Bible one more time to Isaiah
51 and put your bulletin there or put a marker there your pencil
or some Something to hold your place there because we'll be
turning and looking at other portions of Scripture from Isaiah
51 that was our message I'm entitling the word the message for you
this morning from the words found in verse 3 Verse 3 the middle
part of that says like the garden of the Lord, or the garden of
the Lord. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which He purchased with His own blood, God bought the
church with His own blood. The garden of the Lord Jesus
Christ, His church, is His planning. He said, I'll build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the garden of His planning. He planned
it. He planted it as well. The ground is His. He planted
the good seed. The good sower went forth to
sow the word of life. He rooted out the tears of the
ground. His garden is cultivated by His
sovereign love, watered by His divine grace, visited by His
Holy Spirit, and it is a most fruitful garden. The garden of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
fruitful garden. Because the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance,
faith. These things are the gift of
God. His church is called, in Isaiah
61, turn over there. His church is called, this garden
of the Lord, this church is called over here, In Isaiah 61 verse
3, the last part of verse 3, let's read the whole verse, Isaiah
61 3. To appoint unto them that morn
in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness. There's that
righteousness again, the planning of the Lord, He planted these
trees of righteousness. He made them righteous. And he
did it that he might be glorified in all things. Now, hold your
place in Isaiah 51. Turn over here to that little
study that we went through. Right before Isaiah, we find
that little beautiful love story we call the Song of Solomon.
Turn over there to chapter four, Song of Solomon chapter four.
We talked a lot when we studied through the Song of Solomon in
our Sunday morning Bible study about the garden of the Lord.
The fruit of that garden, how the Lord comes among His garden
and blesses His people. Song of Solomon, you see chapter
4 verse 16? Awake, O north wind! Come, O
south wind! Now the wind here represents
the Holy Spirit. blow upon my garden that the
spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden, it's his, and eat his pleasant fruits. Chapter five, verse one. I'm
coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh
with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Now eat, oh you friends. Drink abundantly, oh beloved. What a beautiful garden the Lord
has established His church, the church of the firstborn, the
church of the living God. Now one thing back to Isaiah
51. One of the things I noticed when I read through this chapter,
three times the Lord calls us to attention. You who were in
the army, some of you here were. And when the drill sergeant comes
out, he doesn't say, now fellas, if you want to, you can listen
to me. He says, attention! And you better stand up and listen,
or you'll be in big trouble. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the captain of our salvation, just doesn't merely, merely say,
now, if you want to, you can hear me. He said, listen to me,
I've got something to say, hearken to me, you people. You see verse
one, hearken to me, you that follow after righteousness. Again,
verse four, he said, hearken to me, my people. Again, verse
seven, he says, hearken unto me, you that know righteousness,
that follow after righteousness, listen to me. From our study
in the revelation of Christ, we've been going through our
1030 Bible study. In every letter written to those
seven churches, there is a command from the Lord to listen to him. You remember? He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this. What a
privilege God has given us to have his word. This is a testimony
of God. As we studied Wednesday night,
this is the testimony that is established in the heart of God's
people. The testimony of God. The testimony
of the Lord. That's what we have. What a privilege
to have His Word. But oh, what a privilege to have
a willingness to hear Him. An eagerness to hear His Word. As James says in his epistle,
let us be swift to hear. Swift to hear Him. Oh, to have
ears unstopped. to hear what thus saith the Lord,
to have a heart to receive his truth. You remember reading recently
we did from Proverbs chapter 8 where it says, blessed is the
man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the post of the door. That is so eager to come to the
house of the Lord, so eager to come and hear the word of the
Lord that you're out there waiting. before the preacher gets here
to open the door. Just eager. Just waiting. I can't
wait to get in there. I want to hear from the Lord.
Have you ever come that way to service?
Eager to hear. Wanting to hear. Oh, Lord, speak
to my heart. Or do you come with a lukewarm
attitude? Well, you know, it's time to
go to church. Every good citizen ought to go to church somewhere.
I'm always amazed how the politicians around political time, when they
run for office, they get real religious. Oh, to have ears to
hear Him. The other thing I paid close
attention to is how many times this is mentioned here in this
text, just in these few eight verses, mentions righteousness
and salvation. Righteousness and salvation.
I counted about eight times. How many do you count? About
eight times he mentions, just in eight verses, he mentions
here righteousness and salvation. Well it must be pretty important.
Righteousness and salvation. The very heartbeat of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ involve these two very vital things. Two things that we desperately
need to stand before God. Salvation. You know who needs
salvation? You know who really needs salvation?
Everybody doesn't need salvation. Do you know that? A lot of folks
not interested in true salvation. But I tell you who needs salvation.
You know who needs it? Sinners. You a sinner? Sinners
need salvation. Do things that we desperately
need that God fully provides. Salvation from our sin or sin
put away. Sin put away. He did that by
the sacrifice of Himself. And we need a justifying righteous
to stand before God cleared from all guilt. Both are fully provided
and accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Both are fully given and freely given through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Both are fully enjoyed by being made one with Him. The one the Apostle Paul said,
oh, I count everything else lost and dung and ruined, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. What a blessing to be found in
Him. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is called He is our salvation. He hath the Son, hath life. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is also called the Lord, our righteousness. Now I want us to consider this
morning these first eight verses. Verse 1 down to verse 8. First
of all we see in the first verse a description of the Lord's people.
A description of the Lord's people. He said, hearken to me, my people,
you that follow righteousness, you that know righteousness. A description of the Lord's people.
Here, first of all, he says, they follow after righteousness.
They follow after righteousness. Are you a follower of righteousness? You remember what the Lord said
in John chapter 10? My sheep hear my voice, I know
them, and they, what do they do? They follow somebody. They follow the shepherd. They
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do they follow him? They
love him. They need him. They want Him. They must have Him. They follow
after righteousness. The believer resting in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone is not going about to establish a righteousness
of his own. Matter of fact, because all of
our righteousnesses that we produce of our hands is nothing but filthy
rags. So the believer resting in the
Lord Jesus Christ is not going about to establish a righteousness,
but rather we're resting in that righteousness of God that's revealed
in the gospel. Paul describes those true believers
as those who have submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus. For he said the law, for Christ
is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that, everyone that
does the best he can, works as hard as he can, everyone that
believeth in faith is a gift of God. So there's the first
description of the believer. Does this describe you? Are you
a follower? A follower, they follow after
righteousness. Are you a follower of Christ? A lover of the Lord Jesus Christ? The second thing we see about
those who are believers is the believer does in his heart seek
the Lord. You see that? They follow after
righteousness and they seek the Lord. They seek God who is God. They seek Jehovah, the Eternal,
Everlasting, Existing Lord. He's Jehovah. He's called in
Scripture Jehovah-Jireh, right? The Lord will provide. He's also
called Jehovah-Sidcanu. You remember what that is? What
is that? What is that? The Lord our righteousness, isn't
it? You see, we seek Him, we're following after Him and we're
seeking Him. We want to know Him, be found
in Him. We want to know more about Him,
how He justifies the ungodly. Oh, that we may win Christ and
be found in Him. Our Lord said this in Matthew
6, Seek ye first, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His, what? Righteousness. And all these
other things, He'll take care of those. Seek ye first Christ,
who is that righteousness before God. We seek Him, believers do,
by His grace. We seek Him earnestly where He's
found. Where is He found? We seek Him
where He's found. Where is He found? In His Word.
He's found in His Word. Our Lord said to those Jews,
you are they which search the Scriptures, and in them you think
you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of, He
said, they testify of Me. So we seek the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Lord our Righteousness, we seek Him, Jerry, in His Word.
That's why we study the Word. That's why we preach from the
Word. That's why we make much of the Word. Now whatever the
enemies of the gospel may accuse me of, one thing they can accuse
me of, that he doesn't teach the Word. I'm guilty. I'm guilty
of doing that. I'm guilty of teaching, thus
saith the Lord. I'm guilty of preaching that
blessed, blessed doctrine of salvation by God's grace. I'm
guilty. Guilty of that. I want to be
found guilty. Where do His people seek the
Lord our righteousness in His Word? They seek Him in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, they seek Him in the
preaching of the gospel. For in the preaching of the gospel
we see him set forth in his person and his work. He is righteous
in his person and he worked out an everlasting and brought in
an everlasting righteousness for us. So we seek him in the
preaching of the gospel. That's what this ministry is
all about. Have you noticed that? We're not interested in building
gymnasiums and feeding the poor folks. We help them with We're
not interested in visiting the hospital and we visit our folks
when they're sick, but that's not the emphasis, the center
of our ministry. What is the center of our ministry?
It's the same as what Paul charged young Timothy with. I charge
you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the Word. It's
a preaching ministry we have. Preaching Christ and Him crucified. So, believers do seek the Lord.
They do seek the Lord now. They're just not playing games.
They're seeking the Lord. In His Word, in the preaching
of the Gospel, and anywhere else they seek the Lord, among His
people. It's among His people. Can you,
as a believer, absent yourself in the meeting of God's people? I realize sometimes, through
sickness and various things, we have to be gone. But our Lord
said this, When God's people meet together, you know who is
with us when we meet together? When we meet together preaching
his gospel and seeking him and his word? He says, we're two
or three are gathered together in my name. I am in your midst. Don't you want to be where the
Lord is? I do. His people do. They seek him
among his people. They camp right there. They camp
right there. The third thing we see is this.
They remember this. They look under the rock. Now
this is not talking about the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But they look unto the rock from
which they are hewn, or the hole of the pit from which they are
digged, as we follow the Lord our righteousness. As we seek
Him, we also are mindful where He found us, where He chiseled
us out, That word there, hewn, means to chisel out. He chiseled
us out of the rock bed of sin. He chiseled us and brought us
out of the pit of depravity. He did it. We were dead in trespasses
and in sin. We were ignorant and in the dark
and in the pit, unable to get out. Matter of fact, we didn't
want out, because men love darkness, not light. We're in a rock bed
of sin, dead in sin. We're in a pit and cesspool,
an ugliness of total depravity and ruin. And we loved it. You
see, the Lord had come to us and chiseled us out, didn't he?
Isn't that what he did? Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which sent me draw him. The Lord had
to reach down to the pit of corruption and total depravity or we never
would have believed the truth. Oh, we'd have gone on in our
religious society, but we never would have believed the gospel
of God's grace, would we? You see, believing the gospel,
I mean the true gospel of grace, is a absolute miracle of God. Because it says in scripture,
we believe according to the working of His mighty power. It takes the power of God Almighty
to make us believe the truth. And you know what kind of power
it talks about in that next verse? Check me out. Not now, but check
me out. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse
19, it says, We believe according to the work of His mighty power,
which He wrought in us. The same power that it took to
raise the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ out of the grave. That's what kind of power. Resurrection
power. That's the only way that we truly
believe the gospel. of God's grace. Now look at verse
2, again he's describing those who follow after righteousness,
describing those who seek the Lord, the Lord our righteousness,
remembering where he found us in the rock bed of sin, in the
depths of depravity, in the pit of ruin, and he says, verse 2,
look unto Abraham, your father, and Sarah who bear you. I called
him alone. I blessed him alone. And I increased him alone. Now, the Lord, God Almighty,
always holds forth Abraham as an example of faith. We read
about that in Romans chapter 4. He's called the father of
the faithful. God holds him forth in Scripture
as a shining example of faith. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Abraham, by nature, was down
there in the area of the Chaldees. You know what took place down
there in the area of the Chaldees, the land where he grew up? Idolatry. His father was an idolater. Abraham
was as well. And you know what happened? God
in His sovereign purpose, God in His sovereign mercy, called
him out of darkness into that marvelous light. He said to Abraham,
get out from thy country, from among thy brethren, and go into
the land which I will show you of. And you know what he did?
He believed God. He got up, walked out on his
family, walked out on his property, left house and home, and went
to a place he'd never seen before. Why did he do that? God said
so. God called him. Consider Abraham. Held forth
as a pattern of the Lord's sovereign calling, fetching mercy. Oftentimes
we talk about Abraham and we forget what it says there in
the text. Sarah. Abraham was married. When God
called Abraham, you know who else he called? He called his
wife. She believed too. Because it
says of her in Hebrews 11, how do you know that, preacher? Well,
here's how I know that. It says in Hebrews 11, 11, she
judged God's faithful who promised. She was a believer too. She was
also called out of idolatry into God's marvelous light. Look what
it says there in the text. He says in verse two, he says,
I called him alone. Alone. God passed by His whole
family, called Him. Called Him. You know what we
call that? Sovereign mercy. Sovereign love. This is what the Scriptures teach.
It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
it's God that shows mercy. God will have mercy on whom He
will. Sovereign mercy. That's what this book teaches.
God will save whom He will. When it pleases the Lord, he'll
save whom he will, when he will, for his own sake, for his own
glory. God said, I called him alone.
Second thing it says there, I blessed him alone. Passed by all others. Abraham was blessed as we are
blessed in Christ Jesus. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. For we read this scripture, who
made you to differ from another? Well, who made Abraham to differ?
Was the difference in Abraham? He was just as bad as the rest
of his family. It's God who made the difference,
isn't it? God called him out. God singled him out. God made
him an example and pattern of a sovereign mercy. The same way
God saved Abraham is the same way He saves us in Christ by
His grace. It says there that God increased
him alone. left others to justly perish in their sin. God has
blessed his people abundantly in Christ Jesus. Look at verse
three, for the Lord, Isaiah 51.3, for the Lord, the Lord, Jehovah. You see it again, the Lord God
Almighty, the Lord shall comfort Zion. Zion here is his church. It's his gospel Zion. The Lord
shall comfort Zion. What does he comfort Zion with?
Christ, the gospel of Christ. He will, he shall and he will
comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like
Eden and her desert, waste places, the wilderness and the desert,
like the garden of the Lord. joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving in the voice of melody. The Lord does
promise blessings upon his gospel church. Notice the Lord shall
and will. Same language as he uses in the
covenant of grace in Jeremiah 32 and verse in Jeremiah 33.
They shall be my people and I will be their God. He shall and He
will. Notice the waste places, the
wilderness, the desert will be like the Garden of Eden. Can
you imagine the pristine beauty of that garden before sin marred
the creation of God? Now I like to look at the hills
and the trees and the animals and the creation even in its
fallen state. To this fallen man is still a
glorious creation. But you can imagine the beauty
of God's creation before sin marred it? This is what we have
in Christ. The Garden of the Lord. The waste
places, the desert, shall be like the Garden of Eden. The
Garden became a waste place, the Garden of Eden, because of
sin. When sin entered in, sin brought death, judgment, guilt,
and condemnation. Imagine Adam had never seen death
until he sinned. Never had seen death. The lion
and the deer had no problem. Had never seen an animal's blood
shed until sin entered in. You imagine Adam walking out
and here's a dead animal. Death. Sin brings death. We read about that through one
man's disobedience. Many were made sinners and Adam
all died. But the good news of the gospel
is this. Through the obedience of another, through the righteousness
of another, the Lord Jesus Christ, the waste places, the wilderness,
the desert have become a pleasant and fruitful garden which the
Lord dwells in. Through the obedience and the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we read in scripture
where sin abounded, grace does much more abound. Then notice
the fruit of the garden. Notice the fruit of the garden.
Joy. gladness, thanksgiving, the voice
of melody, the voice of singing, singing unto the Lord. Did you
notice down in verse 11, look at verse 11. Therefore the redeemed
of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and
everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain
gladness and joy, sorrow and mourning shall flee away. The fruit of this garden is joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, joy and gladness, thanksgiving,
and the voice of melody, the voice of singing. We've seen
something similar to this before. Turn back to Isaiah 44. Isaiah
44, look at verse 22. Isaiah 44, 22. I blotted out
as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sin now return
unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for
the Lord hath done it. Shout ye lower parts of the earth.
Break forth in the singing ye mountains and forests and every
tree therein for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. How can you not be filled with
joy, happiness and gladness seeing the Lord has put away all your
sin and made you righteous in his presence? able to keep you
from falling and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. We sing unto him with a voice
of thanksgiving. Look at verse four. He says,
hearken unto me, my people. Give ear unto me, my nation. Notice, they're my people, my
nation, bought with his blood. For law shall proceed from me,
Now, he's not talking here about the Ten Commandments. He's talking
here about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, how His law
is satisfied by Christ. The principles of the gospel
shall proceed from me for salvation of the Lord, and I'll make my
judgment to rest, and it shall be a light. It shall be a light. Again, the Lord calls us to attention.
He said, My people, My nation, these are His chosen ones, the
redeemed, the called of the Lord. He gives two reasons why we should
pay close attention to His doing, to His words, for His law. It says down here in verse 7,
the people in whose heart is my law. His law has been established,
written in our heart. These are the principles of the
gospel of Christ. They shall go forth from him
and proceed from him. For the gospel message we preach
is not of man, it's the testimony of God. It is the gospel of God
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what proceeds out
of Zion. Remember we've seen this before
all the way back to chapter 2 turn to Isaiah chapter 2 We've seen
this before in our one of our first lessons from Isaiah chapter
2 This is that established testimony in Jacob that we studied about
from Psalm 78 look at Isaiah chapter 2 verse Three, many people
shall go and say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. Talking here about
the same garden, the church of the Lord. And he will teach us
of his ways. We will walk in his path. For
out of Zion shall go forth the law. and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. He's talking about the gospel
going out, the gospel being preached in all the world that started
in that preaching center of Jerusalem. And then he says, secondly, he
says, I'll make my judgment to rest. You see back of the text,
verse four. For my gospel shall proceed from
me. The good news of the gospel comes
from the Lord. And I'll make my judgment to
rest for light. This is exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilled at Calvary, didn't He? As the Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us, judgment fell upon Him, the justice of
God was satisfied, the law of God was honored, righteousness
was established, salvation was accomplished, that the light
of the gospel might shine in our heart. Judgment took a rest. As it extinguished itself, as
the wrath of God extinguished itself upon God's Lamb of God,
therefore there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. No judgment for me. No judgment
for the believer. Judgment's at rest. And that's
the light that we walk in, in Christ. Now look at verse 5.
My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth. Mine
arms shall judge the people. And he has in Christ, Christ
crucified. And the Gentiles, the Isles,
shall wait upon me. Amen. And on my arm shall they
trust." God has decreed from all eternity the salvation of
His elect. That is an indisputable and irrefutable
truth. God has established, chosen a
people, determined to make them just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is an election unto salvation. It says that, we've read it so
many times, we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation, or until He called you, He called you by
the Gospel. The Lord has not only decreed
from all eternity the salvation of His elect, but also has established
a means of carrying out this call of the Gospel. honoring
to his own holy character, whereunto he called you by the gospel. You see, it says in verse five,
my righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth in the
preaching of Christ and him crucified. Righteousness, those two things,
let's look at those two things in a minute. My righteousness
is near, My salvation is established. You see that? Righteousness is
established. Now let's look back to Isaiah
42, 21. Isaiah 42, 21. The Lord is well
pleased, it says in Isaiah 42, 21. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness. Now in the gospel, we've read
this many times in Romans chapter one, Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, remember? For it is the power of God into
salvation to everyone that believe it, for therein is the righteousness
of God, the righteousness of God revealed. That's what we're
talking about right here. The righteousness of God. My
righteousness is near. My righteousness shall never
be abolished. You see that in verse six? My righteousness shall
be forever. This is that blessed, justifying
righteousness that we have in Christ. You remember from our
reading in Romans chapter four, who the blessed man is? Blessed
is he to whom the man, to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without works. That's a blessed man without
works. This is the righteousness that
the believer is justified with. And my friend, it is righteousness
personified. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is our very righteousness before God. So righteousness is established,
being freely imputed in the gospel, righteousness of God revealed
in Christ. And then he says, my salvation
shall be forever. Righteousness is near, salvation
has gone forth. In verse 6 it says, my salvation
shall be forever. In verse 8 it says, my salvation
shall be from generation to generation. Righteousness established, salvation
accomplished. Salvation has gone forth or the
Savior has gone forth and accomplished our salvation. For salvation
is of the Lord in its planning, in its origination, in its execution,
in its application, its sustaining power, and its ultimate perfection
in Christ Jesus. And then it says, in the last
part of verse 5, on my arm, on my arm, on the arm of salvation
accomplished by Him, And that word arm means power, as I said
earlier. On my arm, my arm of salvation,
the power of my salvation, the power of my righteousness, shall
they trust. Trust. They trust Him. You see,
the believer does not trust his own arms, his own hands. Do you
trust your own hands? Do you trust your own arms? The
believer does not trust his own arm to work out righteousness,
does he? Not at all. or his own arms to accomplish
salvation. We trust the Lord Jesus Christ
who accomplished righteousness and salvation for us. That being so, look what it says
in verse seven. Hearken unto me, you that know
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my truth, my law,
my principle. Fear not, fear not, fear not
what? the reproach of men, neither
be afraid of their revilings. You remember what it says in
verse 12, Isaiah 51, I, even I, am he that comforteth you,
who art thou that shouldest be afraid of man that shall die,
and of the son of man which the best of men shall be made as
grass. Everyone that's not found in
Christ will be eternally judged and righteously condemned. He
that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abides. But
he says, my salvation and my righteousness shall be forever.
Now, fear not. Fear not the reproach of men.
Fear not the reproach of men. His righteousness, turn over
here to Isaiah 32. Isaiah 32, fear not the reproach
of men. When you tell lost religious
sinners that salvation does not depend on them, they will revile
you. Anytime you expose a refuge of
lies, you'll have a fight on your hands. Look what it says
here in Isaiah 32, 17. Isaiah 32, 17. You need to mark
this in your Bible there. The work of righteousness shall
be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance, assurance
forever. This is the effect of righteousness.
Christ, our righteousness. Turn to Isaiah 45, 17. Isaiah
45, 17. When we insist that the gospel
of sovereign grace is the only gospel, The only way that God saves sinners,
those who are trusting in the rottenness of their flesh, they
will get upset. Look what it says here in Isaiah
45, 16. They shall be ashamed and also
confounded, all of them that shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved, and
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed,
nor confounded, world without end." You see, we trust on His
arm, salvation that's of the Lord. Salvation. Fear not those who rail against
the gospel of Christ because look what he says over here in
John 15 and we'll close with this. Turn there to John 15.
So fear not the revilings of men when you take a strong stand
for the gospel of God's grace and preach righteousness in Christ
and salvation by grace alone. Those who are resting on their
works You'll be able to hear from them. But look what the
Lord says here in John 15, 18. John 15, 18. If the world hates
you, The religious world, the lost
world. If they hate you, you know that it hated me before
it hated you. If you were of the world, verse
19, the world would love his own, but because you're not of
the world, but I've chosen you, there's that same sovereign call
of God. I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore, they hate you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept
my sayings, Boy, they'll hound you too. But all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake because they know
not him that sent me. Those who rail against the gospel
of God's sovereign grace do so because they're not following
after righteousness. They do not know the Lord our
righteousness and therefore they will hound you and whoop up on
you, gang up on you. But the Lord said, fear not.