A CALL TO SALVATION

PROCLAMATION

“Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from My righteousness.  I am bringing My righteousness near, it is not far away; and My salvation will not be delayed.”  Isaiah 46:12-13 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

In chapter forty-five of The Bible Book of Isaiah, The Lord God speaks to His people through the prophet Isaiah and tells them that they will be delivered from captivity in Babylon by Cyrus. (Isaiah 45:1-4)  He reaffirms that He is the one and only true God and tells them of His power. (Isaiah 45:5-10)  Then He tells them of things which are to come in the future, and He also calls the Gentiles to salvation. (Isaiah 45:11-25)  In Chapter forty-six, He tells them that their man-made idols cannot save them, but that He can save them and sustain them. (Isaiah 46:1-4)  In the remainder of the chapter He presents the foolishness of worshiping idols and He ends with a call to salvation for the lost. (Isaiah 46:5-13)

APPLICATION

The kingdom of God is coming and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, and Mark 1:15)  We will either be joyous participants within it or be lost and suffer for eternity.  Non-believers are now being given the opportunity to repent and believe before it is too late.  “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth The Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10, KJV)

GREAT ARE THE WORKS OF THE LORD

Proclamation:

“Great are the works of The Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Glorious and majestic are His deeds, and His righteousness endures forever.”  Psalm 111:2-3 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by an unknown human author, who in generally thought to be King David based upon the style in which it is written.  The first letter of each clause or sentence follows in alphabetical order per the Hebrew alphabet.  This psalm was designed to exalt and to praise The Lord by giving thoughtful consideration of His great and wonderful works.  He has caused His works to be remembered. (Psalm 111:4)  Knowledge and wisdom are gifts from God (Proverbs 2:6) and fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10) 

Application:

With our limited capacity for understanding, no human being could possibly know all of the glorious and great, majestic and wonderful things which The Lord God has done.  However, it is good for us to think on these things. (Philippians 4:8)  Blessed is he whose delight is in The Lord and in His Holy Word. (Psalm 1:2, 37:4, and 112:1)  He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. (Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 10:6)  By not giving Him credit for what He did (the big bang theory of creation or the evolution of man) and what He controls, (mother nature and father time) we are robbing Him of glory that He is due.  He is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.  Praise The Lord!

SHOUT FOR JOY AND PRAISE THE LORD ALL DAY LONG

Proclamation:

“May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, ‘The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of His servant.’  My tongue will proclaim Your righteousness, and Your praises all day long.”  Psalm 35:27-28 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this psalm, David ask The Lord God to fight his battle against his enemies. (Psalm 35:1-6)  They had made plans and preparations to harm David (Psalm 35:7-8) and he wanted The Lord to deal with them.  If The Lord would do this, David said that he would thank Him publicly in front of the congregation of believers. (Psalm 35:18)  He also prayed that the people of God who were on his side would always exalt the name of The Lord. (Psalm 35:27)  He said that he would also tell others of God’s righteousness and he would praise Him all day long. (Psalm 35:28)

Application:

Not only are there people in this world who wish us harm, there are those who provide false witness against us, (Psalm 35:11) and those who actually plan and plot to harm us. (Psalm 35:7-8)  We are encouraged to love and pray for our enemies. (Matthew 5:44)  This is not always easy.  It is much easier to pray like David did for God to punish them and to let the evil that they had planned for other fall upon themselves. (Psalm 35:8)  We need to pray and publicly give The Lord God thanks for protecting us from all hurt, harm and danger, and for protecting us from the people who wish to harm us. (Psalm 35:18)  We should shout for joy and be glad that we enjoy God’s favor. (Psalm 35:27)  We should tell others of His goodness to us and we should continuously praise The Lord.  In fact, we should praise Him all day long. (Psalm 35:28)

THE PURSUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS ITS REWARDS

Proclamation:

"He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." Proverbs 21:21 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live.  This proverb of Solomon teaches that the pursuit of God’s righteousness and love will lead not only to righteousness and love, but will also result in a long life, prosperity, and honor.

Application:
The pursuit of God’s righteousness will result in much more than what we are seeking.  The reward for seeking His righteousness will be much greater than we expected.  By seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of the other things that we want will be given to us. (Matthew 6:33)  If we truly seek The Lord God, we will find Him. (Deuteronomy 4:29)  The Lord knows those who seek Him. (Psalm 14:2)  Those of us who seek Him will be blessed. (Psalm 34:10 and Lamentations 3:25)  If we humble ourselves and seek The Lord, then our prayers will be answered and our sins will be forgiven. (2 Chronicles 7:14)  The pursuit of His righteousness will result in our being showered with His blessings. (Hosea 10:12)

Think Of The Great Things That God Has Done

"Great are the works of The LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Glorious and majestic are His deeds, and His righteousness endures forever."  Psalms 111:2-3 (NIV)

Here the psalmist exalts the works and deeds of God.  He also states that those who love The Lord marvel at His works, and are awe struck by them for they are glorious and majestic.   

When we consider what God has done, all of His wondrous creations, His mighty acts, His protection and His provisions, His healing and His love, His grace and mercy, it is no wonder that we are impressed, confounded, humbled and respectful.  Just think of what He has done for you from conception up until this very minute.  Who would not serve a God like our God.

We Need Protection And Help

"Finally, be strong in The Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of The Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in The Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."  Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

Paul told the people that they needed God's protection and help because they were fighting against powers and evil spiritual forces that are much more powerful than they are.  Only with the full armor of God and prayer will they be protected.

The devil and his demons are powerful and we cannot stand against them without God's help.  We need God's truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and The Word of God in order to survive.  And we need to pray and ask for God's help for ourselves and for others as we deal with our struggles as we stand for Him.  We cannot make it without Him.

Righteousness By Faith To All Who Believe

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:22-24 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul told the Christians in Rome that the righteousness that was imputed to them comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe in Him, because we have all sinned and we must be justified by His grace.

We are not "innocent" of sin, we have been declared "not guilty" because Jesus paid the price for all of us who believe in Him and it is by His grace that we are justified and declared righteous. We ought to thank Him every day for what He did for us.

Condemnation By One Man Justification By One Man

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned ... For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." Romans 5:12 & 17-19 (NIV)

To the Christians in Rome the Apostle Paul taught that because of Adam's trespass and disobedience all men were made sinners and condemned. And because of the righteousness
and obedience of Jesus, all men who believe were justified and made righteous.

Adam's sin condemned all men. Jesus Christ afforded justification and salvation to all men by His crucifiction, death, burial, and resurrection. He who was without sin, took on all of the sins of the world to justify all men. He paid the price for us. Justification is available for each of us, if we only believe.

Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

God knows all of our needs, for food, for drink, for clothing, for lodging, for health, and for everything else. In fact, He knows what we will need before the need exists, and He can supply all of our needs.

God wants us to put Him first, to seek salvation, to seek Him and His righteous ways above everything else. When we commit our lives to Him, He will give us everything that we need.

We need to continually strive to get our spiritual life in order and making that our first priority, and God will take care of our material and physical needs.