so we can get ready to go here. All right, Isaiah chapter 54, in verse 17. Not often I just preach from one verse, but this verse has definitely been put on my heart by the Lord, trust that God will use it this morning to be a blessing to us. Did you see the news this past week about the man in Australia that got squatters' rights possession of a home that he has maintained ownership of for the last 20 years. Did you see that? And it's interesting. I know there's squatters' rights, I guess, in Britain as well. It's difficult. Somebody gets into a house, getting out of the house. But apparently what happened, the house belonged to Henry Thompson Downing, who back in World War II, they had an ant infestation in the house. So they moved out of the property, after which it was rented to a lady that rented it, apparently until she died in 1998. That same year, this other man, Mr. Gurdos, saw the property was vacant, says he put $150,000 Australian dollars into the property and rented it out. So he's been renting out a property he didn't own for the last 20 years. And the judge awarded him a property worth over a million something dollars in Australia. The descendants of the previous owner obviously have a problem with that. And so they're trying to get that overturned. They're appealing this decision that has basically robbed them of their inheritance. But you look at it and you think, why didn't we seek that sooner? If you had sought that 20 years ago, then you could have had it. But now they're sorrowing because it's been lost. What we're going to look at this morning It's an inheritance that God has given to us, that we need to acquire. If we don't acquire it, we're going to lose it. And you might think, Pastor, I know that we have an inheritance in heaven. And that's correct. If you think that, that's absolutely so. It's a future inheritance. 1 Peter 1.4 speaks about an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and fate, if not a way, reserved in heaven for you. When Burns, when he died, they opened up his case of stuff that they sent back. And he died in his 50s. They sent this back. And when they opened it as a family, one of the children said, oh, what a poor man he must have been. Because there was hardly anything there. And he lived quite poor. In fact, the Chinese said about robbing him, oh, don't worry about him. He's just a poor foreigner. But William Burns has incredible wealth and glory, right? We know that, because man lived his life for the Lord. I think it was John Wesley, the same thing, had like a silver spoon, his Bible and stuff. I mean, his possessions were nothing but great riches in heaven. We need to participate in establishing our heavenly inheritance. The Bible says in Matthew 6, 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. investing this past week, if you gave a cup of cold water in the name of God. If you did anything for God, whether knocking on doors, inviting people to church, being kind and gracious because you're a Christian and you want to honor God and please God. Doing those things, if done for God, whether they're for you to eat or drink or whatsoever you do, you do all to the glory of God. If you've done that for God, then there has been an investment made and a future inheritance. Now, on the other hand, if you've laid up wood, hay, and stubble, and you've not lived your life for God this past week, then you have not laid up treasure now. OK? So it goes both ways. You could be saved, yet so is by fire. There are people that go save, do nothing for God, and someday they'll stand before the Lord Jesus Christ ashamed that they didn't use the time that they had for God. Right? So we know that. There's a future inheritance that is coming, and we need to be mindful of that. investing in that. However, did you also know that we have an inheritance that is current? And I'm not speaking about one other inheritance that I'll just briefly mention, and that is the Holy Spirit. When you got saved, you got the earnest of your inheritance. The Bible says that in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, that that Holy Spirit promised that the one that is a comforter. You received Him into your heart. You haven't been a heaven in your heart today if you're born again because you're indwelt by the Spirit of God. Precious inheritance, right? We need to be mindful of Him. It would be a good message today to spend our time speaking about Him, but I'm not even speaking about Him this morning. There's another inheritance given to us in our text, and I'm going to call it this morning, the believer's threefold inheritance. Okay? And it's in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 17. And it's guaranteed for every servant of Jehovah. It says there, if you look in the middle of the verse, servants of the Lord. Okay, is means now, right? This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That means now. This is possessed because it's speaking about things that are current things, alright? This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord means this. I'm not taking Isaiah 54 out of context, preaching it in 2018 in Scotland and saying to us as a church, church, this is our inheritance. Why? Because it's for the servants of Jehovah, the Lord. When you see the word capitalized in the Old Testament, it's Jehovah. This morning, if you're a servant of God, that in your heart you're born again, and that is who you serve and who your life is about, then this inheritance that we're speaking about is indeed the believer's threefold inheritance. I want to encourage us to take our inheritance. We need to possess by faith, this inheritance as a servant of the Lord. I don't want us to be, this morning, like the descendants of Henry Downey, who wasted years and lost their inheritance. There's something very precious that we need to possess today, and it's my desire that the Spirit of God would help us as we consider this, and so let's ask Him to do so as we bow our heads and pray. Father, we thank you for your ability to work in our service today. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would guide us as we come to this threefold inheritance. What is ours? Because our God is so very real. Because our God is so very able and capable and loving and tender and aware of everything that is taking place in our lives. Thank you for your great goodness. And so I pray that the Spirit of God would guide me as I speak. I pray that He would guide us as we listen. Lord Paul said, pray that the Word of the Lord would have free course. Hurry, I see having a tough day today. We're afraid they can settle down. I pray that in their class this morning in the creche, that they could get some biblical truths presented and help them to even out, help all the kids to listen. That'd be especially good timing in the creche right now, because God, you're able to help in there. But Father, I pray for us as well. Take away all distractions. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would allow us to attend to find what you have for us today. So I pray for every individual. Lord, that in their heart right now, they bow before you and say that God, if there's something that you speak to them about, you speak so clearly that they know it's the mind of God, that it would be their desire to obey God, and do whatever that is. If it's salvation, get saved. If it's baptism, be baptized. If it's sin, that needs to be dealt with, deal with that sin. If it's evangelism, that needs to put feet to the gospel, so be it. But I pray, God, whatever it is, may the Spirit of God speak, may we listen, and I pray that you guide us in Christ and we pray. Amen. All right, so the first of the three of our inheritance, if you got saved, you trust in Christ, this is something that is yours now. You possess this even now. You need to take this by faith. All right? And so the first thing is you have inherited victory. You've inherited victory. Okay, you may, again, wonder about it. Why would I need victory? I'm saved. When I die, I'm not going to go to hell. I'm going to go to heaven. That is my eternal destiny. You might think Christianity is like a sheepfold, and I saw the sheep this past week, and it's been beautiful. You know, that low, bright, clear, crisp autumn sunlight, and green pastures, and you've got the sheep dying. It's a very peaceful scene, isn't it? And you might say to my pastor, That is the Christian experience. You're a sheep and a pastor. I mean, obviously, Psalm 23, he leads me in those, I bring pastors in those still waters. Yes, he does. But we also need this morning to remember that there's a fee. And the thief cometh up to kill and to destroy. That there's a wolf that seeks to get in, infiltrate, and destroy. And that as we speak about these things, we're speaking about our great enemy and adversary, the devil. Ephesians 6 verse 12 says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Why does he say we wrestle not against flesh and blood? Because I feel like I wrestle against flesh and blood. Why is there this conflict that's come up at work? Why is there this conflict that's come up in life? Why is there this conflict taking place? What is behind the flesh that we look at and say that's the battle? What God says behind that flesh is the battle. It's not that that person is the devil, all right? It's that behind that and feeding into that is an unseen enemy that is actively at work seeking to destroy us as we seek to live for God. He's active. It's what Jesus said to Peter. He said, Peter, Satan hath desired to sit thee as we, but I have prayed for thee. Was he being fictitious? No, he wasn't. Satan wanted to destroy Peter. OK? And so Satan desires this morning to defeat us. You know what Christianity is about? That's a fact. And if your idea of Christianity is that if I get saved or if I'm a Christian, then I expect my life to be at all at ease and peaceful and everything's nice. No, listen, we're in warfare for God, by the grace of God. You know, I love soldiers. I'm thankful that we have Remembrance Sunday coming up. We honor those that are serving, honor those that serve, or those that die, right? But as believers, I said to two soldiers, I witnessed two down at Princess Street Gardens, I said, I'm a soldier too. I'm a soldier of the war. I said to, this just reminds me, I said to a guy, he was cleaning slate on a roof, and I was handing a flyer to the man of the house, and there's two slate workers there, or whatever, cleaners on the roof. He goes, that's not a roof cleaning flyer, is it? I said, no, it's a heart cleaning one. Anyway, that's an insight, that's a bonus of today. We're in a battle. There is an adversary and enemy. Listen, we are soldiers. We ought to have that mindset that says, by the grace of God, I want to fight, I want to stand, I want to accomplish something for God. And so if I understand that, then I need in my heart to be convinced that God will give the victory. And so let's consider it from our text this morning in verse 17. First of all, you have an enemy. It says in our text, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Emphasis on thee. You have an enemy. If I'm looking at you this morning, you're safe, you have an enemy. And I grew up in a hunting culture, I've explained that before, in the United States. I could list reasons why it's part of the culture, but we harvest from the land still, just like they have for thousands of years. Man has harvested animals and eaten those animals. And so I'm a hunter, and I've got guns that I possess for hunting, and I've got a bow, a compound bow that I possess for hunting. I love my bow. It's just fun. Maybe Robin Hood is in us a little bit. It's fun to draw back a bow and aim at a target. I do a lot of practice shooting with my bow and target shooting. I've got a gator clip release that goes around my wrist and snaps to my bow. On my bow, as I draw back, I've got this thing called a kisser button. It's just this piece of plastic that pulls in the corner of your mouth, so you draw to the same point. You've got a peep sight in your bowstring that turns sideways as you pull it back that you're looking through. And you've got pins that are different yardage pins, different colored pins, that you put on the target. Does that make sense? And so hopefully, if everything goes well, you pull back, you aim at the target. Whatever you're aimed at, as you release your gator clip, Sending that arrow flying so that your arrow pierces that target, right? It's called your sights. Satan's got his sights on you. Satan has you in his crosshairs. Satan has armed himself directly to attack you. Be sober, be vigilant, what Peter tells us in chapter 5 verse 8. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Listen, if the devil is not my adversary, what is Peter saying? He's writing to believers, he's saying, look, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. I don't know about you today, I don't want to be devoured. Physically or spiritually. I don't want Satan to destroy my life. But we're naive this morning to think that he isn't interested in doing just that. The only ones Satan leaves alone are those that are defeated. Satan's not going to mess with you if your life isn't about God, and about serving God, and about pleasing God, even if you're saved. Why? Because you're already defeated by him. Right? We need to understand this morning, we've got an enemy. Second, your enemy is armed. It says, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. He's armed. He's got weapons. I mean, he's got things that he's going to use Ephesians 6 16 says above all taking the shield of faith where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked All the fiery darts. The wicked one is seeing him, he's exactly those flaming darts at you. It's like the old times, you know, the Bible's obviously written not in modern times, it's written back in the days, like we talked about this morning, that there's fortifications. Some of those fortifications would then have maybe a wood roof or something like that. And Satan is seeking to destroy that, sending the fiery darts, and you need to have something to quench those fiery darts, or the whole building is going to burn down. And that's what Satan desires. And so what does Satan arm himself with? Well, he's got weapons of unbelief. And Satan is very slight. He attacks creation as a weapon of unbelief. Evolution is true. I mean, our schools, sadly, Satan's gotten into our schools, and our schools are promoting evolution as a fact. It used to be theories, you know, creation theory, evolution theory. Now evolution's a fact. Satan has fired his fiery dart. The curse, you know, he says to mankind, what kind of God allows death, sin, and sickness? Unbelief. How can you believe in a God like that? By the way, This has really been in my mind lately. I don't know if I can make sense of this to you. I'll do my best. The curse is against... The curse is two things. For women, it's to submit yourself to your husband, to be in submission to him. Right? That's biblical. That's what God said. When God judged womankind, he said to Eve, he said, in sorrow you're going to bring forth, and you're going to be under your husband. Right? For man, it was in the sweat of thy brow, you're gonna bring forth, right? Work! Got me? Our government, is it for God or against God? It's against God. Okay, I hate to say that, but I was talking to a policeman last night, and... I talked to three policemen last night, I'll tell you tonight, alright? Two of them at 12.30. Anyway... But he said to me, it's sad, our government is making decisions about money, they're making decisions about things like this, but they're not making decisions based on the fact of God. So our government is not for God. So he asked me this, is the government against the curse, against mankind and work? Yes or no? Yes they are, it's called socialism. It destroys. It makes man think, I've got entitlement. I can just take it. I don't have to invest. I'm all for, and God is as well, meeting the needs of the poor. That's biblical. But the idea that you don't have to work to earn is contra-biblical. God says, in the sweat of thy brow, you bring forth. This is an aside again. I just need to get back on my notes here. But women. and submission to man. Sexism? Have you heard misogyny? Okay, what is that about? It is contra-curse, it is against God. It's trying to, I'll just put it this way, the government is trying to take away the curse instead of submitting to God. Do you get me? Who's feeding that? Satan. Why? Because of unbelief. That goes back to our point, OK? So it was on point here, the curse. Inspiration. You'll say, yeah, if God said, is that book really the Bible? I mean, he's firing his darts at the world, and it's hitting home. This is not the Word of God. It might be a Christian young people who grows up in the church, and they're believing God. They trust in God. And Satan undermines their faith as he undermines this book. Right? It's a fiery dart that Satan is firing. Marriage and family, okay? Under attack. Not just dealing with same-sex marriage, but dealing with marriage in all. The fact that you can cohabit, and that's fine. It's not fine. The Bible calls it fornication. Right? And so, Satan, how's he doing it? He's firing these darts. He's firing these darts. He's got weapons of unbelief. But he's got weapons also of lust, pride, and materialism, 1 John 2.16 says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the thought of what is in the world. And so lust of the eyes might be pornography or immodesty. I'm sorry, lust of the flesh is pornography and those sensual, wicked desires. The lust of the eyes, covetousness, materialism, the pride of life that Satan himself sinned by pride. He feeds men's pride. We've got a great adversary today. If we don't have victory in God, we can't have victory because He is so great. His deception is permeating the world. Why? Because He's armed. He's got weapons. Then your enemy's weapon is made for you. It's made for you. It says, no weapon. We have our military guys that work on weaponry. We had a man in our church who couldn't tell us exactly what he did. He worked for Raytheon in Michigan, and it's a government company. military supply, engineering type thing. He worked on night vision goggles. You know, the government has those tools, night vision goggles, heat-seeking missiles, armor-piercing rounds, right? They have everything they need as an arsenal, what? To attack an enemy at its weakest point. They're constantly examining the enemy and saying, where is he weak, and how can we take advantage of that weakness? Look at what the Word of God says, in a weapon that is what? Form. So what? It's custom made. It's so custom made that you might in your life say, God is tempting me. This is too great for me. I can't handle this. I can't get victory over this. Why? Because it seems so precise to my weakness. But who is that? It's Satan. In fact, the Bible tells us that there's a tendency in our heart to say, God, why are you tempting me like this? Because James says in chapter 1 verse 12, blessed is man that endureth temptation. For when he has cried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Then it says, let no man stay when he is tempted. I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, his own desires and intents. But the temptation, again, is so specific that there's a sense in that heart of man that says, God must have brought this because I cannot handle this because it hits me in my weakest point. Who is that? Satan. Satan's not ignorant today. He's not all-knowing. He's not omniscient. But Satan isn't ignorant this morning of our weakness. And so he's formed those weapons. Then your enemy is gunning for you right now. It says no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Is. It's happening. And as we stop and think about when it's happening, we have opportunity, as we'll see, for victory. So we may feel like, right now, this is horrible. This is taking place in my life. I just feel defeated. I feel like there's no hope that I can succeed. The battle is so intense. And yet, in that intensity of battle, we ought to take this passage and say, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. It's currently happening. But God is able to give the victory. Esther. in the king's palace, was told by Mordecai, who knoweth whether thou come to the kingdom for such a time as this? It's precise. There is access to victory for Israel right now. It's in the king's kingdom. Esther's there. When we're tempted, and we're in the battle, in the thick of it, and it's all going on, and we feel already defeated, we have confidence, by God's grace, that we claim our inheritance. that we stand victorious because God has promised victory. Do you see it? No weapon that is, it's happening, but our confidence is in God. You're protected from all weapons. You may not feel like it, but it says no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Take those two in phrases, no weapon shall prosper. No weapon shall prosper. See, that means to me, and to us today, that it doesn't matter how intense it is, how great it is, how significant it is, it doesn't matter how accustomated it is, because God has said, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Are you accessing that by faith? 1 Corinthians 15.57 says, but thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, it doesn't say, but thanks be to God, who we dig really deep, and we dig in, and man, we can do this. There are verses like that, that talk about what we do, but it's, He giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is a victory. The Bible says that overcomes the world, and trusting God, as you're in the thick of the battle, accessing the victory that God gives. Romans 8, 37, naming all these things, We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. See, I get up every day and say, no, in all these things, we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Because let me ask you this, are there Christians that are living in defeat? And the answer is yes. But ought they to live there? And the answer is no. Why? Because they have been given everything they need through Christ. We are more than conquerors through Him, Jesus, that loved us. 1 Corinthians 10.13 says, There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted. Above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear. So I can't say this morning, a pastor or anybody that I'm talking to that's a believer that's challenging me and saying, hey, the godly get victory, you're right. I can't save that person, but pastor, but so-and-so, you don't understand. You don't know what it's like. There is no way I can have victory. Nobody can say that this morning. Why? Because the believer's inheritance is no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Now this past week, I mentioned the Wesco family. And our hearts sorrow as we hear about this brother that was murdered in Africa. And you look at that and say, did God fail? That was a physical weapon, but here this physical weapon penetrated that vehicle, killed this dad. Now there's a horrible trial, temptation in the hearts and lives of these kids. They may be asking, is God good? Has God failed us? Has God let us down? Think of the attack that Satan is waging against that family. We need to pray for God to sustain that family. But has God failed? I'm not going to quote what Charles' wife said. But it was something to this effect. My husband is in heaven receiving the martyr's crown from the Lord. That's the day he died. She posted and said, my precious Charles has been taken. But he's receiving the martyr's crown. His mom and dad, on the day that he died, his mom and dad, in an interview, you can find it online, she is speaking, the wife is speaking, says, my husband and I have already forgiven the killer and prayed for him. See, the enemy has some incredible weapons. And again, we continue to pray and ask God, God in your grace, meet the needs of this family. But that circumstance and that family's life is not greater than what God gives us right in the truth of this passage. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And you ask today, what has defeated you? Well, if you were to say today before God, God, I'm living in defeat. What is it that's defeated you? Take by faith what God has given. The inheritance that we have is no weapon that is formed against thee. It shall prosper. It's the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Secondly, so you inherited victory. Secondly, you have inherited vindication. It says that every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. You know when you take a stand for the Lord, you're going to begin to hear things contrary to yourself. that people are going to say, they look at you, you stand for God, they're going to say things negatively, they're going to seek to attack the positions they take for God. Try to come to church and find out how much the world likes it that you're going to church. William Wilberforce sought to abolish the slave trade and eventually, I believe, is successful in Parliament. And he took it up as a young man. He was very young as he went into Parliament. I think he took this on when he was like 25 that he really became involved in this. We're listening to a biography at night and we're in the story and last night even if it's speaking in the story, is he's standing against the slave trade. Also, there's all these lies that are going about about him. He owns slaves. He's secretly whatever. All this slander is taking place. Why? Because he was called to God, he's a believer, to stand in Parliament against something so disgusting that was taking place in these people's lives, right? And as you do that, there ought to be that expectation of standing for God that that conflict is going to take place. David. As David was told by his dad to take food to his brothers in the battlefield where they're facing the Philistines and the giant Goliath is coming out and mocking Israel. He said, take food to your brothers. See how they do? Come back and tell me how they're doing. And so he goes there in obedience to his dad, gets to the battlefield. He looks at the enemy, the giant that's coming out mocking Israel. And he begins to ask about it. And Eliab, his proud brother in 1 Samuel 1728, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was tenderly against David. And he said, why camest thou down hither, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. Wow, I mean, Elijah had good eyesight. He could see right into the heart of David. I know thy heart, the naughtiness of thy heart. You came down because you're curious, David. You're just a shepherd boy wanting to see the big bang. Why do you say that? Because David was there in obedience to God. We'll see that very clearly in the story, right? But as soon as you take a stand for God, there's going to be tongues that begin to weigh against you, right? Jesus, as he's waiting to go to Jerusalem, his brothers, in John 7, verse 3, said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. Notice the if, if, thou do these things. For neither did his brethren believe in him. You say you are who you say you are, Jesus, half-brothers of Jesus, persecuting Him and saying, you know, you say you want to do this and this is you, well go ahead then. Yeah, you are who you say you are. Jesus got this all the time, we'll see this, I'll bring this out later in our study as well, but Jesus on the cross, Luke 23 at 39, one of the malefactors which were hanging railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Chapter 27, verse 40. Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Are you facing it? As a child of God, that is going to be often your experience that tongues are going to say things contrary to what's true. That's going to happen as we stand for God. So what do we have promised to us? We have vindication promised. Vindication from ungodly man's judgment. It says, in every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. Men's tongues, again, against the ungodly. I read a book recently, I can't remember who it was, and I quoted it here at church. But in summary, the man basically said this. Go to the dance, it was written back 100 years ago, right? Go to the dance, nobody cares. Be an evangelical Christian, and everybody's tongue is against you. See, do whatever the world does, and it's fine, but stand for God, and see what men's tongues do. You know, behind the words of men are the words of the devil. Right? Satan is behind that. I mentioned Jesus and they said, if thou be, if thou be. Have you heard that before? Is that familiar? You get to the cross and you hear it there. Have you heard it before in the story? Yes, you did. If you read the story of the temptation of Christ, as a tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. He says again, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone, if thou be less than he was. And see, man comes and they seek to impugn motives IF, you know, whatever God would like. Who's behind that? Satan? It's going to happen. Listen, we expect it. Why? Because they're going to judge our motives, they're going to judge our walk with God and our obedience to God. It's going to happen. So, vindication. Vindication from those who oppose you as they oppose Christ. It says, every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. You know when it gets personal, it gets tough? When it's tough, when somebody personally attacks you, we had a friend this past week that had a situation that wasn't good, where somebody personally attacked them, rather than talking to them about it, they're talking behind their back, talking to other people. That's tough. Why is that tough? Because God's Word says that's the enemy. These tongues are waging this battle behind us. It's very personal attacks. Elijah faced it. He went to meet Ahab in 1 Kings 18 and 17. It came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said unto him, art thou he that troubleth Israel? Elijah is that old prophet of God that said, it's not going to rain for three years, all right, until we pray again, right? By faith, he achieved that with God. The Bible speaks about it in James. So he comes to Ahab. It's towards the end of that time. There's a drought. It's dry. And Ahab goes, it's your fault. Are you the one that troubles And Elijah says, I've not troubled Israel, but thou in my father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandment of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. Listen, as we stand up for pro-life, as we stand up for the voice of God, the word of God, the authority of God, there are gonna be personal attacks, and they're gonna say, hey, the problem is you hate crime. not what is against God. And by the way, I hate the fact that I have to give this, but they say hate crime is saying God's right and the Bible's right. It has nothing to do with how we treat somebody, that we're kind and loving and gracious and showing them that sin, but God can give them victory. It doesn't have to do with that. It's a hate crime because we believe the Bible, right? Okay, it's going to happen. It's a very old tactic. And so what is our confidence? went under personal attack. Can you rest in God? We're talking about vindication. Can you wait on God to make it right in His timing? Vindication from the proud man. It says in every tongue, that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. There's a pride associated with this. Evolution, by the way, very proud. Very proud. Homosexual marriage, very proud. Pro-death of babies in a mother's womb. Very proud. Why? Because they're rising up. They're against God. They're going to have pride. That's what it is, because they don't accept what God says. So it's interesting in our text. It says, every time that shall rise against thee, there's pride. Festus to Paul, much mourning doth make thee mad. I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. So you can take that personal attack that's going to come from the crowd. Moses was accused by the crowd. Numbers 12, 1 and 2. It says, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard. What are they saying? What about us? Pride. They're rising up against Moses. They're arguing against his leadership. God had put him there. They're arguing against that. Why? Because of pride. And so they're making a personal attack against Moses. I think it would be right for us to say every time that takes place, pride is involved. Would pride come with contention? That strike is a result of pride. Vindication against the proud. Vindication for every word spoken against God's servant. Notice what it says. In every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. What's that mean? It means this. When you're under attack, personal attack, don't despair thinking they got away with it. Don't despair saying, but what God, my vindication hasn't happened yet, why hasn't it happened? It'll take place, it's coming. It's the heritage of the service of the Lord. Jesus resisted the proud unto death. He went clear to the cross because of the accusation of proud men. Hebrews 12, 4 reminds us, He had not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. If you want to complain to God and say, God, it's not fair, people are saying things against me. Listen, it wasn't fair that they said things against Christ, and Christ went clear to the cross. Let's stand against this slander that will come as we obey God. Vindication against every word spoken against God's servants, every time. The vindication from our own lips, and I have that in brackets, okay, I count. when God sees fit to do so. It says, every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, what's the last three words? Thou shalt condemn. Does it say God's going to condemn you? Isn't that interesting? It says, thou shalt condemn. You might say, well, how's that? I'm not to do anything. I'm to be vindicated by God. How's that thou shalt condemn going to take place? Listen, if it takes place in eternity, God calls us to witness, and God verifies it, so be it. But it might be just what we see in these stories, that by our life, it'll be condemned. For instance, David was vindicated as soon as the giant fell. Right? Life, I know thy pride, the knowingness of thy heart. until the battle took place and Goliath goes down. What's Elijah saying then? I don't think Elijah's being real proud and cocky at that point. What he saw with his eyes when it took place, because God used David. What about Moses? He's attacked by Miriam and Aaron saying, why doesn't God use us? Miriam became a leper. Moses interceded for her, asked God to take it away. She had to be a leper for a week. Elijah. Yeah. He got in trouble with Israel. No, it's you, King. Let's go have a duel. Let's go find Mount Carmel and let's see if the fire of God will fall for you or fall for me. The fire of God fell for Elijah, vindicating God's servant. Jesus, by the way, was vindicated by an empty tomb, right? And He will be vindicated by every person. As the Bible says, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Lord God, the Father. That's the inheritance. Do you get it? So today, my inheritance is what? It'll be vindicated. Praise God. I don't have to be burdened about accusations, slander, what people are saying. I can keep my focus on God, obeying God, pleasing God, because God is my defense. He's promised I'll be vindicated. So two things we've considered already, and then we've got a third, okay? We have inherited victory. We have inherited vindication. Then the third is you have inherited virtue. It says, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Their righteousness is of need. I want to stop here and say praise God. Notice the fact of her righteousness. Do you see it? Their righteousness. If I'm a blood-bought son of God today, I've been redeemed. I have Christ's life in me. I am righteous. Praise God. Okay? Not because of me. We'll talk about that. It's imputed. It's something that God has given me. When I got saved, God gave me righteousness. How pure, pure. My son is enjoying, Vince is enjoying finding coins and things and he's got a He's got a metal detector. He was all excited. Yesterday was it? Or two days ago? I think it was yesterday. He found a 1942 two shilling coin. It's kind of a bigger coin. And it's half silver. But it's not pure. He was real excited until he saw the date. He knows that 1920s and before, or whatever he said, are pure silver. So then he wasn't as excited. Why? Because it's not pure. Listen, a righteousness is pure. It's not partial. It's not mostly right. It is completely right because God is right and God has given it to me. It's very important and especially important in the context of this verse. Why? Because without virtue, you don't have victory. And without virtue, there's no vindication against what men will say. Does that make sense? Both are dependent upon this idea that we have righteousness through God, that He has given to us. So let's consider it. We've already said our inheritance is victory, and so we have virtue. You did not get victory over sin until God gave you virtue. If you're here today and you think, I'm not saved yet, I'm not born again, but I'm going to do my best to circumspectly navigate life. And so I'm going to cut off this, cut off this, cut off this, cut off this. I'll tell you, if you try to do that, it's worth, I'll say this, it's worth doing, but you'll never achieve virtue. It's wise not to sin, if you strive for that. But the problem is you fail, and you can't ever clean your heart. Our righteousnesses, the Bible says, are as filthy rags. We have other selves, but it works along. There shall no flesh be justified. No flesh declared righteous. I have no ability to cleanse myself. My righteousness today, if not God's righteousness, is unrighteousness. But God gives it. How does he give it? He gives it through faith. I've read these verses this past week. I read through Romans. I was reading through it. This really stood out to me. Romans chapter 4. Let's speak about Abraham. In what sense is scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness? It's kind of like this. God, I put my faith in you, and God says, OK, I give you my righteousness. It's my faith. In fact, it goes on to say, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned with grace, but of death. It's kind of like this. If I think, well, I'm going to be a good person, and God's going to accept my goodness, and I bring my self-righteousness to God, it's like me saying to God, God, you owe me because I worked so very hard. Does God owe me? No, I'm in debt to God. I miss it. If I think God owes me anything, I miss it. I'm in debt. My sin debt is so great. I can't, I can't, you know, I'm bringing a pittance to God saying, God, here's my pittance to take care of my great huge debt against you. It doesn't work. And so the Bible says, if somebody thinks that God owes them something, you got it wrong. It's a gift. Verse 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, to justify is to declare righteous. His faith is counted for righteousness. So somebody comes to God and says, God, I can't afford it. It's too great a price for me to pay. But God, it's a gift and I take it right now by faith. God goes, here you go. And I take in righteousness. God cleans me. He gives me imputed righteousness. Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. In other words, God will not impute sin. God imputed righteousness. It's pure. It's pure. As pure as God is pure. And praise God that is that pure. I say to people sometimes, what is the one thing that keeps man out of heaven? Answer? Three letter word starts with S, ends with N, middle letter is I. Sin is the only reason you can't go to heaven. Right? And I'll say to them, you know what, to go to heaven you have to be righteous like God is righteous. And the answer is, it's impossible without God giving that to me. You see that? See, God has to give that to me. But if you take it by faith and say, God, I'll take that imputed righteousness, God gives it. And that's what this verse tells us. The inheritance of a believer is imputed righteousness. Their righteousness is of me, sayeth the Lord. Romans 3.22 speaks about, again, the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Listen, are you righteous today or unrighteous? As God looks at you, knowing right now whether or not you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, would He say, if it's two people sitting right here, would He go like this, righteous, unrighteous? See, sitting in church hasn't done anything for us today. Believing abstractly in God or the Bible does not do anything. Having God's gift of everlasting life received, imputed righteousness, Jesus Christ, Christ to be the hope of the world. That is. Right? That's what we need today. That's what you need. If you don't have that, God is willing to give that. And you can have it from Him, even today. Your inheritance is victory, therefore virtue. Without virtue, you don't have victory. Get it? Without virtue, you don't have vindication. Why? Because everything they say about you is right. You're a fag. It's not going to last. It hasn't done anything. You see what I'm saying? If you've not received virtue from God, there is no vindication because what they're saying is right against you. So you have to have virtue to be vindicated. But oh, Satan. Satan will come and he'll say something like, you can't serve God. I know what you were before you started this church thing. You're going to go back to that. Do you think you're really teaching old dog new tricks, you know? I mean, that's the way your life was. You can't change that. I know what you are. That's what Satan says. What is our defense? Our defense is, no, wait a second. That was me. But I have virtue, because God gave me that virtue. Do you see it? So I have vindication. I can say, wait a second, no, I am that. Satan will say, it's not going to last. But God says, hey, it's real, and it's eternal. You know, praise God they're wrong, right? When they impugn our righteousness, Satan impugns our righteousness, praise God they're wrong. I mentioned before, I really struggled with this in high school. And it's that enemy, the fiery darts that he was shooting at me was this, and it's common. You can't serve God because of your sin. Even though I dealt with that sin and asked God to forgive me for that sin, it just made me feel guilty, like, of my past sin. But what God used in my life to bring me to faith and what God's done as far as imputed righteousness was took me to the story of Cornelius, where that sheep is coming down to Peter. Cornelius is the Gentile. God's told him to go get Peter to come tell him the truth. But Jews and Gentiles don't mix. And so for a Jewish creature to come to a Gentile's help can't be done at that time. But God showed Peter it was OK. How? By luring a sheep with unclean animals that Jews weren't supposed to eat, pigs, and other things. And he says to Peter, arise Peter, kill and eat. And Peter goes, not so, Lord. I've never touched the unclean. And God said, what I have cleansed that called thou not come. It's this. Because I've made it clean. It's clean. Listen in your life. Because God's made you clean, you're clean. It doesn't matter what your past was. If it's under the blood, it's under the blood. It is forgotten. It is in the past. It is gone. We ought to say, praise God. Why? Because we have imputed righteousness by God so that Satan cannot come to me and say, look, you can't serve God. You can't do anything for God because you're a hypocrite if you even try. I'm not a hypocrite. Praise God. Why? Because I've been cleansed by the blood. I have righteousness, imputed righteousness, in my heart. God made it clean. It's what Jesus said to Peter as he washed the disciples' feet. He said, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and you're clean, but not all. Let me explain it. It sounds like a riddle. He said to Peter, he said, Peter, I've got to wash your feet. If you don't let me wash your feet, you've got nothing to do with me. I can't fellowship with you if you don't get clean feet. And Peter goes, hey, wash every bit of me. And Jesus goes, wait a second, Peter. You're clean, but not all of you is clean. Your feet got dirty walking through the dust. I need to clean your feet. See, when you got saved, God cleans you every wit. But you're still walking through the world. And so you need your feet cleaned. You've got to get rid of that sin, or you can't fellowship with God. You can't have that time with Jesus. So you've got to deal with that. And when he said, you're clean but not all, Judas is there. Judas is not saved. Judas is not righteous. Judas is not born again. Judas is the traitor, betrayer. He's going to take Jesus Christ to the soldiers, right? But the point is this. Are you cleansed of every wit? And if not, won't you get saved today? If in your heart of hearts right now, as you think about this message, you think, Pastor, I'd like to have that virtue that the Bible speaks about. But to be honest, I don't have that. You know, I just encourage you, today, let it be the day that you say to God, OK, God, today's the day. I'm going to ask you to... Give me your gift of everlasting life. By faith, I'm going to receive the finished work of Christ on the cross. If he died for me, paid the price for my sin, he rose again. If you'll do that today, every sin that you have in your heart will be taken away. When I got saved, I was five years old, and God dealt in my heart. And what's significant that I want to tell you about is this. As I got saved, except Jesus Christ my Savior, I walked out of that room and there's this tall guy, George, walking by. I still remember. This is a very vivid memory, walking by. And I jumped and I just felt light. As a little kid, nobody told me you should really feel good after you get saved. What's that feeling? That is the burden of my sin taken away. If you're not righteous right now, you've got a heavy heart. You've got a burden holding you down. But God stands ready to take that sin burden away and to give you His gift of everlasting life. You know, we talked about that story in Australia. I feel bad for the family. I think they deserve that property. That's their inheritance. But I feel bad for believers today that are living their life as if they don't have access to victory, vindication, or virtue. Do you see it? And see, those three things are so important to my walk with God. It's so important. I understand. I want to be living in defeat because God has said, I have victory now. It's so important to understand that even though people say things, it's okay. God's going to take care of it in His timing. I don't get focused on that. I don't get burdened about that. Why? Because God will make it known in His timing. and that I have virtues, so I'm right with God. By God's grace, not because of me, but because of God's goodness, because He loves me. He's given me a clean heart, so that I can confidently serve God. See, without those things, we have less than God intends us to have. But if you're a servant of God this morning, that inheritance is yours. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to hearts right now. Lord, I would imagine there's somebody here this morning thinking, I don't have virtue because I've never been saved. And so I have sin that is not under the blood. It's not paid for by Christ. And I stand in judgment. And so I pray today first for that person. I pray that they'd have the courage to deal with their sin and go to God and ask Father, for your gift of everlasting life, because of what Jesus Christ did. And Father, I pray that they wouldn't put that decision off. They need virtue today. And Father, I pray, as believers, help us understand we have victory. It might be, Lord, that your Spirit is convicting somebody right now, and they've got to say, you know what? I'm living in defeat, even though God has promised me victory. And Father, we're not accessing by faith what we ought to have as a child of God. And so I pray for that. Father, it might be somebody's discouraged or ready to quit because of what other people are saying. But Father, it's to be expected. It's going to happen. But Father, there's coming a day of vindication. That's our inheritance. It might be today. It might be next week. It might be the week after. But Father, it's coming. And so I pray, Spirit of God, help us to access that confident expectation in that. And Father, would you just bless your Word to our hearts as we end this service now. May the Spirit of God continue this work. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's stand please and sing the hymn of invitation. Close to thee. That's our desire, isn't it? Just to know the presence of God. 383. 383. Stand and please as we sing. 383. Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend or life to me. All along my pilgrim journey, Savior led me, walked with me. Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee, All along my pilgrim journey, Savior led, He walked with me. Not for ease or worldly pleasure, Nor for fame my prayer shall be, Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee. Close to thee, close to thee, Gladly will I toil and suffer, Only that ye walk with me. Lead me through the vale of shadows, Bear me o'er thy spitful sea, To the gates of life eternal, may I enter fortunately close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee. To the gates of life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Thank you for being here tonight, 5.15 minutes per time, as well as the youth choir. which is great, the kids are playing the handbells. And then six o'clock, our study of Proverbs, which has been excellent, okay, very good, on purity, and honoring mom and dad, and wisdom, and seeking God, and it's a good study tonight as well. Afterwards, a business meeting, pray that God will bless that. and also the Lord's Supper, that that would be a tender time recognizing what the Lord's done. Thursday night is our study of Genesis and Isaac and Rebekah as we were at in that story right now, and then the kids' class as well, six o'clock, and just be praying that God bless this week for our church. Thank you for being here this morning, let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will do great work in the hearts of everybody. Lord, would you draw us close to thee as we were talking about. Make us to know the great inheritance that we have. Father, pray for the rest of our day. May you bless it. Pray for the ladies' meeting tomorrow night. May the Spirit of God bless that. May the Spirit of God bless our Thursday night. And God, may we just go onward and upward to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you.