No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper
Worthless weapons
I.
GLANCE AT THE WEAPONS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED AGAINST THE CHURCH COLLECTIVELY.
1. The first weapon that we notice is an old one--Infidelity. Nothing can be more palpable than this--humanity refuses to be infidel.
2. Behold another of these hostile implements is the weapon of persecution. A weak weapon, nevertheless.
II. AS REGARDS THE CHURCH INDIVIDUALLY “NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST IT SHALL PROSPER.”
1. The weapon of slander shall not prosper.
2. The weapon of doubt.
3. The weapon of death. (T. R. Stevenson.)
The godly man’s heritage
I. THE ARMOURY OF SATAN. The enemy of souls is likened by our Lord to “a strong man armed;” He commands principalities and powers; skilled in hostilities, He has different modes of attack; He employs a great variety of weapons.
1. Persecution. And yet, when we estimate the results of persecution, we have to confess it has not prospered. It has been mightily restrained, and its remains have been turned to the praise of God. It has purified the Church, and given new impetus to the truth. Sometimes it has united the despised forces of Zion, so that their strength has been greatly increased.
2. Temptation. With this weapon the archer sorely wounded our first parents, and he has ever since too successfully hurled it against their progeny. But it does not prosper; it strips us of self-confidence, eradicates pride, drives us for safety to the Hiding Place, and presses upon us the constant necessity for that shield of faith which “quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked.” You cannot afford to despise temptations; but you need not despair under them while you call in the aid engaged to you.
3. False teaching. Clothed as an angel of light, the tempter first instilled error into the mind of Eve, before he could produce disobedience. It is no light affliction to have the mind’s view of Divine truth perverted. Various, however, as are the shades of false teaching, they do not prosper--they flourish for a time like grass upon the housetops, but they fill no man’s bosom with harvest sheaves. The “Word of God outlives them all. Each of those weapons was directed with fullest force against the Son of God.
II. THE WORLDLY MAN’S MALICE. “Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” The slightest whisper of suspicion is greedily sought after, if it cast but a shadow on the character of any saint, and it, is repeated till it grows to calumnious dimensions, and eateth as doth a canker. The worst manifestation of this malignant plague is that which makes its appearance within the Church: when those who should be the guardians become the assailants of a brother’s character, and prejudice and suspicion displace confidence and charity. In the ease of the true Christian, integrity of life will disappoint all the aspersions of the wicked.
III. THE GODLY MAN’S VINDICATION. “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.” What an inheritance it is! It comprises all the blessings contained in God’s Word; and the fulfilment of all His gracious, promises. (W. G. Lewis.)
The Christian’s heritage
I. THE CHRISTIAN’S EXPERIENCE.
1. Weapons are formed against him. No Christian need expect aught else. As Israel’s experience in the wilderness, so the Christian’s in the world.
2. Tongues rise against him. From the days of Cain it has been so, and will be so to the end. So they treated the Lord, and so they will treat His disciples.
II. THY CHRISTIAN’S SECURITY.
1. No weapon shall prosper. The Christian’s enemies may be mighty, malignant, crafty, constant; but more mighty, more wise, more watchful, more indefatigable and loving is his protector.
2. Every tongue he shall condemn.
(1) He shall do it himself by well-doing (1Pe_2:15).
(2) God shall do it for him.
(3) It shall be done sufficiently on earth (Psa_37:6).
(4) Perfectly in eternity (Job_19:25).
See also Zec_3:1-10. Let Christians see to it that they so live that men speaking evil of them shall do it falsely, and God shall fully vindicate them. Who has this security? and in answer see--
III. THE CHRISTIAN’S CHARACTER. “The servants of the Lord.” This security is described as--
IV. THY CHRISTIANS HERITAGE; and this description may teach us--
1. That while the Christian is a servant, he is also a son and heir.
2. That his security is a thing not of merit, but of inheritance. It is a legacy secured to him by the death of Christ. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom.
3. We may be sure that a heritage from God is a certain possession. He is “without variableness or shadow of turning.”
V. THE CHRISTIAN’S TITLE. Perhaps this last clause had been better translated uniformly with previous one: “And this is their righteousness (justification) from Me. But taking it as we have It, we may interpret it as teaching us
1. That the Christian’s justification is of God. It is the righteousness which is of God by faith.
2. That the Christian’s sanctification is of God. It is He who worketh in him “to will and to do of God’s good pleasure.”
3. That boasting is excluded. “What hast thou that thou hast not received?”
4. That security is perfect; for if God justify, who can condemn Rom_8:34)? and if God sanctify, He will “perfect that which concerneth” us. This clause thus explains as well as ratifies the promise, and, farther, it tells us how we may secure this promise for ourselves. Righteousness we have not by nature, righteousness we cannot attain of ourselves--but righteousness we may receive from God. (D. Jamison, B. A.)
Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord
Justification through imputed righteousness
In these words, which are spoken of all true believers, more particularly, we may observe--
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD, AND OF ALL THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGES THAT THEY ENJOY OR ARE ENTITLED TO. It is “a righteousness;” such a righteousness as answers all the demands of the Divine law, a righteousness with which God is well pleased.
II. HOW BELIEVERS BECOME POSSESSED OF THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, They have it not of themselves. It is not a righteousness wrought out by them or inherent in them, but a righteousness which they have of God. God, in the person of the Father, devised and provided it; God, in the person of the Son, wrought it out for them. It is also through the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to believe the report of the Gospel, and receive Christ exhibited and freely offered to them in it, that they come to be actually possessed of this righteousness.
III. THE INTEREST THAT BELIEVERS HAVE IN THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS THE GROUND OF THEIR JUSTIFICATION. It is called “their righteousness.” Though it is not theirs originally or subjectively, it is theirs really. It is theirs by the free gift of God.
IV. THE CERTAINTY OF THE GREAT AND IMPORTANT TRUTH ASSERTED IN THE TEXT, namely, that the righteousness of believers, or that righteousness by which they are justified, and on which their title to everlasting life and all the blessings of salvation is wholly founded, is a righteousness which they have not of themselves, but of God, or by His free gift and gracious imputation. This is what Jehovah Himself declares and attests in the plainest manner: “Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.” (D. Wilson.)
The excellent properties and qualities of that righteousness by which believers are justified
It is--
1. A perfect righteousness.
2. A Divine righteousness.
3. A justice-satisfying righteousness.
4. A law-magnifying righteousness.
5. A God-glorifying righteousness.
6. A righteousness that is freely given to the unworthy and the guilty.
