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 our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Isaiah, chapter 32. Isaiah 32. And the text is in
verse 17. The title of the message is The
Work of Righteousness. The Work of Righteousness. And
obviously what we're talking about there is Isaiah's prophecy
of Christ who is the righteousness of his people. Because Christ
as the surety and the substitute and the redeemer, representative,
the life giver, the keeper of his people, is the one who worked
righteousness for us. Now, that's important for us
to understand because we have to understand that Christ in
the glory of His person and the power of His finished work is
the only righteousness we have before God. God requires righteousness. Another term for righteousness
is justness, which is referring to justice. What it is is satisfaction
to the law and the justice of God. And we are sinners. The Bible says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Well, that's us. And if
God ever gave us what we deserve or what we've earned, it would
be death and hell. That's why we need salvation
by grace. And Romans 5 21 tells us that
as sin demanded death, even so grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Jeremiah called him
the Lord. our righteousness. That's for
every believing sinner. The Bible says that Christ, in
Romans 10 and verse 4, that Christ is the end, the finishing, the
fulfillment, completion, perfection of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. It says, with the heart, man
believeth unto righteousness. That means that your works don't
make you righteous, your believing doesn't make you righteous, but
you believe unto righteousness. In other words, you believe in
Christ, who is your righteousness. So you understand that. Now,
that's what we're gonna look at in Isaiah 32. I'm not gonna
go through the whole passage here. There's 20 verses here.
But I want to start in the first two or three verses to show you
that this is definitely a prophecy of Christ and not of some king
in Jerusalem. But it says in chapter 32, verse
one, And Isaiah is prophesying of
Christ. This is in the context of a rebellious
people in Israel and Judah and Jerusalem. And Isaiah says in
verse one, behold, a king shall reign in righteousness and princes
shall rule in judgment. Now, who is this king who will
reign in righteousness? Well, it's a king who is just.
It's a king who rules in a right way. And what he's talking about
is not some kind of a general goodness of man. He's talking
about a perfection here that a king, a particular king will
exact in his reign. He's talking about the king of
kings, the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose scepter
which is his rule, is a scepter of righteousness. He never makes
a mistake, he never judges wrongly, his decisions are always correct,
he keeps the law perfectly, and justice is satisfied in this
king's reign. And then the princes shall rule
in judgment. Now who are these princes? Those
are his people, his ministers especially. And how does a minister
of this king rule in judgment? I'll tell you exactly how. By
preaching the gospel. Because in the gospel it is revealed
how God can be both a righteous judge as well as a savior. You see, that begs the question
of all questions. God is a just God. He rules in
righteousness. He cannot clear the guilty. You say, well, God forgives sins.
God is merciful. God is loving in spite of our
sins. God is grace. Yes, He is. But
now hold on to this thought. Let this sink in. God is all
those things, but never at the expense or in ignoring His justice. The Bible says God reveals Himself
in His justice, His judgments. God must punish sin. He cannot overlook it. He cannot
ignore it. He cannot act like it never happened. I hear people talk about justification. The doctrine of justification.
It's a gospel doctrine. It's the heart of the gospel.
It tells me how God can be just and still justify me, a sinner,
in mercy and grace. And they'll say justification
means just as if I had never sinned. That's misleading. Because God doesn't, He's not
a play actor. He's not a pretender. He doesn't,
to save me and to justify me, God doesn't, He doesn't pretend
as if I'd never sinned. He knows I've sinned. He knows
I'm a sinner now, a sinner saved by grace. So the question is,
how can He act in justice and be true to Himself in His glory
and still save a sinner like me? without denying His justice. Well, He cannot do that. He must
be a just God and a Savior. How can He be both? Well, He's
gonna reign in righteousness. And what is that righteousness?
God sent His Son into the world, having the sin debt, of his people,
charged to his account, and he went under the law and under
the wrath of God and paid the debt in full. Drank damnation
dry. And the only way God can be just
and justify me, that is forgive me of my sins, and declare me
righteous is based upon the glorious person and finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what grace is all about.
Grace reigns through righteousness. God can justify me and still
be true to himself. He doesn't have to deny Himself
to save His people from their sins, because He saves them based
upon a just and righteous ground, the blood of Jesus Christ. So
God is both a just God and a Savior, a righteous judge. who is glorious
in His judgments and in His perfection, as well as a loving, gracious,
merciful Father. One of the words for mercy in
the Old and in the New Testament leads us to understand the word
propitiation. And what that is, is that's mercy
based upon a just ground and that propitiation. Remember it
says, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The sin bearing sacrifice who
satisfied God's justice in my place. What that means is I'm
redeemed by the blood of Christ. Christ is my satisfier. And that means this. If he died
for me, I will be saved. There's no way I can end up lost.
So all for whom he died shall be saved. He didn't die for everybody
without exception. He only died for those whom he
brings to faith in Christ. So that's who this king is. And his prince is ruling judgment
by preaching the gospel because the gospel is the rule. How does
God save sinners? How does God keep sinners? How
do sinners make it to glory? How are sinners forgiven? How
are they justified? How are they sanctified? The
gospel answers that. It's based upon the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. Now look at verse two
of Isaiah 32. He says, and a man shall be as
in hiding place from the wind, that's the man Christ Jesus,
He's God and man in one person and a cover from the tempest.
He's going to be the hiding place. He's the cover from the wrath
of God as rivers of water in a dry place and as the shadow
of a rock in a weary land. That's Christ. He's my hiding
place. He's my covering. Not in the
sense of covering over and hiding my sins, but in the sense of
covering my sins by His blood satisfying justice, paying the
debt in full. He's the rivers of water in a
dry place. He said, I'm the water of life,
the fountain of waters. He who drinks of that water shall
never thirst again. He's the great rock in a weary
land. Remember that rock that followed
Moses and the children of Israel through the wilderness from which
they got water? Christ is our rock. And it says
in verse three, and the eyes of them that see shall not be
dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. Let he that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. Do you have ears to hear this?
Oh, I know you can hear what I'm saying. I know you hear the
words. but do you believe it? That's
the hearing he's talking about. I know you can see things in
the scripture, but do you believe them? Do you trust Christ? Do you see him for what he really
is, the value, the only way of salvation, the glory of God? He's the light of his people.
He's the truth and all of that. Now, he goes on to describe things
about the desolation and the restoration of Israel, which
God used to bring the Messiah through that nation. But he goes
on, he says that Israel is going to exist as a nation under the
old covenant. And he says in verse 15, now
let's go to verse 15. Until the Spirit be poured upon
us from on high, the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the
fruitful field be counted for a forest. Now that's talking
about, I believe, the time when the Holy Spirit would be poured
out at Pentecost, and the gospel would be shot out into the Gentile
world, and God would reveal then openly and publicly that he has
a people out of every tribe and nation, Jew and Gentile. And
he says in verse 16, he says, then judgment shall dwell in
the wilderness. That's the Gentile nations. And
he says, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. God's
going to reveal Himself to all of His chosen people in Christ.
They're justified in Christ. They're redeemed by His blood.
He's their mediator. He's their Savior. He's their
Redeemer. All of that. Jew and Gentile. God has a chosen
people out of every tribe and nation. He told Abraham, he said,
you will be a blessing in every nation. How is that going to
be fulfilled? Only by the salvation of God's
people through Jesus Christ, our Lord. But now look at this. Here's the effect of righteousness,
the work of righteousness. Look at verse 17. And the work
of righteousness shall be peace. The work of righteousness is
peace. What kind of peace? Peace here on earth between nations? Peace between men and women?
No, that's not what he's talking about. In fact, the Lord said
in the last days there'll be wars and rumors of wars. As long
as this old world exists, this is a fallen sinful world, And
there will always be conflict. There will always be fightings
and disputes. There will always be wars and
rumors of wars. Nation will rise up against nation.
In our day we see it. In history you've seen it obviously. Man's history is a bloody history. And it will continue to be so
until the final battle. The final war. But now the final
battle is a spiritual war. I'm not going to get into that
right now. But he's not talking about peace among men. When Christ came on the earth
in his incarnation and birth, the angels appeared and they
said, glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill
towards men, which literally means peace on earth amongst
those whom God is pleased. And the only way God can be pleased
with a sinner is in Christ. When he said peace on earth,
he's not talking about peace between nations. I mean, he's
talking about the peace of God, which passes understanding, peace
between God and his people. And that's called reconciliation. Now here's the fact of the matter.
God has been reconciled to his people. On what ground? on the ground of His justice
being satisfied through the Lord Jesus Christ. God is at peace
with His people, but here's the thing. We're born into this world
as fallen, sinful, spiritually dead, and depraved rebels, ignorant
of God. ignorant of his way of salvation.
That's why we're born in sin. That's what that means without
spiritual life. We're born with, we have eyes
to see and ears to hear, but we don't have spiritual eyes
and spiritual ears. That's why we must be born again. So knowing that God is already
reconciled to his people through Christ based upon his blood,
it is necessary that his people be reconciled to him. Colossians
chapter one speaks of those who are enemies in their minds by
wicked works. And the wicked works there can
be anything, even religious works. So what has to happen? Well,
the people of God have to be brought under the gospel of peace. the gospel of reconciliation.
And if you'll look over it at the book of 2 Corinthians 5,
Paul explains that here when he's talking about the ministry
of reconciliation that God has given to the church. And he says
this, he's talking about how How all things, verse 18 of 2
Corinthians 5, all things are of God, meaning all things that
are made new, all things of salvation, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. In other words, God's wrath is
not on his people. Even though we deserve it now,
even though we've earned it, But God's wrath is not on his
people. Why? Because Christ took their
wrath on himself on the cross and drank damnation dry. So God
who hath reconciled us, the us there, is not all without exception.
If God has reconciled all without exception to himself, then all
without exception will be saved. That's talking about the people
of God who are brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. So he says, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. That's the ministry of peace.
Speaking peace to every sinner who knows and trust and follows
Christ. Now, if you don't know and trust
and follow Christ, I cannot speak peace to you. Remember, Jeremiah
spoke of the false prophets in his day who cried peace when
there was no peace. And the only ones who do that
are false preachers. So it says in verse 19, to wit or namely,
that God was in Christ, that is the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit engaged in the person of the Son, Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. Now who is this world here? Is
that everybody without exception? No. How do you know that? Read on. Keep the context. Reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. What does that mean? That means
God does not charge them with their sins. They're sinners.
But God doesn't charge them with their sins. He doesn't impute
their sins, he doesn't lay them to their account. Well, how can
he do that and still be just? By Jesus Christ, he imputed them
to Christ. Well, how do you know it's not
talking about everybody? Well, read passages like in the
book of Romans, you don't have to turn there, but in book of
Romans chapter eight, it tells us those to whom God does not
charge their sins. And it's not everybody without
exception It's in Romans chapter eight and verse 33. It says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? The world there is God's elect
all over this world, Jew and Gentile, and of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. It is God that justifies. Who
can condemn? Who can condemneth? It's Christ
that died, Romans 8.34. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now go back to 2 Corinthians
5. God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. That
means his wrath is not on them, because he does not impute their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation, the word of peace. That's the gospel. And so he
says in verse 20 of 2 Corinthians 5, now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's death, be ye reconciled to God. believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what the message is. Well,
on what ground can a sinner be reconciled to God? Well, it's
on the same ground that God is reconciled to sinners. Verse
21, for God hath made Him, Christ, God the Father, hath made Christ,
the Son incarnate, sin for us. Made Him sin, how? Imputing our
trespasses unto Him. who knew no sin, Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Christ was made sin by God accounting the sin debt of His people, His
elect, to Christ. Christ went under the wrath of
God on the cross and died for their sins. He satisfied justice
and brought forth righteousness. He died, was buried, and arose
again the third day. indicating that he finished the
work, it was successful, and that God has imputed, charged,
accounted his righteousness to his people. Now go back to Isaiah
32, look at verse 17. And the work of righteousness,
that work of righteousness that Christ worked out and finished
and successfully completed shall be peace. Peace Reconciliation
between God and His people. And look at it, it says quietness
and assurance forever. Quietness means calmness. Now,
as we go through this life, there's a lot of things that will upset
us, especially people and ourselves and relationships, jobs, family,
whatever. But when it comes to a relationship
with God, a right relationship, true believers can be quiet,
calm, comfortable, and assured forever based upon the merits
of the obedience unto death of Christ, His righteousness imputed,
charged to us. And that's the effect of it.
And whenever we get to looking at things in the earth, just
like, you remember when Peter, when Christ revealed himself
to the disciples and he was walking on water and Peter said, call
me and let me walk to you. And Peter got out of the boat
and he was walking on water. And then Peter took his eyes
off Christ and looked around at the storm and he began to
sink. And what happened? Christ grabbed him, brought him
up. That's what Christ does to his
people. Keep your eyes on Christ. Once you take your eyes off of
him, you get in trouble, just like Peter. But run the race
of grace, Hebrews 12, to looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. He's the worker of righteousness.
And verse 18 of Isaiah 32 says, and my people shall dwell in
a peaceable habitation. You see, as long as we're dwelling
Christ, we're in a peaceable habitation, safe, secure from
all harm. And sure dwellings, in sure dwellings,
we're in the house. I preached on this last time
about Christ, the sure foundation, the house that cannot be destroyed. He said, upon this rock, the
rock of himself, not Peter, as the Catholic church says, they're
wrong. No, sir. The house that Christ, the foundation
of the house that Christ built is himself. His glorious person,
his finished work. And he said, and the gates of
hell will not prevail against it. How sure can it be? Sure dwellings and in quiet resting
places. Verse 19, he says, when it shall
hail coming down on the forest and the city shall be low in
a low place. Blessed, verse 20, are you that
sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the
ox and the ass. In other words, living your life
in Christ, living your life, looking to Him, the author and
finisher of our faith, living upon Him, living by Him, living
unto His glory, walking with Him, all prayer, all worship,
all praise going to Him. That's the work of righteousness. Here's the effect of it. And
what happens is Christ working out that righteousness on the
cross ensured the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing sinners
to Him for peace and quietness and assurance. Romans 8.10 says
this body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. And where are you going to find
righteousness? In Christ. Nowhere else but in Christ, His
glorious person, His finished work. That's the peace and the
quietness, the calmness and the sureness of God's people in a
right relationship with God, who saves us according to His
grace, not according to our works. 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 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.