Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
C.S. Lewis wrote, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Today we're looking at Isaiah 51 with Pastor Rich, as he asks us to consider how God's righteous character is the great reference point for all of life. It is by God's revealed self-disclosure that we can clearly see everything else about our world and ourselves.
Let's listen in. This is part two of a message first preached on June 16, 2013. What is it that determines what is right?
That is a question that needs to be asked. Because you put a hundred people in a room, there might be a hundred different opinions of what is right or what is not right. The word that is translated righteousness in this text in Isaiah 51 is the word Sedek, which actually means, at its root, it means conformity to a standard. It is translated often and with a sense of what is correct, the right thing, what is accurate, what is honest, that which has equity, communal loyalty, well-being, justness, that which is normal even. Those are all the ideas of the nuances of this word Sedek, the Hebrew word in the Old Testament. When it comes right down to it, if you could boil down the word righteousness in one phrase it would mean this, the way life should be, the way life should be.
You can personalize it even more, the way I should be, righteous. But that really doesn't tell us what the standard is yet, does it? Because it is conformity to a standard. When we all created in God's image, no exceptions, every one of us has an innate sense of expectation of the way life should be, the way I should be. I can walk into my house and hear something thumping away, and my wife can come to me and say, Rich, should the washer be rocking like that?
And the expectation is no, it shouldn't be rocking like that. We all have an innate sense and expectation of how we should be treated or not treated. I should, should I be treated with such disrespect or hostility?
And of course we would all answer that question no, we should be treated with respect and honor and kindness. My wife has an interesting sense of humor sometimes, and I have a line ready when she goes out in public. I'll often say I don't take her out much, but she's got a wonderful sense of humor.
She doesn't know a stranger in the world. And she was joking about something with one of the ladies up in, I forget where it is, Virginia, or I don't know where it was, but it's a line that we've never forgotten. But after she was joking around a little bit, the lady, she was an elderly lady, she looked at my wife and she said, you ain't right.
I've used that one on her often. A lot of, a lot of, a lot of is it in context with her physical being, she ain't right, you know, and her doctors tell her that too. But anyway, we all have an innate sense of what ought to be. And yet it can be very difficult to define what that ought to be is. What is the standard? What determines what is right? What determines what is not right? Well, what we need in order to answer that question is a reference point.
We need a benchmark. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said this, no finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point. And by meaning he means significant quality. No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point. Listen, no truer words have ever been uttered by an unregenerate man.
No finite point, that's you and me, has any meaning or significant quality without an infinite reference point. How true it is. In this life, however, we can become overwhelmed with what is wrong.
It can become our focus. All you have to do is watch the news. Did you know that good news doesn't make news?
Isn't that amazing? Everything down there is something that's going awry, something that's not right. Now sometimes there are exceptions to that.
Sometimes there's good news that's worth watching. But when we're overwhelmed with what is wrong, it frustrates our innate thirst for what is right. And we need that reference point. What is a reference point?
It is a fixed place that you use to help you find your way or to see where other things are. Now we're saying this in the context of the righteousness of God. That is the reference point and the reference point is just simply this, very easy, the character of God. What is right, what is wrong?
What determines what is right and what is wrong? It is the character of God that is that fixed place, that fixed reference point that determines what's right and what is not. The theological word book of the Old Testament says it is the standard being, His own will and nature as the Supreme Being. That's speaking of God. It's His will and nature. In other words, it's His character and purpose, the phrase that I often use.
What is right and what is not right? It is whatever measures up to and is in harmony with the character and the purpose of God. If you'll remember, several weeks ago we spoke on the holiness of God. The holiness of God is understanding that God Himself is the definition and absolute standard of what is good and beautiful and right. That's what the holiness of God is. In Isaiah chapter 51, the Lord says, My righteousness will not be abolished.
It is that fixed point. In verse 8, He says, My righteousness will be forever. It is unchanging. The righteousness of God is unchanging. The character and the purpose of God are absolutely unchanging. The character and the purpose of God is that fixed reference point that provides for us the standard of the way life ought to be, the way I ought to be. That fixed reference point is like what orients us, like on a compass. A compass is always pointing north. And because that is unchanging, you will always be able to find your way. And so it is with the righteousness of God. And so when we look at life the way it should be, you might say, you might protest, but wait a minute, life isn't like that.
Why? And a lot of people ask that question. Why isn't life like that?
If there is a standard of oughtness, and yes that is a word, if there is a standard of oughtness, then why isn't life like that? We can become very preoccupied with trying to discover the answer. We can become preoccupied with life and the things of life that are not as they ought to be. Why are we so dependent on electricity? And when the power goes out and we have to sleep with our windows open, is there a raccoon getting in my trash can at one o'clock in the morning? And I have to go after it with my BB gun. Why is there death? My daughter had a pet, my both daughters had a pet hamster.
Both of them now have bought the farm. It's a sad occasion. But something is not right there. It's a sad thing. Why are there massive forest fires that are consuming houses?
And my notes fall on the ground. Why are there things, someone who takes a gun and goes into a public place and just starts shooting people randomly? We all know that that's not right. It's not the way things ought to be. Why is there a country over in the Middle East that's been in a civil war now, Syria, where 93,000 lives have been lost in a civil war? Why are there scandals in the halls of government? Why is it that government feels that they need to know our phone records?
Obviously they think they have a reason they need to know our phone records. All of these things can overwhelm us with a sense of life is not the way it ought to be. And when we come down to the more personal question, the way I should be, I know life's not like that, but then when I look at my own life I can clearly say, I can't live like that. Wonderful. We're almost done here.
Hang tight. I was wondering what y'all were waving at. I thought y'all were getting charismatic on you. That was righteous.
Thank you. What is the relevance of this? I want you to consider something what the Lord says here in Isaiah chapter 51. Look with me at verse 4.
I've got to get to the right page here. Listen to me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my nation, for law will proceed for me and I will make my justice rest as a light of the peoples. Is this righteousness thing, is this just an unattainable ideal?
How many people think of that? They know how things ought to be. I know how I ought to be. I know how you ought to be.
But is that just an unattainable ideal? Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
