"A RIGHTEOUS NATION!"

ISAIAH 26:1-9

Speaking of the ultimate day of victory for God and his people over all their enemies, Isaiah bursts out in a song about the strong and safe city of God. In the song, he describes the character of the nation that is privileged to occupy that city. It is a faithful nation, one that desires God and one that learns to do right because of God's judgments. And what applies to a right nation, applies also to an individual. To illustrate that nation, let me tell you about a New England girl who had just become engaged when the Civil War broke out and her fiancée was called into the army. Their wedding, therefore, had to be postponed. But that didn't change her plans. That didn't cause her to drop her commitment and find someone else. She remained true and faithful to her commitment all the days of their separation and until the tragedy that was to change the course of their lives. So it is with the righteous nation.

• A RIGHTEOUS NATION IS A NATION THAT IS FAITHFUL: VV2-8
• Let's note the characteristics of a faithful nation:
• V3: its people are of steadfast minds.
• The Hebrew word means "to lean upon, to take rest in, to stand firm"
• A faithful nation sets its mind on God and the things of God and will not let its mind be swerved or moved away from God.
• V4: its people trust the Lord.
• The Hebrew word means "to run to for refuge, to trust, or to place confidence in."
• A faithful nation turns to God for help and depends upon Him implicitly.
• V8: its people follow the way of God's judgments.
• The Hebrew word means "God's decrees, or verdicts, or what He judges or determines is right and wrong."
• A faithful nation agrees with God, and lives by His determinations, seeking to do what God commands and to shun what He forbids
• God says, "My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me; he who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to Me." Psalms 101:6.
• God keeps His eye on the faithful and they dwell with Him and they get to be His servants. Think about it.
• If you were choosing someone to work for you, to live with you, wouldn't faithfulness be a criterion?
• Would you hire, or take in to dwell with you, someone you couldn't trust, someone of whom your were suspicious or leery?
• Of course you would not! Nor will God.
• In the final analysis, it is not our charisma, or our giftedness, or our acts of valor, or our successes that matter -- in the final analysis it is our fidelity, our trustworthiness that counts with God. Only when we are dependable will He say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

The bride-to-be waited faithfully for the man of her heart to come home from war. The young soldier managed to get through most of the conflict without injury, but at the "Battle of the Wilderness" he was severely wounded. His fiancee, not knowing of his injury, read and reread his letters, counting the days until he would return. There was nothing on earth she hoped for, prayed for, waited for and longed for more than that. So it is with the righteous nation. It has one ultimate and consuming desire.

• A RIGHTEOUS NATION IS A NATION THAT DESIRES GOD: VV8-9:

• Desiring God means taking great delight in him and finding full satisfaction in him. If we truly desire God as we ought:
• V8: we will be willing to wait for him eagerly. We will wait for his help, his promises and his soon coming without impatiently turning away from him.
• V9: we will long for him, wanting him to be the central part of our lives.
• V9: we will seek him painstakingly, earnestly, and without delay.
• We will be utterly unlike the boy who phoned his girl-friend saying, "Ethel, I love you and want you to marry me. I will wait for you forever, but could you let me know by tomorrow so I can ask bonny if you say 'no!'?"
• Sometimes we have just vague, undefined, phantom desires. We wander about unfulfilled, restless, aimless, not knowing exactly what it is we want. It's like going into a restaurant and not being really hungry, staring at the menu and nothing calls the taste buds to attention, nothing stimulates the appetite and the would-be diner laments, "I just don't know what I want!"
• But the Bible leaves no question as to what really is desirable:
• Psalms 37:4 "delight yourself in the Lord; and he will give you the desires of your heart."
• Psalms 42:1 "as the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee, o God."
• Psalms 73:25 "whom have I in heaven but thee? And besides thee, I desire nothing on earth."
• What is your chief desire? What do you want more than anything else? If you could have three desires granted for absolutely certain, what would they be?

The young couple desired nothing more than to be back together in peaceful times so they could marry. But the young man was severely wounded, and suddenly his letters stopped coming. Daily the girl continued to write and finally she received a letter, but it was written in an unrecognized hand. It read, "there has been another battle. It is very difficult for me to tell you this, but I have lost both my arms. I cannot write myself, so a friend is writing this letter for me. While you are as dear to me as ever, I feel I should release you from the obligation of our engagement." Here was a test of her love. Would she accept her freedom? Would she remain committed to her pledge? Would she do the easy, or the right thing? Would she do the selfish or the noble thing? A righteous nation must make the same choice. Will it do the worldly, or the right, things?

• A RIGHTEOUS NATION IS A NATION THAT LEARNS TO DO RIGHT: V9:

• The word "righteous" means "moral, ethical, and just." Living that kind of life is learned by submitting to the judgments of God: his teachings, his commands and his disciplines.
• As hopefully children learn when they disobey and are disciplined.
• As hopefully we learn the hard lessons of life by the mistakes we often make.
• The Psalmist understood the need to learn from, and live by, God's judgments: "the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, o Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalms 19:9-14.
• Solomon counseled, "Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days." Proverbs 19:20. So,
• What do the disciplines of life teach you?
• Have you learned from God's word and from God's disciplines to do what is right?
• The judgments and disciplines of God may come internally through the conviction of the Holy Spirit or externally through the suffering of consequences for our actions, or through some hardship, difficulty or suffering we experience. The crux of that issue is not: "Why is this happening to me?" but "What will I learn? How will I respond?"

A severe test, a hardship, had come into the life of the young couple. But they were not defeated by it. The young soldier wrote to release his fiancée from her promise. But his letter was never answered. Instead, the young woman took the next train and went directly to where her beloved was being cared for. On arrival she tearfully searched for him. The moment she saw him, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I will never give you up!" She cried. "These hands of mine will help you; I will take care of you!" This faithful, devoted woman represents the righteous nation. The plain and simple truth is: no nation, no individual, is righteous without faith in Jesus Christ. But when we come to Him in humble faith, broken as we may be by sin and wrong living, He responds to us as the girl did to the soldier, "I will never give up on you! See these hands? They bled for you, and now they will hold and guide and lead you." when He so graciously offers to save us, the only proper response is, "Now I belong to You! I will be faithful, I will desire You more than all else, and I will learn to do what is right in Your sight." Is that your desire? Is that your decision? Is that what you want to do? Tell Jesus that it is, as we stand to sing.

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