By God's grace, that is what
I hope to do this evening. Show us the way to Christ of
Calvary. The title of the message is A
Message for Seekers. If there's someone here tonight
or someone who at some point may listen to the recording of
this message who is seeking salvation, who's seeking forgiveness, who's
seeking peace for your soul, I've got a message from the Lord
for you. I don't know that there's anything
people in our day seek more than peace. Having more creature comforts
than any time in the history of the world. Nobody's at peace. And I believe there's people
seeking it. I know there is. I know there's people seeking
peace. And the Lord willing, In the
message tonight, I'm going to tell you where peace for your
soul can be found. Now, sinners like you and me
can only have peace in our soul. We can only have peace with God
if our sin is forgiven and we're made righteous. You see, really,
we don't need to be seeking peace. Peace is not what we ought to
be seeking. What we need to seek is righteousness. What we need
to seek is forgiveness. If God forgives our sin, we'll
have peace. If God will make us righteous,
we'll have peace. In Isaiah chapter 51, that's
who the Lord is speaking to. He's speaking to those who are
seeking righteousness. When he says, hearken to me,
ye that follow after righteousness, what he means is you who are
seeking righteousness, you who are following hard. That's what
the meaning of the phrase is, following hard after righteousness. God has something to say to those
who are seeking righteousness. So first of all, if you're seeking
righteousness, never forget this. Never forget what you are by
nature. Verse one. Hearken to me, ye
that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto
the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence
ye are digged. Now, if you're seeking righteousness,
never forget what you are by nature. Never forget that you
are a sinner, that you are unrighteous. So don't be looking for righteousness
in yourself. Don't be looking for righteousness
in something that you can do. If someone like us, a sinner,
is going to be made righteous, somebody else is going to have
to do it because we can't do it. And don't forget, Isaiah
says, the rock for which you are you. Now, the rock he's referring
to here is the hardness of our natural heart. That rock is the
hard, dead lump of Adam's fallen humanity that all of us are part
of by nature. And that heart, that nature is
so hard. It's such a hard rock. You can't
carve any impressions into it. You can't carve righteousness
into that nature, the nature that we're born with. You can't
carve love for Christ or faith for Christ into that nature.
It's too hard. Our natural heart is so hard
it cannot be molded into something that will believe God or love
God. That's why we've got to be given
a new heart. That's what we are by nature.
That's what we're in by nature, this hard rock of Adam's fallen
nature. But God says he's going to take
his people out of that hard rock. But they've got to be, what does
he say here? hewn out of it. They've got to be cut out of
it with great effort. They've got to be blasted out
of that rock by the power of God, by the dynamite of the gospel,
the power of the gospel of Christ. So don't forget this, the hard
heart, the hard, dead heart that you have by nature. If you don't
forget that, that'll keep you looking to Christ for righteousness
and not looking to ourselves. Also, he tells us this, don't
forget pit of corruption that you're born in. That's when he
talks here about the hole of the pit. He's talking about the
pit of corruption that we're born in by nature. There's no
righteousness in that pit. There's no spiritual life or
goodness in that pit. All it is is a pit of sin. It's
a pit of corruption and death. That's the sewer that we're born
in by nature. And I tell you how rotten our
nature is. Our nature likes it there. Our nature likes it in
the sewer, just like a sewer rat can live and thrive in the
sewer. That's what our nature is. It
loves the sewer. It loves that pit of corruption.
And we won't leave voluntarily. So God says he's going to take
him out of that. He's not going to leave his people
in that pit of corruption. God digs them out of that pit.
He takes them out of that pit and sets their feet on Christ,
the solid rock. He pulls his people out of the
deep miry clay at the bottom of that pit. Finally goes to
the bottom, I mean the bottom of the pit and pulls out his
people and sets their feet in the way of grace and righteousness. He digs them out of the pit.
Now you and I, it's important to point this out because we'll
never seek Christ our righteousness until we're convinced of this,
that we don't have any righteousness of our own. As long as I think
I've got some righteousness of my own, I'm going to keep looking
to it. I'm going to keep trying to foster it and make it grow.
I'll never look to Christ for my righteousness until I'm convinced
I don't have any of my own. So remember this. You can't find
any righteousness. You can't find any comfort in
yourself. So look to Christ. Second, if you're seeking righteousness,
never forget. God's electing, distinguishing
grace. Verse two, he says, look unto
Adam, your father, and unto Sarah that bear you. For I called him
alone and blessed him and increased him. Now scripture teaches us
that in eternity past, God chose a people to save. He elected
those people to salvation. And he did so just because he
would, just because he set his love on those people. Now you
cannot do anything to make God choose you. You can't do anything
to make yourself good enough that God will accept you and
choose you. Because never forget the first point. We don't have
any righteousness. We don't have any goodness. What
this means is we are completely dependent upon Christ to save
us. We're completely dependent upon
God to show mercy to us. So don't forget that. And don't
forget this too. I've got good news. Don't forget
this. God chose to save sinners. God didn't choose to save good
people. God didn't choose to save some people to have some
righteousness of their own. God chose to save sinners. Who does our text tell us that
God chose? Abraham and Sarah. Where were Abraham and Sarah
when God found them? They were in the same hard, dead nature
that you and I are in. God found them bowing down to
idols. That's where he found Abraham
and Sarah. Abraham didn't do anything good to make God choose
him, did he? Abraham was worshipping an idol. Abraham was in such
spiritual ignorance, he had fallen down and worshipping a hunk of
stone carved out to look like something. That's what Abraham
was doing when God found him. Abraham didn't do something to
make God choose him. You know why God chose Abraham?
Because God chose sinners to save. That's who he chose. And
God called Abraham in sovereign, electing, distinguishing grace. God says here, I called him alone. I called Abraham out of that
place and not one other person. He passed the rest of them by.
That's sovereign grace. Now God calls the worst of sinners. That's who God chooses. If you're
a sinner, you don't have anything in you that can bring you peace
or righteousness. You don't have anything in you
but sin and depravity. My friend, I've got good news
for you. That's who God chooses. Sinners. And everybody else,
he passes by. He passes by whom he will. God's
mercy is sovereign mercy shown to whom God will. And it has
sovereignly pleased God to choose the worst of sinners. And what
does God do with them when He chooses them? Oh, He blesses
them beyond measure. Beyond measure He blesses them.
Now certainly, God increased Abraham materially, didn't He?
He says here, I chose Abraham. I chose him alone. I blessed
him. I increased him. Abraham was increased greatly
with goods. God made Abraham a very rich
man. But the blessing that this is
talking about here is that God increased Abraham spiritually.
God gave Abraham the promised son. He promised a son through
Abraham, Isaac, who the Savior would come from. The Savior is
going to descend from Isaac, the one in whom the whole world
is going to be blessed. That came from Abraham's son.
He blessed him spiritually. Abraham's savior came from the
loins of his son, Isaac. That's a blessing. And God gave
that old idolater. Abraham is an old man, God called
him. He was an old idolater. You know
what God gave him? God gave Abraham faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, faith is a great blessing. Faith to believe Christ, that's
a blessing. If you believe Christ, if you
believe God, God's blessed you. Faith is a gift of God, and he
gives that faith to his people. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad. Now, how did Abraham see the
Lord's day, see the Lord Jesus Christ? By faith, by the faith
that God gave him. Abraham saw through faith how
God would save sinners through the death Christ our substitute. That's what Abraham saw when
he took Isaac to the top of that mountain to slay him. He went
up there with the intention of drawing and quartering his son
and burning his body to ashes. Abraham went up there fully intending
to do that. And God saw that precious son,
the only son whom he loved, delivered the substitute, a ram, died in
Isaac's place. The ram died as a substitute
and Isaac lived. Abraham saw more than a children's
story. He's going to tell his grandchildren. Abraham saw Christ
and he's all he was glad. This is salvation. Abraham saw
that and believed that and God gave Abraham peace because he
made him righteous through faith. The Romans chapter four, I'll
show you that. Romans 4 verse 1 What shall we say then, that
Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory,
but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. And that's how God makes all
of his people righteous. He makes them righteous in Christ,
and he gives them faith to believe Christ and look to Christ. God
gives this blessing To whom? To sinners. You know, people
in the flesh, people who don't know God, they argue about this
matter of God electing people to salvation. My friend, that's
the best news a sinner could ever hear, because God chose
sinners to save. Now, you come to Christ as a
sinner seeking mercy, and He'll have mercy on you. He'll give
you His righteousness, the gift of faith. Thirdly, if you're
seeking righteousness, you remember everything the Lord's done for
his people in Christ. Look at verse three in our text.
For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste
places. He'll make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like
the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein. Thanksgiving and the voice of
melody. Now here's the blessing a believer has in Christ. We
have comfort, comfort in Christ. A believer's heart is comforted
in Christ. They're comforted by seeing Christ. The believer's heart is comforted
by seeing our sin put away through the sacrifice of Christ. And
a believer has life, life in Christ. God breathes life. into our dead souls. That's what
he means here. He talks about our comfort, all
her waste places. That word comfort is breathe. That's what the word actually
is. It's breathe. God comforts his people by breathing
the breath of life into all their dead waste places. Now that's
our souls in Adam. They've been made dead waste
places. They're dead. There's no life
in them. When Adam sinned, we all died. But God gives life
to his people. He breathes life into them in
the new birth. There's death in Adam, but there's
life in Christ. Adam's sin made our souls like
deserts where nothing grows. That's what he talks here about
her wilderness. That's a desert. A desert was
just dry, dead sand. Nothing can grow there. There's
no moisture of life there. But God comes to his people and
makes those dead deserts, He gives them life and makes their
souls like Eden. Now, the first thing we think
of when we think of the Garden of Eden, it was a lush, flourishing,
beautiful garden. Is that what went through your
mind when we read here about Eden? But that's not necessarily,
not only what He's talking about. He does make the souls of His
people lush and green and full of life. But you know the blessing
He's talking about here? Eden is where God walked with
man in the cool of day. I can't imagine what that was
like. I mean, I can't imagine what
it was like for Adam to live however long he lived without
sin, doing whatever he did. He tilled and worked and, you
know, in the garden and things. And at the end of the day, He
got his work done, sun setting, the garden's beautiful. And to
cool the day, the Lord Jesus Christ came and walked with Adam. Adam walked and talked with God. In unity, in communion with God. Oh, what peace. Had to be at
the end of every day for Adam as long as he's in that garden.
He walked with God. That's the peace we're looking
for. Isn't it? Is that the peace that would
comfort your soul? Oh, that's reason for us to sing. When he talks about here, there's
going to be the voice of melody there. You know why there's gonna
be a voice of singing, the voice of melody there? Because Christ
is there with his people. That's the joy. That's the peace.
He is our peace. So if you're seeking peace, remember
this. You're a sinner. Remember this. God sovereignly chooses to save
sinners. So beg God to have mercy on you,
the sinner, for Christ's sake, just like he did Abraham of old,
and to give you life just like he did Abraham. Fourthly, if
you're seeking righteousness, now listen very carefully, then
you seek Christ. Seek Christ, our righteousness. We make a grave error when we
talk about the righteousness of Christ in such a way that
we make it separate from Christ. You seek Christ, our righteousness. Jehovah said Kenu, look here
at verse four. He says, hearken unto me, O my
people, and give ear unto me, O my nation, for a law shall
proceed for me, and I'll make my judgment to rest for a light
of the people. Now God says, listen to me, I'm
gonna send a law from me to you. Now this means more than God's
gonna give the law through Moses at Sinai. This means God is gonna
send the law keeper. He's gonna send the law keeper
to this earth to keep the law for his people. That's how God's
gonna make his people righteous, through the law keeper. Now you
know how I know that's what he means here? Because look what
he says next, I'll send a law shall proceed for me and I'll
make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. The father
is going to send his son to the earth as a man to be the representative
of sinful men. God's son is going to be made
a man, made under the law, born of a woman. And he's going to
keep that law perfectly. He's going to keep the law so
perfectly, God says he honored and magnified the law. And then
he's going to give that perfect obedience. He's going to give
it freely to his people. That's how they're made righteous.
They're made without any sin because Christ is their representative.
His obedience is their obedience. And then the Lord Jesus will
satisfy the last demand of the law. The law demands death for
sin. Christ came to establish righteousness
and to die for His people. The Lord Jesus Christ traded
His righteousness for the sin of His people. God made Him guilty
of that sin. And Christ satisfied the law
by dying. He actually died to pay for the
sin that was placed on Him. That's what God is promising
here. Now God's people, judgment's at rest. God's people have light.
in Christ. He satisfied the law for us.
And this is how God promised that righteousness and life would
come. It would come by the Lord Jesus Christ. God never gave
the law as a way for a man to earn righteousness or an acceptance
with God. Look at Galatians chapter 2.
Now he's mentioned the law here. Don't ever be mistaken about
this. Here's another thing don't ever forget. Don't ever forget
that righteousness can never come by the law. Galatians 2 verse 21. Paul says, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now that's how serious
this thing is. Righteousness can never come
by the law. It can only come through Christ.
Then seek Christ. Seek Christ. Look at Romans 3
verse 19. Paul says the same thing to the
church at Rome. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, that saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law can do
is give us a knowledge of sin, show us how sinful we are. But
now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. to all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference." So, here's
how a sinner can be justified. Not through the law, through
Christ. Look here at verse 28. We read
verse 24. See, it's through Christ. Righteousness is only in Christ.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's where? In Christ Jesus. And look at
verse 28, he says the same thing here. Therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,
without his deeds of the law. Christ came and made his people
righteous when he put their sins away at Calvary. So when Christ
died, what happened? God's reconciled. God's satisfied. There's peace that's been made.
God and men through the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't that the peace we're looking
for? Where is it found? How is it ours? Through faith
in Christ. Then seek Christ. I mean, see,
this thing's not difficult. It's all in Christ. Seek Christ. Now take comfort. I understand. I grew up hearing the gospel.
I know what goes through people's minds. Because, oh, it all went
through mine. If I had a nickel for every time
Henry said, look to Christ, and I thought if you tell me where
he is, I'll look. Take comfort. I know it seems confusing. I
know it seems difficult. But you take comfort. You seek
Christ. He's not hard to find. But verse
5 in our text, My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone
forth and mine arm shall judge the people. The isle shall wait
upon me and on my arm shall they trust. God sent his son to this
earth. He sent him near to his people
so that he's not hard to find. Here's the thing about coming
to Christ. The moment you begin to come,
you rise. You look to Christ at the very
moment that you look to Him, you've arrived. He's not far
away, He's near. The moment you look to Him, you
have life and peace and righteousness and every spiritual blessing
in Him. And He's not hard to see. He's
near His people. You think of the miracle of God
sending His Son to this earth as a man to live with men on
the earth. He was near, wasn't He? He was
so near, John said, our hands have handled Him. He's near.
God sent His Son to be with men, near to men, in His Word. The incarnate Word is what you're
holding in your lap. The written Word. You can't separate
the written Word and the incarnate Word. He's so near, His Word's
in your lap. If you're seeking peace, You
seek Christ and you seek Him where He's to be found. He's
in His Word. I'm very encouraged if someone
comes to me and says, I'm in trouble. Can you give me something
to read? And they're very interested in
reading God's Word. If somebody starts getting in
this Word and searching in it, I mean searching in it diligently. I didn't find anything Monday
or Tuesday, so I'm going to give up Wednesday. No, they keep looking. I won't be surprised that they
find the Lord, because here's where He's at. And when they
find Him, they'll have peace. Peace in the heart. And they'll
rest. They'll rest on the arm of God. Who is the arm of God? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Just rest everything on Him. It's such peace to put all of
the weight of your salvation, all of the responsibility of
your soul upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It's such peace. So look to Christ. And look to
Christ alone. Don't look to anything about
your flesh. Don't look to anything about
this world, the wisdom of this world, the way of this world,
because I'm telling you it's all temporary. Verse 6, lift
up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath.
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the earth
shall wax old like a garment and they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever
and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Now everything
in this world is going to fail. It's going to be burned up and
destroyed. So if you're seeking peace in anything that's found
in this world, you're going to be sorely disappointed because
it's not there. It's not to be found. But if
you seek righteousness in Christ alone, you'll have peace. Salvation in Him will be forever. It'll never end. It'll never
fail. Righteousness in Christ It cannot be abolished. It will
never fail. Then you'll have peace if you
trust in Christ alone. Look to Him and Him alone. Don't
get pulled off on all these tangents that religious people want to
pull you off on now. You seek Christ. You set your
eye on Him and seek Him. Lastly, if you're seeking righteousness,
don't forget this. Looking to Christ is not a one-time
thing. I'm talking to believers here,
those of you who believe God, those of you who look to Him.
You've looked to Christ for righteousness and peace, haven't you? Then
keep looking to Him. Keep looking to Him. We don't
look to Christ to be justified and then we've got to figure
out how to get the rest of the way to heaven on our own, by
our own good works or by our own energy or, you know, whatever. There wouldn't be any peace or
comfort there. If that was our gospel, there'd be no peace or
comfort for you on a Wednesday night to take back to work on
Thursday. There'd be no peace there because there's nothing
good of us. We can't do anything good. So
we look to Christ, don't we? We look to Christ our righteousness. We look to Christ by faith to
be justified in Him. And we look to Christ by faith
to find comfort for our souls. Comfort and by being assured
of this, he will take me all the way to glory. I'm not going
to take one step on my own. He's going to take me all the
way. Now that's comfort. Look here, verse seven. This
is what he says. He's a hearken unto me, ye that
know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear
ye not their approach of me, neither be afraid of their revilings.
Now these verses are speaking to believers. He says, in whose
heart is my law. Now that's the new heart that
God gives his people. Look over a few pages of Jeremiah
31. This is the heart that God gives his people and the heart
that he gives only to his people. A heart that contains the law of God.
He puts His law, His way, His word in their heart. Jeremiah
31, verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. Thou make a new covenant with
the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. Not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord. But this should be the covenant
that I'll make with the house of Israel, spiritual Israel.
After those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my law in their inward
parts, and I'll write it in their hearts. That's how the law got
in their hearts, because God wrote it there. And I'll be their
God, and they shall be my people. This is God's people, believers
that he's speaking to here. God's given his people a heart,
a heart that believes him, a heart that trusts him, a heart that
loves him. But now this world that you live in, doesn't have
that heart. And you understand, don't you?
You used to be in the same situation that they're in. They're still
part of that hard, dead rock of Adam's nature that God hewed
you out of. They're still in that pit of
corruption that God digged you out of. So you understand, you
love Christ, but they hate him. You love salvation by grace,
through faith, without any works of your own. They hate that. You love softened mercy. Now,
if God's put his word, his law in your heart, you love softened
mercy. You love to hear God will be
merciful to whom he will be merciful. You love that. You love, God's
merciful to the people that he chose, not those who make a decision
to let poor little Jesus into their heart. You hate that message. You love, God will be merciful
to him, he will. The world hates that. And they
ridicule you and they hate you for loving the Savior that they
hate. I believe the meanest people
I know are religious people. And I hate it that way. I really
do. I hate it. I don't like it when
people say those things about me. I just don't like it. If
you're honest, you don't like it either. It hurts our feelings.
We don't like it. But don't let that deter you
from seeking Christ and seeking him as your righteousness. Listen,
they're not going to be around for very long. He's going to
be around forever. Verse 8. For the moths shall
eat them up like a garment, and the worms shall eat them like
wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation
from generation to generation." Now, it seems to us like these
enemies are going to be around forever. I mean, they've always
been here in one form or another, you know. But they won't be.
One day in the future, you're going to look around, and you're
going to say, where'd they go? Whatever happened to them anyway?
and you won't be able to find them. You know what happened? They were silently destroyed
from within. Sin aided them from within and
silently consumed them. Just like a moth does in woolen
clothes hanging in the closet. God's going to damn them and
he's going to put them where they'll never harm God's people
again. So don't get too caught up in
them now. Just don't get too worried about them. But the Lord
Jesus Christ He's going to reign forever and he's going to reign
forever in righteousness. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom
and all those who are in him are going to enjoy salvation,
redemption, righteousness, holiness, peace in Christ forever. They'll be with him forever in
perfect peace. Remember I told you out in the
garden, Adam walked with God in the cool of the day, just
at the end of the day. In glory, you're going to walk
with God face to face all day, every day, forever. Peace. Peace. What peace that'll
be. Is that peace for your soul? Is that peace for your soul?
Then look to Christ. In Christ, you have perfect peace
because it's peace that he established. blood of His cross. God, give
us the faith to look to You. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word. How we thank You that You've given us a revelation
of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Your Word.
Father, I pray that You would grant each one here faith to
receive your word as it's been preached, to believe it, and
cause us to look to our Lord Jesus Christ and to rest in him,
to have everything that you require and everything that we need found
in you, not by our own doings, not by our own knowledge or industry,
but in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his righteousness, in his
salvation. Father, we thank you for the
good news of the gospel. We thank you for the comfort
and assurance, encouragement that your people have. When by
your grace, we have another view of our Savior, another view of
Him. Cause Christ to be all in all
to us. Save and comfort and encourage
your people through the preaching of your gospel, we pray. For
your glory,