Mike, if it's alright with you,
I'm just going to preach. I don't believe I've ever felt
more ready to preach in my heart than I do right now after that
song. Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah 57. I love that song. Before we begin
to look at the text, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, We humbly bow in
your majestic presence. So thankful for your mercy and
your grace to your people and your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for that precious
blood that he shed to wash your people from all of their sin.
How we thank you how willingly he gave his body to be bruised
and battered and broken bearing the punishment of our sin. Father, how we thank you. And while our tongues are frail,
our voices are weak, how we pray that you give us the breath till
our dying day that we sing the praises of our precious Redeemer.
So that day that we join that ransom throng and sing your praises
perfectly. Father, I pray that you'd be
with us as we meet together tonight. Bless your word. Cause it to
go forth in power. Give your people a time of true
worship. I would pray that the name, the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ would be exalted. And then in
awe and wonder, we might behold him and worship him. have our
rest and our faith and our confidence in him alone. Father, we're thankful
for the countless many blessings of this life that you've so freely
given us. You blessed us beyond measure
and we beg your forgiveness for the times that we murmur and
complain and are not thankful as we ought. We're thankful that
you forgive us anyway, always see us in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankful, Father, for these good reports we've had in our brethren.
Thankful for your mercies to Ron that you continue to heal
him. Thankful for this miracle that you've given our brother
Scott. Pray that you continue to strengthen him and heal his
body according to your will. For these others, so many of
our brothers and sisters that, Father, are in deep waters. You know. You don't need us to
tell you. You know. We pray that you'd
be with them. that you comfort their hearts,
we pray that you heal their bodies, be with them and their families
in this very difficult time. Cause their heart to rest in
a good hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name, for
his glory, we pray. Give thanks. Amen. All right, the title of the message
this evening is The Difference Between the Righteous and Wicked.
In Isaiah 57, verses 1 and 2, we read a description of the
righteous, a description of the believer who's been made righteous
in Christ. Isaiah said, the righteous perisheth,
and no man layeth it to heart, and merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. These verses describe the righteous. Remember, we're going to look
at the difference between the righteous and the wicked. Isaiah says the
righteous walks in his uprightness. His uprightness is the uprightness,
the righteousness that God gave to him. That's why it's his,
because God gave it to him. He didn't earn it by his own
works of righteousness. Because we'll see in a minute
that no son of Adam can do that. No son of Adam can please God
or earn a righteousness by what he does, his obedience, his religious
activity. But the Lord Jesus Christ did.
He earned a perfect righteousness as a man. He obeyed the law perfectly. Everything he did pleased his
father. He always pleased his father.
And that righteousness of Christ, the righteousness that he earned
is imputed to God's elect. We talk about righteousness being
imputed. It simply means this. God gave
that righteousness to his elect. He charged it to them so that
it's theirs. They didn't earn it. Christ earned
it for them. And he made them righteous in
him. And Christ washed the sin, all their sin away. He washed
it away in the blood of his sacrifice. The blood that the wine of this
table represents. That's how the righteous became
righteous. That's how they have a righteousness and uprightness
that they call theirs. God gave it to them in Christ.
And Isaiah describes the righteous as merciful men and women. Well,
of course, they're merciful. They're merciful men and women
because God's given them a new nature. He's given them the nature
of their heavenly father that they received in the new birth.
They have a nature that's merciful and they have a desire to be
merciful people. Because of God's mercy to them.
God's been so merciful to them and they desire to be like Him. They desire to be merciful. You'll
never find a greater act of mercy than the Father. Not giving us
the punishment that we deserve. because he gave Christ our substitute,
the punishment that we deserve. There's no greater act of mercy
than that. And that makes the righteous desire to be merciful. Then Isaiah says that the righteous,
they still die. Now they're righteous, they're
righteous in Christ, but they have an old nature, a fleshly
nature. The flesh has got to die. And
he says that when the righteous die, They leave this world and
enter into peace. They enter into eternal peace
with Christ our Savior. They have that peace because
Christ purchased it for them by the blood of his sacrifice.
But the sad thing is, I looked and looked and looked at this,
and he's right. It's in God's Word, of course
he's right. The sad thing is, is that when the righteous die,
Nobody considers what just happened. If the righteous die and are
taken away, is there any hope for the wicked, the unrighteous
to escape death and then go to face God in the judgment? Of
course there's not. But the wicked don't consider
that, do they? Here a righteous man dies. He
enters into peace. And the wicked, the unrighteous
don't consider that and think, That's going to be me. They come
to his visitation. They knew him from work or they
were his neighbor. They come to his visitation.
There he lays in the casket and they never consider. That's going
to be me soon. And it never makes them seek
Christ. When the righteous die, nobody
really considers that the earth is now worse off because they're
gone. The righteous are better off, but the world that they
left us The righteous left this world of sin for a world of righteousness. They left a body of sin for a
body of holiness. They left this world of pain
and sorrow for a world of glory and joy and peace. They left
this world seen through a glass darkly. And they awoke looking
into the face of Jesus Christ. They're better off, aren't they?
but we who are left are not. The world's worse off because
they're gone. There's one less kind, considerate,
merciful person on this earth. The world is worse off because
there's one less person on this earth looking to Christ. There's
one less person that knows what all this is about, that it's
about Christ, about His glory, about He's doing all this. He's keeping all this together
for the good of His people. There's one less person on earth
that knows that and the world's worse off for it. The family
left behind is worse off because that righteous departed loved
one isn't there to influence them anymore. And that's sad.
The church, the community is worse off because that righteous
man who departed can't influence them anymore. Last year, we had the funeral
service, said goodbye to two faithful, faithful men, H.B. Thompson and our brother, Roy
Dennison. Well, they're not here to influence
us anymore. Their kindness, their generosity, the way they were
with people, their faithfulness, they're not here to influence
us anymore. Well, it's time for us younger
to take up the mantle, isn't it? Take up the mantle to influence
the church, to be a help to the church, a help to the community
like these men do. Because when God calls the righteous
on, the world's worse off. But while we are worse off and
we sorrow, don't we, when that happens, here's something we
must consider when a righteous loved one dies. It's something
that will help us in our time of sorrow. Consider this. The righteous is taken away from
the evil. They're taken away from this
present evil, the present evil that's in this world. And they're
taken away. They're spared from evils that
are coming down the pipe. They really are. Evil can't touch
them anymore. Now, we'd sorrow less if we consider
that more. So the righteous, they're made
righteous in Christ, their end is peace. But now Isaiah begins
to tell us about the wicked. The wicked are wicked because
their self-righteousness, all their self-righteous religion,
it's all wickedness. And there's no peace for them.
He begins here in verse three. But draw near hither, ye sons
of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore."
Now, Isaiah compares false religion to sexual sins. I mean, that's
how wicked false religion is. This tells us how wicked worshiping
anything other than Christ alone really is. He compares it to
sexual sins. False religion is spiritual adultery. It's looking for something to
worship other than God to whom all worships do. It's spiritual adultery. And
false religion is spiritual prostitution. False religion is a barter system.
If you think about it, look at what they'd say. It's a barter
system. You give your body in exchange
for hoping to get some spiritual gain from it. You give yourself,
all of it, you know, up for some promise of some sort of spiritual
gain. You know, I'll do this and God will bless me. That's
spiritual prostitution, isn't it? It's a barter system. So
the difference between the righteous and the wicked, it's the seed
from which they're born. The righteous are born by the
spirit, from the holy seed, the word of God. But the wicked,
Isaiah calls them the sons of the sorceress. The sorceress
is someone who casts spells. It's a false prophet, that's
what he did. It amazes me how they do it.
They just cast a spell over people. But they never preach the sincere
word of God. They're the seed of this sorceress. At the end of verse 4, Isaiah
calls them the seed of spiritual adultery and spiritual prostitution. He calls it the seed of falsehood.
Look here at verse 4. Against whom do you sport yourselves?
Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are
ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood? That's what
they are because that's the seed from which they're born. And
the wicked, they mock the righteous. When he talks here about drawing
out the tongue, it means they're sticking out their tongue and
they're mocking the righteous. They say, you can't believe that,
do you? Nobody believes that sovereign
grace stuff. Well, nobody believes that election
stuff. That's just absurd. And they mock. They mock the
word of God because they think they're so smart. And when they
mock the word of God, they put themselves in opposition to the
word of God, all they're doing is showing their ignorance, aren't
they? Read on verse five. Inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under
the cliffs of the rocks. The wicked inflame their own
selves. They fan this flame of fire of
the flesh and they call it spirit. They just whip themselves up
into this religious frenzy. Maybe it makes them feel better
for a while. Maybe it impresses other people
who are there. but it never impresses God. And
here's the extreme of where that frenzy, they whip themselves
up into this frenzy thinking they can do these things to please
God. Here is the far end of where
that goes. They take their own children
and they kill them. They sacrifice them to God. They
go and they take them and they throw them off cliffs or they
take them underneath the cliffs, you know, and sacrifice them
or whatever they do to them. I've been to Mexico, standing
on those cliffs where they say this is where the Mayans took
their children and threw them off. Threw them off to their
death. Sacrificed them to their God. Sacrificing them, hoping
that their God, the rain God, would send rain. True story. The priest, the sorcerer,
is casting a spell He was an astronomer. He watched the stars
and he watched the stars and he knew when the season was getting
ready to change. He knew when it was soon going
to rain. So you know what he did? He told
the people, you better sacrifice your children so it'll rain.
And they did and it rained and they all thought how wonderful
he was. He cast a spell over them. That's this frenzy and
people have such a desire to get rid of their sin and please
God so God's not angry with them anymore. They whip themselves
up into this frenzy. They sacrifice their children.
And I might say that people who take their children, this false
religion, this self-righteous, self-willed religion are doing
the same thing. They're killing their children
in the name of religion. And they think God's pleased
with them. And it just shows you their ignorance. God's not
pleased with the death of our children. God's pleased with
the death of one son. His son. But not ours. And these wicked, they go on
in their self-religion. They go on sacrificing their
children. They go on doing these things and refuse to seek Christ
because they think sacrificing their children is something that's
valuable enough. They think it's more valuable
than Christ. Now, I tell you, it's true that our children are
the most valuable thing we have. But even the blood of our own
children can't put away our sin. As much as we love those babies
now, even their blood can't put away our sin. Only one son can
do that, God's son. We think our children, at least
while they're little anyway, before maybe we start to see
otherwise, we think they're so innocent and sweet. But that
innocence is not righteousness. That innocence, that can't make
us righteous. Sacrificing that little small child can't make
us righteous. Only Christ can make us righteous
by giving us his righteousness. That's the only righteousness
that God will accept. Read on here, verse six. Among
the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. They, they are
thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured
a drink offering. Thou hast offered a meat offering.
Should I receive comfort in these? A drink offering and a meat offering
were the offerings that they offered to give thanks for the
harvest and for the rain. They were offerings to give thanks
for food, which gave them life. It was an offering thanking God
for giving them life. Well, the wicked offer these
meat offerings and drink offerings to their idol. They give credit
for life to their idol, but not to God. Really what they're doing
is giving thanks, giving credit for their own life to them and
what they do. Isn't that what the Pharisee
in the temple was doing as he prayed? God, I thank you. I'm
not as other men are. I fast twice in the week. I tithe
of everything. I'm not like that publican over
there. He was just thanking God for everything he did, wasn't
he? Giving credit for life to everything he did. Now is God
going to accept that? Our Lord said He didn't accept
that sacrifice. He said that man went down to
his house without God, without mercy, without righteousness.
God only accepts us, He only accepts Christ, and He'll only
accept us in Christ. Eternal life. is only found in
Christ. You're never going to find it.
Look into one of these idols. You'll never find peace in life
there. Read on verse seven. Upon a lofty
and high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither wentest
thou up to offer sacrifice. Now the wicked seek out an impressive
looking place to hold their religious ceremonies. In Isaiah's day,
what they would do is they would go up to these high and lofty
mountains. You have a great view. It's so
beautiful up there. And it just seems so impressive.
And they say, oh, I just feel so much closer to God, you know,
in this impressive place. In our day, it's building humongous
buildings. And people think, oh, we're so
impressed. I feel closer to God, this big
cathedral, you know. But I tell you what, the only
building God is pleased with. The only building God's impressed
with is the building of His church. It's built upon Christ, the chief
cornerstone. But they don't know that. They're
not going to find any peace there. Isaiah goes on, verse 8, he says,
Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance. For thou hast discovered, you've
uncovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up and
hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant with them. Thou
lovest their bed, where thou sawest it." Now this is spiritual
adultery. It's going up to another man,
to another, other than God our husband. And this adultery, it
enters into a covenant with false religion. They make a covenant.
But now, you know, covenant's a good gospel word. But this
is not the covenant of God's grace. It's man's covenant with
death and hell. Look back a few chapters to Isaiah
chapter 28. And the wicked love this covenant
that they've made. They've got a covenant with death
and a covenant with hell. But it's not going to do them
any good. They're not going to give them any peace or life there. Isaiah
28, verse 17. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. When the overflowing scourge will pass through, then you should
be trodden down by it. The only covenant that will save
sinners, the only covenant that will give sinners peace and life
is God's covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. Salvation is not
what we do. Salvation is what Christ has
done. Salvation is what Christ accomplished
as a man, as a representative of his people. as the substitute
for His people. There is salvation. There is
a refuge from God's wrath against sin. But it's all found in Christ. You have a refuge. If you're
in Christ, He's your shelter. He's already borne God's wrath
against your sin. And you're safe there. But only
there. Only in Him. So don't look to
another. Look to Him. And when thou wentest up to the
king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst
send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself, even
unto hell. Now this is spiritual prostitution.
Isn't this, this is exactly what a harlot does. She tries to make
herself as attractive as she can, so she can get as many customers
as she can get. It's a money making proposition. And that's all false religion
is. Just try to make yourself look as good as you can look
so you can get as many trinkets and glories you can get. It's
a money-making proposition. What can I get? And that's such
error, such deep error. And I know people look at that
in the flesh and they're impressed with all this religious finery,
you know, religious activity. But all it does, Isaiah says,
it debases a person. That false religion, all this
religious activity, what you can get from God, will debase
you just as much as a harlot's debased. It'll bring you nothing
but shame, not glory. Verse 10, he says, Thou art wearied
in the greatness of thy way, yet saidst thou not, there's
no hope. Thou hast found the life of thine
hand, therefore thou wast not grieved. Now you'd think, that
people in works religion would finally wear themselves out and
surrender. I mean, you'd think that, wouldn't
you? I mean, they're constantly working, but they can never quit. No matter how much they do, it's
never enough. They can never quit. You'd think
they'd finally just quit because they're wore out. You'd think
they would finally think and finally dawn on them, you know,
there's no peace in this. No matter what I do, I keep doing
more. There's no peace. And where I do, there's no hope
in it. There's no expectation because
I know I haven't done enough. But instead, they're so blind,
they just keep going right on their way of wickedness. And
that's what false religion is. Now it's wickedness. It's not
well, you know, they're doing some good things and they're
saying some good things, even though they've got some things
wrong. No, it's wickedness that's damning the souls of men and
women. It gives them no peace, no life. Verse 11, he says, and
of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied,
and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? Had not
I held my peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not? You
know, the wicked and false religion are full of fear. just full of it. They're afraid
of everything except God. They're afraid of the law. They're
afraid of getting punished. They're afraid of the traditions
of men. You know, the scripture tells you, drink some wine for
your stomach's sake. You know, it's fine. But the
traditions of men say you're damned if you touch an alcohol
and they're so afraid to touch it. They're just even accidentally
or something. They're so full of fear. They're
afraid of everything. But there's no reverence of God
before their eyes. There's no just saying, I've
got to follow the feet of God and beg Him for mercy. There's
no reverence. Instead, they say, well, I've
accepted Jesus, my personal Savior. Where's the reverence there?
Them saying, oh, no, God's just begging you. He's just knocking
at your door, your heart's door. Won't you let Him in? Where's
the reverence there? There's no reverence of God.
There's no fear of God before their eyes. And God's given them
space to repent. He's held his peace and they
still don't repent. So where does all that religious
activity get them? It gets them absolutely nowhere.
Look at verse 12. God says, I will declare thy
righteousness and thy works for they shall not profit thee. God
says all your good works that you're so proud of, they're nothing
but filthy rags. They're defiled. They're defiled
with sin and they, not only do they not make you better, they
make you worse. They make you more defiled. There is no profit
in self-righteousness. There's no profit in the works
that we do trying to please God. There's nothing we can do for
God. There's no profit in that. The
only profit that we can ever find for our souls is in Christ,
in His mercy, in His grace, in His blood and what He does for
sinners, but not what we do for Him. Now, there's the two people,
the righteous and the wicked. I told you this Sunday, everybody
has some hope of heaven. It could be a good hope or it
could be a bad hope, but everybody's got a hope in something. There
are those wicked who hope in something that they've done.
And they're those who have all their hope in Christ. That's
the two hopes. Where did those two hopes end
up? You know, people say, well, we're
worshiping the same God. We're just getting there and
taking different directions. Well, can we really get to the
same place going in two different directions? Can we get to the
same place having two different hopes? Let's look at verse 13
and see. When thou criest, let thy companies
deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall
take them. But he that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.
Now, when God comes in judgment, the wicked have their hope. They
think they've got their shelter and they'll call on their idols.
They'll call on their companies, the multitude of their works.
They'll call on them. Lord, didn't we do all these
wonderful works in your name? They'll call on those things
to deliver them. But they're going to be carried away as easy
as the spring breeze carries away the chaff. Because there's
no substance to them. They're just vanity. There'll
be no help for them in that day because they rejected Christ
for their works. They wanted their works instead
of Christ the Savior. And in that day, it's going to
be obvious their works were not enough. to those who trust in Christ.
They're going to be safe. They're going to inherit God's
holy mountain. Nothing will be able to shake
them. Nothing can shake them because God's wrath is not coming
for them. God's wrath against their sin
has already been poured out on Christ, our substitute at Calvary.
And in that day, it'll be obvious, those who mock Those who said,
oh, you think Christ is enough? You think you need to add some
of your own works to this thing? And they mocked and made fun?
And that day it'll be obvious. Christ is enough. And that day
it will be obvious. If Christ is all you've got,
it's enough. All a sinner needs to be saved
is Christ. That's the difference in the
end between the righteous and the wicked. So while we're on
this earth, There's a gospel for the righteous to preach to
sinners. Look at verse 14. And she'll say, cast ye up, cast
ye up, prepare the way. Take up the stumbling block out
of the way of my people. That word cast up, it means to
make plain. When we preach, let's make the
gospel plain. Make the gospel so plain that
everybody understands what you're saying, Christ is all. Just make
that so plain. Remove everything. Take everything
out of the way that would make somebody stumble. Take away everything
that makes somebody look somewhere else. And just preach Christ. So the only place people have
to look is to Christ. And this is what the Gospel tells
us. Christ has removed every obstacle that would keep a sinner
from coming to Him. Now, if you're here this evening
and you have not come to Christ, I want to ask you, why not? Every
obstacle has been removed by our Lord Jesus Christ. He removed
the sin of His people through the blood of His sacrifice. He
took the law out of the way. You don't have to obey the law
to come to Christ. He already obeyed the law for
His people and took it out of the way. He took the wrath of
God away from His people by suffering for it at Calvary Street. Christ
is all you need. If you're a sinner, Christ is
all you need. Now that's the gospel we're to
preach. We're to preach Christ plainly. So sinners run to Him. And here's encouragement to run
to Christ. This is something amazing about
God's grace and God's love to sinners. You only find this in
the character of God. You never find this in an idol
that a man's made up. You only find this in the character
of God. There is no reason for a sinner
to be afraid to come to God begging for mercy. Yes, you're a sinner. Yes, you're guilty. Yes, you're
defiled and everything that you've done, yet there's no reason for
you to be afraid to come to God seeking mercy. Look at verse
15. For thus saith the high and lofty
one, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in
the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive
the heart of the contrite ones. Now, we just can't imagine how
high above us God is. He is the high and lofty one. That's what he calls himself.
And he doesn't just inhabit heaven. He doesn't inhabit earth. You know, we say he's omnipresent,
so he's everywhere at once. God is so high. He inhabits eternity. Figure that out. He dwells in
the high and holy place that we cannot understand. Yet he
says he dwells with sinners who are contrite and humble. Isn't
that amazing? I look this word contrite up.
It means crushed. Well, if the weight of your sin
is crushing you, Christ will be with you. He'll lift that
weight off of you. Because he was made sin for his
people at Calvary. Like the scapegoat of old, how
the high priest confessed the sins on the head of that scapegoat.
And they were symbolically transferred to that scapegoat. And the fit
man took him out in the wilderness. You never saw him again. They
were lifted off, taken away. Well, that was a picture. At
Calvary, in reality, the sins of God's people were taken off
of them and put on Christ our substitute, on Christ our sacrifice. He was made sin for his people. And he took that sin away. He
put it away under the blood of his sacrifice. It's gone. And now he dwells with the contrite
in peace and harmony. And the word humble actually
means depressed. Now, if you're depressed, if
you've been brought low because of your sin, I've got good news. Christ, He'll lift you up. And
you know how He'll lift you up? By showing you Christ crucified.
He lifts up the depressed. Those who are, oh, they're just
depressed because of their sins. He lifts them up by showing them
Christ died for your sins. He's your sacrifice. He's your
substitute. He died to remove your sin as
far from you as the East is from the West. Now, what can bring
more joy to your heart than that? You can't be depressed when you
hear Christ crucified for you, can you? That's God's grace. It's so amazing. He revives the
spirit of the dead. Those who are dead in sin, He
gives them life in Christ. That's the gospel, the good news
of the gospel that we preach. But you know the heart of the
wicked, the heart of natural man is so dead and so hard, even
hearing that good news of grace and peace and life in Christ
will not make the natural man come to Christ. And it would
be just for God to say, all right, I'd none. we wouldn't be surprised, would
we? But look what he says in verse 16. For I will not contend
forever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirits that fell
before me and the souls which I have made. God will not always
contend with his people. He said, if I did, it'd kill
them. And God knows, he knows our frame.
He remembers that we're just dust. He knows that because he
created us. He made us. So God will not always contend
with his people for their sin, but he'll deal with his people
in grace. You know why? He already contended
with Christ for our sins. The death of Christ satisfied
the justice of God. So there's no reason for him
to contend with his people. The blood of Christ already took
away the sin that made God angry. Yes, God does correct. He does chastise His people,
doesn't He? But He won't do it forever. He'd
kill them if He did. If God chastised us for every
sin that we ever committed, we'd be constantly under chastisement.
We'd be killed, wouldn't we? He'll chastise, but not forever.
You know why? Because He's not punishing. When
God corrects, when He chastises, He's not punishing us for our
sin. He's not contending with us for our sin in that way. Because
He already punished Christ, our substitute. God will deal with
His people in mercy. He'll bring them under conviction
of sin. And that's a horrible, awful place to be. But we've
got to go there. We've got to go under conviction
of sin. So that eventually, God will
deal with us in mercy. And you know it's a good thing
God deals with His people in mercy. Because only mercy, only
God's goodness, will lead us to repentance only. If God just
kept threatening us with the law, kept threatening us with
punishment, if we don't do better, we'd never come to Him. Never. God must deal with His people
in mercy and grace or we'll never come to Him. And that's exactly
what He does. That's what He promises He'll
do. Look here at verse 17. For the iniquity of His covetousness
was I wroth, and I smote Him. I hid me and was wroth, And he
went on forwardly in the way of his heart. God says, I showed
you my wrath. I showed you my wrath against
sin, but the natural man, it doesn't affect him. It doesn't
change him. He was right on his merry way
of sin and rebellion. It is false religion. That's
this covetousness that he talks about here. False religion is
covetousness. When are you covetous? Somebody's
got something you don't have. Somebody's got something that
you want. That's what false religion is. God's got something we want. We want the glory for our salvation. We don't want to, it belongs
to Him. It's rightfully His, but false religion is covetousness. I want to get it myself. And
we keep operating under that covetousness, wanting to have
the glory that belongs to God. And you'd think God would say,
enough is enough. If that's what you want, I'm
going to give it to you. I'm going to destroy you, put
you in hell for eternity, and you're not going to bother me
anymore. But that's not what he says. Verse 18. I hope you've
stuck with me because this is the verse I wanted to get to
this evening. I've seen his ways. I've seen everything he's done
wrong. I've seen him in his sin. I've seen him in his false religion.
I've seen his ways. and will heal him. I will lead
him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners."
God is so merciful to his people. He says, I've seen their ways.
I've seen their sin. But I'm going to heal my people
of all their sin sickness. Well, how does God heal us of
our sin sickness? We looked at a few weeks ago,
by his stripes, we're healed. We're healed by the sacrifice
The broken body and shed blood of Christ at this table represents.
We're healed because Christ took our sin sickness and gave us
his health, the health of his righteousness. He took all the
punishment that the sin of his people deserves. His body was
striped. It was lacerated, mangled as
he suffered for sin. His body was broken. He shed
his precious blood that just fall out on the ground. And by
his sacrifice, his people are made whole because father's pleased
with the sacrifice of his son. And not only I'm glad he goes
on, he doesn't just say, I'll heal him and then I'll set him
down, they got to go the rest of the way on their by themselves. God
says, I'll heal him and I'm going to lead him. Aren't you glad? Because we don't know what way
to go, but the great shepherd of the sheep. He leads those
sinners saved by grace in paths of righteousness for His namesake.
And not only will He lead them, He might lead them down into
the valley. He might lead them down into the valley of trouble
and trial and sickness and heartache. But He promises, I'm going to
comfort the hearts of my people. I'm going to comfort their hearts
with my presence. I'm going to comfort their hearts
with constant reminders of the sacrifice for their sins. They're
going to mourn over their sin. They're going to see their sin.
They're going to hate it, and they're going to mourn. But our God says,
I'll constantly remind those people. Those are my people who
mourn over their sin. I'm going to remind them of the
remedy for their sin. I'm going to remind them of the
blood, and it's going to comfort their heart. One reason we're
all so encouraged when we leave from an evening, we observe the
Lord's table, is this is such a vivid reminder of how Christ
took away not only the sin of his people, but when I take the
bread and I put it in my mouth and I chew it and I hear that
bread being broken. We'll sit here in a minute and
Wayne will take that bread and he'll break it. The room will
be silent. You'll hear that crunching and
that breaking. I'm reminded not just that Christ,
his body was broken for the sin of his people, but for my sin. And my heart's comforted. I take
the wine and I drink it because His blood was shed for me. And
my heart's comforted. His blood was shed for me. I've
got no sin. There's peace. God gives His
people peace. That's the next verse, verse
19. Through the blood of His cross, He said, I create the
fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to him that's far
off, to the Gentile, and to him that's near, saith the Lord,
and I'll heal him. This gospel is to Jew and Gentile
alike. I don't care who you are or where
you're from. All it takes for your sin to
be removed is the blood of Christ. All it takes for you to have
peace with God is the blood of Christ. The end of the righteous
is peace, but not for the wicked, verse 20. But the wicked are
like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast
up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. The wicked don't have any rest.
They can't rest because they can never quit working. They
don't have a calmness. Their life, their heart is like
a troubled sea. They don't have any cleansing.
All their works, all they do is make them more dirty. It's
like trying to wash in muddy water. It just makes you more
dirty. And there's no peace in the heart because there's no
blood. The blood's not been applied
to the heart. They can't have peace because sin's still there.
Well, thank God that He saved sinners by His grace. None of
us would have this None of us would have life. None of us would
be healed if it were not for God's electing law that moved
him to choose a people to put in his son. If it weren't for
God's amazing mercy and grace that moved him and his love for
sinners that moved him to send his son to this earth to be the
sacrifice for their sin, we'd have no hope. We'd have no salvation. But he did. That's what he's
done for his people and his son. That's what we're going to remember
right now. Lord gave us this table to remember Him. Now, you
can only remember what you've experienced in your heart. Now,
if all of your hope of salvation is in Christ, if He's your only
hope, you've got no other hope, then Christ died for you and
this table's for you. This table is a time for each
believer to worship. and to give thanks, remembering
Christ our Savior, how he put our sin away by the sacrifice
of himself for you, for you who believe. All right, Wayne, you
may distribute the bread.