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So you're there in Isaiah chapter 57 and we are continuing our study through the book of Isaiah. And this is the first couple verses here. Actually verses I use out a lot when it comes to soul winning. And I'll kind of get into why or why would I bring these verses up. But let's look at those two verses. It says in verse one here, it says the righteous parishes and no man layeth at the heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness. So I go to this verse this first verse here a lot because when you go out soul winning a lot of times people will say you know they're basically turned off or they get angry at God because a loved one dies like a young family member, a baby, a child or even just someone they would consider a good person you know dies young. And they basically are just like why would that happen? You know why does God like good people die? Now obviously we know that the Bible says you know there's none that do a good no not one there's none righteous no not one. But in the end you know there's a reason sometimes why people that are good people die young. But the first thing I want you to realize is that you know what there are people that are righteous that are good as far as you know even godly people that are saved that end up dying young or die in a time when you would think well why would they you know why wouldn't God prolong their days? Well sometimes we don't see the big picture okay and what I usually tell them is that well the Bible says here that there's righteous people and merciful men that that die why because of evil to come okay and I'm going to get to that but first of all there's people out there that basically would say this well if you're righteous then nothing bad is going to happen to you okay you can't perish you can't die you can't nothing bad can happen to you if you're doing right okay it's quite the opposite but go to Job chapter 4. Job chapter 4 because one of Job's friends and you know you know the story in Job. Job obviously is an upright man the most upright man in all the earth actually according to the narrator of Job so we know that's true and his three three friends you know are basically coming to him and basically saying that you had to have done something wrong okay there has to be something that you did that why this is happening okay and so none of them get it right and even and then a lie who comes in later and he's definitely not right you know and so uh I've already done a whole overview of Job and one of these days I'm going to go chapter by chapter through the book of Job but when you get through these chapters where you have his three friends talking uh some of the stuff they say is true and it's just applied wrongly okay but then there's things that are just outright just wrong okay and notice what a life has so first of all just in verse one there just so you know who's talking it says in verse one then a life as the demonite answered and said so everything that we see here is what a life as was saying and verse seven there it says remember I pray thee who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off even as I have seen they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same okay so well I mean obviously they people reap what they sow you know the Bible talks about uh you shall reap what you should you know God is not mocked for what so a man soweth that shall he also reap he that soweth to his flesh of the flesh reap corruption that he did so to the spirit of the spirit reap life everlasting and you know that's as true as the day is long but you know where he gets it wrong he's basically saying whoever perished being innocent or you know where were the righteous cut off you know where would where was the case where there's a righteous person cut off well go to ecclesiastes chapter 7 first of all ecclesiastes chapter 7 now we know that his three friends didn't speak rightly concerning God you know God points that out at the end and Job has to pray for them so that God would forgive them of all the you know basically uh stating all the stuff that's wrong and uh but in ecclesiastes chapter 7 here in verse 15 notice what it says ecclesiastes 7 verse 15 it says all things have I seen in the days of my vanity and remember at life as is basically saying ever even as I have seen you know he's basically saying this is what I've seen well what did Solomon see okay now Solomon is the narrator of the book so we know what he's saying is true but notice what it says in verse 15 there there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life and his wickedness okay now obviously God promises you know he gives us this uh you know the honor of thy father and thy mother it's the first commandment with promise and the idea is that you have long days upon the earth and you know but that's not saying that that that person is guaranteed to have long days upon the earth but more so the fact that if you don't honor your father and mother you're almost you know sealing the deal that you're not gonna have long days upon the earth but it is showing you here in Isaiah 57 that there are people that are righteous that perish and there are merciful men that that are cut off and you know ecclesiastes is right there's people that are righteous that die and then you know at a young age and then you have these wicked people living a long life okay that's just reality okay and Job's friend you know a life as was just saying a falsehood he's like this is what i've seen it's like well you must not have seen too much because in reality we know that there's wicked you know you know evil people that are like you know approaching 100 years old you know and it's like when is this person going to kick the bucket and then there's people that are righteous living godly going out soul winning but then they die at a young age okay i think my friend wes you know we were out soul winning and all that and then there was a you know basically he drowned and there was an accident and he was 20 years old and you know you can look at that and be like well why would god let that happen well you don't always know all the reasons why it happens but go to isaiah chapter 53 isaiah chapter 53 isaiah 53 because you know this got a life as here saying whoever pairs being innocent okay i got one for you jesus okay isaiah 53 so it's so foolish you know when you understand that jesus obviously died being innocent and uh even judah said i betrayed the innocent blood okay and notice what it says in isaiah 53 in verse 8 it says he was taken away from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of land of the living you know what that means he he was killed he died for the transgression of my people was he stricken so not for his own transgression not because he did anything wrong verse 9 and he was he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin he he for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin okay so it's very clear that jesus was innocent jesus was sinless he did no violence he did no guile but yet he perished okay now obviously jesus didn't perish forever because the third day he rose again and he was victorious over our sins but the thing is is that even on a human level when you look at people that god would consider you know you say well no one's upright well he considered joe upright okay so you can't just take that broad brush and be like we're all sinners i understand that okay fleshly speaking we're all sinners but there are people that guy considers to be wicked in this world right now and people that he considers to be righteous and upright and that's not just talking about spiritually okay because obviously if you're looking at say people they're righteous upright because they have the blood of christ applied to them and we have god's righteousness imputed unto us but on top of that you can have a christian that's being wicked and a christian that's being that's in sin you don't believe me go to first corinthian chapter 15 or you don't have to turn there there is no but first corinthian chapter 5 is what i mean is where it says to basically um i'm gonna i'm gonna misquote it now but it's dealing with the person that was found in fornication with his father's wife and uh you know basically to cut off that wicked person okay and so a christian can be wicked because it's saying he's a brother and obviously it's church discipline and all that so that means that people can you know christians that are saved can either go down a path of being you know in sin and iniquity and they have judgment of god coming upon them or you can be a christian that's living right and trying to live a righteous life and you could be like a joeb a noah daniel or joe you know the bible talks about uh how he was going to destroy jerusalem but he says you know less knowing daniel and joe were there he's like those are the only three people that i would save out of there he's like i wouldn't save their kids i would just save them for their righteousness okay so that being said um this is a great verse for that now go to roma chapter 7 because when you're dealing with with babies for example you see because i kind of want to show you a case where this really applies this isaiah 57 verse 1 where it says a righteous perish if no man layeth at the heart and none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come and i'm going to give you an exact example of where this would apply and a case in the bible where this applied okay and specifically with a child okay because that's usually when i'm dealing with this or someone brings up this it's usually dealing with a child or a baby or something like that and we can all have that emotion as far as like yeah you know why has god let that happen and all that but first of all what you have to understand is that children or babies their flesh is sinful but their soul is innocent okay so we don't believe in original sin of the soul okay but obviously fleshly speaking through the blood of adam we all have sin right and so that's why a baby could even die right so if a baby was sinless completely soul body and spirit then technically they can't die because for the wages of sin is death and sin when it is finished bring it for death but their soul is innocent until they have the knowledge of sin okay until they have the knowledge of good and evil just like adam and eve but that's what it says in roman chapter 7 because paul is speaking on this that he wasn't always dead in trespasses and sins spiritually speaking okay verse 9 here so roman 7 verse 9 it says for i was alive without the law once but when the commandment came sin revived and i died and the commandment which was ordained to life i found to be unto death for sin taken occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me okay so he's basically saying i was alive once until the commandment came and he's talking about i didn't know lust accepted the law had said thou shall not covet right and and the idea is that you know as a kid you don't know like you you can know like you shouldn't be stealing from the cookie jar you know that you know that you're doing wrong but there's a difference between knowing that you've sinned against god okay because sin is a transgression of the law okay of god and so until a kid can understand that then they're innocent you know they're kind of like adam and eve where they don't know the knowledge of good and evil on that level and go to first kings chapter 14 i'm segwaying into the one one of these cases where i believe isaiah 57 1 fits perfectly okay because isaiah 57 1 is basically saying you know yeah the righteous perish but no one's thinking about the fact that the reason that they die is because to keep them from evil that's going to come in the future okay so in first kings chapter 14 first kings chapter 14 this is a story of jeroboam and jeroboam's son that was sick okay and he's a child okay his child is sick abijah and he's sending his wife to the prophet ahijah to go basically see if the child will live and so jeroboam obviously is not a righteous king because he sets up the two golden calves one in dan and one in bethel and so he's not right with god and god is going to judge him for that and throughout the book of the kings you see the the sin of jeroboam the son of nevad the sin of jeroboam the son of nevad just over and over and over and over again you're dealing with that sin that was causing that northern kingdom to basically uh not be blessed by god and just constantly be under a curse if you will but in verse one here notice what it says it says and at that time abijah the son of jeroboam fell sick okay so we get the story right his son is sick jeroboam son is sick and jeroboam said to his wife arise i pray thee and disguise thyself that thou be not known to be the wife of jeroboam and get thee to shiloh behold there is ahijah the prophet which told me that i should be king over this place or over this people and so if you know the story ahijah is the one that remember rented the clothes and gave him 10 pieces and and basically talking about how he's going to take 10 tribes and then you have uh the other two that are going to be with uh with judah or with rheoboam right so it's that same prophet verse three there it says and take thee with thee 10 loaves and crack knolls and a cruise of honey and go to him he shall tell thee what shall become of the child okay so get the story right he's saying disguise yourself so he doesn't know that you're my wife um like you're going to trick this prophet into blessing you or something like that right in verse 4 there it says in jeroboam's wife did so and rose and went to shiloh and came to the house of ahijah but ahijah could not see for his eyes were set by reason of his age and the lord said unto haijah behold the wife of jeroboam cometh to ask of thee to ask a thing of thee for her son for he is sick thus and thus shalt thou say unto her for it shall be when she cometh in she shall uh that she shall feign herself to be another woman so basically god tips him off and says hey you know i'm you know basically you can't see anything and as it is but you know this is the wife of jeroboam in verse six there says and it was so when ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door that he said come in thou wife of jeroboam why faintest thou thyself to be another for i am sent to thee with heavy tidings go tell jeroboam thus saith the lord god of israel for as much as i exalted thee from among the the people and made the prince over my people israel and rent the kingdom away from the house of david and gave it thee and yet thou hast not been as my servant david who kept my commandments and who followed me with all his heart to do that that that only which was right in mine eyes but as but has done evil above that where before i'm sorry above all that were before thee for thou has gone and made the other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger and has cast me behind thy back therefore behold i will bring evil upon the house of jeroboam and will cut off from jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in israel and will take away the remnant of the house of jeroboam as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone so get the picture here what's coming upon the house of jeroboam evil okay evil's coming upon because he's going to take out all those that piss against the wall who's he taking out all the men okay all his sons notice what it says in verse 11 him that dieth the jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat for the lord hath spoken it arise thou therefore get thee to thine own house and when thy feet enter into the city the child shall die now you say okay well man how's this apply well evil's coming upon the house of jeroboam and all the sons all his sons are going to be killed but how are they going to be what's going to be dealt with them the dogs are going to eat them or the fowls of the field are going to eat them okay they're not going to be buried they're going to be eaten okay kind of like jezebel when jezebel was thrown down from the wall and then uh jihu's like yeah she's a prince she's a king's daughter i guess we should go out there and bury her and then the only thing was left is her skull and her hands right the palms of her hands so you know the dogs ate her okay and uh it's not a pretty picture obviously but at the same time that was the end game for jeroboam's sons okay they were going to die and be eaten by animals okay they're not going to be buried but the the child shall die okay notice what it says in verse 13 and all israel shall mourn for him and bury him for he only of jeroboam shall come to the grave because in him there is found some good thing toward the lord god of israel in the house of jeroboam so why'd the child die because his end game would have been like his other brothers and so god literally took the child home okay and you got to think about this okay let's say you're uh you know jeroboam is not exactly following the lord here okay do you think that his sons are getting saved and believing on the lord and so this child is coming into this this wicked family okay where they're all going to be annihilated in the end i believe abijah is in heaven and abijah had a funeral and abijah had people mourning for him and he had a burial and he and he died like a righteous person okay what if he would have lived lived longer okay think about hezekiah hezekiah remember weep because he wanted to live longer and god gave him 15 more years do you know who wouldn't have been born if he would have died when he was gonna when he before he was added on those 15 years manasseh which is one of the most wicked kings of judah and one of the big reasons why judah was taken captive okay so that being said you know we don't always know the thoughts of god or why he does things but do you see how abijah was was taken away from the evil to come okay there's a perfect example okay of a righteous person because it says that there was some good thing found in him okay and god had mercy on him to take him home and he was in heaven and he didn't have to see any of that he didn't have to be a part of that okay and you know what there's some things that we don't always know and we already covered this in isaiah 55 but in verse 8 of isaiah 55 it says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways said the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts you know it talks about oh how great are the depths and of the knowledge of god you know past understanding and the idea here is that we don't always see the bigger picture it's just like the parable the tears of the field you know our thought is terrible you know pull up all the tears immediately get rid of all the tears which are the children of the wicked one by the way get rid of all the tears but what is what is god what's his reply no lest you pull up the wheat with the tears and so meaning that there's people that aren't going to get saved you know you're going to be taking out some of the weed by taking up those tears if you take them up now let them both grow together and then when you reap the wheat and reap the tears then we'll divide them okay and so we don't always see the bigger picture but you know i think that's a good verse isaiah 57 verse 1 if you run into somebody out someoneing or even if you're just dealing with the loss of a loved one at a funeral you know you may have i mean i'm sure you'll go to a funeral one day and you know actually at this church i had uh kind of performed a funeral for the the slagels you know unfortunately with uh you know where they had um they lost their baby and everything and that's not easy it's not easy to deal with that it's not easy to deal with you know a funeral of someone that's young and it's and it's it's even harder when you're dealing with someone that's young that was not you know in sin and you know you you'd be like well you know that's what happens you know it's unfortunate it's sad you know someone dies of a drug overdose but you're like but what do you get you know can you really just be like why god you know i mean obviously it's not what you want you want them to turn their life around but when someone dies and they're and they're young and they were serving the lord and they were doing you know trying to do right and then they die and you're just like what's why you know you're just kind of thinking of this and i thought about that with wes you know and all that as far as that goes but you know we don't always know what's coming in the future or how that affects other people and how that that strengthens the faith and the zeal of others to go on and do more for god okay so just things to think about there uh with this passage and uh when i think of isaiah 57 that's the main that's like i think of that verse right there but go to verse three here verse three it says so isaiah 57 verse 3 says but draw near hither ye sons of the sorceress the seed of the adulterer and the whore so what's going to go on here i'm going to read down the verse 9 is that that god is basically given this allegory of like this sorceress this adulterer this whore of this relationship okay and basically he's shown the relationship of the children of israel to him okay and how they're treating him and you're you're basically liking it unto if you're married and your wife was unfaithful okay so you say why does god do this you know talking about a whoring after other gods because it gives you perspective okay because it's talking about you know just the jealousy the anger you know all that to show you how god feels when they go after these idols when they go after other gods okay and that it's like if your wife were to cheat on you and go go off to someone else or women if your husband were to cheat on you and to commit adultery on you and just how that would make you feel how angry that would make you feel how hurt that would make you feel how destroyed that would make you feel how jealous you would be after that and just then you can kind of understand why god gets so angry when it happens okay and so a lot of times god has to bring it down to our level and say okay you understand what this would be like right you understand how much you'd be angry if this happened all right that's how i feel you know and that's kind of what he's doing here so think about that here in verse uh three as we go through here it says but draw near hither ye sons of the sorceress the seed of the adulterer in the whore against whom do you sport yourselves against whom make you a wide mouth and draw out the tongue are you not children of transgression a seed of falsehood so again he's given this allegory of basically a whorish person uh someone's committing fornication uh and basically committing adultery and all that that's going on here verse five inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree slaying the children and the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks so now he's getting to the point here you know what you're doing idolatry you know what you're doing sacrificing your children notice in verse six among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion they they are thy lot even to them hast thou poured a drink offering thou hast offered a mead offering should i receive comfort comfort in these upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed even thither wendest thou up to offer sacrifice behind the doors also in the post hast thou set up thy remembrance for thou has discovered thyself to another than me can you kind of see the idea of how he's giving you this picture here that you're going up to this bed that you're you know that you're discovering thyself onto another than him right than god it says an art gone up and thou hast enlarged thy bed and made thy be a covenant with them thou lovest their bed where thou sawest it and thou wentest to the king with ointment and this increased thy perfumes and this send thy messengers far off and this debase thyself even unto hell so you know the bible talks about the strange woman and talks about her steps leading down to hell and you can definitely see how this applies you know obviously in the spiritual realm of of like idolatry and having other gods go to exodus chapter 34 exodus chapter 34 because the bible uses this term like a whoring after other gods okay and and that's giving us a picture of what that means okay as far as you're basically leaving god for another you know and earlier and i believe it's in isaiah 54 it talks about you know that our maker that we are he is our husband right and the bible talks about the church uh as far as you know the the saved being the bride of christ right and in new jerusalem right being the bride of christ and that obviously uh christ is like none to the bridegroom okay now we don't take those things too far right but it gives you that picture of what's going on there the marriage right of us in christ we're also likened unto brethren brothers and sisters with christ okay we're also children of god right and the fact that god the father is our father right and so there's a lot of things that are shown to basically show you that relationship and how that all works because we understand uh being parents and having children we understand having spouses and understanding uh that union as far as that goes right now in exodus chapter 34 and verse 14 it says for thou shalt worship no other god for the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go a whoring after their gods and do sacrifice unto their gods and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons and their daughters go whoring after their gods and make thy sons go whoring after their gods this is why they were not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers okay because when they would uh you know this is the the downfall of genesis chapter 6 that the sons of god came down and saw the daughters of men were fair and they married them so what you have saved people saved men that are marrying unsaved women and that is a downfall that's a downfall with the children of israel when they would marry people that were not believers like them and that would cause them to go whoring that's what happened with solomon when he had all of his wives and what they do they turned his heart onto other gods and that was a downfall now go to psalm 106. 106 uses this term a whoring after you know basically after these gods as well but there's two things that were mentioned there in isaiah 57 one is the fact that they're basically have these idols and they're going under these green tree you know these green trees and basically where they would go to these high places right and throughout the bible you see this like they they sacrifice upon the high places right or they have the groves and they have these different areas that they're going than doing these abominations or sacrificing these other gods but the other thing that we see in isaiah 57 is the fact that they're sacrificing or slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks so they're sacrificing the children so a lot of times when you're dealing with idolatry you're dealing with fornication like literal fornication and adultery and all that that's going on but you're also dealing with child sacrifice human sacrifice and this is something that was prevalent in you know these pagan religions and having these other gods but in psalm 106 and verse 37 and by the way manasseh sacrificed his son in the fire and verse 37 there so psalm 106 verse 37 says yay they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and shed innocent blood even the blood of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed into the idols of canan and the land was polluted with blood thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions therefore was the wrath of the lord kindled against his people in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance and he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them rolled over them okay so this passage is basically talking about god uh you know being wrought with them now the chapter ends with him saying he's not going to be wrought with them forever and you know that gets into the fact that as christians obviously you know god's going to be angry with us and god's going to chasten us right and the lord loveth him he chastened it's discouraged to every son him you receive it and but in the end that's not going to be forever for the christian okay now for the unsaved that will be forever okay and so there's kind of this dichotomy that we see in this chapter where there's peace for the person that trusts in god right meaning that yeah he'll be wrought with you but it's not forever it's not an eternal uh indignation but for the wicked there is no rest okay so for the saved yeah in this life we could have chastisement we could have the wrath of god upon us you know kind of like jehoshaphat that he he helped the ungodly and loved them hate they hated the lord and he says the wrath of the lord is upon me because of that and the idea that we can have uh you know basically god's judgment being upon us indignation upon us here on this earth but that's not going to last forever okay and obviously that is dealing with the flesh right that's not spiritually speaking it's just the fact that your flesh is still a child of wrath your flesh is still a child of disobedience and so if you're going to walk in that you're going to get the judgment of that in this life okay but go to uh uh isaiah 57 isaiah 57 and verse 10 what he's basically stating here is that you go on a whoring after these other gods and you're committing these abominations and he's basically saying you know why are you fearing you know like why are you fearing these gods these idols right you need to be fearing god you need to be trusting in god and so uh and throughout isaiah you kind of see this this back and forth of that you know why are you doing this they can't speak they can't talk you know uh or they can't they can't walk they can't breathe you know they're inventions of your own hands right you know you made it up okay and so it's just when you think about it on a logical level you're like that is the dumbest thing in the world you literally the same wood you know in isaiah earlier when we've already covered this the same wood that you chop up and put into the fire that you're like cooking meat over is the same wood that you're bowing down and worshiping okay you just plated it with gold and made it into some image right and it's just showing you just the the lunacy of it and how that doesn't make any sense at all but in verse 10 here isaiah 57 verse 10 it says thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet saidest thou thou not there is no hope thou hast found the life of thine hand therefore thou was not grieved and of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and has not remembered me nor laid it to thy heart have not i held my peace even of old and now fears me not i will declare thy righteousness and thy works for they shall not profit thee when thou christ let thy companies deliver thee but the wind shall carry them all away vanity shall take them but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain and shall say cast ye up cast ye up prepare the way take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people for thus set the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy i will dwell in the holy or the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones so there's a lot in here but basically he's saying you know whom has thou made you to fear these you know the the the the to be afraid to fear and why are you saying there's no there you know why are you not saying there's no hope in this right it's kind of a double negative there he's saying yet saidest thou not there is no hope meaning that they're saying there's hope in these idols right and it's like why aren't you saying there's no hope in these idols okay but the thing that i see there in verse 12 look at verse 12 and you know it comes down to this that you need to trust in the lord that's what it gets on to in verse uh 13 there but notice it says i will declare thy righteousness in thy works for they shall not profit thee this is a great salvation verse right here meaning this is that your righteousness and your works will not profit you in this you know what will trusting in the lord go to uh isaiah 64 you're in isaiah 57 go to isaiah 64 isaiah 64 and verse 6 notice what the bible says about our righteousness it says in verse 6 but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we are we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away doesn't sound familiar to what you're dealing with right here in this passage right here talking about how the wind's going to take them away and carry them all away vanity shall take them away why because he's going to declare our righteousness he's going to declare our works and it's not going to profit us okay go to galatians chapter five galatians chapter five galatians chapter five we were just out soul winning last week and uh brother chris and i you know knocked on this older guy's door and he was uh uh apostolic and uh anyway this guy you know basically just doesn't like internal security and was just like making fun of it and just saying that there's no way i can't believe you guys believe that i can't believe that that you're teaching that you it's just by you know that you can just go out and do whatever you want or that yeah yeah because it's not by our works it's not by our righteousness that we're saved and you know what it comes down to is that guy's proud that man is proud he doesn't have a humble spirit and ultimately he's saying no i need to do this i need to keep the commandments it's by my righteousness it's by my works but you know what god's gonna say i declare righteousness i'll declare your righteousness in your works and it's not going to profit you at all notice what it says in galatians chapter five and verse two galatians chapter five and verse two it says behold i paul saying to you that if you be circumcised christ shall profit you nothing for i testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor do the whole law christ has become of no effect unto you who serve you are justified by the law ye are fallen from grace for we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith that's exactly what it says in isaiah 57 here doesn't it in isaiah 57 it says i will declare thy righteousness and thy works for they shall not profit thee but what does it say but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit the holy mountains it says in verse 15 with him also that is of a bright spirit and a humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones why because it takes a humble and contrite spirit to say that it's not by me that i'm getting to heaven it has nothing to do with what i do it's by the grace of our lord jesus christ it's by what he did on the cross and if by grace then is it no more works otherwise grace is no more grace and you know what if you're going to be justified by the law christ will profit you nothing you're going to be justified by the law christ has become a no effect unto you and that's what the bible teaches here you don't have to turn there but in philippians chapter eight chapter three not eight there is no philippians chapter eight philippians chapter three and verse eight it says yea doubtless and i count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that i may win christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of christ the righteous which is of god by faith he says all those things all those works he was perfect concerning the law and all the you know being a pharisee and the hebrew the hebrews he says i count it as dung dung why because it's not by the right our righteousness because if if we if if he has to declare our righteousness for us to get to heaven it's not going to profit we're not going to make it because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to him that's the comparison okay and it also says here notice what it says in isaiah 57 i want you to keep your finger there obviously isaiah 57 verse 14 the address says you need to trust in him right in me you know obviously god's talking there in verse 14 it says and shall say cast ye up cast ye up prepare the way take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people it's interesting it uses that term stumbling block okay because he's saying i'm going to declare thy works and thy righteousness but it's not going to profit you but those that trust in me shall inherit the land inherit the holy mountain you're like what land are we talking about well there's going to be a new jerusalem that's coming down there's going to be a new heaven a new earth you say what about over there in in jerusalem right now well in a thousand year reign yes that too but ultimately what's the what's the jerusalem that you really want to dwell in what's the jerusalem that we're all looking forward to it's that new jerusalem that heavenly jerusalem that's coming down and the new heaven and new earth that we're going to be dwelling in for all eternity but go to uh so it says there to take up he wants you to take up the stumbling block okay well what what are we what are we dealing with here well in roman chapter 9 and verse 30 roman chapter 9 verse 30 the bible talks about the stumbling stone in the new testament and what is this stumbling stone okay it says in verse 30 it says what shall we say then that the gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained the righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith okay so what do we see here they're not following after righteousness meaning their own righteousness but they've attained righteousness which is of faith verse 31 but israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness why because no one can good luck with that for all of sin comes short of the glory of god no one's going to attain to that you offend at one point you're guilty of all good luck trying to attain to the law of righteousness wherefore why didn't they attain unto righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone so what's the stumbling stone to seek it by works to attain it by works right that's the stumbling stone as it is written behold i lay in zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed and roman chapter 10 hits this again you know for a second time i'm not gonna go there but but on the fact that that uh you know christ is the end of the law to everyone that believe it and you know the idea of uh you know that that they're zealous toward god but not according to knowledge and they're trying to attain their own righteousness okay and isaiah 57 is very clearly stating here you know god's saying i will declare thy righteousness and thy works but what's the end game of that it's not gonna profit thee i'll declare you know everybody that's gonna be at the great white throne judgment you know yeah he'll declare their righteousness but you know what it's gonna be filthy rags it's gonna be filthy rags and it has to be by faith alone not by works and the guy that we talked to out soul winning you know who's proud arrogant making fun of the fact that it's just by faith you know what you what what he's gonna have he's gonna god's gonna declare unto him his righteousness god's gonna declare unto him his works and he's gonna be found wanting he's gonna it's not gonna profit him why because if you're justified by law whosoever you are justified by law christ should profit you nothing and christ has become of no effect under you who so ever you're justified by law you're falling from grace what does that mean that means that that's not grace if you're justified by law and if it's even just circumcision even circumcision just one thing circumcision fallen from grace christ is not going to profit you anything you know why because you didn't seek it by faith so just as much as the sabbath if you pick up sticks on that sabbath day no no works no works i don't care what it is you add anything to salvation anything to jesus it's not jesus so i i thought that was interesting you know just how isaiah 57 kind of really points out salvation and the fact that it's not by our works it's not by our righteousness it's by trusting in him and you'll see that in the old testament a lot new testament uses the word trust too but not as much as the old testament the old testament will use you know i kiss the sun lest he be angry unless his wrath be kindled by the little when you perish from the way uh you know blessed are all they that trust in him you know it says at the end of psalm two and these other places will say trust in the lord i trusted in the lord and you know what i love that word i love the word believe too but what i'm saying is that when we say believe it's the same as saying we're trusting in him okay because when abraham believed god and it was imputed under righteousness he was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform and therefore was imputed under righteousness so what did abraham do he trusted he trusted that he's going to actually do it he believed that he was actually going to do it and so uh great passage to show that here in isaiah 57 go to isaiah 57 verse 16 isaiah 57 verse 16 and so we're dealing with god's people here and the fact that he's he's stating you trust in me you have a contrite spirit you're going to be revived and obviously we know that when we get saved we're revived right we're buried with him in death we're raised to walk in newness of life spiritually speaking and so obviously he's talking about contrite in spirit and him reviving you know our spirit our hearts right and so salvation is definitely there so if you're a safe person and you're not right with god and you're you're getting into sin this is to you right here in verse 16 for i will not contend forever neither will i be always wrought for the spirit should fail me or i'm sorry for the spirit should fail before me in the souls which i have made for the iniquity of his covetous was i wrought and smote him i hid me and was wrought and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart i have seen his ways and will heal him i will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners okay so there is this compassion there basically like it's not going to be forever okay because here in this life through whom much is given much is required and as the children of god you know if we if we break god's commandments we're held to a higher standard than the rest of the world okay and god will be angry with us god's going to chase in us and but he's he's basically saying this isn't going to be forever though because obviously if you're saved you have eternal life you know there's going to be an end to that okay but uh go to verse 19 or i'm sorry go to verse 19 there uh because he's basically stating that you have peace with god okay verse 19 it says i create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is far off and to him that is near set the lord and i will heal him okay go to i i'm sorry ephish in chapter two ephish in chapter two because the thing that sticks out to me and anytime i'm reading through the bible i look for keywords that are very similar and the keywords i see here first of all is peace and dealing with being a far off and near okay so he's basically saying that i'm going to give a peace to him that is far off and that is near okay and he's going to heal that person and notice what says in ephish in chapter two in verse 11 and obviously i when it says far off and near i believe you're dealing with like israelites but then also those that aren't you know people that are all all the world you know look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth you know the fact that he wants everybody to be saved but in verse 11 there says wherefore remember that ye being in time past gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands that at that time you were without christ being aliens from the commonwealth of israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world but now in christ jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of christ so you see that kind of same dichotomy or that same kind of language there of being far and nigh or being that you were far but you're made nigh verse 14 for he is our peace who has made both one and had broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in the flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to making himself of twain one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto god in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh and through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father and it says in romans chapter 3 that he's going to justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith right so it's the same way right i mean it's not that they they have to keep the law you know and we get there by faith no it's just it's always it's always been by faith you know abraham believed god is imputed unto righteousness david also described the blessings of the man on him god imputed the righteousness without works it's never been by works but obviously they were all looking toward the cross they were all looking to what jesus was going to do we're looking back at what he already did but in god's mind he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and so even before he died on the cross that blood was available it just in our timeline we hadn't seen that happen yet but do you see the peace to those that are far off and those that are nigh and isaiah 57 is pointing to that and the fact that pointing to how in the new testament you know that middle war position is broken down we don't have these customary laws anymore there's the circumcision is not a thing anymore you know all these things are you know basically breaking down that wall between being of the nation of israel and just being a gentile in the world and how we're brought nigh by that go to isaiah 57 in verse 20 the last thing i'm going to show you here to end up the chapter here so for the saved we have peace right and he's not going to be wroth with us forever right but what about the wicked what about those that are unsaved okay notice what it says in verse 20 so there's a dichotomy here of the righteous the saved people those that have been made righteous by the blood of christ and those that are not saved and they're in their sins they die in their sins okay and verse 20 here says but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace set my god to the wicked okay so do you see the dichotomy there you know peace peace you know to those that are far off those that are nigh you know and i'll heal him who those that trust in him right that was the whole context those that trust in him there's peace but to those that don't trust him so that what's the other side of the coin those that don't trust in him okay there's no peace okay and you say what does this mean you know the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest you know the bible talks about hell as a place where they're in fire and torment and their torment is ended up forever and they have no rest day nor night okay no rest okay go to jude and the last thing i'm going to show you here jude and verse 11 jude and verse 11 jude and verse 11 so don't ever be envious of the wicked or be envious because you know the bible talks about you know david writes a psalm and basically says you know i was envious but i was so foolish you know when he went through the house of the lord you know he basically reminded that they have an end you know they're there and that they're basically like you know just ready to perish any moment they're going to go to hell forever okay so our afflictions and trials and all these different things that we're going through and the pain that we're going through it's all very temporary if you think about uh eternity okay and even if god's angry with us and he's like you know punishing us and chasing us that's very temporary that's very small time frame compared to eternity and you got to get that in your mind because then you see all these wicked people that are just living high on the hog and they're just living their best life now and they got everything they want yeah but they're going to hell forever i'd rather live uh you know 70 years on this earth and just pain and torture than live uh and go to heaven for all eternity than live the best life have the best food have the best car best house everything that you can imagine and die and go to hell right i mean what would you rather have okay if you if you understand those two outcomes obviously anybody with sanity would be like heaven right let's suffer a little bit now let's suffer for a few new years now and then go to heaven obviously going to heaven you don't have to suffer for it right it's just believe on the lord jesus christ now shall be saved but as a christian ye that of all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution and you know what there's pain in this world whether you whether you're a christian or not let's just face it okay but in uh in jude in verse 11 here it says well one to them for they have gone in the way of cane and ran greedily after the error of balem for reward and perished in the gainsaying of core these are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds they are without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit wither it without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots now look at verse 13 in context to isaiah 57 raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame wondering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever okay so basically just you think of wondering stars there's no rest there but also he's basically he's likening the wicked it says are like the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest what are you dealing with raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever and obviously that's talking about the wandering stars but in the end they're all reserved onto that you know that's their end game their damnation slumberth not uh and all that it talks about in second peter two but you know do you see that stark dichotomy it's like peace peace you know you're gonna have peace you're gonna be healed why because you trust it in the lord but what's the opposite of that not trusting in the lord and what are you gonna have no peace and no rest so listen barely we have a reward in the lord jesus christ i mean we have salvation but even that you know can we really say that we live this austere life where we don't have any fun and no pleasure i mean good night sunday morning should be enough for you right there with all the pastries and everything else that we have when we come to church here right i'm joking a little bit but but that being said is that listen we don't have to that to live this like hard austere life or we're just like in a pit of despair you know trying to live for christ okay we can we can still have fun rejoice the bible talks about the rejoice even in tribulation and persecutions to rejoice jump and leap for joy he's not saying to just be a negative nancy and just you know go through life just a whole hum on everything now we can enjoy ourselves but we're still going to work for the lord we're still going to try to do great things for god and as you do that you're going to have persecutions you're going to have trials you're going to have tribulations but listen i'd rather suffer for the cause of christ than suffer being under the judgment of god on this earth okay because i want god to be on my side in this life as well okay and in the case of this chapter what you have is god's not on their side because they're doing a bunch of wrong stuff they're they're whoring after these other gods right and we don't want to be in that case right we don't have to be chasing by the lord you know like do you want to just be spanked until you go home you know what i mean why don't you just do what you're supposed to do and then you could just you know then god will be blessing you and all that it's just like children you know my children if they're smart will be good and then they'll be blessed we'll get ice cream we'll do other things we'll have fun but if you're just going to be a brat and you're not going to do what you said you're going to do and you're not going to listen to me then it's just going to be spanking spanking spanking spanking and you're not going to get like nice rewards and treats on the way okay and so as christians which path do you want to take okay i want to take the path where you know we're being blessed by god and we can see great things done for god and you know when we get to heaven he can say well done now good and faithful servant and not say like get in here son you know what were you doing you know like obviously there's not going to be any sin being brought to remembrance but you know at the same time you know there's going to be a difference between the person that didn't live for god going into heaven the person that did live for god there's going to be greater rewards and honor and all that that's going to be happening there so isaiah 57 a great great chapter like i said i always think of verse one i use that a lot out soul winning i recommend having that at least on your mind to where you can pull it out when you're out soul winning or just in a situation like that so that's the word of prayer the only father we think of today thank you for the book of isaiah and then for chapter 57 here and lord just pray to be with us as we continue on through this study and just pray you'd help us to understand it and help us to use it lord and lord we thank you for saving us and that it was just by faith and just by grace and and lord just pray that you'd help us to tell others about it and lord we love you in prayer in jesus christ's name amen