Righteousness and Praise Spring Forth

Q: What does the Bible say about righteousness?

The Bible teaches that righteousness is found in Christ, who robes believers in His righteousness, making them acceptable before God. Righteousness, according to the Bible, is not based on human deeds but on the perfect righteousness of Christ. In Romans 3:22, it states that the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. This righteousness is essential for salvation because all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Christ, in His life and sacrifice, fulfills the law and provides a legal standing for believers, making them justified and righteous before God. This is why we rejoice, as articulated in Isaiah 61:10, where it describes the believer's joy in the Lord for being clothed in His garments of salvation.

Q: How do we know we are God's chosen people?

We know we are God's chosen if we believe in Christ, as belief is the evidence of His saving work in us. The assurance of being one of God's chosen people lies in faith in Christ. In Isaiah 61, the text reveals that God effects a work in the hearts of those He has chosen to make them willing to believe in Him. This new heart and will to believe are indicative of God's election and grace in the life of a sinner. As stated, 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power' (Psalm 110:3). Genuine faith produces the evidence of election, as those who truly belong to Him will manifest a dependence on Christ and His righteousness, rejoicing in their standing before God rather than their own works.

Q: Why is praise important for Christians?

Praise is essential for Christians as it acknowledges God's work and grace in our lives, leading to joy and unity. Praise for Christians is a vital expression of gratitude and recognition of God's sovereignty and grace in our lives. In Isaiah 61:10, it is stated that our response to His mighty work is one of joy and praise, proclaiming His righteousness and justice. When believers acknowledge God's work, they are not only expressing thanks but also entering into the unity of the body of Christ, where both Jew and Gentile share in the same grace and treasure, becoming one family under God's covenant (Ephesians 2:19-22). This communal aspect of praise deepens relationships within the body and draws others to recognize God's goodness.

Q: How do we understand the concept of grace in salvation?

Grace in salvation is God's unmerited favor that brings about regeneration, justification, and the gift of faith. In the Reformed understanding, grace is the foundational concept in salvation. It is God's unmerited favor bestowed upon sinners, which results in regeneration and the ability to believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 clarifies that we are saved by grace through faith, which is itself a gift from God, not a result of our works. This means that salvation is entirely the work of God, from initiating grace to completing it in the life of the believer. As expressed in Romans 3:24, we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Hence, grace not only saves but sustains us in our Christian walk, continually pointing us back to the cross and Christ's sufficiency.

Q: Why is the unity of believers significant in Christianity?

The unity of believers reflects the saving work of Christ and is essential for the church's witness to the world. Unity among believers is significant because it reflects the very nature of God, who has reconciled diverse groups into one body through Christ's sacrifice. Ephesians 4:4-6 emphasizes that there is one body and one Spirit, highlighting the importance of unity in the Christian faith. This oneness fosters a powerful witness to a divided world, demonstrating the transformative power of the gospel. As believers partake of the same grace and righteousness, showcased in Isaiah 61:6-7, they embody the love and grace of God, which brings glory to Him and draws others to the faith. This unity is not merely an ideal; it is an essential aspect of the church's identity and mission.

All right, brethren, let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah 61. Thursday night I preached from here and I had to rush through the last point and it's just too important. I want to go back and I want to pick up where we left off and look at what the Lord declares here. Salvation is of the Lord. That means God the Father purposed it. His son, the Lord Jesus, came and accomplished it. And the Holy Spirit shall apply it.

And we will give him all the glory. And what our Lord is declaring here in this 61st chapter of Isaiah is he's the prophet, priest, and king. And he's declaring to his apostles who he called out amongst the Jews that he's sending them forth to preach the gospel and he will call his people. And so that's good news to us because we're Gentiles. We're the ones he called. So we're thankful for this. And now he's doing the same as we preach the gospel.

He's calling his people. All right, so the first thing we see, the apostles in the early church were persecuted and shamed by those who hated the Lord and hated his gospel. And mostly by mainstream religion, the ones who persecuted and crucified our Savior are the ones who persecuted the apostles and the disciples in the early church. But the Lord Jesus declares in verse six, Is that too loud? It sounds loud to me. Is it good? You're good? Okay. Verse six, but you shall be named the priests of the Lord. Men shall call you the ministers of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double.

If you look in Revelation 5, the Lord made all his people kings and priests. He already made us his ministers by his blood. It says in verse 9, John beheld everyone around the throne and it said they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, speaking to the Lord Jesus. Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. He has people in every kindred, tribe and tongue. He calls us out to him. And you have made us unto our God kings and priests. and we shall reign on the earth.

And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

Now, you remember in Philippians 2, the Lord teaches us to have the mind of Christ. And he said, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other better. That's the mind Christ had, that's the spirit of Christ. And when he puts his spirit in us, we want him to have all the honor and the glory and the praise. And in our text, he's saying, He's gonna give his people honor. This is the mind of Christ, to let, to esteem the other better. Christ did all the work for us, and he does all the work in his people, yet he says, you're gonna have honor. And then by him doing the work in us, we want him to have all the honor. That's oneness. That's being made contrite, humble in heart, to esteem the other better. That's the spirit of Christ.

Before, sinners shamed the apostles. They called them names. They were few in number compared to the hosts that followed the Pharisees. But after Christ saved them, after he saved the people that were shaming his apostles, after he saved them through the gospel, they called the apostles priests of the Lord and ministers of God. They knew, you're the real servant of God. You're the real minister of the God.

And the new believer knows it because Christ's minister just preaches Christ. We just preach Christ, set him forth. And that's exactly what Peter said. They speak against you as evildoers, but they will behold your good works and they will glorify God in the day of visitation. They may be shaming you while you're declaring the gospel, but when God saves them, they're gonna say, You're the minister of God because you didn't do what the rest of the world did. You just preached Christ to me and trusted Christ to save me.

That's how we know a true minister of the Lord. All his people are witnesses and we give Christ the glory. We speak of him and his honor, his works, his person, what he accomplished for us. And that's the message through which he saves his people. Now, When he does this work, he makes us one with our brethren.

Jews and Gentiles hated each other, and the enmity between them was the law. The Jews said, you know, we're the circumcision, we have the law, we have the oracles of God, you folks are Gentile dogs. And the Gentiles hated Israel for being so arrogant. And while that's going on, all of them were lost. None of them were saved because they were proud and boasting in themselves and what they saw as outward differences that made them better than somebody else. That's how the whole world functions.

You know, racism, what do they call chauvinistic male against female, that's how the world operates. but the Lord calls you and makes you one with your brethren. Both our messages today is talking about how the Lord makes his people one. And it says here, verse six, the second part, you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. That means we're gonna partake, the Jewish apostles that he called, they're gonna partake of the same riches that the Gentile believer partakes of and we're in glory in the same Lord, both of us.

That's the oneness Christ creates. Go with me to Ephesians 3. I'll show you this, Ephesians 3. Paul was a Jew, and he was called by the Lord to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And this whole, this is the epistle of oneness. That's what Ephesians is.

And he told us in chapter one, the Lord made us one by choosing us in Christ, He said in chapter two, Christ made us one because he came and fulfilled the law for us. He made us one with our brethren and one with God. Then he came and preached peace to us and gave us a new heart. Now in chapter three, look at this. Paul says in verse one, for this cause, he just said, you're a habitation of God through the spirit. He called you by his grace.

And Paul says, for this cause, I Paul, a natural Jew by his first birth, but a true Jew by the new birth. I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you've heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me for you, how that by revelation he made Nona to me the mystery. I dropped down to verse six, here's the mystery. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister.

Paul said, this is how I was called. It was according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. In our text, Christ said, I will direct the work. I will call my people. And Paul said, that's what he did in me. He effectually worked in me. Christ is not trying to call people. When he speaks, this gospel goes forth, you hear it, and I can't make it effectual in your heart. But if he does, you're gonna believe him. You'll believe him immediately. And you that have been called know that.

And he said, he effectually worked in me in power, And he says, verse eight, unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Christ said, you're gonna eat the same riches. And Paul said, I'm eating the unsearchable riches of Christ, and I came to preach these riches to you, and now you're eating the unsearchable riches. The unsearchable riches, is Christ and everything he is to us. We eat the same riches. All his people who are called together partake of the same riches, and that's Christ. And he said, and I was sent to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery.

We've been made fellows in the same ship, one. And he said, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. In verse 11, He said this is God's eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, by Christ's faithfulness. By his obedience we've been made righteous and holy and now we can approach holy God. He goes on and he says, you all are of the same family. He said we have the same name. In chapter five he said there's one one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

And that's what Christ is saying in our text. When he calls us, he makes us one. I was thinking about this this week. This country, in Congress, we've been passing laws since the beginning. And I thought, Congress and will worship, will works, religion are just the same. They're trying to legislate oneness. I keep passing laws because we keep breaking the old laws to try to get people to treat each other like we're one and be kind to one another.

You can't legislate that. You can't do this by law. If it's done by law, that means it's up to us to do it. It can't be done that way. Christ makes his people one through the preaching of this word. He makes us to see we're entirely sinners. That's all we are in ourselves. None of us can boast above another. We're sinners, that's it. But in Christ, by his grace, there's one body, one faith, one hope, one Lord, one righteousness. We're one. Everybody one in him by his grace. That's how he makes oneness.

So, back in our text in Isaiah 61, the Lord promises, he said, whereas you were shamed by the Pharisees as unrighteous, you were confounded by your own dead heart, he says in verse seven, for your shame you shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. That word portion means inheritance. Christ is our inheritance. And he says, therefore in their land they shall possess the double. Everlasting joy shall be unto them. That's what our Lord has promised us, everlasting joy. Now look, for I the Lord love judgment.

I hate robbery for burnt offerings. They were bringing him the lame and the sick, and they were putting confidence in their act of sacrificing rather than seeing Christ pictured in the lamb. They didn't do it from a heart that loved him and believed him. It was just fake, phony religion, and he said, I hate it.

But he says here now, I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them and their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. He's the husband, we're the bride, and as the gospel goes forth, he births his children through the incorruptible seed, the gospel, Christ himself, and a new child is born within a center. And that's what he's talking about here. And he said, I will direct this work in truth, I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. Now, here's the next thing. He declares how they're gonna know we are the seed, the children of God, who God has blessed. How are they gonna know that? Are we gonna do some extraordinary work to make them know that? How are they gonna know that? The next verse is us speaking. It's us who he saved speaking.

This is how they're gonna know that we're the Lord's people and how they're gonna know we've been blessed of the Lord. Verse 10, we say this, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. Those the Lord has saved stop boasting in ourselves. We stop glorying in ourselves. We have nothing to glory in. We glory in the Lord. We rejoice in the Lord.

We give him all the glory because he did everything for us. He's gonna show us here now this double honor he gives us. First of all, he regenerates us by the Spirit through this gospel. And doing so, he sanctifies us. He gives us a new holy heart and faith to trust him. In verse 10, this is why we say, I will greatly, I will, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God.

Where do we get this will? We didn't have it before. Go with me to Psalm 110. We did not have this will before. The Lord said salvation is not of him that willeth. It's not of our will. It's not something that we have by nature willing to believe Christ. Scripture says, Romans 8 says, our carnal minds are enmity against God. We come into the world enmity against God, the true God that does all the saving. We don't like that because he said it's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that run it. It's not of your will or my will. It's not of our works, our running.

That's what offends men. Well, here's your choice. Preach the truth and offend sinners, or water it down so men are pleased and offend God. I'm gonna preach what he's told us to preach, because this is what the book said. This is how he saved me, and I know this is how he's gonna save other sinners. Where'd we get this will? Psalm 110. Psalm 110, verse one.

The Lord said unto my Lord. When Peter preached this on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, he said David was talking about the Lord God speaking to Christ Jesus. David said he, David knew this spoke of the Lord. He wrote it, but he knew it was speaking of the Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Now here's where you get this will. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. The rod is the gospel, and Christ in heavenly Zion sends the rod of the gospel, just a man, a nobody with no power, an earthen vessel preaching the gospel, and it's the rod of his power when he makes it effectual, like he did in Paul, I will send the rod of my strength from my throne in heaven into my people in the earth, and here'll be the result, verse three, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

That's how we're made willing. because he creates a new holy heart. Your will and everybody's will is bound by their nature. We come into this world with a corrupt nature because we were born of Adam. So our will is bound by our nature. You can only do what your nature is to do. God only does what his nature is to do. God is holy, so he can't do anything that's unholy. God's nature is righteous. He can't do anything that's unrighteous. He's truth. He can't lie. That's his nature.

And while we're sinners, our nature is to hate God. And we cannot believe this God. This is why men hate it. That means salvations of the Lord, doesn't it? That means he's gonna have to give a new heart, doesn't it? First Corinthians chapter two says, he said, The carnal man will not and cannot receive the things of the Spirit. He will not and he cannot. We have to be born again of the Spirit of the Lord. That's why Christ said that. We have to be born again of God. He gives you a new will.

Look at the next word there in Psalm 110.3.

In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth. When Christ gives you a new heart, It's the first day of our life as a newborn babe in Christ. It's the womb of the morning, and it's the beauty of holiness. Christ enters and creates a holy heart, a new holy heart, and he gives you a new will to believe him, and that's when we believe him. All right, back in our text. So that's the first thing he said, I'm gonna do for you. I'm gonna give you a new holy heart. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God. Where'd you get that heart? He gave it to you.

So the first work is the sanctifying work in your heart. Then he makes you see Christ did all the work of justifying us before God, before the law. Look at the next thing, verse 10. Here's why we rejoice, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewel. This is why we rejoice. He come and give us a new heart and faith to behold him, and now we see he's our righteousness, and he has robed us in his righteousness.

What does that mean? For you that believe the Lord, trust Christ, before a holy God who knows everything about us. He knows your heart. If you're in pitch darkness in a cave and nobody can see you, you can't see one foot in front of you, he sees it like it's broad daylight. He knows everything about us.

And God says of everybody that Christ justified, he says we are absolutely, perfectly righteous in Christ. God sees us as having fulfilled his law in perfection. And that's why Romans 8, 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation.

See, this is why we joy in the Lord. He had to give us this heart to say, I will rejoice in the Lord. And then why do you do it? Because he not only sanctified me, he made me see He justified me. He's my righteousness. That's why we give him all the glory. This is what, go with me to Romans 3. I wanna support this with some other scripture. I want you to see that I'm not just stretching it. Romans 3. Paul spent these first three chapters declaring we're all sinners.

And then he ended right here In verse 20, Romans 3.20 says, therefore by the deeds of the law, by us doing the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

That's why it was given, to tell us we're sinner. All right, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This is what the law and the prophets were teaching us all along. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. That's his obedience. That's his faithfulness.

By one man, many were made sinners. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Adam made us all sinners by his obedience. That's called headship. God set it up that way. We're represented in Adam because we all were born of Adam. When he sinned, we all sinned in him. All right.

So shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the righteousness of God is manifested, Christ Jesus, and his righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe. Just what our text said, I rejoice in the Lord because he came and gave me a new heart to see. He has robed me in his righteousness. I'm righteous before God now in him, so are you. It has to be this way for everybody he saves, because look at the next word. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, who God set forth to be a sin-atoning, sin-removing sacrifice, a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus.

How do I know I'm one of God's chosen people? The only way you're gonna know that. How do I know if Christ died for me? There ain't but one way to know it. Do you believe him? That's the only way. Because in our text, Christ says, everybody that I justified I'm sending my gospel to them, and I'm going to direct the work in truth, and I'm going to give them a new heart, and they will say, I will rejoice in the Lord because he has robed me in his righteousness. That's how you know you're his. Do you believe him? He makes you believe him. This is what our Savior meant.

The Pharisees were, he said, you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. You're trying to come to me in the law, you major on the minors and minor on the major. And he said, the kingdom of God's not meat and drink. It's not you doing what you do and don't do.

The kingdom of God is righteousness, Christ our righteousness, peace by Christ our peace, joy in Christ, our rejoice in the Lord, and all of this is in the Holy Spirit. It's all spiritual. The Lord came and gave you a new heart. This is the work of our prophet, priest, and king. Look at verse eight. For I, the Lord, love judgment. I hate robbery for burnt offering.

I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. and their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed by this work he's done, because we only glory in the Lord. Every other religion, all will works religion, you got a jillion different denominations, I don't know how many different religions.

There's only two in the whole world, Cain and Abel. Cain came with blood, acknowledging he's a sinner. He can only be accepted in Christ the Lord. Abel came that way. Cain came with the work of the ground, the cursed ground, trying to work his way to God.

Every other religion says that the sinner did something. He added something. Something he did. That's works religion. There's only two. The other is the Lord. the Lord's people, he does all the work. And he brings his people to say, he did it all. He did it all. Where you find a people that's given God all the glory, and they're saying, all I brought to the table was sin, that's it. That's it. It's all the Lord.

When you find the people preaching that message, you found the church of God. That's just so. And because only the Lord can make his people do that. Only the Lord can make his people do that. All right, and look now, is this a sure and certain word? Absolutely sure. Look, verse 11.

He said, for as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Just like the rain and the snow come down and accomplish His will, and nourish and bring forth in bud. So when God sends his word, he accomplishes his will by it.

He says righteousness will spring forth by Christ our righteousness, justifying us. All God's elect are justified on the cross and we give him all the glory. And that's the righteousness. It's Christ robing us in his righteousness and praise shall spring forth. We give him all the glory. We give him all the glory. God said, that's the sure, certain result of what I'm gonna do when I send my gospel forth. He never failed. All right, let's pray to him, brethren. Lord, we thank you. What a merciful, gracious, loving God who is never frustrated, who saves to the uttermost.

What grace that you purpose to save sinners like we are. What mercy that you would not give us what we earned. You held that back and put it all on your dear son. What grace that you sent your only son who came forth and established perfect righteousness for your people. who manifest how righteous you are, how just you are, by taking our place and bearing your justice in full. Lord, you satisfied the law for us. You satisfied justice for your people.

Lord, we would not even believe this unless you sent the gospel to us and gave us hearts to believe you. So we do, Lord. We give you the praise and the glory and the honor. And we thank you. Thank you for saving sinners like us. And Lord, we pray that you would continue to send this gospel forth as you've promised, as you purposed, as you said you would. We pray, Lord, you'd send this gospel forth and call your lost sheep. Call those that Christ justified. Make them have new hearts and new wills and faith to believe you and give you the glory.

Lord, we pray it be our children. We pray it's our loved ones. We pray it's our neighbors. We pray, Lord, we have no hope, no salvation except you do this work. And we pray, Lord, we're at your mercy, and we beg you for mercy. You said you would do it, but you said You would be inquired of us to do it. You would have us ask you, and we're asking you, Lord, please save your people. Please save your people. Whatever your will is, make us to do it, and make us bow to it, and let us know, remember that it's for your salvation, your glory, and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, brother. Take a little break, we'll come back.

Righteousness and Praise Spring Forth

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about righteousness?

How do we know we are God's chosen people?

Why is praise important for Christians?

How do we understand the concept of grace in salvation?

Why is the unity of believers significant in Christianity?

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Righteousness and Praise Spring Forth

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about righteousness?

How do we know we are God's chosen people?

Why is praise important for Christians?

How do we understand the concept of grace in salvation?

Why is the unity of believers significant in Christianity?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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