If you would, open your Bibles
again to Isaiah chapter 3. I hope you'll pay very close
attention this evening. I have a message from the Lord
for every person here this evening, without exception. I have a message
from the Lord for every person who will ever hear this recording.
No matter who you are or where you're from, I have a message
directly from the Lord to you." The title of the message is a
word for both the righteous and the wicked. Now, there are only
two classes of people in this world, only two, only ever has
been two, only ever will be two, the righteous and the wicked.
There are no other choices. There's no middle ground. You're
either one or the other, the righteous or the wicked. To the
righteous I have a message from the Lord of comfort, and to the
wicked I have a message from the Lord of warning. Now, in
these first verses of Isaiah chapter 3, we have God's promise
of His curse and judgment against sin. Verse 1, For behold, the
Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and
from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and
the whole stay of water. God says he's going to take away
the stay and the staff. That's every foundation. Everything
that man thinks will hold him up, God says, I'm going to take
it away, cut it off its knees. You know, if you're leaning on
a staff and it's taken away, what happens to you? You fall
flat. And that's exactly what happened
to us in Adam. Adam fell and we fell in it. And if you look in verse 8, it's
not God's fault. You know, God says that the Lord
of hosts will take away the stay and the staff. It's not God's
fault that man fails. Man's fault. Look at verse 8.
For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue
and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes
of His glory. It's man's fault. Our sin has
provoked the Lord to take away the stay and the staff. And fall
of man can't get any lower than we are. The staff has been taken
away. We're falling flat. And there's
nothing left to hold us up. We don't have the sustaining
power of Christ, the bread of life. We don't have the sustaining
power of Christ, the water of life. We lost that stay and that
staff in the fall. And because man's fallen, you
can't trust any of them. I mean, none of them. The very
best of men. You can't trust them any further
than you can throw them. They're not trustworthy. Look
at verse 2. He's going to take away the mighty man and the man
of war, the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the ancient,
the captain of fifty and the honorable man and the counselor
and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator, the best
of men who should be the leaders. God's going to take them away.
They're all worthless. Isn't that true in our day? Have we seen the fulfillment
of this both in government and in the church? what men call
the church, not God's church, the religious world. Those who
shouldn't be the leaders, they're worthless. God took them away.
Verse four, I will give children to be their princes and babes
to rule over them. Now, he's not speaking of actual
children here, he's talking about adults who act like children. They're untaught, they're self-willed,
they're selfish, they can't see the long-term consequences of
their actions. Any better two-year-old can.
And you can't reason with them any more than you can a two-year-old.
Sunday afternoon, we were all together, a family. We were out
taking a walk. And it got a little chilly. Jonathan
and Stacey's children had a cold. So they didn't want to stay out
as the temperatures got cool. We were going to come in. Their
daughter, Rosalie, did not want to come in. She was crying. It
was awful. I was the one carrying her. I
was trying to explain to her why it's best that we go inside.
And Jonathan looked at me, he said, Do you hear yourself reasoning
with a two-year-old? You can't do it. That's God's
judgment on us. That's who we've got as our leaders.
People you can't reason with them. They are selfish, self-willed. They can't see the long-term
consequences of their action. This is God's judgment upon us.
And verse five, here's the result of that in society and in, I
say the church, but I mean in religion, when these kinds of
people lead. And the people shall be oppressed,
every one by another, and every one by his neighbor. The child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the
base against the honorable. And men are going to see this
situation, and they know it's bad. I mean, you don't have to
be very smart to understand when children are back talking to
the ancient. I mean, this is bad. We need
new leaders. But man's fallen, so they don't
look in the right place. They don't know where to turn.
Instead of turning to the Lord, they turn to another man. And
if you're going to turn to another man, you'd think you'd turn to
somebody who might have a little bit of wisdom. But men don't. That's not what they do. They turn to the best dressed
man. See that in verse 6? When man shall take hold of his
brother, of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing,
be thou a ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand. See,
they turn to the best dressed man and they tell him, you be
our leader. You look better than the rest
of us. You be the leader. And that sharp dressed man says,
don't look at me. I'm not able to lead you just
because you think my rags look better than your rags. I'm not
qualified to lead you. That's what he says in verse
seven. And that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be
a healer, saying or saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house
is neither bread nor clothing. Make me not a ruler of this people.
Jerusalem's ruined. Jude has fallen. Don't make this
situation my responsibility to correct. It's beyond man's ability
to help. It's beyond man's ability to
make it any better. But what do we do? We keep turning
to men. We keep turning to man's way
and man's logic to try to fix the problem. And it won't work. If we do that, you know what's
going to happen? The situation just spirals downward. till we get to the point of verse
9. The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and
they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Woe unto their
soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Now, what
once was a shame in our society, our society has spiraled downward
so far. Now it's become something to
be proud of. And what he's speaking of specifically here is homosexuality. I know this is not politically
correct, but now you listen to God's Word. This is so. This
used to be something to be ashamed of. It used to be something kept
secret. My mother told me there was,
she remembers a day this would never have been spoken in public.
It was a shame. Now people act like it's something
they're proud of. And if you say it's evil, they'll tell you
you're the unrighteous person. They'll tell you you're not like
God. God loves everybody. That's what
they say. You're the unrighteous person.
Man is so fallen. He has declared homosexuality
as something that's righteous and good and loving. And if you
look over a page in chapter five, God's word warns us about men
like this. Isaiah 5 verse 20. Woe unto them
that call evil good and good evil. They put darkness for light
and light for darkness. They put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter. They're calling everything what
it's not. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and
prudent in their own sight. I don't think you can find a
verse in the Bible more applicable than today. It's shocking. You know, that's our society.
This is the natural result of fallen men. Fallen men pervert
judgment, they pervert God's order, and they oppress the poor.
Look at verse 12. As for my people, children are
their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they
which leave thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy
paths. The Lord standeth up to plead,
and standeth to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment
with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof. For
ye have eaten up the vineyard to spoil the poor as in your
houses. What mean ye that beat my people to pieces, and grind
the faces of the poor, saith the Lord of hosts?" Men pervert
judgment. They perverted God's order. So the natural thing is that
the daughters of Zion They walk around town looking like a common
harlot. Look at verse 16. Moreover, the
Lord saith, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, they walk
with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing
as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet. We read this. All this we're reading. We say,
what's no wonder God's promised curse and judgment upon these
people. Look at verse 24. It shall come
to pass that instead of sweets a sweet smell there should be
a stink, and instead of a girdle, a rent, instead of well-set hair,
baldness, instead of a somaker, a girding sackcloth, and burning
instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword,
and thy mighty in the war, and her gates shall lament and mourn,
and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground." That's
pretty dark, isn't it? But that's the curse of sin.
This is the natural outcome of sin. But in the middle of all
man's sin and God's promise of judgment, God also gives us a
promise of mercy. In the middle of the promised
curse, God gives us promises of mercy. When I preach, I can't
tell you how much I love a clear-cut message. I mean, I just love
it when God opens up His Word and I see it. That's the message. I had no problem finding the
Lord's message tonight. God says in His Word, He tells
His servants, say this to my people. Use these words and say
this to the righteous. Verse 10. Say ye to the righteous
that it should be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit
of their doings. Now, who are these righteous?
If we're going to get any blessing from this, we have to understand
who is the Lord speaking to here? He's speaking to the righteous.
Well, who is righteous? Well, those who are righteous
will tell you they're not righteous in themselves. They don't claim
any righteousness of their own because they don't have any.
Back in Isaiah 1, we've been reading about man, about our
nature here. Look at verse 5. Isaiah has told
us plainly, man has no righteousness. Why should you be stricken any
more? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick.
The whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even
into the head. There is no soundness in it but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is
desolate. Your cities are burned with fire.
Your land, strangers devoured in your presence. and it's desolate. It's overthrown by strangers.
Look at verse 21. How has the faithful city become
an harlot? That which was once faithful
has become a harlot. It was full of judgment. Righteousness
lodged there. But now murderers. Thy silver
has become draws. It's become worthless. Thy wine
mixed with water. You've taken the power out of
it. Mixing it with water. We don't have any righteousness. Up in verse 13, we looked at
this a couple of weeks ago, even your religion, even the best
things you do, God says, is an abomination. Bring no more vain
oblation. Incense is an abomination unto
me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with. It's iniquity. Even the solemn
meeting, the best meetings that you have, your new moons and
your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They're a trouble unto
me. I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. When you make many prayers,
I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Now look over Romans chapter 3. If after reading Isaiah you're
left with any doubt, let's look here at Romans 3 verse 10. Who are the righteous? This is
what we're trying to find out. As it's written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. That covers all
of us, doesn't it? There's none righteous. And you
know, even a believer, a child of God, will never claim any
righteousness of his own. Every believer in this room knows
this. All we can do is sin. At this very moment, all we're
doing is sin. Because that's what we are. The
Apostle Paul, this is after he knew the Lord, said, I'm the
chief of sinners. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from this body of death? So man doesn't have
any righteousness and man can't claim any in himself. So who's
the righteous that God's talking about in our text? Well, he's
talking about the righteousness of Christ, because that's the
only righteousness that there is. And a sinner is made righteous
by the righteousness of Christ. If you look at what is still
there in Romans 3, look at verse 21. That righteousness is received
by faith in Christ. Verse 21, Romans 3. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law, without your obedience to the law, is
manifested. Be witness by the law and the
prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. But there's
no difference. Now hold your finger there. We'll
come right back to Romans. But look in Philippians chapter
3. This righteousness is ours because God has put us
in Christ. That's how we've been made righteous.
God put us in Christ. It might help if I got in Philippians.
There we go. Philippians 3 verse 8. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." Now look back
in Romans again, chapter 4. The righteousness of Christ,
which is by faith, is ours by imputation. Romans 4 verse 21,
speaking of Abraham and being fully persuaded that what God
had promised, he was also able to perform. Therefore, it was
imputed to him for righteousness. Abraham believed God and it was
reckoned, it was imputed, counted to him for righteousness. Now,
it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him, but for us also. to whom it shall be imputed if
we believe," this is through faith, "...if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." Now what does
that mean, this imputation? Well, I can tell you. The Lord
Jesus Christ became a man. And as a man, he produced a perfect
righteousness. He obeyed every command of the
law. Perfectly righteous. And God
imputes He gives that righteousness to his people. Now that concept
is pretty easy to understand. I don't think anybody here has
a problem understanding that. But this is what I want you to
understand. Imputation is real. It is real. It's as real as your
hand in front of your face. It's not pretend. It's not written
down on a ledger somewhere. Count you as that, even though
you're not. That's not imputation. Imputation
is real. It's real in our experience. And I'll say, I can make good
on that. Adam, when he fell. Adam's guilt was imputed. Everybody
he represented. Isn't that right? He's the federal
head. And we became guilty in Adam. God imputed his guilt to
us and we became guilty. That sin was imputed. And that
imputation is real. Are you a sinner? Have you ever
done anything but sin? Have you? Then that imputation
is real, isn't it? The imputation of that guilt
and sin is real. That is real in your experience.
Well, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to His people the
exact same way. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfect. And God imputed that righteousness
to every one of His elect. And it's real. You're made righteous
in Christ. In your experience, you've been
born again. God made you righteous and holy. There's a new man born in you
who cannot sin because he's just like Christ. He's righteous.
That imputation is real. But you know, the righteous,
they're righteous by faith. Because they're in Christ by
imputation, but also by impartation. Righteousness is imparted. It's put into every believer. How's that? When they're born
again. When you're born again, Scripture
says you're made a partaker of the divine nature. The nature
of Christ is being imparted into you. Now, there's nothing good
of you, is there? But there's something good in
you. It's what God put in you. The new nature. That new heart.
The new man. It's the nature. The righteous
nature of Christ. Now listen to this. This is good.
I didn't come up with this model. I got this from somebody else.
But it's good. God cannot impute righteousness where righteousness
is not. God cannot. Think about this
now. God cannot impute righteousness
where righteousness is not. God cannot impute righteous. He cannot count you as righteous
unless you are righteous. And He made you righteous in
the new birth. Righteousness is imputed and
righteousness is imparted. Now that's how a sinner is made
righteous. We're made righteous in Christ
and because of Christ. Now, back in our text, I want
you to look at God's promise here. You take this home. God's
promise to the righteous. You say, say ye to the righteous
that it shall be well with him. Now, I love this promise. I've
looked at it over and over and over again these past two or
three days. I cannot find a single qualification to this promise.
I can't find a single condition to be met with this promise.
And I can tell you why, because Christ has met every condition.
He's met every qualification, so the promise is given to the
righteous freely. There's no doubt about this promise. Say to the righteous, it shall
be well with him. It shall. This is one of those
shalls Art Young used to love. It shall. He shall. He shall. You say to the righteous, it
shall be well with him. No matter what. No matter what,
it shall be well with him. There are no details given with
this promise. We're not told how good it will be or when it
will be good for the righteous. It will always be perfectly good
and well for the righteous. Now, you could come up with a
lot of points for this. I've got four. When he sins,
you say to the righteous, It should be well with them. Now,
we've already established this. All we are is sin. All we do
is sin. And I'm talking to believers.
I'm talking to the righteous. I'm talking to born-again Christians.
All we do is sin. And our sin bothers us. It worries
us. I hate it. I wish I didn't do
it. And it worries us. We know this. God cast Adam out
of the garden forever because of one sin. God destroyed the
world with a flood for one reason. Sin. God, we read all this in
Isaiah 3, all these promises of God's curse and judgment against
sin. Our sin bothers us. It worries
us. And we know God will punish sin. But say you to the righteous,
it should be well with him, because Christ suffered the just for
the unjust. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Even
when he sins, you say to the righteous, it should be well
with him, because he has a sacrifice. Hebrews 10 verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I believe that. But will I still
remember my sin? It's just, it's ever before me.
God doesn't. Look at verse 17. And their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. You don't have
to look for another sacrifice for sin. You don't have to look
for a way to make a payment for sin. Christ has paid the debt
in full when he sins. you say to the righteous, that
it should be well with him, because Christ is his sacrifice. Secondly,
when we go through a time of trial, say ye to the righteous,
that it should be well with him. Now nowhere in God's word does
he promise the trial won't come. He promises it will. Nowhere
does God's word promise that the trial won't hurt. It's going
to hurt. It's going to cause fears and
tears. But to the righteous I say, what
God says, it should be well with you. Because all things work
together for good to them above God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. The trial shall be well with
you, because that fiery trial is burning off the draws. It's
burning off what's worthless and making you more valuable,
making you more beautiful. That time of trial, it shall
be well with you. It should be so well with you
that when it's over, you know what you're going to say? You're
going to say it was good for me that I've been afflicted.
I learned something. I learned something. It should
be well with you. Thirdly, when we go through the
experience of death, the death of the body, say to the righteous,
it should be well with him. Now, if we're honest, We all
face death with a little, I don't know what the right word is,
fear, uncertainty, trepidation, I don't know. But you know why
that is? Because we haven't done that
yet. We haven't done that. If we'd
done it, had some experience at it, we wouldn't be so worried
about it, but we don't have any experience with it yet. But in
that hour of death, God says, it shall be well with you. It shall be well with the righteous.
God's going to give you dying grace just like he gave you living
grace. He will. And there's no reason
for the believer to fear death. This is why it shall be well
with you. You got nothing to be afraid of. Our Lord said a
believer sleeps. He didn't say a believer dies.
He said a believer sleeps. Don't we all look forward to
a good night's sleep? Really? I mean, I just wish I could go
to sleep faster. Because I love a good night's
sleep. It's good for you. Then why does
a believer fear death? It's good for you. Just as much
as a good night's sleep is good for you, even just like, it pales
in comparison. It's good for the believer to
sleep, to go through this veil of death. The believer has no
reason to fear death. Look at Philippians chapter 1.
As a matter of fact, the believer has every reason to look forward
to death. We look forward to death because
for the believer, death is gain. Philippians 1 verse 21. For me to live is Christ, but
to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I want
not. If the choice is up to me, I
just don't know what I'd choose. For I ministrate betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful
for you. If the choice was mine, I just
don't know what I'd choose. Thankfully, the Lord will. He'll
choose. He'll know when it's right. And
when He chooses that the time has come for this body to die,
there's no reason to fear that experience. For the believer,
death is all gain and no loss. I mean, there's just the lost
side of the ledger's got zero for the believer. It's all gain. When we lay this body down in
death, we're trading sin for holiness. We're trading a body
of corruption for incorruption. We're trading darkness for light. We're trading faith for sight. We're trading sorrow for joy. There's no loss in that. It's
all gain to the believer. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. It is precious for me. I've got
no reason to fear anything that's precious. It's precious to my
Lord. We go through the experience
of death, say ye to the righteous. It should be well with him. And
fourth, when we go to the judgment, say ye to the righteous, it shall
be well with him. Now we don't know a whole lot
about how the judgment will work. I happen to think that everyone,
without exception, must appear in judgment. And I have that
feeling based on scripture. It's appointed unto men once
to die, but after this, the judgment. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That kind of sounds like a disaster
for a sinner, doesn't it? To appear before the judgment
seat? But when you go to the judgment, say ye to the righteous,
it should be well with them. Because when your name is called,
Come appear before the bar of God's justice. You have an advocate. Our advocate is the Son. Our
advocate before the Father is God's Son, Jesus Christ, the
Righteous, the One in whom we are righteous. When your name
is called, Christ will stand for you. When your name is called
and for you, for the righteous, He'll say, Father, I'm here."
And he'll say, all right, and he'll open the books. And the
record will find no charge of sin to you because the blood
of Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous, has blotted it out. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
because Christ has already been judged. He's already been condemned. He bore the condemnation away.
He bore it all. There's none left. The Father
will say, enter into the eternal rest that I have prepared for
you. You see, no matter how bad things may look, it should be
well with the righteous. No matter how bad things will
feel, you can say to the righteous, it should be well with When Satan
buffets with a thorn in the flesh, it should be well with the righteous.
God's grace would be sufficient. When we fall, for we do, when
we fall like Peter fell, when we deny the Lord, you say to the righteous, it
should be well with him. That angel came, told those women,
he's risen. Tell his disciples. And tell
Peter. What you just thought, Peter,
is just a lost cause. And tell Peter. Come meet me. You tell Peter. When we fall
like Peter, you say to the righteous, it shall be well with you. Your
standing's not in yourself, it's in Christ. When you face the
hottest battle, and think the odds are against you, you say
to the righteous, it shall be well with you. Our greatest enemy
is already defeated. We're more than conquerors in
Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. You say to the righteous,
it shall be well with you. When you're young and when you're
old, when you're strong and when you're weak, when you're in the
valley and you're on the mountaintop, say ye to the righteous, it shall
be well with you. When you go out and when you
come in, when you're at home and when you're abroad, say ye
to the righteous, It shall be well with him. All day. All day. Every day. It shall be well with the righteous. From the rising of the sun to
the going down of the sand. You say to the righteous, it
shall be well with him. Because look back in our text.
You know why it's going to be well with him? Because he's getting
exactly what he deserves. He's eating. That's what it says
here. For they shall eat the fruit of their doings. It should
be well with the righteous because the doings of the righteous are
the doings of Christ our representative. That's why it's going to be well
with them. Our merit is Christ's merit. The work of our hands
is the work of Christ's hands. God's justice demands it be well
with you if you're getting what Christ deserves. You'll always
be well clothed and well fed when you eat the fruit of Christ's
doings. That's why it shall be well with the righteous. Now
that's a message of comfort. I hope that comforts your heart
like it's comforted mine. Now listen to me. This message
does not apply to everyone. This message is to the righteous.
I also have a message of warning from God to the wicked. Look
at verse 11. Woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him. For the reward of his hand shall
be given him." Now, if you're not in Christ, standing on your
own, you're wicked. There's no middle ground. You
don't have a drop of hope in yourself. You're wicked. And
we ought to be thankful that God's given us this word of warning.
God's given us space to repent. He's given us this warning. God's
warning to the wicked is that it shall be ill with him. Now
I thought I'd know what this word ill means, but I looked
it up. It means sad. It means misery. It means distress. And it means this. Worse than. Worse than what? Worse than. You say to the wicked it shall
be worse than for him. Because he doesn't have Christ.
When the wicked sin, It shall be ill for him because he doesn't
have a sacrifice for sin. He doesn't have a payment for
sin. When the wicked face trial, it's not working for their good.
It's not. God may send them a correction
that they ignore. We looked at that in Isaiah chapter
one. They may ignore it. It may be
that it causes them to curse God, but whatever it is it's
doing, it will not produce good for them. It will produce nothing
but ill for them. You say to the wicked, it shall
be ill for them. I saw on the news a week or two
ago a family, their house burnt down. Thankfully, no loss of
life, but their house was burnt to the ground. Total loss. And the man said, well, God's
got a plan. It'll be all right. Well, God's
got a plan. God's got a purpose. But God's
purpose for the wicked is ill. You say to the wicked, it shall
be ill for him. When the wicked die, it shall
be ill with him. The wicked will die like he lived,
to die without Christ. And his death will be eternal
death. His death, the death of his body
will be the loss of everything he had. It shall be ill for him. When the wicked face judgment,
it will be ill for him. He will receive the reward of
his hands. God will give him exact justice. He'll give him exactly what he
earned. And what he earned is death.
What he earned is eternal death and eternal condemnation because
he doesn't have an advocate. Because he doesn't have a sacrifice.
Because he doesn't have a substitute. Look back at Psalm chapter 11.
Psalm 11. Say to the wicked, it shall be
ill with him. Psalm 11, verse 6. And upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall
be the portion of their cup. You say to the wicked, it shall
be ill with him. No matter what he's doing, no
matter where he's going, it is nothing but ill to the wicked
because he doesn't have Christ. No matter how good things may
appear to the wicked or for the wicked, it shall be ill for the
wicked. No matter how good things smell
for the wicked, it shall be ill. God is going to make it a stench
Even the blessings, material, physical blessings of this life
will not be good to the wicked. They are ill to the wicked. They're
just adding to their condemnation. God keeps blessing them. They
keep rejecting them. It shall be ill for the wicked. The only good to be found anywhere
is in Christ. You know it could be. that if
we'd repent and call on God. None of us did. God spared that
great city, didn't He? Maybe God would have mercy. Maybe
He would. If God does have mercy, this
is what I know. It's going to be for Christ's
sake. You know what divides the righteous and the wicked? A crimson
line. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If God has mercy, it's going
to be for Christ's sake. And because of Christ, God says
to the righteous, it shall be well with them. And to the wicked,
outside of Christ, Christ says, you tell them, they shall be
ill with them. A message of comfort. A message
of warning. A message to everyone. I hope
God will apply it to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, We thank you for this message
of comfort, this message of comfort to the righteous. It shall be
well with him. And we know it will be well for
the righteous, no matter the circumstances, no matter the
road, no matter the difficulty. It shall be well with the righteous
because of our Lord Jesus Christ. How we do thank you. In Your
mercy, in Your grace, in Your wisdom, You sent a Savior to
save the sinner, make us righteous in Him. And it shall be well
with the righteous, because we eat the fruit of the doings,
the righteous, perfect, righteous, holy, obedient doings of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful. This
comforts our hearts. And we do thank you for this
message of warning to the wicked. It's truthful, it's honest, and
it's even merciful that you give us space to repent. And Father,
I pray that you would grant the wicked repentance, that you point
them to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would see who and what
they are and run to Him. Because we know in Christ it
shall be well with Him. And Father, we're thankful how
thankful we are. Bless this message to our hearts
and to Your glory, we pray. Amen.