I especially like that last hymn
as well. That's one of my favorites. Oh,
to grace, how great a debtor. Pretty well says it all, doesn't it? I like those hymns that exalt
our God, our Savior and our Lord and His grace, His faithfulness. I don't like those so-called
hymns that put man on the pedestal. Those hymns don't speak to my
heart. They don't edify me at all. By God's grace, I know where
I belong, know where I would be, where I would spend eternity
without His grace, mercy, and opposing precious blood. It's a delight and joy for me
to be here. I appreciate the invitation. I hold your pastor
in high esteem. I love him. He's my brother in
the Lord, and I just appreciate him so much, and I count it an
honor and a privilege to be here. He would invite me to come and
preach to you this morning. We're looking forward to having
Brother Paul with us later on, whether it be the month of October.
I'm sure he's mentioned this to you, but if not, I'm going
to give you the full details and make sure you know and invite
you to come if you can. It'll be October the 8th, that's
on Friday, then Saturday, that weekend,
and then Sunday. Well, maybe it's the 9th. I'm
not quite sure. Anyway, it's Friday, okay? Friday, October
the 9th, 10th, Saturday, 11th, Sunday. I believe that's right. He's going to be with us. Friday
night at 7.30, and then Saturday at 7.30. And then Sunday morning for the
worship service. And then we'll have a meal following
the worship service. And then we'll let him go home
if he wants to. I'm sure he will be ready to
go home by then and be back with his family and back with y'all.
But I'd like to invite you to come if you can. Our church is located in Huntersville,
which is in Mecklenburg County. North Mecklenburg County, and
we are about five miles from the Charlotte city limit. So
that's how close we are to Charlotte. And we're just a small group
of believers, and we're just really looking forward to Brother
Paul being with us during those nights and, of course, Sunday
morning. And if you'd like to come, we
invite you to come to be with us. We'll have a meal following
the services on Friday night. So we'll feed you. And even if
you need a place to stay, we'd like to arrange that. Folks in
the church, I'm sure, would be more than happy to put some of
you up. Just let me know. We'd be glad
to have you. I'll put you up in our place, maybe. But we'd
be glad to have you to come. And if you can't come, please
pray for us during this time. But if you want to come, let
me know so I can give you better directions. But I just want to
kind of give you a general location. It's on the north edge of Charlotte
Village, where we're located. We're pretty close to the interstate,
77, if you know anything about that area. We're not too far
from the interstate. Turn with me in your Bible, please,
to the book of Isaiah. And we'll turn to—and you'll
turn to chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51. There were several texts. that
I wanted to use this morning. As I began to prepare for this
message, there were several other texts that I wanted to use, but
it seemed like that the Lord impressed me with this particular
text this morning. All of these texts have to do
with the same theme. And that is of righteousness,
righteousness. And there's quite a bit in Isaiah
about using that word righteousness. I'll be referring to some of
these texts that I had on my mind, but we'll begin here in
Isaiah 51 and verse 1. We'll read verses 1 and 2. beginning in verse 1, Harken
to me, ye that follow after righteousness. And that will be the title, Follow
After Righteousness. OK? Harken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye
are home. and to the hole of the pit quench
ye are dead. Look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bare you. For I called him alone, and blessed
him, and increased him." You know, God's people are following
Him. God's people are following Him. Now, the so-called churches today
in our land are trying to produce leaders. They want people to be leaders.
That's the big thing now, you know. bad of, you know, they
always got to come up with something to get people that can walk their
aisles and join their churches to be faithful. So they're all
the time coming up with different things. But right now, it seems
like it's leadership training. They offer courses and seminars
and studies on how to be leaders. in the church, training men and
women to be leaders. That's the big thing now, being
leaders. Well, God's people are not leaders, they're followers. That's what sheep are, I think.
And that's what God's people are, they're sheep. Sheep don't
lead, they follow. When sheep try to lead, that's
disastrous, confusion, turmoil. That's awful. Sheep are not to
lead, they're to follow. And that's what God's people
are. They're not leaders, they're followers. And I tell folks,
people that I pastor, I said, I'm your pastor. Yes, I'm the
under shepherd, but you follow me only as I follow Christ. And
I'm sure Paul tells you that over and over again. You follow
your pastor only as he follows Christ. We're all followers.
And we are to walk in the footsteps of the flock. Follow after those
who follow Christ. He's our shepherd. There's no such thing in the
church as a big eye and a little ear. We're all followers of the Lamb. Revelation 14, verse 4 says,
These are they which follow the Lamb. These were redeemed from
among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Who
do we belong to? We belong to the Lord, don't
we? We belong to Him because He purchased us, He redeemed
us, and we belong to the Lord, to God, to the Lamb. And they
are identified in Revelation. as followers of the Lamb. God's children, then, are followers,
and their sheep are to follow the shepherd. Our Lord said in
John 10, I know you know these verses, but let me just remind
you of John 10, verse 11, our Lord said, I am the good shepherd,
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And then
in verse 27 of John 10, Our Lord said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. Verse 4, John 10, And when he
put forth his own sheep, that is, the good shepherd, he put
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger they will not
follow. but will flee from them, for they know not the voice of
the saints." So the Lord's people then, God's people, are followers. And Isaiah, the Lord says here
in Isaiah 51, verse 1, Ye that seek the Lord." Are you
seeking the Lord today? That's why we're here, isn't
it? To worship the Lord, to seek the Lord. Yes, we're seekers. God's people are seekers, too,
aren't they? David, the man after God's own
heart, never stopped seeking the Lord. was a seeker of the Lord, was seeking the Lord. The only
people that seek the Lord are God's people, because they've
been made alive, they've been questioned by the Holy Spirit,
and they have a desire within their hearts to seek the Lord. hearken unto me, you that follow
after righteousness, you that seek the Lord." Now, I want to
examine this phrase here, follow after righteousness, in just
a few minutes. But I want us to notice three
things at which the Lord commanded these
followers, these to look. Three things here in verse 2.
Everyone will notice. Well, we begin really in verse
1 and going down to verse 2. All right. First of all, first
thing, look unto the rock which ye are from. The first thing is the rock. Look unto the Rock. Now, there
are many verses in the Scriptures that establish
who the Rock is. Notice I said who the Rock is.
It's a person. The Rock is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ was and is the Rock. Let me read you one Scripture. Let me read you this scripture.
I Corinthians 10, verse 4 says, Paul wrote this, talking about
the children of Israel in the wilderness, And did all drink
the same spiritual drink? For they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. And so those that follow after
righteousness and seek the Lord, are commanded to look unto the
Rock. They are to look unto Christ,
who is the Rock of Ages, the spiritual Rock. Look unto the Rock. He says, Quentia home. I can't never get that
word right. Home, I guess it is. Home. When were God's people home or
home from the rock. Ephesians acts is that. Ephesians
chapter one, verse four. Chosen in Christ, when? Before
the foundation of the world. God's people then are to look
to Christ, the Rock, and be reminded that they are in Christ by the
purpose of God for the foundation of the world. You see, following
after righteousness is not following after self-righteousness. And this is what I think he's
bringing out here. as he's saying to them, commanding
them, arcing unto me, and so forth, that you look at your
origin, which is in Christ. How did you
get in Christ? Chosen in Christ. When? When
you believe? No, before the foundation of
the world, according to God's eternal purpose. Look unto the rock. Second thing he says here, not
only do you look unto the rock, he says, but to the hole of the
pit, which you are in. You that follow after righteousness,
you that seek the Lord, look to the rock, but also look down
where God's safe, where God's delivered, what God delivered. the hole of the pit. That's where
you came from. That's where I came from. That's
where I would be today apart from the grace and mercy and
love of God. There's no way out. In that pit, there's no way out.
I couldn't get myself out of that pit. You couldn't either. I like what Elihu said to Job
in there in that one of the In the last few chapters of Job,
he was preaching to Job, and he declared that God should deliver
him from going down to the pit, for I have found the ransom.
We didn't find that ransom. God found it and sent Him to
deliver us from going down to the pit eternally. And I think I've already identified
the pit. But let me give you a scripture for it. Psalm 40,
verse 2. Here was David's testimony. I
think it applies to David, and certainly the greater application
is to Christ. But here David said, He brought me up also out
of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
a rock, the rock, the rock of ages, and established my goal. He did all that. And God's people
agree with David and say, God did it. God brought me up out
of this horrible thing. I couldn't get myself, I couldn't
deliver myself, I couldn't redeem myself. This is not a self-redemption
here. This is something God did. He
brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of that mirey clay,
that pit of corruption, that position that we were in by nature,
dead in trespasses and in sin, corrupt by nature, born in sin. a liar from our mother's womb. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. In sin, David wrote,
did my mother conceive? Born in sin, dead in sin, dead
in trespasses and in sin. You show me someone who's not
dead in trespasses and sins by nature, and I'll show you one
who can raise himself up. But you show me one who's outside
of Adam, by nature, and I'll show you one who can come to
Christ on his own, by his own will, by his own ability. But all who are born in this
world and will be born in this world are born in the state of
corruption and sin and are dead and need to be They're going
to live, they need to be quickened by the Spirit of God and get
out of that pit of corruption. God's going to have to do it. And we, who have been delivered
by God's grace and by the Lord Jesus Christ, are told here to
consider the whole of the pit that you're
in. Consider, think about who you
were, who you could still be apart from, would still be apart
from, apart from the redemption and graces of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And then the third thing he says
here in verse two, look unto Abraham your father and to Sarah
the fairy. Why does he mention Abraham? Well, Abraham is the father of
the great nation, God's people. He's the father of the family
of faith. That's what the Bible says about
Abraham, our father. Sarah is the mother of the children
of prophets. Turn over to Galatians 4. Just for a moment. Galatians 4. I'm not speaking about natural
Jews. I'm talking about spiritual Jews. He that is a Jew is one in religion.
What I'm speaking of here is spiritual. Abraham's our father in that
sense. But we are of Abraham's faith. Abraham sees Christ. That's what it says in Galatians.
We're here in Galatians 4, in verse 28. Who was Paul writing
to here? Paul was writing to the church,
churches of Galatia. These were Gentile churches for
the most part, as far as I know. But he says about them in verse
29, he says, Verse 28, Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of the prophet. And there's many
other scriptures we could refer to concerning Abraham being the
father of the faithful and so forth, but it's in Christ. Abraham
believed Christ. He saw Christ's day and rejoiced
in it. So the Lord is saying here to
these followers, You that seek the Lord, look to the Rock, look
to Christ. You have your origin in Christ
the Rock. You have been delivered from
the horrible pit of corruption. You are spiritually born by promise
in the family of Abraham, who is the father of all And He would have us to be reminded
of that. And He says here, you that follow after righteousness. God's people, God's redeemed
follow after righteousness. Now, to follow after righteousness,
And I want to say this, and I want to give you some scriptures that
will clarify this or establish this to you. This following after
righteousness is not self-righteousness. To follow after righteousness
is not a work on man's part, on our part, an attempt to gain
the favor of God by being religious, as the world defines what we
call religion today. being religious, doing religious
deeds and good things, repentance, seeking to gain the favor and
acceptance of God. That's not what he says. That's
not what I'm talking about here this morning, following after
righteousness. It's not self-righteousness.
Now, let's give some scriptures for this, and I'll not have you
turn. We don't have the time to do
all this, but you write these down, jot these down, and as
I read them to you, I have them written down here. First of all,
Romans 10 and verse 4. Romans 10, 4. It says, For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. All right, this is a familiar
scripture. Well, I'm sure all of these are,
but here's one. I Corinthians 1.30, Paul writes,
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. There's an imputation
of righteousness. He's made, Christ Jesus, is of
God, made unto us, the people of God, the saved, the elect,
who is made unto us. He's our wisdom, He's our sanctification,
He's our redemption, and He's our righteousness. Why would we want any other? What is man's righteousness?
What does Isaiah say? That's a text that I wanted to
use, and I'll quote it to you. What is it? Our righteousness
is as, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. There's your
self-righteousness there. And yet man, by nature, prefers
filthy rags. His filthy, filthy rags righteousness,
what He calls good work and good deeds, religious or otherwise. Sad to say, He prefers that to
the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Another scripture, 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. For he, meaning God, hath made
him, that's Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin. He knew no sin, and yet he was
made sin. He was made sin by God. God imputed our imputation. Christ had no sin of His own.
He had no sins of His own. He had sin on Him on the cross. Whose sins? Our sins. The sins of His people were imputed
unto Him. He hath made Him to be sin for
us. And you know sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Amen. The righteousness of God, the
righteousness of Christ is our righteousness by imputation. To follow after righteousness
is to follow after Christ, who Himself is our righteousness. Turn to Jeremiah. We're close
to it. Just turn over there. Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verse
6. I found a passage yet, Jeremiah
23 and verse 6, "...in his days." Whose days? Look at verse 5,
"...Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." That's
Jesus Christ, isn't it? A righteous branch. In his days,
Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell safely, God's spiritual
Israel and Judah. And this is his name, for by
he shall be called," and it's in bold letters, in bold print, Yes, He's our righteousness, and we glory in Him. God's people
glory in Him who is the righteousness. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For He, for of Him, are ye in
Christ Jesus. who if God has made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, he that glorieth,
let him glorieth the Lord." Turn to Isaiah 46, verse 12.
Isaiah 46, verse 12. Here we have again that statement,
hearken unto me, the Lord says, hearken unto me. But notice who addresses this
to, verse twelve of Isaiah forty-six, hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted. Would you say that would be the
hard-hearted? Pride, proud, stout-hearted,
and that are far from Thank you.