Sermon
# 182 Series: Isaiah
Title: The Saint’s Heritage
Text: Isaiah 54:17
Subject: Three Things Guaranteed by God
to All His People
Date:
Sunday Evening –
Tape: #Q-19
Introduction:
My
subject tonight is The Saint’s Heritage. That is a huge subject.
So do not imagine that I intend to even try to exhaust it. We do not have the time tonight and I do not
have the ability to even name all that is included in the heritage of God’s
saints.
All things are yours, the gift
of God,
The purchase of your Savior’s
Blood!
The
possessions of the child of God far exceed our imaginations. This world is yours. The earth is yours. Heaven is yours. Life, with all its sorrows and joys,
is yours. Death, with all its terrors and
realities, is yours. Eternity, with immortality and grander, is your. Christ, with all his fulness, is
yours. The Holy Spirit,
with all his
power and grace, is yours. God the Father, with all his love and mercy, and goodness, is
yours. The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
with all his attributes and glory, is yours! These are deep, deep waters, waters to swim
in. In Christ every
believer has a right to and is possessor of all things. There are no exceptions. There are no limitations. God has made us by his grace to be heirs of all
things. It is written, we are “heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
Only God himself can take an inventory of our riches in Christ. Our heritage as the sons of
God has such
an unfathomable depth, such an immeasurable height, such and incomprehensible
breadth, such an intensity of value, such a wealth of preciousness that we
shall spend eternity discovering it. So
I have no illusion of exhausting my subject.
In fact, I intend only to talk to you about that portion of our heritage
that is described in our text – Isaiah 54:17. (Read the text with me).
Proposition: In this glorious text, the Lord God promises to every
believer complete and perfect protection, vindication, and justification. This is the heritage of God’s elect.
I. God here promises his saints Protection from a All Danger – “No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper.” From the beginning of time God’s saints have been the objects of hatred
in this world. Both men and devils have
combined their efforts to destroy the people of God from off the face of the
earth. Since the days
of Cain, the
followers of Abel have been persecuted by their envious and malignant
brethren. And “satan
goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” But we have no reason to be
afraid either of the assaults of men or the roars of satan. Our God
declares that, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.”
Child
of God, can you get hold of this?
Nothing can hurt you. No evil
shall touch you. No weapon shall prosper
against you.
Here
are six things that protect you so thoroughly that nothing, no
evil you experience, no foes you face, no troubles you endure, no weapons
formed against you can do you any harm.
II. The Lord God
promises all his saints Complete Vindication From All
Their Accusers. “Every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”
What
efforts men make to destroy the character of God’s saints.
Illus: Haman (Esth. 3:8-9).
God’s
true people in this world are still a sect that is everywhere spoken
against. There is no evil that is not
laid falsely to their charge – (Matt.
Not
only do men accuse us, satan
also accuses us to our own consciences, and after our hearts are in league with
him; so that we accuse ourselves. But
our test promises complete vindication from all accusation. “Every tongue that shall rise against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn.
A. Even in this world God often
interposes to vindicate the name and character of his slandered saints to the
confession of their enemies.
Illus:
Saul’s
vindication of David (I Sam. 24:17).
Herod’s Secret Vindication of John (Mk.
Haman hanged on His own Gallows
Whether
we are vindicated here before men or not, is of no consequence really.
B. Before the Throne of God There
Is One Who Vindicates Us, So That No Charge Can Be Laid and No Condemnation Can
Be Executed Against God’s Elect.
Though
often we sin, though indeed in all things we sin, sin cannot be laid to our
charge, because we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he is the Propitiation for our sins (I John 2:1-2).
C. And, blessed be God, There Is A Day Coming When God Shall Appear On Behalf of
His Saints To Vindicate Them To All The World!
III. Once more, the Lord
God promises to all his elect Complete Justification from
All Their Sins – “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
In
Christ every believer is made righteous.
But our righteousness is God’s work.
A. We have made righteous by Christ’s Imputed Righteousness in Justification (Rom.
B. We have been made righteous by Christ’s Imparted Righteousness in Regeneration (II Pet. 1:4).
C. We have been made righteous by Christ’s Righteous Dominion over us in His Reign of Grace
in our Hearts (Rom.
D. We shall be made Righteous in Glorification by being Totally Conformed to the Image of Christ in
Resurrection Glory (I Cor.
E. We shall be Declared
Righteous by our
God in the Day of Judgment, because he shall then have made us completely
Righteous (Jer. 50:20).
Application:
“This
is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”
Realizing something of the greatness of God’s grace and the glory of our
inheritance in Christ, John Newton once said, “What I know compels me to seek
three great goals, which I know I can never attain in this life, but without
which I can never be satisfied.