thing to say about that. It's
the Lord's doing. We're honored to come and do
it, but had not the Lord so arranged it by his good and sovereign
providence enabled us to come here for six years almost every
Sunday night, we no way could have could have
done that. But the Lord is Merciful and
the Lord is gracious and the Lord is determined to raise up
a gospel ministry here And I'm just thankful to have a part
in it a very a very small part on on my part, but Such a privilege
to come and be with you again and see old friends for years
and years and years we've we've known each other many of you
for a 30, 40 years. I want you to turn in your Bible
to Isaiah chapter three. And I have a message from the
Lord, because this is his word, this is his gospel, so I can
say with confidence, I have a message for you from the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter three, look at
verse 10. Isaiah three, Isaiah three, verse
10. Say ye to the righteous, Say
ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall
eat the fruit of their doing. The fruit of their doing is what
Christ has done for us. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace. It shall be well with the righteous.
You say to them. Those righteous are those righteous
in Christ. Those righteous are those believers
called and saved by God's grace. It shall be well with the righteous. Verse 11, woe unto the wicked. Woe unto that man who rebels
against the sovereign grace of God. It won't be well with that
man. It will be ill with him. For the reward of his hands shall
be given him. The wages of sin is death. I don't want what's coming to
me. I want mercy and grace. The wages of sin is nothing but
death. So the title I'm taking for the
message is obvious, and here's what we wanna talk about tonight. It shall be well with the righteous. It shall be well with the righteous. The righteous, it shall be well.
Now, I asked Brother Stan to read Psalm 71 and I did that
for purpose because did you notice as we were reading down through
Psalm 71 how many times it mentions there in verse 2, deliver me
in thy righteousness. Five times he talks about this
righteousness. Deliver me in thy Righteousness
and then down to verse 15 of Psalm 71 my mouth shall show
forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day for I know
not the numbers thereof. Verse 16 third time he says I'll
go in the strength of the Lord I'll make mention of thy righteousness
even thine only. I don't want to talk about my
righteousness. As Isaiah said over in another place, it's just
filthy rags in God's sight. Down at verse 19, the fourth
time it's mentioned, thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Who
has done great things, O God? Who is like unto thee? It shall
be well with the righteous. Verse 24 of that same psalm,
my tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness. We're gonna
talk about righteousness, we're gonna talk about His. He is righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness.
My tongue shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long, for they are
confounded, they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt. Righteousness, it shall be well
with the righteous. Now, this blessed promise of
God, and all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him
amen, and to the glory of God. All the promises of God, Given
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ are sweet, sweet precious promises. This blessed promise of God is
not given to all men without distinction, we read here in
Isaiah 3.10, for the text does not say that it shall be well
with all men. It doesn't say that. It doesn't
say it shall be well with all men without exception, without
exception, does it? Not at all. It shall be well
only with the righteous, the righteous. That is, those who
are justified before God by the sovereign grace of God, those
who have been cleared of all guilt, those to whom the Lord
Jesus Christ has put away their sin, Those who in Christ have
honored the law of God, those who through the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ have been freely justified by his grace through
the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shall be well
with those. It shall be well with those believers.
God boldly says that it shall be well, but God also boldly
says that it shall be ill for the wicked. Woe, woe unto the
wicked. It shall be ill, and that word
there, ill, can be rendered, it'll be bad. You talk about
a bad day. Stand before God without an atonement
for sin, that'll be a bad day. Sorrow, distress, misery for
that man, for the wages of sin is nothing but death. Those who
live in unbelief and rebellion against the God of Holy Scripture
will die as they live, without God, without Christ, and without
hope. It won't be well with those who
die without the Savior. Our Lord said this, if you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sin. To die in your sin
will be to be raised in your sin and to face God in your sin
and to spend eternity in your sin. It'll be well with the righteous
in that day of judgment, that day of eternity. It'll be well.
It'll be well. It won't be well for those who
do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, those who do not love the Lord
Jesus Christ. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be what? Anathema Maranatha. Let him be
cursed when the Lord comes. Our Lord plainly says, in his
word he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God. The wrath of God abides on him. The wrath of God. You see, believing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ takes the almighty power
of God. We only believe according to
the working of God's mighty power. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe the gospel. By nature, I'm an unbeliever.
I'm born that way. Without God, without hope, and
without Christ. It's only by the grace of God
that he has made us to differ. Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? Everything we have,
know, and are. We can say with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. Now, who are these righteous,
and how are they made righteous? Who are these righteous, and
how are they made righteous? Who are the righteous? Well,
it's none of us by nature. You remember the description
that's given to us in Romans chapter 3 where it said, there's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seek after God. They're all gone out of
the way. There is none good, no, not one. So right away we
know from the testimony of scripture that by nature, none of us are
righteous. We're just the complete opposite
of that, ungodly, ungodly. Who are the righteous? who are
those that are justified before God. There's only one plain,
right, true answer, those who are found in Christ. That's why Paul said, I count
everything else, done, ruined, and lost, that I might win Christ
and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith, received
by faith. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
all our righteousness before God. Nothing more. Nothing less
and nothing else. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
all our righteousness before God. You see, we're accepted
in the beloved. And our beloved, who is altogether
lovely, he is called the Lord our righteousness. If you're
a believer, you have a blessed, perfect righteousness given unto
you by God's sovereign grace, and he looks at you and considers
you perfectly justified and righteous in his sight. Can you get hold
of that? He presents us before the Father's
throne, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. Righteous, it shall
be well. You see what he's saying here?
It shall be well with the righteous. Who are they? Those found in
Christ, those who are looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. How
are they made righteous or how are they justified before God? Well, certainly not by anything
we do. Is it? Not at all. Not by our works, not by our
giving, not by our doing, but rather by his grace alone. And we have to add sovereign
grace. He said, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.
So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that shows mercy. How are they made righteous or
how are they justified before God? Certainly not by something
we do. You remember the scripture? where
Paul writes to Titus and he said, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. He
saved us, he called us, he justified us by his grace. So it's God who saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to God's own purpose and grace. That was Paul's testimony
to Timothy as he sits on death row waiting to be executed, and
he writes back to Timothy and says, don't be ashamed of the
gospel. Christ it's the power of God
in the salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew and
also to the Gentile for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
in that gospel. I like what it says in the book
of Romans about this righteousness that's of God. It's all of Him. It's the same as saying that
salvation is of the Lord, of the Lord alone. Blessed is a
man to whom the Lord would impute righteousness without works. The Lord Jesus Christ, we read
in Romans 10, is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. We have honored the law of God.
We've magnified the law of God in Christ Jesus and every precept
and every penalty that law has been honored. It shall be well
with the righteous. You see what he's saying here?
God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. The righteousness
of God? Are you sure? Is that what it
says? That's what it says. God made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember
years ago, I was up there preaching in Rocky Mount, years and years
and years ago. And I quoted this hymn when I
was there, and Gabe followed me out to the parking lot after,
and he said, give me that song again. He said, I wanna write
those words down. And here's just a line of it.
Upon a life, I did not live. Upon a death, I did not die. Another's life, another's death,
I rest my hope eternally. On Christ my substitute. You
see, the hope we have in Christ, as Paul said, he's given us an
everlasting consolation and a good hope through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this hope we have in Christ is a good hope through grace.
through the grace of God, through the grace of God alone. One of
the interesting things that I've noticed over the years of studying
the Word of God, I've found something most remarkable. Those who are
truly made righteous in Christ readily and openly and quickly
confess that in themselves they are wicked, sinful, and ungodly. Those who are truly made righteous
in Christ, they consider themselves and their testimony of themselves
is, oh wretched man that I am. I'm the chief of sinner. As Isaiah
said, woe is me. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a
man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. And then Paul says, I'm the chief.
of sinners. This man was the righteous apostle
made so by the sovereign grace of God, and yet he considered
himself the worst sinner that ever lived. Those who are truly
made righteous in Christ know what they are by nature. Something
else I've noticed, those who are truly wicked without hope
and without God and without salvation, they claim to be righteous, don't
they? They go about to establish a
righteousness of their own, have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll tell you a big mistake people make in religious circles
and really everywhere, even people who are non-religious, they mistake
their morality for righteousness. They think, well, you know, I'm
a pretty good fella. We have that saying, you know,
he's a good man, or she's a good woman. Well, I know what they
mean. They don't rob banks. They don't,
you know, they're not have a, what do they call it, a warrant
for your arrest, and they work good for their livelihood, and
they pay their bills. They don't beat your wife, and
they're good guys, and they're good neighbors. My friend, morality
is not righteousness. Not before God, because he says
over here in Isaiah 64 that all of our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags in his sight. Man, his best state is altogether
vanity. And his best state. You remember those in Matthew
7 said, Lord, we preached in your name. We've done many wonderful
works in your name. We've done all of these right,
more religious works. And the Lord comes back and said,
depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I don't know you. I don't love you. Never have. The Pharisee prayed and prayed
and prayed and thanked himself that he wasn't this or that or
ever. He said, I'm a moral good man. And the Lord said, that
man went home condemned. The publican who condemned himself
was justified, and the Pharisee who justified himself was condemned.
Our Lord said to those Pharisees, you or they would justify yourself
before men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. So don't ever make
that fatal mistake, thinking morality is righteousness. It's
not. Now, I'm all in on morality.
You have to be the best you can, be honest, be hardworking, be
a good father, be a good mother, be a good student. But that's
not righteousness. Christ alone is our righteousness. It shall be well with the righteous.
And it truly is. It truly is. We as believers rejoice in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we worship God in the spirit, and we have
no confidence in this flesh. None at all. I've been in the
way a few years, 40 some years, I've believed the gospel by the
grace of God, and I have learned more and more and the Lord has
taught me more and more to have no confidence in the flesh. We
rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ alone because he is the Lord
our righteousness. God instructs his ministers to
say it shall be well with the righteous, it shall be well with
the believer. You remember when the Apostle
Paul It's recorded in Acts 13, his first sermon that he preached. He said, through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sin through the God-man mediator. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things which you could not be justified by
the deeds of the law. By the deeds of the law shall,
well how many folks should be justified by the deeds of the
law, by the doing of the law? By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. I love that scripture
over there in Galatians 2, 21 where it says, if righteousness
come by the law, if righteousness is by what I do, if righteousness
is by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. No need for him
to come. If I can get it done myself, if I can keep the law
and observe the law and all these different things, if I can do
it, I don't need him. But the law of God, you know
what it says? Shut your mouth. Stop your mouth.
The law of God says you're guilty. You're guilty. You're guilty. You're guilty before the law. You know the good news of the
gospel is salvation's for the guilty. There's grace for the
guilty. There's mercy for the miserable. There's salvation
for ruined, ruined sinners. I mean thoroughly ruined, completely
ruined. We use that term total depravity. I don't know if we,
that kind of puts it in an educated light. Total depravity. Let's get right down to it. We're
vile, wretched, miserable, guilty sinners before God. That's total
depravity. Total depravity. We know something
of it, but not totally. I think it was Newton that said
years ago, if I fully understood just how totally depraved I am,
I'd go crazy. Thank God for his grace. We know
something about our sin, but not totally, not completely.
It's well with the believer, and it, you know, I thought about
this. In this life, it can't get any
better for the believer. It can't get any better for the
believer now. In him dwells all the fullness
that is in Christ. In him dwells all the fullness
of a God is bodily, and we're complete. We're complete in him. We're completely forgiven. We're
completely justified. We're completely made righteous
in God's sight. Now think about this. The believer
is well fed, for he feeds abundantly upon Christ the bread of life
and Christ the water of life. He's well fed. He's well clothed,
for he wears of every garments of salvation tailored by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. Over here in Isaiah 61, he talks about the garments
of salvation, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for my soul
shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decorates himself with ornaments, as a bride adorns
herself with jewels. You see, I'm well fed, I'm well
clothed, I'm well housed as a believer. I'm well housed. He has put me
in his kingdom. We live as believers in the household
of God, set upon a sure foundation that God has laid for us in Zion. He said, behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone, a tritone, a precious cornerstone. He that
believeth on him will never be forced out, never be confounded,
never be ashamed. We're well housed. Resting on
that foundation, it will never be swept away. The believer's
also well-married, too. Well-married. For the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is married to the Lord Jesus Christ in that
eternal covenant of grace that's ordained in all things and is
sure. It says, even it says this in Isaiah 54. It says this, thy
maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is his name,
thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He's our husband. We're married to the Lord Jesus
Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. He loved the church.
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it that he might present it holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in the sight of God. We're well married. We're married to Christ. We're
united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that eternal union can never
be severed. He'll never divorce his people. He'll never separate himself
from his people. I in them, thou in me, that we
may be made perfect in one in the Lord Jesus Christ. It shall
be well with the righteous. You see what he's saying there?
That's our message. That's our message. That's the
gospel. That's good news. That's good news. This is the
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save came to say, what is that word? Sinners. And Paul said, I'm the
chief one. I was before a blasphemer, I
caused injury, I did all these horrible, terrible things, yet
I obtained mercy. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love. It's a faithful saying,
it shall be well with the righteous, that all times and all seasons,
not just some days, but all days, There's no time included, so
all time is included. No occasion is singled out, because
upon every occasion, this is a true and faithful saying, it
shall be well with the righteous. A lot of times you think, well,
man, I'm having a bad day. Well, I know what you're saying.
Life is full of heartache and trouble, but it shall be well
with the righteous. Remember that next time you're
up against it. and things at work are going
terrible, and maybe the neighborhood's in an uproar, and it shall be
well with the righteous. It shall be well. From the rising
of the sun until the sunset, in young age and old age, no
age is included or excluded. It shall be well with the righteous. It shall be well. I can boldly
repeat what God has already said. Someone said, I believe it may
have been Brother Scott years ago, he said, you know what preaching
is? I tell you, young fellas, you wanna know what preaching
is? It's repeating what God's already said. That's all it is. I don't have anything new to
say. I just come with the same message over and over and over
again. And one other preacher said this,
preaching is one beggar telling another beggar where he found
bread. It shall be well with the righteous. It shall be well
with the righteous. That's why the psalmist said,
my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. That's our
message. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
our redemption. He put away all of our sin by
the sacrifice of himself. It shall be well with the righteous
because they have no sin. It shall be well with the righteous
because he has made us righteous in Christ Jesus. Now I want you
to turn to scripture. I want you to see this and I
want you to mark this. Now remember, turn to Isaiah
32, I believe it is, Isaiah 32. This verse is down through the
years, been giving me much, much peace and comfort. Because look
what it says here, Isaiah 32, 17. The work of righteousness shall
be peace. Now, whose righteousness here
we're talking about? Who made peace? The Lord Jesus Christ
made peace for us with his own blood. Now, don't do what a lot
of religious people say, especially up in Pike County area, they
say, well, I'm trying to make peace with God. Forget it, you
can't do it. The Lord Jesus Christ made peace
for us with his own blood. The work of righteousness shall
be peace. Being justified by faith, you
remember Romans 5, one, being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The work of righteousness
shall be peace and the effect of that righteousness, what's
the effect of it? Quietness and assurance forever. That good? My people shall dwell
in a peaceable habitation, in a sure, sure dwellings. This
covenant of grace, as David said, is ordered in all things. And
sure, this is all my hope, all my salvation, and in a quiet,
quiet, resting, resting place. Isn't that a good scripture?
Mark that down and go back and read it later on today and tomorrow. and think about this peace we
have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is a river
forever overflowing, a river of blessings, flooding his people
with spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you turn
over to one other place there in Isaiah and mark this one too,
this is another good scripture, Isaiah 32, turn there. Verse 1 says, the king shall
reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. A man
shall be a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest,
rivers of water in a dry place. as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary, weary land. The Lord blesses us with all
spiritual blessing in the heavenly, in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
a river forever flowing with all spiritual blessing given
unto us. He is an ocean of never failing
delights. David said, delight thyself in
the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the mountain of endless and abundant mercy.
Turn over here to Isaiah 55. You know, some of the old timers
called the gospel Isaiah. They called it the gospel according
to Isaiah. Some said that Isaiah ought to
be the fifth evangelist, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Isaiah. Isaiah 55, look at verse one. Ho, everyone that's thirsty,
come into the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat, yea, come buy wine, and milk without money, without
price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken, dear
Angelina, to me. Eat that which is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come. "'And
to me in here on your soul shall live, "'I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, "'even the sure, sure mercies of David. "'Behold, I've given him for
a witness to the people, "'a leader and a commander to the
people. "'Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest
not, "'a nation that knew not thee, "'shall run unto thee because
of the Lord thy God, "'for the Holy One of Israel, "'for he
hath glorified thee.'" Verse six, Isaiah 55, seek ye the Lord. while he may be found. Call upon
him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly,
he will abundantly pardon. He will abundantly pardon his
people. It shall be well with the righteous. I'll give you several reasons.
several reasons more. Considering what we are by nature,
sinful and wicked, we say with David, our sin is ever before
us, but our sin being dealt with and put away by the Lord Jesus
Christ and his glorious sacrifice for us, he appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
We can say, it shall be well with the righteous, for we are
made righteous through his doing and his dying. Turn back over
to Isaiah 1, Isaiah number 1, chapter 1, verse 18. Come now. You see, he's dealt
with our sin. The sin question has been settled.
The blood atonement of Christ put away all our sin. Come now,
let us reason together, say it to the Lord. Though your sin
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. It shall be well, because the
Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sin. He was wounded for our
transgression, bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of
our peace was upon him, and with his strife we are what? Healed. It shall be well with the righteous.
By nature, I'm sick. I'm sick and dead in sin, dead
and you know how dead we are? Dead and smelly. As one old preacher
said years ago, graveyard dead. Graveyard dead, dead in sin,
but in the Lord Jesus Christ, he put away our sin. We have
redemption to his blood. With his stripes, we are healed.
We're healed. I was reading over here in Psalm
32, and David quotes this, or writes this, and the Apostle
Paul picks this up in Romans 4. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Transgression, forgiven, sin,
covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity and whose spirit there is no
guile. And the Apostle Paul writes this in Romans 4, Blessed is
the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
Without works. The Lord Jesus Christ has dealt
with our sin and put our sin away as far as the east from
the west. One day our sin separated us
from God. It says that over here, what,
in Isaiah, is it 59? Isaiah 59. Our sin has separated
us from God. But think about this, now in
the Lord Jesus Christ, He has separated our sin from us. As far as the East is from the
West. He said their sin and their iniquity, will I remember? How
powerful and prevailing is the blood atonement of Christ? It's
not weak and anemic, it's so powerful and prevailing that
God said their sin, their iniquity, will I remember no more. I call
that effectual atonement. I call that atonement that got
it done. He got the job done. He put away
our sin by the sacrifice of himself. So it shall be well with the
righteous. When we talk about our sin is against God, We've
all sinned against God. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But because of the blood atonement
of Christ, the blood atonement of Christ does what? What does
it do? His blood, God's son, cleanses
us from most of our sin. That's not what it says. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all our
sin. All of it, all of it, not some
of it. All of it. Those for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died, it shall be well with them. Secondly,
in a day of trial and trouble and heartache, it shall be well
with the righteous. You see, all things do work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to God's purpose. In a day of heartache, trial,
and trouble, it shall be well with the righteous. The apostle
writes this, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh
for us a far more an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Our Lord writes this to his disciples. He says this to his disciples
right before he getting ready to be arrested and die for our
sin. According to scripture, he said,
these words have I spoken unto you that in me You might have
peace in this world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer, I've overcome. That word overcome is the same
word that's used in Revelation 6-2 where it says, he went forth
conquering and to conquer. He's the conqueror, he conquered
our sin and he put it away. Be of good cheer, I have overcome.
There's a song in our songbook written by Horatio Sprafford.
You've sung it many times on page 256 or 265, one of the two. But he wrote, you remember the
song, It's Well With My Soul, written in 1850. It was written
upon the loss of his four daughters. He had four daughters. And they were on a trip with
their mother and the ship went down. And the four daughters
perished. And his wife sent a telegraph
back to Rachel Spratford, who was still over, I believe, in
Chicago. And the telegraph had two words,
saved alone. He lost those four lovely daughters. And he sat down and he penned
these words, you remember? When peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot
thou hast taught me to say, it is well with my soul. It shall
be well with the righteous. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Lord,
praise the Lord, O my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul."
You see, he's dealt with our sin, put it away. And the trials
and troubles that he sends our way are for our good. Whom the
Father loveth, he chastest and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Man that's born of woman, just
a few days, we talked about that, a few days. Bob and I have been
friends for over 40 years, but it just seems like that, doesn't
it? It just goes by so quickly, so quickly. Man that's born a
woman, a few days and full of trouble. The believer is not
free from trouble, but God has promised us grace for every trial,
and His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. You
remember this promise, 2 Corinthians 12, my grace is sufficient for
thee. You remember the apostle had that thorn in the flesh,
and he cried unto the Lord to remove it. Oh, it hurts so bad,
remove it. And the Lord said, my grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The believer does
have trials, but faith endures, and faith overcome, and love
accepts them, seeing they come from the hand of our loving Father. You remember Joseph when his
brothers sold him into slavery? Boy, he had some trouble, didn't
he? In the pit, on the slave market, a slave in the house,
falsely accused, and God meant all that for the eternal good
of Joseph and all of those children of Israel. You remember what
he said to his brothers? When they came and they were so fearful,
we've mistreated our brother, he's gonna get even with us,
oh, he's gonna get even with us. And he said this to them,
oh, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. All things
do work together for good to them who love God. In the day
of death, it'll be well, it'll be well for the righteous. Who
says so? Who says so? This is not just
me speaking. This is what God says in his
word. It shall be well with the righteous. Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. Why is it precious? Because we are redeemed with
his precious blood. The revelation of Jesus Christ,
these words are written, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord. It shall be well with the righteous when they depart, and
to be with the Lord. For me to live is Christ, to
die is gain. For we are confident, I say willing,
rather to be absent from the body, to be present from the
Lord. It shall be well with the righteous in the day of death.
Will God give you dying grace? Absolutely. Absolutely he will. Death to the believer. Death
to the believer is not punishment. The Lord Jesus Christ has changed
the character of death for the believer. Our Lord said, I'm
he that liveth and with dead behold I'm alive forevermore.
I have the keys. I have the keys of hell and death.
He has the ownership. I've got a set of keys. There's
an old brown truck over here. It's mine. the Lord Jesus Christ has the
keys of hell and death. Death to the believer is not
punishment, it's promotion. Promotion. Don't weep for me. Our Lord said to those women,
don't weep for me. You weep for yourself, but don't
weep for me. You know, every time I I had a funeral last week. One of our dear ladies passed
away, who had been a founding member of the congregation there.
And I usually quote this verse every time a believer dies. And our Lord, he prayed this
in his priestly prayer. Father, I will that those you
have given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory. Every time a believer dies, that
prayer is answered. Father, I will that those who
you have given me be with me where I am. It shall be well
with the righteous when they die and go to meet the Lord. And he say, well done, thou good
and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.
In the day of judgment, it shall be well. No condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. John writes this. It's appointed
that the man wants to die after that judgment. But John writes
this, herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world
right now. How are we? God speak from heaven
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. God
says that of every believer resting in Christ, he's well pleased
with us. in him. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? It shall be well. What was that
verse again? What does it say? Isaiah 3 verse
10. Say ye to the righteous, Say
ye to the righteous, say it, tell it to them, declare it to
them. It shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit,
the fruit of the doing. One more reading, I'm gonna quit
with this. Find Isaiah, I believe it is Isaiah 45. Turn over there,
let's see if this is it. Yeah, Isaiah 45. It says in the last part of verse
21, God said, There is no God else beside me,
a just God and Savior. There is none beside me, the only just God and Savior,
just and the justifier. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, there's none else.
I have sworn by myself the word gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return unto me, that unto me every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear, as picked up in Philippians 2,
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Surely shall one say
in the Lord, have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against them shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, made
righteous, and shall glory. It shall be well with the righteous.
It will be ill with the wicked. I believe what God says, it'll
be well with the righteous. Okay, Lord bless you, Lord bless
you. Thank you for the ministry here.