Isaiah chapter 3, we were here
a year or two ago in this same verse. I just like it. Isaiah chapter 3. We're going
to read the first 11 verses, kind of get the context, see
what's going on here. For behold, Isaiah 3, chapter
3, behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the takeaway from Jerusalem
and from Judah, the stay in the staff, the whole stay of bread,
the whole stay of water, the mighty man, the man of war, judge,
prophet, prudent, and the ancient, the captains of 50 and honorable
men, the counselor, the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator,
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall
rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed,
every one by another, every one by his neighbor. The child shall
behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against
the honorable. When a man shall take hold of
his brother, of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast
clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy
hand. And in that day shall he swear,
and saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread
nor clothing, make me not a ruler of the people. 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.
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. Say unto the righteous that it
shall be well with him, for he shall eat the fruit of their
doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Now, I want to look at verse 10, right in the middle, right
in the middle of this section of turmoil, sin, degradation,
unrest, and calamity, we have verse 10. Say to the righteous,
that it shall be well with him. Or say to the righteous that
it well, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Right
in the middle of this, all this negativity, if you will, you've
got this one bright spot. Say unto the righteous, it shall
be well with him, him or her. I know I looked at this before,
like I said a year or two years ago, but I just, I like this
passage. I'm just gonna go through it
and just look at a few things. Say ye to the righteous that
it, what's that? What is that? It shall be well with him. It shall be well with the righteous,
it. Well, this is this verse is akin
cousin. Two Romans 828. Look at how it's
phrased. And we know. That all things. What things? All things. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them. who are the
called according to his purpose. Now this is the righteous that
he's speaking of in Isaiah 3.10. Who are they? These are the ones,
whoever they may be, young, old, white, black, whatever, who are
called according to God's purpose. He doesn't call everybody, but
he calls some. Not many mighty, not many wise are called. But
this, what got me is it. It's this word it. This is a
wide scope. This is a broad angle. It. What. It shall be well with him. It. What not. All things. Everything. At every
time. Everywhere. in all circumstances,
whether they be difficult times, financial hard times, joyous
seasons, times of dark skies or sunny mornings, it shall be
well with the righteous." Charles Haddon Spurgeon made a comment
on this. He said, when no time is mentioned,
all time is included. All time is included. God is for us. He's never against
us. Though He may withdraw, seem
to withdraw, behind a cloud, the old writers would say, He's
still there. He's still present with us. It shall be well. Oh, what a
good hope we have in Christ Jesus. He says, kind of in Ephesians
chapter 4, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. If you're not in Christ, you're
not righteous, and it's not going well for you, but if you're in
Christ, you're righteous, you're made righteous, and it is going
well for you. It. It. How do you limit that? How do
you limit that? Why do we limit that? Every one
of us is going to get older and, you know, maybe get sick and
die. We're all going to die, there's no question about that.
But it's just, it'll be a time that usher us to glory. And isn't
that what we're here for? I know we get distracted and
we like to do this and like to do that and I like to do different
things. But when it comes down to it, our whole life is when
a life of grace is a desire to honor and glorify Him, and a
love for Him, and it will just be with Him. We get attached
to things. But He says, it, it, everything at all times. The
next thing I saw was, say to the righteous, it shall be well.
This word well means good in Hebrew, And it's used in the
widest possible sense. Not only at all times, but in
every event, is well and good for God's elect. I know the believer
goes through many or more of the struggles of life than many. We go through the same as many
others, and sometimes more, sometimes less. But God, the benevolent
one, is behind this phrase towards the church. He's behind this
phrase. Say to the righteous, it shall
be well with him or with her. Put your trust exclusively and
totally in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this
book to reference. All the hardships of the ancients,
the prophets, and the priests, and the king, David, and Solomon,
and all, and Abraham, and Lot, and Jacob, and Joseph. We have
this book for reference. All the ancients of days that
they've gone through. See how God in Christ, by the
Holy Spirit, kept each one of them until they were singing
His praises in glory. And all you gotta do is go to
Hebrews 11. These all died in faith, which is in Christ. And
it just starts listing them. And it didn't even list them
all by name. Some were sawn asunder, thrown
in lion's dens. Of whom the world was not worthy,
is not worthy, is not worthy. They were singing His praise.
One minute they were writing the lines then, the next minute
they were singing the praise of God. So this is the passage
of Scripture. It, all that includes, shall
be well, it shall be good in the broadest possible sense.
Now again, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now I'm not
saying that you're going to be wealthy, you're going to have
every car you need, you're going to have this, you're going to
have that. No, I'm not, that's not even, that's not even what
we're talking about. We're talking about spiritual
blessings. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. And this other stuff that we have is just stuff. It's to be used, not abused.
and somebody else is going to get it. So he gives us that as
our brethren in Africa, they don't have a tenth of what we
have and yet they can still rejoice in Christ. Why? Because this
passage, if they're believers, is for them. It's for them. It
shall be well with the righteous. And to further emphasize well,
our good, we are well fed. In John chapter 6 he says, this
is my body, my blood, you know, you feed upon Him. We are well
fed. We dine upon His flesh and His blood. And if we do not,
we have no part of Him. So we're well fed. Every time
we gather together the Word, we taste to see that He is gracious.
We're reading the Word, not literally feasting upon His blood and His
flesh, but we do so in this book. by the Holy Spirit. We're well
kept. Jude 24 says He's able to keep us from falling and to
present us faultless before His throne in glory. He's able to
keep us from falling. We're well kept. We're well clothed. Turn to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. And verse 10, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as the bride adorneth herself
with her jewels. We're clothed, we're well fed,
we're well kept, and we're well clothed, we have His righteousness. And notice in the text, in verse 10, my soul shall be
joyful in my God. Why? He hath clothed. He hath covered. We didn't do
it ourselves. We didn't do it ourselves. See,
salvation is all the work of Him and Him alone. Justification,
sanctification, it's all of grace. We said that this morning in
Bible class. He hath. He hath. And when we realize
what He's done, we realize it's past tense. He did this before
the foundation of the world. Fifthly, we're well provided
for. Turn to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22, and verses
1 through 14. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and
he said, Behold, here I am. He said, Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering, which one of
the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood
for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place which
God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go up yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he
took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of
them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And his son, being properly taught
things from the scripture from a youth, he said, Behold the
fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt offering. So they went, both of them, together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham
built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac
his son and laid him on the altar of the wood. And Abraham stretched
forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel
of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham,
Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now
I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horn. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh, As it is said, to this day, the
mount of the Lord, it shall be seen, or the Lord will provide. We are well provided for. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord hath
provided all things necessary for us to gain entrance into
heaven. It, it shall be well with thee. We are well cared for. Hebrews
chapter 13. We are well cared for. We're
cared for like no other people on earth. Hebrews 13. And verse 5. Let your conversation
be without covetous and be content with such things as you have.
For God has said, I will never leave thee nor for safety. We're well cared for. Matthew
chapter 6. I like this. This is how this
is phrased. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 verse 31 and
32. Therefore, said the Lord Jesus
Christ to the people there, take no thought saying, what shall
we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For after these things do the
Gentiles seek." That's a mild rebuke. We'll open up our closets
and we got hundreds of stuff, hundreds of things. We act like
God's not going to take care of us. He's going to take care
of us, okay? But this is what the world They collect stuff, and stuff,
and stuff, and stuff. Therefore, what shall we eat,
or drink, or be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles
seek. They don't have a God, like who takes care of us, who
we're well fed, we're well kept, we're well clothed, we're well
loved, we're well provided for. They don't have that. They don't
understand. They just got themselves, so they think. For your Heavenly
Father knows that you have need of all these things. These earlier chapters in Matthew,
they always walk all over me. Because I take thought for the
moral. I take thought about what I'm going to have to eat. I can't
not eat. I'll waste away. Yeah, I'm sure. And I take thought about looking
in the mirror, all these different things that we think are so important. And we don't need to be gross
and be unkept. We're in a society, but we go
way, way too much. Way too much. How many vehicles do we need
to get to work? How do we do these things? All these are the
things that Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father, your
Heavenly Father, who said it, there's no limitations on that,
shall be well, good, in the widest sense, with the righteous, If
you're righteous, it's because Christ robed you in His righteousness.
He lived, suffered, bled, and died, and He's God's only Son,
but our Heavenly Father knows that we have need of all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added. Therefore, take no thought
for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. You know,
you think about the next day or think about the next day.
Who's to say you walk out in your backyard and just fall down
dead? Melinda said, was it two teachers? Two teachers, or two secretaries
in Jackson. Quincy, I'm sorry. Her sister's school district.
They went to work and then didn't come back. So I guess somebody
went and looked them up. They both died. And this is not
the same day. And you know what? You're not
that important. I'm not that important. The school
district at Quincy kept right on going. Oh, no. No. I mean, I'm a main cog in
the wheel. No. And Linda and I were talking
about this very thing. Even the highest office in this
land, he'll be replaced after four years or maybe after eight
in the country. It's gone on since George Washington. And if it doesn't, it shall still
be well in the widest possible sense for his people. We doubt Him far too frequently,
far too frequently. But I ask the last thing, who
does God say such things to? Well, in our text, it's very
specific. Say to the righteous. And the
next verse, say to the wicked. It will not be, it'll be ill
with you. So what we're looking at is verse 10, say to the righteous.
Now we're born in sin, so we're born without a righteousness. Paul said, there's religious
people in the world, they have zeal, but it's not according
to the knowledge of God. They go about to establish their
own righteousness, which is what religion... Man was made to worship
God, and when he fell, he still worships, but it's not God. He
worships, you name it, other people. I did when I was a kid, I idolized
sports figures. We'll worship this country. Sports,
activities, things, money. You're nothing if you're not
wealthy. That's not righteousness. That's
whatever. It's not righteousness. Say to
the righteous, those made so by the accomplishments and satisfaction
of God's Son. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one, verses
12 through 14. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet. We did make ourselves meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who have
delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom, his son, we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. That's whose passage in Isaiah
3 verse 10, that's who he's talking to. Say to the righteous, it
shall be well. with them. It's a specific group
of people. He made us meet. We did not sow
ourselves by our supposed free will or good works or any merit
found within us. We, like anyone and everyone
else, were dead in trespasses and sins, is what Ephesians 2
says. But thanks be to Christ, our Redeemer, thanks be to God
who chose us from before the world was, And thanks be to God
the Holy Spirit that gave us regenerating grace to see Him
and to see ourselves for what we truly are. In closing, turn
to Genesis chapter 32. This is what an enlightened mind
understands and sees and proclaims. We've seen Like Job said, I know
that my Redeemer liveth. So we know that our Redeemer
liveth. But He also said, I abhor myself in repentant dust and
ashes. We see Him with whom we have to do. And when we look
back at ourselves, which we used to look back in pride, and oh,
I'm such a wonderfully created, I'm so beautiful, I'm so this
and that. We look at ourselves and we're
like, I'm a worm. We see ourselves as maggots.
We see ourselves as worms. We see ourselves as we came from
the dust. We're going to go back to the dust. We see ourselves
as a leper. A leper. But thanks be to Christ,
our Redeemer, who shed and suffered His own blood on Calvary's tree
for us. Thanks be to God who chose us
from before the world was. gave us to his son and thanks
be to God the Holy Spirit that gave us regenerating grace to
see him and yet to see ourselves as we truly are. Genesis chapter
6 or 32 verses 6 through 10. And the messengers returned to
Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau. Now Esau's getting
ready to meet Jacob and they're getting ready to meet together.
And Esau cometh to meet thee with 400 men with him. Jacob's last meeting with Esau
was not good, so he's a little nervous. And Jacob was greatly
afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that was with
him into the flocks and herds and camels into two bands. And
he said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then
the other company, which is left, shall escape. That's human reasoning. And Jacob said, and this would
be a good prayer for us, O God of my father Abraham, and God
of my father Isaac the Lord which said unto me return
unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well it's the
same word with you say to the righteous Isaiah 3 verse 10 our
text say unto the righteous it shall be well with thee." What
Jacob is doing is pleading what God has said. And that's the
best way, that's the best, I don't know how else to phrase it. You
take God's words, a promise that He gave you and you said, but
you said this. You hold them to it. And God
wouldn't have given it to you if you weren't righteous, if
you weren't, all the promises in Christ are yea and amen. But
this is what we all, this is all, we plead his promises. But
verse 10, we've seen God. He's our God. He's the God of
my, he's the God of my father. He's the God of father Abraham
and Isaac, but he's also my God. Because you said to me, I'll
deal well with thee. But this is what we also say. I am not
worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth. which you have shown unto thy
servant. You show me a person that says that, and I'll show
you one of God's elect. For with my stuff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. I am not worthy of the least
of all thy mercies and of the truth. Mercy and truth. What's Proverbs say? Or I think
it's maybe Psalms. Mercy and truth have kissed each
other. And where does that happen? In
the Old Testament, it happened on the mercy seat. But we know
who the mercy seat pictures. Mercy and truth have kissed each
other in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore,
we're righteous. Say unto the righteous, You put a definition on that,
it, it's broad. It shall be well. And I told
you that word is good in the Hebrew in the widest sense. It
shall be it. What? Tomorrow, if the Lord gives
us life, health, soundness of mind, this afternoon, even though
I stub my toe, or I get in an accident, or whatever happens,
it shall be well. Spiritually. Eternally. and sometimes materially. I don't
know how else to say it. But he, it shall be well with
the righteous. And those who are made righteous by the blood
and righteousness of Christ, see God and plead for His mercy
and realize they don't deserve it. They deserve not one little
bit of His mercy. Now, is that being preached today? in most churches in this country,
you deserve it. It's just like entitlements,
which is what we see all the time. You deserve this and you
deserve that. I read a good article this morning
by Greg Ilquist. I'm going to put it in the bulletin
next week. It's about training the children.
It talks about entitlement, this and that, and all these different
things. And if you train a child, Lord
willing, they'll go that way. So, I just thought it was really
good. This worldly mentality has crept
into the church. It has been there for a long
time. You read Spurgeon, he saw it. But we need to see that our
only worthiness is found in Christ, not ourselves. Anything we do,
or cannot do, or withhold, or don't do this, or don't do that,
or do this and don't do that. It's not in those things. It's
in Christ. It's a person. I make reference
time and time again to old Simeon. He was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. He held up that baby. Lord Jesus
Christ, he held up that baby in his arm, and he's looking
right at that child. He said, Lord, let me go. Let
me die in peace. Let me go now. I've seen thy
salvation. And he's talking to a person.
He's looking at a person. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you understand that, and
you understand yourself, you're righteous. And it shall be well
with you. Matt, would you close this, please?