Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to your program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching messages through
the book of Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. And today I'm
going to talk about chapter 51, Isaiah chapter 51. And the title of the message
is God's Righteousness. chapter 51 of Isaiah, God's righteousness. Now last week, I preached from
Isaiah 46. And one of the things that was
brought out in Isaiah 46, verse 13, and let me read that verse
to you before we get into our text. God says to his people,
this is the command of the gospel now concerning Christ as the
Lord, our righteousness. He says, I bring near my righteousness,
that's God's righteousness. It shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory. Now over in Isaiah 51 and verse
one, listen to this. God says, hearken unto me, that
is hear me, you that follow after righteousness, you that seek
the Lord. Look unto the rock whence you
are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you are digged. So hearken to me, you that follow
after righteousness." Now, there are several things you need to
bring out here. First of all, what is, or better,
who is God's righteousness? Well, God's righteousness is
the righteousness of God, as put in the scripture, that is
found only in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ,
Jesus Christ, as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer
of his people. It is Christ's righteousness
imputed, accounted, charged to the people of God. And those
are the ones for whom Christ died on the cross, for whom He
was buried, and for whom He arose again the third day, because
He arose again for their justification. And justification means this,
it means their sins are forgiven on a just ground, and the only
just ground is the blood of Christ, and they are declared righteous
in God's sight, on a just ground, and the only just ground is Christ's
righteousness, the merits of His obedience unto death, charged,
accounted, imputed to them. The sins of God's elect were
imputed, charged, accounted to Christ, so that their sins cannot
be charged to them. And His righteousness has been
imputed to His elect. And you know them by the fact
that they seek righteousness by God-given faith in Christ. They don't seek it by the law.
So look at Isaiah 51 again, verse one. Hearken to me, you that
follow after righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Now, there
are basically only two ways to follow after righteousness and
seek the Lord. One way is a way of failure. It's the natural man who becomes
religious and he seeks righteousness and seeks the Lord, seeks salvation
from the Lord, seeks acceptance with the Lord, seeks blessings
from the Lord, seeks to be right with the Lord by his works or
his own will, conditioned on the sinner. That's what Israel
did. Over in Romans 9, beginning at
verse 31, Paul spoke of that. He said, Israel hath not found
what she's seeking for because she's seeking righteousness by
works of the law and not by faith. And that faith is God-given.
How do I know if I have that God-given faith? Well, if I have
God-given faith, then I'm seeking righteousness, seeking the Lord
according to His Word, His Gospel, which is by His grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you follow after righteousness,
you're following Christ and submitting to Him as the Lord your righteousness. I have no other righteousness
but Christ. And that righteousness is the perfection of the law
and justice of God that can only be found in Christ. And I stand
before God. I've sought the Lord because
He sought me first. Nobody will seek Him on their
own. The natural man will not do it. But I have sought the
Lord and I have found all that God requires. of me for salvation
and eternal life, I have found it fully and completely in Christ. And as I always say, the glory
of His person as God manifest in the flesh, God-man, and the
power of His finished work on the cross, dying for my sins,
buried, arose again the third day, not as a private person,
but as my surety, my sins charged to Him. my substitute, dying
under the curse of the law, he was made a curse for me, and
he is a redemptive work. He bought me, paid for me, he
ransomed my soul, redeemed me by his blood, and so I'm one
of his, and I have faith given to me to believe. And so he says,
look unto the rock which you are hewn, to the hole of the
pit which you are digged, See, we're sinners. That's the rock
from which we're hewn, the pit from which we're digged. In other
words, if I'm saved, I'm saved from myself. I'm saved out of
my sins. I didn't save myself, it's by
grace. and grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And then he goes back
to Abraham in verse two of Isaiah 51. Look unto Abraham your father
and unto Sarah that bear you for I called him alone and blessed
him and increased him. Now, the Bible makes it clear
that Abraham is a prime example of how God saves sinners, not
by their works, but by His grace. God saves sinners, He justifies. He forgives sinners. That's justification. And He declares sinners righteous,
not by their works, but by His grace through the righteousness
of Christ freely imputed to them. and which they receive in their
knowledge in their minds and hearts by God-given faith. And
if you'll look at Romans chapter four, this is made so clear here. Romans four and verse one. Paul
writes, what shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining
to the flesh hath found? You see, if you believe that
you can be saved and made right with God by your works, your
obedience, your decision, You're acting according to the flesh.
Somebody says, well, I believe I can determine in myself to
be good enough to make it to heaven. Well, that's acting in
the flesh. Well, what do we find about Abraham
as pertaining to the flesh? Well, verse two, it says in Romans
four, it says, for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath
whereof to glory. In other words, if Abraham could
have been justified before God by his works, he'd have room
to boast in himself. But not before God. That's not
the way it is with God now. For what saith the scripture,
verse three, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness. Abraham believed God. Well, what
did God say to Abraham? He said, hearken unto me, you
that are stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness, I
bring near my righteousness. Remember in Isaiah 46? Hearken
unto me, you that follow after righteousness. What did Abraham
believe? He believed what God told him,
see? And God didn't tell him to work
to be righteous. Abraham was a sinner. He called
him out of Ur of the Chaldees, brought him out. Abraham wasn't
made righteous by his decision to follow Christ. No. Abraham was made righteous in
light of the Savior coming in time and working out a perfect
righteousness as Abraham's surety, substitute, and redeemer on the
cross. And God imputed that to Abraham. Let me show you. He says, Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned or imputed of grace,
but of death. In other words, if you work for
it, it's not grace. It's what God owes you. Verse
five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Now that's not Abraham's believing. God does not accept our decision,
our believing in place of righteousness. Abraham's faith refers to the
promise that God made him. What is your faith? What is my
faith? I believe what God promised. And what did God promise his
people? Salvation by the grace of God through the blood and
righteousness of Christ. Faith, believing, is not counted
for righteousness. Christ's work is counted for
righteousness. And how do you know that's true?
Well, let's read on. Verse six. Even as David also
described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
accounts, charges, righteousness without works. Now see, he doesn't
say to whom God imputes faith or believing. No, you can't impute
faith or believing. Believing is a moral quality
of character that God gives his people when he sends the spirit
in the new birth to give them life, a new heart, knowledge,
bringing them to faith. But imputing here means accounting,
charging the merit of a work. Whose work? Christ's work. So
blessed unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Verse seven, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute or charge or account sin. That's quoted
from Psalm 32. So it says in verse nine, now
listen to this. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only. Is this just for the Jews? Or
upon the uncircumcision also, what about Gentiles? For we say
that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Now faith
there is not Abraham's believing, the act of believing. It's the
content of the promise that God gave to Abraham. How do we know?
Let's read on. Verse 10, how was it then reckoned
when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision,
but uncircumcision. What he's saying there is that
Abraham was justified based on the imputed righteousness of
Christ before he was circumcised. So therefore it had nothing to
do with him being circumcised, like the Jews would say. That
means they're children of God. It says in verse 11, and he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet been uncircumcised, the faith, that's the doctrine,
the gospel, the promise, that he might be the father of all
them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness
might be imputed unto them also. So what is imputed? Righteousness. And whose righteousness is it?
Go back to Isaiah 51. It's God's righteousness. And
what is God's righteousness? It's the merits of the work of
Christ in his obedience unto death as the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of his people. So when he says in verse two,
look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bear you,
for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. What was
the whole purpose of that covenant made with Abraham? It was to
declare salvation by grace through the promised Messiah and based
upon His righteousness alone. And He told Abraham, you will
be a blessing to all nations. How so? God has a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation, Jew and Gentile.
This is the promise to all who believe in Christ. And if you
believe in Christ, that faith was and is a gift from God, given
unto those to whom God has already imputed righteousness. Look at
verse three of Isaiah 51. For the Lord shall comfort Zion.
Now Zion here is a picture of the church. Believers. He will comfort all her waste
places and he will make her wilderness like Eden. and her desert like
the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of medley." What's that describing?
That's describing the spiritual state of all the people of God
who have been brought to faith in Christ. Our lives here on
this earth is not easy. Life here on earth is not like
Eden. It's not like a garden. We have
troubles, trials. But our salvation and our standing
with God and our state here on this earth in Christ is like
Eden and like a garden. It's sure and certain. There's
no possibility of losing it. because God saves his people
forever. And it says in verse four here,
it says, hearken unto me, my people give ear unto me, O my
nation, for a law shall proceed from me. That law there is the
word of God in the gospel. And I will make my judgment to
rest for a light of the people. His judgment. Well, what is God's
judgment? Well, you know, in John 16, verses
nine, 10 and 11, The Lord described the work of
the Holy Spirit in our conversion. And that work of the Spirit is
a convincing, a conviction. And he says the Holy Spirit,
when he's come, he will convince the world of sin because they
believe not on me. Now the world, there's not everybody
in the world, everybody without exception. It's God's people
all over the world, Jew and Gentile, God's elect, his sheep, his church,
And He's going to convince them of sin because they believe not
on Christ. And what that means is He will
convince us that without Christ it's all sin and eternal damnation. And then it says He will convince
the world of righteousness because I go to the Father. In other
words, He will convince us that the only way of righteousness
before God is the sovereign, powerful, gracious work of Christ,
who died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended
to the Father on behalf of His people, and who now lives forever
to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ the righteous. He
is my righteousness. And then He says He will convict
the world of judgment because the prince of this world is cast
out. What kind of judgments he's talking about? Well, Satan, the
prince of this world, he is the accuser of the brethren. But
because all who believe, all God's elect, have already been
judged for all their sins in the person and work of Christ,
you say, There is no way that any of Satan's charges can stick. Romans 8 says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again, who's seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. God's people in Christ
have already been judged for all their sins, and they've been
found not guilty. Why? Because they believed or
because they repented? No, because Christ died and paid
for those sins. He paid their sin debt in full. And so there's thanksgiving and
the voice of melody, praising God. Verse four says, hearken
unto me, my people give ear and all my nation. He says, for a
law shall proceed for me and I will make my judgment to rest
for a light of the people. Look at verse five. He says,
my righteousness is near. God's righteousness is near.
My salvation has gone forth. Didn't he say that back in Isaiah
46 and verse 13? I bring near my righteousness. What is it?
That's Christ coming to this world, taking in the union with
His eternal deity as the second person of the Trinity, a sinless
humanity, body and soul, and working out a perfect righteousness
in His obedience unto death for His people. So His righteousness
is near. My salvation is gone forth, He
says in verse five. Mine arms shall judge the people,
his power, and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
The isles shall wait upon me and on mine arms shall they trust.
That's the Gentiles. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile. Verse six, he
says, lift up your eyes to the heavens. Don't look, don't, he's
telling the people of Judah. Don't look around you for your
help, your comfort, your peace. Don't look within. Don't look
at other people. Don't look to the earthly things,
like even the temple. The Jewish temple was a picture
of something spiritual and eternal, and that is salvation by the
grace of God in Christ. But don't look to that temple,
physical temple as your hope, Don't look to your armies or
your physical king. Don't look to the arsenals. Don't
look to your possessions. But lift up your eyes to the
heaven, look to God. That's what he's saying. Remember
at the beginning, he hearkened to me, you that follow after
righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Where are you gonna
seek the Lord? Seek him in his word. because
his word means it's looking up to God. And he says, lift up
your eyes, verse six, to the heavens, and look upon the earth
beneath, in other words, in comparison, for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, that is the physical heavens, and the earth
shall wax hold like a garment, this physical earth, and they
that dwell therein shall die in like manner, but my salvation,
looking up to the Lord, my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness
shall not be abolished. Now my friend, this is the reason
why God's word teaches the eternal security of the believer. The
reason that people believe you can be saved one day and then
lost, because of your sins, is that they believe a false gospel.
They believe that salvation is conditioned on sinners. And if
it's conditioned on sinners, as long as you meet the condition
or conditions, whatever denomination you're in, then you're okay. But when you stop meeting those
conditions, then you're lost. But the Bible teaches in the
true gospel That salvation is all conditioned on Christ. And Christ fulfilled those conditions
completely so as to secure the eternal salvation of all for
whom He died and was buried and arose again. And they are clothed
in His righteousness, imputed to them, and that can never be
changed, it can never be defiled, it can never be abolished. Now
even as saved by grace, we're still sinners. We still have
the flesh to deal with that can corrupt our minds and our thoughts
and our motives. That's why we're in a warfare.
But the righteousness in which I stand before God justified
is the righteousness of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
righteousness cannot be contaminated, it cannot be defiled, it cannot
be corrupted, it cannot be changed, it cannot be taken away or abolished. It is forever and ever and ever. Now people will argue, they'll
come back to you and they'll say, well, if that's the truth,
I'll just go sin as much as I want to. Well, think about that. You know what they're actually
saying? They're saying that the grace of God is not a powerful
enough motive to inspire them or motivate them to fight sin
and do right. That's why Paul anticipated the
objection in Romans 6 when he spoke of grace and how far it
goes. It goes all the way. And he says,
well, shall we sin that grace may abound? Because it says where
sin abounded, grace didn't much more abound. Grace is for sinners. So shall we sin that grace may
abound? He said, God forbid. What does it take to get you
to try and seek to be obedient, sincere, and dedicated before
God. Does it take the black whip of
the law on your back? Does it take the promise of mercenary
rewards in heaven? Does it take the mercenary promise
of loss of reward? Is that what it takes? That's
legalism. That's not grace. But my friend, if you ever see
the grace of God, if the Holy Spirit ever sheds the love of
God abroad in your heart, and you see the salvation of the
Lord and His grace and His mercy, I'm gonna tell you, for God's
people, that's enough motivation to fight sin with every fiber
of our being, to seek to obey Christ, to seek to be like Him
and to follow Him, not in order to be saved, Not in order to
be kept, but because we already are saved forever and ever and
kept by the power of God. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. And what have I committed
unto him? My whole salvation, every bit
of it. And so I walk this earth looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of my faith. Well, look
at verse seven of Isaiah 51. He says, hearken unto me, you
that know righteousness. Now people, if you don't know
Christ, you don't know righteousness. And if you don't know righteousness,
you don't know Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness.
If you're seeking salvation by your works, you don't know righteousness.
If you think God will save you because you made a decision,
you don't know righteousness. He said, the people in whose
heart is my law, fear you not the reproach of men, neither
be you afraid of their revilings. Don't be afraid of what men and
women can do, what they say and how they object. If you know
righteousness, you know Christ. This is God's righteousness.
And if you follow after righteousness, you seek the Lord according to
His word and the power of the Spirit, you find Him and you'll
rest in Him. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.