Thank you, Winston. Let's open
our Bibles this morning to the 130th Psalm. Psalm 130. And again, it's good to be back with
you. Good to see all of you here, and we always enjoy coming down
to worship with you, preach the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ. The title of the message this
morning is Israel's Hope. Israel's Hope. And I sort of
want to take a journey through the Bible. And saying that, I
bet you're glad that I'm not starting at Genesis 1-1. But
anyway, I think that it would just be a good exercise for us
to understand these issues as they are presented through the
scriptures thematically concerning Israel's hope. And I want to
begin in Psalm 130 because this is particularly a psalm that
is a short psalm, just eight verses. It's called a Psalm of
Degrees or a Song of Degrees. You might see that if you have
a King James Version. That means it builds. It starts
off, you can almost say it starts off at a low point and builds
to a high point. Sometimes that's a musical terminology. Some of these psalms were meant
to be sung in worship, and it would build like a crescendo
going up. Listen to what the psalmist said.
Let's read this psalm. It's a short one, but he says,
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, Lord, hear
my voice, let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
The psalmist crying out of his need. A sinner seeking mercy,
that's what we have here, that's the picture. Now you might notice
the word, the title, Lord, again, if you have a King James Version,
that might be in all capital letters, and in the King James
Version, when you see the word Lord in capitals, that's Jehovah,
or as some would pronounce it Yahweh, his name Yahweh, because
in the original Hebrew there were no vowel points, but Jehovah's
what we call it. And that's the Lord identifying
himself as the God of salvation, the God of the covenant. This
is Jehovah, God our savior. You know, in the great I am statements,
especially in the book of John, where Christ spoke of himself
as I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the bread of life.
I am the light of the world. Before Abraham was, I am. Christ identifying himself as
God the Son in human flesh. The word, John 1 14, the word
made flesh and dwelt among us. This speaks of the God of salvation,
the God who saves by grace. That's what Jehovah is. He doesn't
save based on the works of men or the decisions of men or anything,
conditions men meet. He is the God, as Hannah prayed
in 1 Samuel 2, he's the God who saves by reaching down symbolically
speaking, reaching down and lifting the beggar off of the dung heap.
That's what he does. It's not God who does his part
and you do, you see, it's not a cooperative effort. I know
people don't like to hear that, you know, but it's sovereign
mercy and grace. That's the God who David is crying
to here. He justifies the ungodly, Romans
4 says. On what ground does he do it?
Well, look here, he says in verse 3, now listen to this. He says,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? Now, to mark iniquities means
to charge with iniquities. It's a language of what we call
imputation. Imputed sins what he said if
you would mark if you would charge me with sin if you would charge
any of us and David David here I believe is the one who wrote
this song by inspiration of the Spirit When he says if thou shouldest
mark iniquities Oh Lord who shall stand among men among sinful
men this race of sinful men if God would charge with sin who
among us would stand. Standing mean be exonerated,
be declared righteous, be declared not guilty. You see, we talk
about it all the time, but I think sometimes people don't realize
the implications of this statement. We quote Romans 3.23, just like
a byline, which says, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Miss the mark. And that means
we're all sinners. And if God were to charge any
of us with sin, who would stand? None of us, that's his point.
There's not one person, not one person on this earth ever in
the history of mankind or in the future of mankind that if
God were to mark with iniquities, they would stand. And that's
the worst of us and the best of us. That's what the scripture
teaches. Man at his best state is altogether
what? Vanity, worthless. So he says this thing, what he's
saying here is this thing of salvation has to have something
to do with God taking a sinner and not charging him with sin.
Not imputing sin to that sinner. That's where he's crying from.
He has a knowledge of that. Now that's a gospel knowledge.
That's a knowledge which only the Holy Spirit gives to a sinner
through the preaching of the gospel. In some way, in some
way, God must find a way to not charge me with my sin, but God
is just. So what we have here is justice. If God were to be just and judge
me based upon my works, my efforts, or anything, I wouldn't stand.
He says it in another way in Romans chapter 3 and in Galatians
chapter 2. He says, by deeds of law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. But now look at verse
4. Now see this psalm is building.
But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
There is forgiveness. God is a forgiving God. God is
a merciful God. God is a gracious God. God is
a God who saves, that's why he says Jehovah, oh Lord, hear my
voice, hear my supplications. So we're talking about a God
who is a merciful God, who is a loving God, who is a gracious
God, but not without justice. And there's the missing note
in today's religion. People wanna talk about God's
love, God's mercy, God's grace, and I do too, and you do too.
But the moment you present God as a merciful God, or as a loving
God, or as a gracious God, without justice being satisfied, you
have denied Jehovah. You've denied the God of the
Bible. You've misrepresented him. You've turned him into an
idol in the minds of people. There is forgiveness. But that
forgiveness has to be based upon God finding a way not to charge
me with sin. He's got to deal with my sin.
He's a just God. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? God must punish sin. He cannot overlook it, deny it,
ignore it. He must punish sin. There is
forgiveness. Now look at verse 5. He says,
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do
I hope. Now what's he saying there? Well,
he's basing that on a promise that God has made. I'm waiting for the Lord. God, if you would mark iniquities,
if you charge me with my sin, I wouldn't stand, but there is
forgiveness with thee. Where's it to be found? Where
is that forgiveness to be found? Well, I wait for the Lord. Well,
why are you waiting on him? Because he made a promise. When
did he make that promise? You know where the first revelation
of that promise is? Genesis chapter three and verse
15. It's the promise to send Christ into the world. It's the
promise to send a savior. A savior who would take the sins
of his people upon himself and die for those sins. See, God
doesn't charge me with my sins, he charged my savior with my
sins. And that's what he's talking
about. In his word, God's promise, I do hope. And he says in verse
six, my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch
for the morning. What he's saying there is I'm
just as sure that God's gonna send that savior as I am that
tomorrow morning's gonna come. He says, I say more than they
that watch for the morning. You know, we may not see tomorrow
morning, All right, we may die before the morning comes. Or
the Lord may come back. So I wait for the Lord, what
David is saying, I am more sure that God is going to keep his
word of promise to send the Savior, the Messiah, into the world than
I am that the morning's gonna come. He says in verse seven,
look at it, let Israel hope in the Lord. Now usually when we
think of Israel, we think of the nation Israel, and that's
so, and that is a command that God gave them even under the
old covenant, hope in the Lord. Hope for salvation, hope for
righteousness. This is Israel's hope. Let Israel
hope in the Lord. Don't hope in your works. Don't
hope in your efforts. Don't hope in your religion.
This hope here is not a wishful thought. You know, a lot of times
we think of hoping as wishful thinking, like buying a lottery
ticket. I hope I win. That's wishful
thinking. If I buy a lottery ticket, I
really don't expect to win. You know that? I really don't
expect to. But this hope here is an expectation. It's an expectation
that is based upon a sure promise by one who always keeps his promise.
One who has all the power to keep his promise, one who foresees
all obstacles and removes them and who provides every means
to keep his promise. In fact, Hebrews chapter six
speaks of God swearing an oath by himself because he can swear
by no greater than himself that by two immutable things we might
have a strong consolation. That's a strong consolation right
here. Let Israel hope in the Lord. The prophets spoke to the
nation Israel over and over again. Don't hope or trust in yourselves
or your religion. Hope in the Lord. Look forward
in expectation for the promise of righteousness and salvation
and forgiveness in the promised Messiah. And Israel refused. Israel refused. Let Israel hope
in the Lord. He says, for with the Lord there
is mercy. That's covenant mercy. It's not
just a whim. He said, and with him is plenteous
redemption. This is mercy based on redemption.
What is redemption? It's paying a price. There's
a price to be paid. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth must surely die. Somebody's got to die. The crime has been committed.
And if you don't have one who is appointed by God, one who
is able in himself, and one who is willing to stand in your place
and pay that redemption price, then where are you? Where does
that leave you? Condemned forever and ever and ever. The wages
of sin, eternal death. Well, he says in verse 8, and
he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Israel's hope. Now again, we can talk about
national Israel, but in essence, what the psalmist is speaking
of here is not the nation Israel. Now listen to me. The only hope
of forgiveness, of salvation, of righteousness for any sinner
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary's
cross. You have no hope. I have no hope
of forgiveness, no hope of mercy, no hope of love. Listen now,
God's love is not an empty love. It's not that God loves you and
is trying to do the best he can for you, but you just won't let
him. That kind of love won't do you any good or me either.
It will not help us. You know, that kind of love,
that kind of love wouldn't even help our children. Do you know
that? Think about it. If your children,
if you only express love based upon their cooperation with you,
where would they be? Most of them would be dead. Did
you know that? My little three-year-old grandson,
he'd run out in the street in front of a car if I didn't go
get him and save him from it. That's the kind of love I have
for him. I'm gonna make sure as well,
now I'm limited in my power and in my knowledge and in my wisdom.
But whatever knowledge and power and wisdom I have, I'm gonna
make sure that that little boy is safe and secure. So the kind of love that most
people attribute to God is not even, they think their love is
better than that. Because they wouldn't even operate
in their families that way. But you hear messages today about
the dignity of man, and God wouldn't step on our dignity. My friend,
we have no dignity. Read the Bible. Read what the
word of God says. It doesn't speak of the dignity
of man. It speaks of the wretchedness
and the rottenness of man. And somebody says, well, that's
such a negative message. It's negative in humanity. But
I'm going to tell you something. There's hope. Now this, and so this, what the
psalmist has in mind in Israel, I believe, is the spiritual nation
of Israel, all who believe in and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me show you that. Let's go through some scriptures
here. I want you to turn to Isaiah 46. Turn over to Isaiah 46. Talk a little bit about history.
I've been reading on that quite a bit. We've been studying through
the minor prophets up home and studying through the book of
Zechariah. And it's amazing. It's amazing as you read those
prophets and you see their messages and the people to whom they're
preaching how it's just like today. I mean, it's really no
different. You know, sinners trying to dignify
themselves and save themselves by their works, and God's prophets
and God's preachers coming along and saying, don't do that, don't
hope in your works, hope in the Lord. And I was reading a writer,
he said, this is a person who is a Jew who claims to be a Christian.
I hope he is, or I hope he was, I think he's dead now. But he's
talking about the history of Israel. He said the history of
Israel is a history of a miracle, and I agree with that. and it's
the miracle of history. And one of them said this, he
said that many of the modern philosophers have expressed the
fact that the history of Israel is a riddle which they cannot
understand. Talking about the nation Israel. And he said the Jewish people
as a whole are just as confounded by their own history, and I agree
with that. Because they really didn't know what it was all about
as a whole. Now there was, listen, as you look at Israel's history,
you know in the Old Testament and the first four books of the
New Testament are about the history of the nation Israel. And you
see continually how the majority of the people, they really didn't
understand what it was all about. Just like today, we don't understand
what it's all about until God intervenes, isn't that right?
And reveals it to us. What is the significance of their
history? What are they here for? Man's looking for a reason to
exist, you know. To fulfill what old Calvin said
was the God-shaped void, you know. Speaks of it in Ecclesiastes
3. You know, God has said eternity
in our hearts. And that's the way it is. But
look at verse 9 of Isaiah 46. There's several passages we could
go to for this. But listen to what he says. He's
talking about their history. This is the prophet Isaiah. This
is 700 years before Christ, before the coming of Christ into the
world. And look at verse nine of Isaiah 46. He says, remember
the former things of old. Remember your history. There's
another way of saying it. For I'm God and there is none
else. You see, your history has no significance only as it leads
you to seek God. But not God as you think him
to be, but God as he reveals himself to be. For I'm God and
there's none else. I'm God and there's none like
me. You can't compare anything to God or God to anything. He's
so unique. And he says, declaring the end
from the beginning. I know people don't want to hear
that one, but that's predestination right there, brother. Now, I can declare the beginning
from the end. I can tell you what happened
this morning. But I can't tell you what's going
to happen an hour from now. God declares, determines the
end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done say, my counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure. I'm going to do what I want to
do. That's prophecy. That's why prophecy confirms
predestination. I mean, it's like I asked a fellow
one time down here, a fellow told me, he said, well, I don't
believe in that predestination. I said, well, you don't believe in prophecy
then. I said, you don't believe in revelation. He said, I believe
every word of it. I said, well, do you believe
those are things that are going to happen no matter what, or things that
might happen if certain conditions meet? Oh, I believe they're going
to happen no matter what. Well, who determined that? God
did. That's who determined that. He said, I'll do it. He says
in verse 11, calling a ravenous bird from the east. Now, I believe
that's a specific prophecy of something that's going to happen
in Israel's history later on, a couple of hundred years from
then. Isaiah where he sends a deliverer to deliver them out of the Babylonian
captivity But I want to get in all that he says he says that
X the man that executed my counsel from a far country Yeah, I've
spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it now Why does
God do all this? What is the significance of it?
We'll look at verse 12 and 13 Harken unto me you stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness." Now what does that describe?
Stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. Stout-hearted
means proud. Means proud. Man's pride. And what he's talking about is
in a specific context here. He's talking about the pride
of man that would lead him to think and believe that he can
make himself righteous before God. that he can be good enough
to be saved and accepted and blessed of God. But he says you're
far from righteousness. In fact, the Bible kind of throughout
from Genesis to Revelation kind of relays the message this way,
that the harder man tries to make himself righteous before
God, what is it to be righteous? It means to be not guilty, it
means to be justified before God. The harder that man tries
to make himself righteous by his works, the farther from righteousness
he gets. Remember when Christ came into
the world in his public ministry, he began to confront the religionist
of his day? Remember in Matthew chapter 23,
he said, now you will encompass sea and land to get a convert.
And he says, when you get that convert, listen to what he said.
He said, you make that person two-fold more the child of hell
than you are. Because what are they trying
to do? They're trying to stir that person up in religion. to
make themselves righteous before God. Well, hearken unto me, you
stout-hearted that are far from righteous. Now look at verse
13. I bring near my righteousness. God's righteousness. That's what
we need. We don't need man's righteousness. We don't need
our own righteousness. We need God's righteousness.
I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. You
see, man's righteousness is something he's always reaching for, always
trying to attain. And if he makes any headway in
his own mind, sometimes he'll fall back and he'll get farther
away and then he's reaching for it again. But this one shall
not be far off, and my salvation, you see, this salvation is equated
with this righteousness, shall not tarry. It's not a goal for
you to attain by your works. And I will place salvation in
Zion, You know what Zion is, that's that hill outside of Jerusalem,
but here it's a type, a picture, a symbol of what? God's church,
Christ's church. I will place salvation in Zion
for Israel, my glory. For Israel, this is Israel's
hope. There's no hope outside of this. What do we need? We need God's righteousness.
Now turn to Daniel chapter nine. Kind of just journeying through
the history here. Now who is God's righteousness?
Well, that's Christ. Twice, Jeremiah identified the
Messiah as Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord my righteousness. Jeremiah 23, five and six, and
Jeremiah 33, 15 and 16. The Lord my righteousness. Look
at Daniel chapter nine. Daniel is talking about a time
when the Messiah is going to come, in verse 24. And I'm not going to go into
the symbolism of all these numbers here. I've done that before,
but for my purpose, here's what I want you to look at. Verse
24, he says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city. And what he's talking about is
the time period between their coming back out of captivity
in Babylon and the coming of the Messiah. into the world,
the coming of Jesus of Nazareth into the world. And he calls
it 70 weeks, that's 70 weeks of years, which would equal about
490 years, and that's about what it was, that's what it was, 490
years. And he says, now here's what's
going to happen in the holy city, that's in Jerusalem. The Messiah's
going to come, he's going to finish the transgression, he's
going to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. He says to seal
up the vision in prophecy and to anoint the most holy or the
holy place. Now that's all the work of Christ
in his obedience unto death. He's going to finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, bring in everlasting righteousness, make
reconciliation. What's he talking about there?
He's talking about salvation. He's talking about one who would
come and defeat and conquer sin and bring in righteousness that
is Israel's hope now see this is the significance of Israel's
history and without this they have no significance that's right
I mean you can you can read about some things and be fascinated
by but this is the main issue right here God's going to bring
in his righteousness That's what the psalmist was saying. Let
Israel hope in the Lord. I've got no hope if you mark
iniquities. I'm a sinner. But there's forgiveness
with you. And Israel's hope is in the Lord.
Well, let's go over to the New Testament. Go over to Luke chapter
2. Listen to this. And I could show you a lot more
in between all these and before all these, but we don't have
time to do all that. But look here, Luke chapter 2. Now, this
is where people go to read about the birth of Christ. You hear
this read this time of year. This is where you have the shepherds. They see the star and Luke chapter
2 and verse 14, that famous statement, glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. In the original language,
that would read, glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace among men with whom God favors or with whom God is pleased. That's what it literally says.
Well, who are the men with whom God is pleased in the Bible?
Those he saves by his grace in Christ. That's not talking about
general peace on earth, because if that's talking about a general
peace on earth, it's a failed statement. No, it's talking about
peace between God and his people, his church through Christ. But
look at verse 25 of Luke chapter 2. He says, and behold, there
was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man
was just and devout. Now that's just another way of
saying he's a sinner saved by the grace of God. He's a sinner
who looked to Christ for salvation. How do you know that? All right,
look. Waiting for the consolation or the hope of Israel. That's
what Simeon was doing. You remember what the psalmist
said in Psalm 130? My soul doth wait upon the Lord. He'll send
redemption. That's what Simeon was doing.
Simeon and David, the psalmists, were brothers in Christ. Though
there was a thousand years between them, they were brothers in Christ. And he says, the consolation
of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death until
before he had seen the Lord's Christ, the hope of Israel, Israel's
hope, the righteousness of God. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, Jesus
meaning, what's Jesus mean? Yeshua, what does that mean?
That means Jehovah, our Savior. Is that right? That's his name.
And he says, to do for him after the custom of the law, that was
the circumcision. And he says, then took he him
up in his arms and blessed God, that means he praised God, and
said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according
to thy word, that's what it is, Wait on the Lord, his word, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Remember what Isaiah 46 said?
I bring near my salvation, it shall not be far. Simeon said,
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He's holding the Christ child
in his hand. That's what this is all about,
folks. It's not about celebrating a
baby in a manger. Not at all. It's about seeing
the salvation of the Lord. Right here. He said, I'm going
to bring near my righteousness and my salvation will not tarry. Simeon holds him up. Mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. That's Christ. That's God in
human flesh right there. He's the hope of Israel. And
look what else he says. He says in verse 30, which thou
has prepared before the face of all people, Light to lighten
the Gentiles in the glory of thy people Israel see the Gentiles
are included what's he talking about God's elect people out
of every tribe kindred tongue and nation and it says in verse
33 and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which
were spoken of him and Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary
his mother behold this child is set for the fall and rising
again of many in Israel There's going to be many rejecting there's
going to be many who receive him fall and rising of many in
Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against." That's
Christ, you see that? Now, look at Romans chapter nine. Turn to Romans chapter, Israel's
hope. I said Romans nine, turn to Romans
one first, I'm sorry, Romans one. Now what does Paul start
off in Romans 1? He's talking about the gospel
of God, which the prophets preached, that concerns a person who is
both God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would do a specific
work for his people. And verse 16, listen to what
he says in Romans 1, 16. He says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Remember,
God says, I'm going to bring near my righteousness, my salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. The Greek was a way of referring to all Gentiles back
then because it was a Hellenistic or Greek world. And he says,
for therein is the righteousness of God. Remember what he said
in Isaiah 46? I bring near my righteousness. Now in that gospel
is preached the righteousness of God, revealed from faith to
faith, that is, from the preaching of the gospel to those who believe,
salvation being the gift of God, as it is written, the just shall
live by faith. This is Israel's hope. And then
look over at Romans 9 now. Turn to Romans 9 and look at
verse 30. Israel's hope. Let Israel hope
in the Lord. in the Lord my righteousness,
verse 30, after he had spoken of the rejection of the majority
of the nation Israel, they rejected Christ, but he assures them in
Romans 9, 10, and 11 that God has a people out of that nation,
a remnant according to the election of grace, he calls them in Romans
11, 5. And here's the problem, look
here, look at verse 30, he says, what shall we say then that the
Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, they didn't have
the laws, what he means there, the law of Moses, they've attained
a righteousness. Now how did they do that? Even
the righteousness which is of faith. Now what is the righteousness
which is of faith? Is that God saying, well Bill,
you're righteous because you believed? No. The righteousness
of faith is the righteousness of God that we receive by faith.
You see, it's Christ. We believe in Christ, who is
our righteousness. who died for my sins and put
them away, who took my sins upon himself. God doesn't mark me
with iniquities because my iniquities were marked upon Christ. They
were charged to him, and I have his righteousness charged to
me. For God made him to be sin, Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians
5 21. That's the hope of Israel, Christ. The Lord my righteousness. So
he says, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
they had the law of Moses. They have not attained to the
law of righteousness. Wherefore, or why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
What is it to seek righteousness by faith? It's to seek it in
Christ. And here's the proof of that, for they stumbled at
that stumbling stone. That's a reference in Isaiah
chapter 8 and chapter 28 talking about the Messiah. He says, as
it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and
rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him find righteousness
in him, find forgiveness by his blood. He says, shall not be
ashamed. Verse one of chapter 10, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. They've missed this
knowledge. What knowledge? For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness. and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. What is that? Verse four, for
Christ is the end. That means the finishing, the
fulfillment, the completion of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. There's Israel's hope once again. Let me show you one more verse
and I'll close. Revelation 19. And again, there's other verses
that we could go to, so many. Look at Revelation 19. Look at
verse 7. This is the marriage supper of
the Lamb, the marriage of the Lamb with His bride. Who's the
Lamb? That's Christ. The Lamb of God,
the sacrifice of God who died for the sins of His sheep and
put those sins away. paid the redemption price and
brought in righteousness whereby we could stand before God accepted
and whole and complete. And who is his bride? That's
his church. That's not all without exception,
that's his church. Who is the church? They're the
called out ones, redeemed of the Lord, chosen of God, redeemed
of the Lord and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They believe
in him. And he says in verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come.
And his wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted. Now how did she make herself
ready? By working her way into salvation? No. Look, verse eight,
and to her was granted, that's a gift, given, that she should
be arrayed in fine linen. Now fine linen is an Old Testament
type, That speaks of the righteousness of God, the holiness of God. It's clean and white, there's
no blemish here. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. What's a saint? A sinner saved
by the grace of God, a sanctified one. What is the righteousness
of saints here? Well, most preachers would tell
you, well, that's the righteous works of the saints here on earth
by which God rewards them according to their work. My friend, that
is not the case. That's not what this is speaking
of. First of all, you go from Genesis to Revelation. I challenge
you to go from Genesis to Revelation and find me one saint who speaks
of righteousness as his works. You will not find it. You will
not find it in this book. What is the righteousness of
saints? What is my righteousness before God? It's Christ. He is my righteousness. He's
Jehovah Sidcanu. His righteousness charged, accounted,
imputed to me. I have no righteousness before
God but Christ. We were listening to the radio
program on the way over to church this morning. I always quote
that song. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
That's Israel's hope. Let me tell you something, that's
your hope. And if you realize that hope and come to Christ
for salvation, you know what you are? You're a spiritual Israelite. That's what the Bible teaches.
I didn't have time to go into all those verses. But they're
there. a spiritual Israelite, the Israel
of God, he calls it in Galatians 6 and verse 16. All right.