Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
C.S. Lewis wrote, 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 three of a message first preached on June 16, 2013. Isaiah 51 lets us know very clearly that it's not. It is in God's purpose.
But how does it happen? God is the One who can and will make all things new. And He begins in the heart and mind of the One who is His, who is born of God. That's where righteousness begins. And what we have described in verses 3 and 4, look at verse 3 again, The Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. He will provide sustenance and satisfaction and security. He will make life the way it should be. And He is the One who has made that promise and He will keep that promise. If you look in verse 9, all He says is, all you have to do is look in history.
I've made you promises and I've kept them as He speaks to His people. Now we're going to look then because the righteousness of God is generally understood in the sense of God being faithful to His promises. That He will make life the way it should be, He will make me the way I should be. The righteousness of God. Now look at verse 5. In verses 3 and 4, the righteousness that He promises is a righteousness.
Life being the way it should be in the future. That day is coming. And so we can look at it in that day, write this reference down, Jeremiah 33, 14 through 16. Jeremiah 33, 14 through 16.
And read that. And this is one of the many, many promises in Scripture of God, the Creator, the Redeemer saying, I will make life the way it should be. What does verse 11 say in Isaiah 51? Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion. An everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. That is a description of the Lord saying there is coming a day when life will be as it should be. Listen people, we need to live toward that goal knowing that that day is coming. That day is not today, but that day is coming.
That day could be today before the end of this day. But if we move and live toward that goal knowing that it's coming, then that means we will be people living by faith, living with the end in view. Knowing that God is faithful to keep His promises. But righteousness isn't just for that day.
Righteousness is also available this day. And this is what He teaches us in Isaiah 51. Look at verse 5. What does He say? What does the beginning of verse 5 say?
Read it out loud. What does it say? My righteousness is near. It has come near. God's righteousness is near. It is not just for another day.
It is for today and it is for me. This righteousness, the way I ought to be, brings out an experiential relevance here of the righteousness of God. That I can be the way I ought to be.
Two things we want to point out here. Two mentions of righteousness. Verse 1. Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness.
And then there's a parallel statement that comes right after it. What does it say? You who seek the Lord. Do you want to know what life is for you the way you should be?
It begins with this. You who seek the Lord. Are you seeking God?
Are you passionately pursuing Him? You know why this is possible? Because in the chosen servant, who is the focus of this part of Isaiah's prophecy, he is the one who makes us reconciled to God. And because I am reconciled to God, I can pursue God. Are you doing that? Because you're asking the question, How ought I to be? This is the answer. Pursue God.
If you have been reconciled to Him, you can pursue Him. We find an example of that in Isaiah in Psalm chapter 51. David was a king of Israel. So he was a king.
He was a commander of the army. He is known as the man after God's own heart. And yet he was a very imperfect man who made some very unwise and sinful choices. But the reason why he was known as a man after God's own heart is because when he was confronted with his error, he recognized it and he confessed it. And Psalm 51 is a perfect example of that. And he goes to the Lord and he says, Create in me a clean heart. He says, God against you and you only I have sinned.
Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. David the king, David the commander was in passionate pursuit of God. And he realized this, that his sin, the biggest problem with his sin is that it got between him and his God.
David could answer the question, How should I be? And the answer to that question was, I should be pursuing my God and near him. You see, therein is righteousness.
Paul's ambition was that I may know him. And God gave us a man in the person of his son Jesus Christ to follow. So that we don't just sit here on earth and think about, Okay I need to follow God, what does that mean? It means look to Jesus Christ and follow him. He gave us a man to follow.
There's a second one, look with me in verse 7 of chapter 51. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is my law. You who know righteousness in whose heart is my law. Not only in this chosen servant are you reconciled to Christ, to God, but you are also made new.
He puts his heart in your law. Which means this, that you can obey God and follow him at the level of desire. God transforms your desires and it has to happen in this order.
If you pursue God, he will transform your desires. That's how righteousness becomes experientially relevant. His righteousness becomes an outflow of my love for him and my delight in him. And his law is his revealed word and it abides in my heart. It is there, it is seated, it is rooted at the core of my being.
And it transforms my thoughts and my attitudes and therefore my behavior is an outflow of that. And here then is the nearness of this righteousness. Paul mentioned it two key verses and you need to know these verses. Romans chapter 3 verse 21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law has been revealed. The righteousness which is by faith in Christ. You see, it's not just a righteousness for another day.
It is a righteousness for today. And then 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. I'm beginning to believe you can't be a Christian unless you have this verse memorized.
Okay, that's legalism, forget that. Alright, 2 Corinthians 5 21. You need to know this verse. For he has made him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be what? Sin for us.
What does that mean? When Jesus was on the cross, all of our sin, all of us, got dumped on him. Think about that. And it's not just us, maybe a hundred or so people here today.
It's the whole world. All of our sin got dumped on him. Now what does the end of the verse say?
So that we might become, what? The righteousness of God in him. You see, the way life should be and the way I shouldn't be is not just for another day. It's for today.
It's for this day. That is the righteousness of God. And God is the one who has said, my righteousness is near.
Let me ask you this morning. Do you know that God's righteousness is near? Have you experienced his righteousness? Have you surrendered yourself in faith to Jesus Christ so that you are reconciled to God so that you can passionately pursue him so that his law is in your heart so that you are made new? That is the gospel. That is the righteousness of God. 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.
