet? and the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. So all that is not righteous,
all that is not the foundation stone, all that is not built
upon and resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be washed
away, shall be wiped away, and it shall prove to be no hiding
place whatsoever. The reason why we preach and
declare Christ is because we know, we know that God is satisfied
with the work His Son did. We know this because he raised
him up from the dead. If God wasn't satisfied, Christ
would not have been raised from the dead. And because he was
raised, he came declaring to the apostles, those that he sent
his authority and power, and then sends them in that authority
and power with the Holy Spirit so that they declared the message
and established the church in the name of Christ, built upon
the foundation which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul himself,
who was also an apostle, sent of Christ, he went and declared
to the Athenians that God hath appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Whereof, who do we know? How
do we know who he's ordained? Whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." So
that's how we know. We know that this is the one.
We know that this is salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, because
he's raised him from the dead. And so, we're to hear what the
Word of God says. The Word of God teaches and declares
to us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So that even having the law,
even having the Law of Moses, having it, each of us has it
bound in a book, it's in our homes, we carry it with us, even
having the Law of Moses, we cannot save ourselves. We cannot save
ourselves. All of us fall short of the glory
of God. And so, it's insufficient for
us to work a salvation because we ourselves are corrupt, dead
sinners, unable to save ourselves. And so even if we try to do the
best that we can under the law of Moses, it will prove insufficient. Therefore, he tells us in Romans
3.20, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight. For by the law, it was given
for this purpose to reveal sin, is the knowledge of sin. It lets
us know that when we go and check ourselves by the plummet line
of the law, we see how insufficient we are, how unrighteous we are,
how unsatisfying we are to the living God. Yet man, left to
himself, rejects the foundation stone which is Christ, that one
that God chose a living God who chose the Son of God and sent
Him to save His people, man refuses that and instead favors his own
attempts at righteousness. That's the folly of man. And that's why it's so offensive
to God. Because when God has provided
salvation and we're looking now to religion to save ourselves
or we're looking to the law of Moses to perfect what we think
God can't perfect, or what God hasn't finished or done, what
we're saying is, thank you, Lord, but no thank you. I've got it
from here. That was a good try, what you
did. That was all good, well and good, what you did in sending
your son, and I appreciate that, but I got it from here. I'm not
so sure if it's enough. I'm just going to make sure that
I just seal it a little bit more with my own works and my own
doing. And it may sound good. It does sound good to the flesh,
right? Why not just heap on another
lucky charm and make it more sure for ourselves, but it shows
that there is no life, that there is no faith of God, and that
there's no trust and confidence in the living God. So the Lord
delivers us from that. And so the Lord here is addressing
the folly of man, and he's telling us plainly that any refuge that
we look to for righteousness that isn't Christ or is in addition
to what Christ has done, that very thing shall be our undoing
in the day of judgment. And so he's warning us, he's
telling us, don't look to and trust your own works. Look to
the Son. Keep looking to Christ. And so our title is, It Better
Be Christ's Righteousness. It Better Be Christ's Righteousness.
We'll have three divisions. First, we'll ask, how confident
are you in your righteousness? How confident are you in your
righteousness? And then, having heard the truth,
when we hear it, when we finally understand it, the second point
we'll ask, Is it too late? Is it too late when we've now
come to hear the truth? And then finally, has the Lord
granted you repentance? So let's begin with how confident
are you in your righteousness? So what we're seeing in the scriptures
declared throughout the book, throughout the book is the insufficiency
of man to save himself, the ruin, our ruin by the fall. So that
since the garden rebellion, we died spiritually, we're full
of enmity against the true and living God. That means we don't
want to hear what he has to say. We don't care to hear what he
has to say. We think that we've heard enough
from him. And we think we've got it from here. And so we will
tell ourselves lies, and then believe those lies, rather than
hear what the true and living God says concerning us, and we
refuse to hear Him and His testimony concerning us. And so these verses
here in Isaiah 28, they're a good answer to that question. If you've
ever been in Hebrews 2, 3, the writer says, how shall we
escape if we neglect so great a salvation? How are we gonna
escape if we neglect so great a salvation, that salvation provided
in Christ? And the answer is, we see it
here in Isaiah 28, the answer is, we won't. We won't escape. We're not going to escape, all
right? So look at verse 18. And the Lord turns man's focus
now to what their works are going to yield. He's showing us exactly
what's going to be the fruit of our works. It says, verse
18, and your covenant, or what's going to come of your works.
your covenant with death shall be disannulled. Disannulled meaning
it'll be voided out, canceled. In other words, God is not going
to honor what you've done and set up for yourselves. Your covenant
with death shall be disannulled. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand when the overflowing scourge, when the judgment of
God, shall pass through. Then ye shall be trodden down
by it." And so what he's revealing to us, if we're listening, if
we're looking at it for us, not just looking at it to say, wow,
look at what happened to them, but what does this have to do
with me? Knowing these people, and we ask ourselves this, is
it my works that will save me? Is it my righteousness? Is it
my religion that's going to save me? Or is something wrong here? Am I coming up short before the
Lord? Because if it's not perfect righteousness,
then I shall surely die. Whatever thing I'm telling myself
today while I'm alive, to comfort myself in death, will prove to
be insufficient in that very day. And so, the Lord is bringing
us, he brings us the gospel. He raises up a man to preach
the gospel, to explain the sense of the word, and we're to hear
it, and to seek the Lord to help us to hear it. And not hear it
with the ear of flesh, but hear it in the spirit, so that there's
no mystery to us whether our works of righteousness will be
sufficient. We don't want to wait or haven't done enough. Because
naturally, we think it's on us, right? But if you're listening,
you find out it's not on us. It's the Lord. It's His work
of grace for His people. And so, He's revealing here to
Israel what shall come. He's telling them what's going
to come to pass, and that all that we're trusting in, in the
flesh, will prove insufficient, and the Lord will take it away
in His judgment. And so the Lord in our text,
if you look back at verse 12, he's declared the salvation is
in Christ. He says in verse 12, this is
the rest wherewith ye may call as the weary to rest. And this
is the refreshing yet they would not hear. And we know we've heard
it so often so many times. that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, is come, that He is the Savior, He's the Lamb of God
who's been sent by the Father to lay down His life for the
life of His saints. It's him that has sent his son
to save his people. And so these people would hear
Isaiah. They hear Isaiah coming to them and showing them their
folly, their drunkenness, and entrusting their lies and their
false doctrine and trusting, or even the physical sins of
it. But we might say, but I'm religious. I'm religious. I do things that
I'm supposed to do. I'm religious. But they were
hearing Isaiah, and they're saying, but we're religious, Isaiah.
We go to the temple, we're religious. We do these things that we're
supposed to do. We might be saying, I don't do anything wrong. What
am I doing wrong? What am I doing that's not right
or displeasing to the Lord? But they were saying the same
thing. In their mind, everything was fine and everything was right
as well. You might be saying, but I keep
the law. I do my best to keep the law. And they would say the
same thing. But Isaiah, we keep the law.
We go up to the temple. We do the sacrifices we're supposed
to do. We smell the incense that we're
supposed to smell and see what's going on. Isn't that enough,
Isaiah? We're doing everything we're
supposed to do. But the reality is, what we see here in this
passage is that they would not hear the simplicity in Christ,
the simplicity of Christ, the simplicity of salvation isn't
found in our workings and in the things that we do. That's
not where salvation is. Look at verse 10 and 11, Isaiah
28, 10 and 11. Four, this is what the Lord was
having his prophets speak and the teachers and the priests
speak, if they were speaking in the truth. Four, precept must
be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. It's like
us preaching that man is a sinner. And then the next thing, that
man cannot save himself, but that God himself has provided
salvation in his Son, Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to put away
the sins of his people, and that now he sends his Spirit enabling
us to hear his word and to look to Christ, to stop trusting in
our own works and trusting in ourselves. It's so simple. Just
a little, here a little, there a little, and he's just laying
out the precepts, the truth of salvation in his son. For with
stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
He's speaking of heavenly things. As Christ said to Nicodemus,
if I speak of earthly things and you don't hear them, how
shall you hear me if I speak of heavenly things? When he tells
us that we must be born again. The simplicity of our Lord in
saving his people being found in Christ is so simple they don't
understand because man's always looking to, well, surely I've
got to do something to keep this thing going or to get it started. And so they were complaining
about the simplicity. They were complaining because
they were hearing it, but they weren't hearing it. And so they
were complaining about what they were hearing. In Isaiah 28, 13,
They rejected it. It says, but the word of the
Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little,
that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and
taken. So they heard it, but they only
heard it with the natural ear. They didn't hear with the ear
faith. And it was to them just simple things, kids things, not
enough for their need. And so they were snared in their
own religion. They were taken and snared in
the things that dead man gets caught up in and snared with
so that he never hears the word of God. He thinks he knows the
truth, but he never hears the truth and never rests in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we live nearly 2,000
years since Christ walked the earth and since his apostles
were here upon the earth preaching and teaching the churches. And
you think about what the Galatians must have heard. They heard the
apostle Paul preach the truth. You think about what the Corinthians
heard. They heard the apostle Paul himself preach the truth
and received his letters, and yet he says to them in his second
letter, the Corinthians saying, but I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And it just makes me think of
how we are as men and women and we hear these things and we think
we're so wise and we think we've grown up so much and that we
don't need Christ the way that we needed him in the beginning
and we go beyond beyond him. We grow so that we think that
we don't need him. And yet Paul is saying, don't
be moved off of the simplicity that is in Christ. Because it
was immediately that the churches began to become infected with
all kinds of various doctrines and their eyes and focus was
taken off of Christ. and looking to things and other
teachings. And doctrine is necessary. Doctrine
is true and it's necessary. We want to know the truth, but
we don't want to get to that point where Christ is lost and
we forgot Him and now we're just fighting and arguing over doctrine
and things that make us sound like we know something and that
others don't, where we get puffed up. and there's no love and no
heart for it like the Ephesian church there. So the Lord tells
them in Isaiah 28, 14, he says, wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men. These men had made a covenant
with death. They made a covenant with death.
Now they didn't make a covenant with death just in the plainness
of those words, they were putting their trust and confidence in
something that they felt prepared them for the day of death, that
when that day came, they would be ready to die, they would be
ready to go and stand before God and meet Him, and that they
would be received for their works and their righteousness, and
have a glorious entrance into eternity. But he tells them in
verse 18, look there one more time, your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, or voided, canceled, and your agreement
with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. All right,
now look at verse 19. From the time that it goeth forth,
it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over,
by day and by night, and it shall be a vexation only to understand
the report." And so the Lord is saying to those of us that
would be know-it-alls and we that think we know what we need
to know and reject the truth of God or the simplicity that
is in Christ, We've heard the precepts, we've heard the lines,
the little that we heard here, the little that we heard over
there, or that doctrine, all the teachings we've heard, the
Lord saying all these things will come back to you. They'll
be brought back to you and you'll hear it in that day when the
Judgment of God comes, you'll hear it, you'll remember all
that the Lord has said to you and I, it'll come back to us
and we'll see, I should have heard, I should have listened
in that day, and it'll be a terror to them. Everything that comes
to pass, it's going to wipe away and prove to us that what we
were trusting in, if it's not Christ, that which we were trusting
in, shall prove to be no hiding place for us and for our guilt
and our shame and our sin. So, seeing this example here
in Isaiah with these men, with the Israelites and Judah, let
us remember to pray. to ever pray that the Lord help
us and prepare us to hear his word and to keep us needing to
hear that word and never being puffed up in vanity because we
see that's what dead religion does. And when we think that
we're something and we forget Christ, that's what we become.
That's what we are in the flesh. So we pray that the Lord ever
give us his spirit lest we should be like those that Paul told
Timothy about, ever learning yet never coming to a knowledge
of the truth, to Christ, to Christ himself. This will lead us to our next
point here, will it be too late? Will it be too late? And what
I mean by that is when man hears the word, when he hears the gospel
without the spirit, without the spirit of truth helping him to
hear the truth of it, he fights against it, he argues against
it, or he justifies it, quietly even, justifies himself and justifies
his own heart and his own doings. and his own sayings, but when
he fights against it, he's fighting for his own destruction. He's
fighting for his own damnation. He's fighting to be kept in reserve
for the day of judgment. Paul and Barnabas, they were
ministering to the Jews. When they first went out, they
were ministering to the Jews but they would go to the synagogue
and speak there. And if they would hear them,
they would speak to them. But there was a time in Acts
13, I forget where they were, but it says that when they were
speaking, the Jews were starting to hear, I'm sorry, the Gentiles
were starting to hear it, the Greeks were hearing it, and they
were excited about what they were hearing. And it says, when
the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you,
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. And so after that, Paul ceased
to minister to the Jews, in that sense, to go to the Jews specifically
to minister to them. He stopped doing that. And that
apostle, who was, I would say, the most influential apostle
for what we know to be the Gospel today, was turned from them and
stopped ministering to the Jews, but ministered this glorious
truth of the free gift of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, to
the Greeks and to the Gentiles. And they heard and were blessed
by that. And the Jews, from what we could
see, just dried up. I mean, it's empty. They don't
hear the truth. When I spoke, I grew up around
a lot of Jews and worked with a lot of Jews and talked to them. And to them, many of them, it's
more like the Sadducees, where they don't even believe in the
resurrection or have any hope in standing before the Lord one
day, they think this is it, but there's no life, there's no hope
there. And it's true of so many that
refuse to hear the Word of God, even the Messianic Jews. Again,
they're still trusting in the law. They're still trusting in
traditions and various pictures and types rather than the anti-type,
rather than Christ himself, who is the fulfillment of all those
things. And so they're still looking to just empty, vain,
dead things. And it's really sad. And so that's what we see is
being revealed here in the next verse, verse 20. If you've ever
insisted on something, if you've ever fought over something, argued
for it just to get it and then you get it and you realize how
unsatisfying it is that it's not what you thought it was going
to be and that's what it is here in verse 20. For the bed is shorter
than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. And so if you've ever
slept on a bed too short you know it's very uncomfortable
It's a very unrestful sleep and it's not peaceful at all. And
if you've ever tried to sleep on a cold night with a towel,
you know that there's always a part sticking out that's cold
and unsatisfied in it. And that's how it's going to
be in the Day of Judgment when the Lord comes to reveal to us
what we are in ourselves and in our flesh. And when that day
comes and we cry out, the Lord says, refused to hear the truth. You that will not hear my salvation. The rest for the weary, he says,
when you cry out, he says, I also will laugh at your calamity.
I will mock when your fear cometh. And so, will it be too late?
Will it be too late? You know, as Belshazzar heard
Daniel, and Daniel said, Thou art weighed in the balances and
found wanting. We don't want that. We don't
want to be found wanting in that day. Alright, so Isaiah goes
on in verse 21, for the Lord shall rise up as a mouth parison
or praise him and he shall be wroth or angry as in the valley
of Gibeon that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring
to pass his act, his strange act. And that act is that he
brings to pass his judgment upon all the inhabitants of the earth. And he uses two examples here,
Parazim and then Gibeon. And both involved David. When
David became king, David was sent by the Lord to wipe out
the Philistines, to attack the Philistines. And so he was sent
by God to judge the Philistines. And so he went there and he smote
the Philistines. And it said it was so bad that
where they were camped out when David's army got there and destroyed
them, they left their gods behind. They left their gods behind,
and that's to reveal to us, to be a picture to us that there's
that covenant that they made with their gods, the things that
man trusts in and does for his salvation, they fled from them,
and they were left behind, and it shows us that the things that
man is trusting in and his confidence is shall not speak well for him. They will not save him in that
day. It's only the true and living
God that saves his people. And so they left their gods there
behind them. And then in Gibeon, They were
regrouping, the Philistines were regrouping, and the Lord sends
David again, and he so greatly smote the Philistines that we're
told the Lord brought the fear of David upon all nations, upon
all nations. And again, that's a picture of
Christ, who will be sitting on that throne in the day of judgment,
who's sitting on that throne even now, but we'll see him,
and all who hated him, all who rejected Christ, all who refuse
to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ will see that the one who judges
him is the very one who's sitting on the throne giving judgment
whether we enter into eternal hell or eternal life. Right? Wherefore, we're told in Philippians,
Philippians 2.9, God also hath highly exalted Christ. And giving
Christ a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. That glorifies the Father, not
trying to do our own works. not trying to improve upon what
Christ has done, but looking to Him and growing in the grace
and knowledge of our Savior, trusting Him, believing Him.
That glorifies the Father, because it testifies, Lord, You did perfect. You did very well, better than
I can ever do for myself. And everything You've done is
perfect and sufficient. That's why He's glorified, because
we're testifying, I'm nothing and You're everything. your wonderful
Lord. So if we hear His words, then,
in that day, it will be too late. But today, today is the day of
salvation. Today is the day of grace. Hear
His word. And you that hear it, believe,
trust Him. Now that brings us to our final
point. Has the Lord granted you repentance? So in light of what our Lord
has said here in our text, should we not heed the voice of the
Lord. Should we not seek the Lord's
salvation and look to Him and say, Lord, help me. Help me to
never depart. Help me keep my heart soft. let me not be hardened and look
to my own works and look away as so many throughout history
have done. And he says, verse 22, now therefore
be not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. In other words,
he's saying don't continue to shut your ear to the simplicity
of Christ and don't let yourself be hardened with the cares of
this world because it could lead to us being hardened in unbelief,
and hardened in our ways. The Lord just strengthening the
bands, just strengthening that which is keeping us from ever
hearing. He's saying, be soft, have a
soft heart, be broken, be humble, because none of us is able to
keep ourselves. I'm not able to keep myself,
and I need the grace of God to save me. All right, why don't
you turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. And look at verse 11. Here we're
told that because the hearers, because they receive not the
love of the truth, 2 Thessalonians 2.11, Paul says that for this
cause, because they wouldn't hear, God shall send them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. that they all might be
damned to believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
And it's just good to be reminded that when we see that, when the
Lord speaks of unrighteousness in the scriptures, it has a double
meaning for us. For those of us that would live
in sin and fulfill the lust of the flesh, that's unrighteousness. Don't live in unrighteousness.
Don't continue in the ways of this world. But it also means
those that are trusting in their own righteous works. Self-righteousness
is unrighteousness. And so, those that would trust
and look to their works, right? That look to Christ one day,
but then turn all their heart and attention to the law of Moses.
to perfect and improve upon what he's done, rather than continuing
to look to Christ, who makes us righteous and who grows us
in grace and faith, but they look now to the law, which was
given to control the flesh. They look to that which is given,
not to a righteous man, but to an unrighteous man, to try and
perfect through the flesh, that which only Christ, through his
Spirit, is able to perfect. and not our flesh, but to turn
us so that we don't walk in the ways of the flesh any longer,
but look to Christ. So both are a refusal of Christ. Both are a refusal to rest and
trust in Christ. And so remember that every one
of us is a sinner. And the Lord is showing us, he's
teaching us, each one of us is a sinner ever in need of his
grace. we ever need His grace to keep
us. And for this cause, because we
are all sinners, Christ was sent of God. God gave His Son and
spared Him not, for He sent Him to the cross and shed His blood
to wash us of our sins, to put away the filth and the guilt
and the shame of our sins, so that now we are born in Him,
we hear His voice. Do you hear His voice? Do you
hear your need for salvation, for the salvation that God Himself
has provided in His Son? Do you hear His voice? Do you
hear the need that each of us has because we cannot save ourselves? It's the Spirit that gives faith
and if we hear His voice, if we hear our need for the Savior
and that He is salvation, the perfect necessary salvation that
we need, sent of God, then look to Him and be turned from our
wicked ways, be turned from our unrighteousness, our sinful works,
our attempts at self-righteousness and our own righteous works.
You know, in that great day of judgment, the Lord said that
there will be many, many that say, Lord, Lord. Didn't we do
wonderful works in thy name? Didn't we do all these things?
Didn't we have this covenant with death in place so that we
were ready to die? And the Lord will say, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity. And again, he's not just talking
about living in sin and pursuing the lusts of this world. He's
talking about you that trust in your own works of righteousness
to perfect you and to save you. Even Paul wrote to them in Romans
10 where he said, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
are going about to establish their own righteousness, or have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God and are
going about to establish their own righteousness. So we don't
want to be just like the Jews because the modern day Pharisee
is ever living in our own hearts all the time, and we pray the
Lord deliver us from that. So, our righteousness, it better
be Christ's righteousness. It must be Christ's righteousness.
Otherwise, we'll find ourselves on a bed too short with a covering
too narrow, insufficient to save and cover us. And that means
that we'll be standing before the Holy God, the God who created
us, in a garment that is not a righteous garment, full of
holes, exposing our nakedness, exposing our shame and guilt
before the Lord, and we don't want that. But the one who covers
us in perfect righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray
the Lord help us to ever look to Him and trust Him and rest
in His righteousness. Amen. All right, let's close
in prayer and then we'll have a closing hymn. Our gracious Lord, We thank You,
Father, for Your mercy and Your grace in reminding us continually
our need of salvation in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, keep
us ever humble and ever looking to Him and ever thinking that
we've outgrown our Savior. Lord, when we look away, we ask
that you would turn us back, turn us to Christ and keep us,
Lord. Let not our hearts be hardened
in sin and hardened in self-righteousness, but Lord, keep us in Christ our Savior, under his
wings. And Lord, we pray for your people
here. Lord, we ask that you would bless
your people, those that are sick and weary and struggling, Lord,
comfort them and heal your people. Strengthen us, Lord, and help
us to serve and minister to one another. Lord, help us to be
as little children, simple to that which is unrighteous and
wise in the ways of Christ, Lord, that we would ever trust Him
and never look away. And Lord, deliver us from the
evil And Lord, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. We thank
you for your mercy and your grace, which has turned us from the
darkness of this world. We pray, Lord, that you would
establish us here and that you would send forth your gospel
of light out into this community and to reach your people and
that you would draw them to your throne and that you would draw
us to Christ and strengthen us in the body of your son, Jesus
Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen.