In the 15th Psalm David writes
as follows, Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell
in thy holy hill he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth in his heart He that backbiteth not
with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh
up a reproach against his neighbour, in whose eyes a vile person is
condemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth
to his own hurt, and changeth not, He that putteth not out
his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Lord, who shall
abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. and speaketh the truth in his
heart. Well here is a psalm, as with
all the psalms, which in speaking of a man, a righteous man, a
truthful man, an upright man, speaks not of the natural man,
but of the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is only one man who
has ever lived, who of himself fits this description. Who shall
abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly. Who walked uprightly? No man,
save Jesus Christ. He that worketh righteousness. Who has ever worked righteousness? No man except Christ and his
people in him. He that speaketh the truth in
his heart. What man has ever spoken the
truth? No man save Jesus Christ. We saw before in Psalm 14 the
state of men by nature that all men are as fools who have said
in his heart there is no God, that all men are corrupt, all
men have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God, and found that they are all gone aside, they
are all together become filthy, there is none that doeth good,
no not one. Well if that be so, then who
can fit the description from among them of one who walks uprightly
and works righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart? None
of them. Not you, not I, not anyone. We're all as fools. We've all
gone astray, we've all sought our own way. We walk wickedly. We work iniquity and we from
the day we were born have spoken lies. Then we of ourselves, our
own strength, our own doing, we as a reward for the way we
walketh, the way we worketh and the way we speaketh will never
abide in God's tabernacle. and we shall never dwell in his
holy hill and we shall never through our walking, our working
and our speaking ever merit, earn or justify a place therein. So you may as well settle in
your own heart and mind now the question, where will I go when
I die? Well if it depends upon you in
any way, shape or form, you're not going to dwell in God's tabernacle
and you're not going to dwell in his holy hill. You are not
going to heaven when you die, oh natural man. This world's
religion, the foolishness of this world's religion, tells
sinners of any shape and state, whether they've ever set foot
in a church at all, whether they've ever made any profession of believing
on Jesus Christ or not, this world's religion, as typified
by the Church of England when it buries dead men and women,
tells the families As it prays a prayer over the grave that
this man, this woman, this dearly departed is going to go to heaven. We have a loving God. He will
forgive their soul. Well that's a lie. Without any
ground. By nature we're all wicked sinners. We haven't walked uprightly,
we haven't worked righteousness, we haven't spoken the truth.
And we will not go to heaven when we die. We will not dwell
with the Lord. We will not dwell in His holy
hill. Not you, not I, not by nature. Not as a result of anything we've
done or said. For we've all gone astray. We've
all worked unrighteousness, we've all worked iniquity and if we're
ever to stand before God then something has to be done about
that. Something has to be done about
our sin. Something has to be done about
the crimes we've committed from the day we were born. Something
has to be done about our constant lies. Something has to be done
about our hearts. which deep down live and act
as though there's no God. Something has to be done about
our wretched unthankfulness towards our Maker. We will not dwell
in His tabernacle or His holy hill when we live and walk and
think and act and speak as we do. How can you tell people that
have lived out their days in unrighteousness and never thought
of God and never cared for God and never cared that their life
has been one long stream of sin. How can you tell such people
that they will go to glory? Nonsense. God is just. He is holy. That is why he dwells
in a holy hill. He dwells in a place wherein
dwelleth righteousness, and the only ones who will dwell with
him are the righteous. Who shall abide in his tabernacle? Who shall dwell in his holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh
the truth in his heart. Then say above the grave of the
dead, when you find a man who all his days without fail walked
uprightly, who every day worked righteousness, and who always
spake the truth in his heart, if you ever find one laid in
the grave like that, then you may say that this one will go
to be with the Lord. But if you cannot say that, and
you cannot say that, then you say a lie. Unless you have a
ground, a righteous ground, a ground in truth, a ground in reality
to say otherwise. Unless something has been done
about the fact that they never walked uprightly. Unless something
has been done about the iniquity that they worked. unless something
has been done about the lies they speak and unless something
has been done there's no ground for salvation and unless something
is done about your iniquity your working of sin your speaking
lies then there's no hope of salvation for you this psalm clearly doesn't speak
of men in their natural state and it clearly doesn't speak
of you or I because we know that we don't fit that description,
then it must speak, it can only speak, it entirely speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ. For he who is the Son of God
from everlasting, was born of a virgin, made of the seed of
David, taken into union with his divinity, perfect manhood,
He alone, born as a man, God as man, lived all his days without
sin. He, that holy thing, conceived
in Mary by the divine operation of the Spirit of God. He, that
holy thing, that man, was the only man who lived and walked
uprightly all the days of his life upon this earth. The only
man to work righteousness and the only man with every utterance
of his lips to speak truth constantly. He speaketh the truth in his
heart. He's the man that when he died,
and when he was laid in the grave, and when he rose again and ascended
from this world into the next, he's the man who dwells, who
abides in the Lord's tabernacle, who dwells in his holy hill. He alone and his people in him as they are
united to him. How will you ever have hope to
dwell in God's tabernacle, to dwell in his holy hill, if you
are one with Christ? If you are one with Christ, if
you are united to this man who walked uprightly, who worked
righteousness, and who speaketh the truth in his heart? If you're
one with Him. If God looks upon you as He looks
upon His Son. If you're one with Him. He speaketh
the truth in His heart. What a contrast there is. What a contrast there is between
this man, the man Christ Jesus, and the natural man. between
the last Adam and the first Adam. Between the second man and the
first. What a contrast! What a gulf!
One is utterly black and corrupt and fallen. One is full of sin. Disgusting. Taken from the mire,
from the filth. One speaks every word in his
life and it's full of corruption and sin. One cannot help himself. One can attempt to live in a
morally outward way and put on a show and an appearance before
others of righteousness, but all the while the bubbling sinning
from his own heart swells up and corrupts all that he does
and says. One is utterly depraved. He can't think to do anything
without there being an ulterior motive, without sin corrupting
all he says and does. and the other is utterly perfect,
entirely righteous, completely truthful, so much so that he
is the upright man, so much so that he is righteousness itself. He is God's righteousness personified,
so much so that he is himself referred to as the truth. He speaketh the truth in his
heart because he is truth. Truth is so united with him. so much a description of what
he is that he is referred to as the Truth Truth is not something
simply that comes from him or something that he agrees with
or something that characterizes what he says it is him and all
that flows forth from him is Truth whereas with you and I
conceived in inequity born speaking lies what characterizes us is
that we can hardly say one thing that's true everything is corrupt
everything is deceitful even the times when we say things
that are right there's sin at work There's pride which accompanies
our every thought and deed. There's arrogance and selfishness
and self-glory. Even when the natural man does
that which is right, he's done it for his own glory. And his
being is untruthful. Yet this man, all that he did
was for the glory of his father. All that he did shone forth what
he is, as upright, righteous and true. At the very beginning
of time, Adam, made innocent in the garden, having fallen
and rebelled against God, soon brought offspring into this world
and the people multiplied and spread across the world. And
God looked down at man whom he had created. In Genesis 6, And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. So soon after the fall in the
garden, so soon after Adam and Eve had walked with God in the
garden, had known there was a maker, had known that God had created
them, so soon had they turned against him and been thrown out.
Their children were brought forth. So soon afterwards, Cain slew
his own brother Abel. Murder entered this world. and
every generation that was born and every person that came forth
from the womb lived a life full of wickedness and corruption
lived a life in which their hearts brought forth imaginations and
thoughts which were only evil continually this is why God went
on to send judgment in the great flood through which he delivered
one man and his family Noah a reminder for all time that the evil of
man's heart will be answered there is a judgment to come there
is a price to be paid and that this wickedness, this unrighteousness,
these lies will be answered God destroyed the wicked, He flooded
the whole world and He only delivered a few that He chose as a picture
of His deliverance of His people through His own Son. They were
put in an ark and they were preserved from the judgment and the rains
and the storms because they were in that ark which was covered
within and without with pitch, it was covered. And that covering
stopped the rain from coming in. Stopped the judgment from
coming in. Stopped death from entering. That alone is what saved Noah
and his family. God chose him, God took him and
God put him in an ark and brought him through the storm. Noah did
nothing. Noah deserved nothing. Noah was
a wicked sinner as all around him were wicked sinners. But
God took him and his people and his family and placed them in
that ark and delivered them. And brought them forth the other
side. And if you or I are ever to be
saved, we must be taken and placed in an ark which is covered such
that the judgment of God cannot touch us. God must choose to
have mercy upon us. He must choose to deliver us.
He must choose to spare us from that wrath. And he has chosen
to deliver a people in Christ. He today speaks unto this world
as Noah spake unto this world. God today preaches unto this
day and generation as Noah preached at God's command in his day and
generation. God today has sent his Noah's
forth into this world. to preach righteousness. He sent
his Noahs to the four corners of this world to preach righteousness
and to say unto a people who laughed and scoffed at Noah in
his day, to say unto a people who laugh and scoff in our day,
there is judgment coming. There is a storm brewing up. There is a day approaching when
the Lord God will judge this world in righteousness and we
must flee from the wrath to come. And Noah preached this righteousness,
he preached the state of man. He declared under his day and
generation that they were wicked, that God had looked down upon
them and seen their wickedness, that their hearts imagined evil
thoughts continually. He preached that every imagination
of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually and
he preached that God would judge this and that we needed to be
delivered from this. and he preached and the people
laughed and he preached and the people turned their backs and
he preached and they went away but the day came when the rains
began to fall and when God took Noah and his house and put them
in that ark and delivered them from that wrath which destroyed
all mankind around them and today God has sent his Noah's with
his gospel to preach that man's heart is evil that your heart
is evil and that there is a judgment coming in which you will have
to answer for every thought and deed which you have thought and
which you have acted in this world throughout your life in
which you will have to answer for your evil heart There is
a day approaching in which God's judgment will pour down upon
this world, and which he will say, enough is enough. And unless
you are found in an ark, when those reins begin to fall, unless
you are found covered in such a way that God's wrath cannot
touch you, then you will surely die. as they died in Noah's day. You will surely be destroyed
and you will surely not stand on the other side in God's tabernacle
and dwell with him on his holy hill. You will enter a place
of outer darkness where fires burn that will never be quenched
because of your iniquity. because of your lies, and because
of your shutting your ears to this gospel, this truth, and
this message of righteousness, which Noah preached in the beginning,
and which God preaches by his Noahs to this day and generation. You need to be in an ark. Your
sin and your iniquity must be covered. Because only if it's
covered, only if all your sin and all your iniquity is entirely
covered, will God look upon you as though you are upright, as
though you work righteousness, as though you speak truth. Only
if all of that sin has been taken away, is out of sight, can you
stand before this holy God. without a covering, without an
ark, without a saviour, you were lost. How far man has fallen. The thoughts
of his heart are evil continually. Jeremiah speaks also of the heart. He says of the heart, your heart,
my heart, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah 17,
9. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord,
search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according
to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. as the
partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not. So he that
getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst
of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. God is watching. He is searching. He is looking
into your heart and my heart. And you may build up in this
world much good for yourself. You may have a life in which
you entertain yourself every day. You may reach a great position
of power in this world. You may build up for yourself
many riches and much family and friends. and care not for God
and think you're doing rather well but you'll find that this
world passes you by very quickly. That soon you're an old man who's
unable to do those things you enjoyed doing when you were young.
Soon you're old and you can't run around and kick a ball about
and do the things you enjoy. Soon you're confined to a chair
and soon all you have before you is the ebbing away of your
last days. And you, as with this man that
Jeremiah describes, will be made to leave your riches in the midst
of your days. And at the end, you shall be
found a fool, who trusted in riches, who set your heart upon
this world and its ways and its things, and never sought God,
and never had an answer to your sin, and never had a covering,
and was never found in an ark. And when he calls you to give
an account for your ways, you will have no answer. The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can
know it? It's deceitful in all it does,
it's deceitful in all it does in religion. This deceitful heart,
here's the truth, here's the knowledge of a judgment to come,
here's the fact that we must stand before God and goes about
trying to establish its own righteousness that it might have something
to answer God with man knowing something of religion says very
well then I'll build myself an ark I'll get myself a covering
I'll cover up my iniquity and maybe God will be pleased with
me So like Adam and Eve, when they were found guilty in the
garden, when they had fallen, before God came upon them, they
had sought to cover themselves up. They saw that they were naked. Not just physically naked, but
their sin, their corruption, their rebellion against God had
exposed them. And suddenly they were now aware
that they were naked. Not just that they needed physically
to be clothed, but that their sin needed to be hidden away. And man, when he sees his sin,
tries to hide it away and cover it. And he goes and gets fig
leaves and stitches them together and does things to no avail. Cain knew that he had a God before
whom he must stand. He attempted to bring an offering
before him of the fruit of his own works and labour in the field. But it was of nothing worth and
when he saw the offering that his brother Abel brought of a
lamb slain, he was filled with enmity because God received that
offering. Now what was the difference?
What was the difference between Cain's offering and Abel's offering?
And why was the covering of fig leaves, which Adam and Eve tried
to cover themselves with, of nothing worth? And why did God
slay an animal and cover them with the skins of animal instead? The difference is not in the
quality of what each had done. Abel's offering wasn't better
than Cain's. Because lambs happen to be better
than the fruit of the ground. Or because Abel's efforts in
bringing forth his lamb was better than Cain's effort in bringing
forth the fruit of the ground. It wasn't because Cain, because
Abel had worked harder. It's because of what the offering
typified. Abel knew that he could do nothing. to cover his sin. That no offering
that he could bring would be acceptable unto God. That nothing
that he could do or work would cover his iniquity. He knew that
he needed to be covered. He needed his sins to be washed. And he knew that someone else
must do that for him. And when he slew the lamb, it
was a picture of Christ being slain for him. It was a picture
of blood being shed on his behalf. It was a picture of that which
would wash away his sins, that which would deliver him. He looked
at the lamb slain and believed that God would provide. a deliverance
for his soul. Cain brought an offering in which
he thought God would be pleased with what he did and he brought. One looked to something of what
God would do, the other looked to what he had done. Abel trusted
in what God would do on his behalf and his offering was just a picture
of it. Cain trusted in what he had done. And that's the lie, the deceit
of our heart. Man in religion, knowing he needs
to have an answer for his sin, works and thinks that by his
working and thinks that by his offering God will be pleased.
He thinks that by stitching fig leaves he can cover up his sin.
But for all his knowledge and all his working he never truly
comes to the point of seeing by faith the Lamb of God slain
in his place, of being covered by blood. of resting and trusting
and believing and looking to the one man who walked uprightly
in his place, the one man who worked righteously, the one man
who spoke the truth in his heart. He never comes there. And yet
with the iniquity in his heart, with the deception of the evil
that springs from his heart, he thinks he's holy, he thinks
he's righteous, he thinks he's done God's service, he thinks
God will be pleased with him. He brings his fig leaves, he
brings his fruit and offerings and sacrifices and hopes that
God will be pleased with him. And his heart has deceived him
and his heart slays him. O have you learnt this lesson?
That you do not walk uprightly, no matter what you are clothed
in. That you do not work righteousness, no matter how hard you have laboured. that you do not speak the truth
in your heart, no matter what you might say regarding the things
of God and the gospel, unless God has brought you to see that
you are nothing, that you have no covering, that you have no
answer for your sin, then all that you speak is lies. The only one who walked uprightly,
the work of righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart
is the Lord Jesus when Mary having brought forth that Lord, that
man into this world took that man up to Jerusalem took that
boy up to Jerusalem and returned and found he was missing and
sought him again and found him in the temple asking questions
of the scribes and Pharisees there and answering questions.
And she found him there and sought him. And she and her husband
came unto him and said, what are you doing here? We thought
you were lost. And he answered and said unto
them, how is it that ye sought me? Wished ye not that I must
be about my father's business? They understood not what he said
but Mary observing him and hearing him and listening to him kept
all these sayings of the Lord Jesus in her heart. She brought forth this man who
is truth into this world and she watched him and listened
to him and kept what he said in her heart. Here was truth
stood before her. Here was the Lord Jesus Christ
stood before her. And she kept the things concerning
Jesus Christ in her heart. Have you listened to his speech? Have you observed how he walks? Have you seen what he works?
Have you heard his truth? Are you keeping them, these things,
these sayings, in your heart? Or do they wash over you? Does
your evil heart take them and corrupt them and contend against
them and argue them and twist them and change them? Do you
take the things concerning Jesus Christ and turn them into a lie?
Do you add your works and your will and your way and the thinking
and the reason of man and change it all and say, this is Christianity,
this is my gospel, this is what I believe, this will save me. When all you've got are fig leaves
and filthy rags of unrighteousness and the offerings of the works
of your hand from the field. When you come across one who
truly believes in a saviour who died for them, is your heart
filled with enmity as Cain's heart was filled with hatred
for Abel? Do you rise up in anger against
this one? Does your countenance change?
Do you say, I hate your religion, it's so exclusive, it makes mine
out to be nothing? Do you think you're the only
one who's right, Abel? What makes you, what makes what
you say right? Why won't God be pleased with
me? Are you filled with enmity when
you heard the truth, when you heard the gospel? when you meet
these who speak of the truth and the gospel. Rather than it
bringing forth a love and adoration, rather than you taking these
things and pondering them in your heart and keeping these
sayings in your heart, are you filled with enmity? Do you hear
of Noah's ark and see the judgment of God against the wicked and
say, why did God destroy all those people? Why didn't he put
more in the ark? Why didn't he open the door and
say unto them, come on all of you, you're welcome. Why were
there only one man and seven others saved? Does that exclusiveness
of God's salvation fill you with anger? Or do you look and say,
O Lord, put me in the ark, else I perish. Give me that covering
of blood. Give me a lamb slain for me. Cause me in him to walk uprightly,
to work righteousness, to speak the truth. Put thy truth in my
heart, Lord. What a contrast there is in this
man Christ Jesus and the Cain's and the wicked and the UNI's
in this world. This man Christ, this man Jesus
had the truth in his heart and he spake it He speaketh the truth
in his heart. It comes forth, it came forth,
it could not remain within. It came from within. not just
from his mind but the heart not simply out of his intellect or
out of the man's natural wisdom but from the depths of his very
being out of the life within this truth is not just something
that's known about but it's the reality of what he is what he
knows by experience What is true not just of others as something
that you may know of others, but what was true of himself.
Christ spake truth because he was truth. It flowed forth from
him. And if you or I are ever brought
to know the truth and speak of the truth, it will be far more
than just the knowledge in our heads. It won't do to just know
about Christ. It won't do to just know facts
of His Gospel. It won't do to just know there's
an ark in which we must be. But we must know Him. We must
have His life. We must be born of God. We must have the Spirit of God,
the Spirit of His Son within. It must be real. In Galatians
4 verse 6 when Paul wrote to those believers there, he said,
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. They were born
of God. They heard the Gospel in power
and the Spirit of God brought them to life by that Gospel. This wasn't something intellectual,
it wasn't a persuasion, it wasn't something they simply consented
to. They were born of God, they had
His life within. and because of that life their
hearts cried forth Abba Father they looked unto God those hearts
which were once just iniquity through and through those hearts
which had imaginations and thoughts which were evil continually now
born of God cried out Abba Father There's a total change, a new
life within. And that life speaks the truth
in the heart. Do you know this life? Do you
know the One who is this life? If you're born of God it's because
God has put the life of Jesus Christ within you. You're one
with Him, you're united to Him. He puts the Spirit of Christ
Jesus in your heart. And it's that life, the Spirit
of His Son that cries. That life that walks uprightly. That life that works righteousness. That life that speaketh the truth. He walketh, he worketh, he speaketh. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
except by me. No man shall abide in the tabernacle
of God except by Christ. No man shall come before God
the Father and dwell in his holy hill except by Christ. And he
is the way, the truth and the life. He walks in the way. He worketh truth and righteousness. He speaks forth from the life
within the truth. He walketh, he worketh and he
speaketh. He walked to the cross. When he came into this world
he came for a reason. He didn't come to be a great
teacher. He didn't come to put things right in this world in
the day and age in which he came. He didn't come to set Israel
at liberty from their captives of Rome. But he came to set his
people at liberty. from their sin and from the captivity
of sin and the only way that he could set them free was to
bring forth an offering, a sacrifice unto God which was acceptable
unto God not fig leaves, not leaves not the fruits of the
works of man but a sacrifice the sacrifice which is slain,
the shedding of blood, a life for another life, a life given
that the dead might live. He came for the cross. He came
to save sinners. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. He came his whole life, was purpose
was set upon the cross. Every day from the day he was
born, from those days when he went into Jerusalem as a child,
when his mother and father sought him, when they found him in his
temple, all his thought, all his purpose was to head for the
cross. When he said, I must be about
my father's business, he had in mind the cross, the business
of redeeming his people. He was in Jerusalem where he
would be slain. He was in the temple, a picture
of the temple of his body which would be brought down and destroyed
and built up again in three days. He was heading for the cross.
He was walking. to the cross he that walketh
uprightly that was the upright walk of the son of god to come
down from heaven's glory to be born in this world to be made
a man to walk to the cross a life not for himself, not for what
he'd gained, but a life heading for crucifixion, a life heading
towards judgment, a life heading towards suffering, a life of
sacrifice, a life full of love for his people. who could not
help themselves who could not deliver themselves who could
not redeem themselves who were awaiting destruction who were
as it were outside of the ark with the storm clouds brewing
and except one comes and bring forth an ark that they might
be delivered, then they'd be destroyed for certain. Well here
came their Saviour, here came their Knower, heading for the
cross to build His ark and to gather His people in that ark
with Him, that when the judgment came He'd take them through to
the other side safely. He walked to the cross. He that
walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness He worked at the
cross. He worked righteousness at the
cross. He brought forth righteousness
for his people at the cross. Not a work of the law, not a
work of the strenuous effort of man, but a work of faith in
which he placed himself on their behalf under the judgment of
God, in which he said, place their sins upon me, make me to
be their sin, and pour forth the righteousness of God down
upon me, and they in me, in judgment. And as that righteousness, as
that judgment was poured down upon him, he looked up unto his
God by faith, knowing that his people would be judged, knowing
their sins would be judged, knowing that this judgment and this suffering
which he endured would bring about their salvation. When His
blood was brought forth, He knew that that blood answered to the
judgment. He knew it had paid the debt.
He knew His life had been given for them. He knew that every
sin of that people, from the day they were born to the day
they die, every last one had been answered. and his faith
was rewarded by God taking that righteousness by which he judged
their sins in his own Son and declaring them to be that righteousness
for that righteousness judged that sin to the uttermost and
the sin being judged, the sin being destroyed, the sins being
taken away, the blood having been shed there was no more sin
only righteousness and righteousness which was made to be theirs through
the Son. He worketh righteousness. That righteousness was wrought
in the three hours upon the cross, exclusively in the three hours
upon the cross. Yes, He lived a life of righteousness. Yes, He was obedient to all His
Father's will, but that's because He was righteousness. That's
because he was perfect. That's because he did walk uprightly. That's because he spake the truth
in his heart. That's because he could do nothing
else. But he brought forth righteousness
for them in his death. he took that righteousness which
he had he took the righteousness of God which was his very own
character and God the Father judged their sins and them in
Christ by that righteousness and it's the judging of their
sins by that righteousness in those three hours of darkness
which made them to be that righteousness therefore in the hours of darkness
as Christ suffered by faith. He worked righteousness for them. He brought forth that righteousness
in such a way that it was made to be theirs. A righteousness
of faith. A righteousness brought forth
as theirs by faith. What he was himself they became
to be because of his work at the cross. exclusively at the
cross by the faith of Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it is the power of God under salvation for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith from the faith of
Christ at the cross to faith to our faith when we're brought
to see it but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ
manifested in the hours of darkness at the cross by faith and made
to be theirs he worked righteousness and having worked righteousness
he spake forth the truth of it he spake from the cross at the
cross, on the cross and everlastingly from the cross, ever since he
has spoken in his gospel of what he wrought, he has redeemed his
people, he has washed them in his blood, he has covered them
in his blood, he has taken them through the judgment in the ark
of which his body is the reality. of which the ark of Noah was
but a picture. He's delivered them, he's brought
them forth, he's ransomed them from the grave, he's delivered
them from judgment, he's set the captives at liberty, and
he speaks from the cross, it is finished. He'd done it all. He'd done it all. What had he
done? He'd fulfilled the covenant which
he and his father had made, that he should come. to walk, to work
and to speak unto his people's everlasting salvation. He speaks of an eternal covenant
ordered in all things and sure. In verse 4 of Psalm 15 it says,
He honoureth them that fear the Lord, he that sweareth to his
own hurt and changeth not. He swore to his own hurt when
he made a covenant with the Father. before ever the foundation of
the world was laid. He made a covenant which would
bring about his own hurt, his own condemnation, his own suffering,
his own death. He loved the people his father
gave him. He chose the people. They were
chosen by the father, given to the son. The son loved them. But to love them and to deliver
them and to save them, to redeem them, to ransom them, he must
die. And in swearing to that covenant,
in promising to fulfil that covenant, in bringing about the fulfilment
of that covenant by his work upon the cross of that work of
faith, it was to his own hurt. And yet he changed not. He did not turn from it. He set
his face like a fleece. for he would save his people
from their sins. As Isaiah 50 tells us, The Lord
God hath given me the tongue of the learned, says Christ,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that
is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore
shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. He swore to his own heart and
changed not. He that doeth these things shall
never be moved. He was never moved. Man sought
to kill him. Man sought to stone him. All
men rejected him. All men hated him. and it brought
about his own death. Yet he never denied his God and
his Father, and he never turned from doing that which he came
to do, to save his people from their sins. He never turned. He went to the cross. He endured
the cross. He walked uprightly. he worked
righteousness and he spake and speaketh the truth in his heart
and he speaketh that truth in his heart to you and I this day
from heaven's glory that saviour who cried out it is finished
having endured the darkness, having endured the judgment,
having wrought the work of righteousness by faith, having delivered his
people from heaven's glory on high, he speaks, he preaches
throughout the ages, even to our age today, and says, look
unto me, look unto me, I have laid down my life for my people,
who hated me, yet I love them. Where are you looking? Where
are you looking? Will you abide in his tabernacle? Will you dwell in his holy hill? If you ever do, it will be through
him. By looking by faith to him, who
worketh uprightly, who worketh righteousness, who speaketh the
truth in his heart. Who speaketh the truth in his
heart. Paul in Hebrews 13 says, Now
the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing
in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen.