It Shall Be Well With Them

Say to the righteous, "It shall be well with them." Isaiah 3:10

 

There are none righteous in themselves, but there is a multitude of whom it can be said, "They believed God and it was credited to them for righteousness."  To them, and only to them does this blessed comfort go, "It shall be well with them."  

It shall be well with them at all times.  Day or night, any season, work or play, it shall be well with them.  

It shall be well with them in all circumstances.  It may not always be pleasant, but it shall always be well.  It is as well with them upon their death bed as upon the familiar pillow of their bed room.  Whether they travel by land, sea or air, it shall be well with them.  In war time as well as peace time, it shall be well with them.  It shall be well with them regardless of their weaknesses and failures.  Is today a day of seeming victory and advancement in the things of God?  It shall be well with them.  Is today a day of seeming defeat and retreat in those same matters: it shall still be well with them! 

It shall be well with them no matter how it is with anyone else. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:7)  

But most of all, say to the righteous - those sinners who trust the Lord Jesus, that in that day when God shall unleash the pent‑up fury of Divine wrath on this world and the inhabitants thereof, when God shall judge this entire world by Jesus Christ, when many an outwardly righteous man along with the obviously wicked and perverse of this world shall be bound hand and foot and cast into the lake of fire ‑ that in that day, it shall be well with them!

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Holy Spirit Anointing

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...(Isaiah 61:1)

This has always been the one undeniable mark of the Holy Spirit's presence.  The Spirit of God can enable a man to do many things, but, in every case of the Holy Spirit's anointing of a man, the preaching of the good news, the gospel, is found.  May the Spirit give us this anointing! 

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The Way of Eternal Life

And a Highway will be there, it will be called "The Way of Holiness," The unclean will not journey on it, it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it...But, only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
(Isaiah 35:8-10)

Jesus answered, "I am the Way."
(John 14:6)

It is a pity the many believe that Christ is the way to the Father as a door is the way into another room. The word translated "way" is commonly translated "road." The way to the Father does not just begin with Christ, but THE WHOLE WAY IS CHRIST. All of the spiritual travels of the believer are on the "Christ-way." It is sometimes a mountain-way, sometimes a valley-way; it is sometimes a bright-way, it is sometimes a dark-way: but it is always the "Christ-way." 

Thomas Manton once said, "Who would not go to heaven when Christ is the way?" Let us not act as though the way to glory is not glorious itself. We are on the "Christ-way," a beautifully scenic road to glory. I can understand why many a religious person is sour and grumpy: he is traveling a heavily congested roadway of rush-hour religionists - hurry here, rush there, try to pass this fellow, cut off that fellow, "honk, honk," "screech," all the way to hell. 

But the Christ-way: it is certainly not congested, there is no rush-hour traffic, and there is beautiful scenery around every bend. Acceptance on one side, righteousness on the other; bright sunshine blessings on every hill-top, cool mercy-streams in every valley. And how gracious the other drivers are! If you have a flat tire, they do not honk their disapproval that you are blocking traffic - they get out and help fix it. There are no thieves to fear, every hitch-hiker is safe. There are no policemen for there are no law-breakers. There are plenty of way-stations at which the traveler may stop, there to fellowship with other travelers, and refresh himself with free food and drink. A glorious road to a glorious destination! 

It is all too easy for us to dwell on the troubles of this life and bemoan the condition of God's church. But the fact is, brothers, this is Immanuel's land,! Let us be happy. Slow down; enjoy the trip. We shall arrive at our destination at the appointed time. Let us, for now, delight ourselves in the glories of the Way.

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A Word to You

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2.39

A Reformed believer looking at this text might seize on the line, “And to your children,” and try to make a case for covenant theology and infant baptism. A modern-day fundamentalist might see “and to them that are far off,” and promote some missionary endeavor. A Calvinist would likely point out the line, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” to show the sovereignty of God’s grace in the promise. 

But I ask you, have you looked at the first part? “The promise is unto you.” It is of no importance what God has said to others until you have submitted to what God has said to you. The promise is to you. What have you done with it? Have you repented and been baptized according to the promise? Do not move one word further into the text until the part about you is settled. Do not allow Satan to occupy your mind with questions about others until the question about you has been answered. 

Here is a promise to you. Does not your heart rejoice that God has made a promise to you? Can you not see how gracious He is to promise the forgiveness of sin on such simple terms? Can you refuse such a promise in any point? Will you refuse to repent in the face of such mercy? Will you ignore the simple directive to be baptized when it comes from One so ready to forgive all your offenses against Him?

I wonder: If Christ Himself were to appear to you and say, “So and so, repent and be baptized in My name for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” would you then refuse? Well, He has not appeared to you, but He has recorded His word in the Bible and you have now seen and heard it. The promise is to you. What will you do with it?

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A Simple Gospel

If God has called "not many wise," why does it seem that so many preachers design their messages to appeal to the wise? Is it not the height of foolishness to preach with such “wisdom" that those for whom the gospel was intended cannot understand it? But note how God explains His gospel. While men write volumes to explain salvation, God says, "Look unto Me." While men seek to expound the gospel with high-sounding words and phrases, God speaks with one-syllable words like "come," "seek," and "flee." The most complicated word that God uses in telling us how to gain salvation is "believe." One of the greatest glories of the gospel is its simplicity. Therefore, let us always seek to declare the gospel in simple words and simple sentences.

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Weary - Not Weary

“….they shall run and not be weary.” Isaiah 40.31

I confess that I am weary of some things. I am weary of the ease with which sin can find a home in my thoughts and deeds. I am weary of the difficulty with which I meet virtually every time I try to pray or focus on the things of Christ. I am weary that I fret so much and trust so little.
 
But I am not weary of Christ or of hearing of Him. I am not weary of the message of His grace – either to hear it or to preach it. I am not weary of meeting with others of God’s people to worship with them. I am not weary of singing the “songs of Zion.”

I press on, not because I am good but because Christ is good, and I can find no rest or satisfaction until I am in His presence, beholding His glory, being conformed to His image. Weariness of this life strengthens us to press on to lay hold of the next life. We run but are not thus made weary; we are made strong.

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Good Preaching and Good Preachers

No one ever spoke the way this man does.  ~John 7.46

There never was a preacher like the Lord Jesus Christ. No other preacher had His understanding of God or of man. No other preacher had the capacity to reach the heart like our Lord did. Even those who did not like what Christ said were compelled to acknowledge that His message and authority were utterly unique and beyond refutation.

Never had a man spoken like Christ until the time of Christ and no one has spoken like Him since. He was and remains utterly unique in His preaching ministry for He was and is utterly unique in His Person. He is God in human flesh, so we should not be surprised that no one else is able to match what He has done.

Christ is no longer among us as He was in His days on the earth. There is nowhere we can go to hear Him preach. We are restricted to hearing sinful men preach. The world counts the gospel to be foolishness but it is by the preaching of that very “foolishness” that God has determined to save them that believe. Furthermore, He has chosen to send unremarkable men to preach that “foolish” message. Moreover, God often inflicts great fleshly weaknesses on those he sends to preach which seem to make them even LESS qualified to do the work they were sent to do. Paul spoke of this as a “thorn in the flesh”.

It would appear that God has stacked the deck against Himself in His choice of message and messengers. But He has done this for a reason: whenever any good comes from the gospel ministry, there can be no question that this good did not arise out of anything of natural power or wisdom. When people are moved to faith through the preaching of the gospel it is undeniably a work of God and not man.

When we pick favorites among preachers or believe that the work of God in us was actually accomplished by the one who preached the gospel to us, we are doubtless going to experience some disappointment. Whenever we go to worship and listen to preaching, we must open our spiritual ears to hear the voice of the One who spoke like no man before or since was able to speak. If we become enamored of a preacher and go to hear him, it is likely we will be disappointed. If we listen for The Preacher, Jesus Christ, we will likely be blessed.

Years ago I heard a story told concerning one of the “great” preachers of the past (I cannot remember which preacher it was, maybe Spurgeon). I do not remember all the details clearly, but it went something like this: 

A man with a hungry soul attended a worship service and was very impressed with the preaching he heard. He determined to come back and hear the preacher again and returned for the evening service. He was very disappointed. The preaching seemed lack-luster and his soul unsatisfied. He spoke to the preacher about it. The preacher asked Him, “Why did you come this morning?”

The man replied, “My soul was hungry and I wanted a word from the Lord.”

“And why did you come this evening?”

“Why sir, I was so blessed this morning I was determined to hear you again.”

“I believe that on both occasions you got what you came for. This morning you came to hear from the Lord, and you did hear from Him and you were blessed. This evening you came to hear me, and you did hear me, and you were disappointed. I am not at all surprised.”

May we always come to hear FROM THE LORD and not from the preacher!

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