Isaiah 32:17-18 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
The work of righteousness and the effect of it are the truth. No matter how denied and not believed today, it is true. People want to be care-free and poised to others, yet deep down in their heart they are searching and confused. Without Jesus there is no peace. The exact opposite occurs. There is no poise.
Righteousness is an unpopular word. Many are sarcastic and critical of it. It has a different meaning when it’s missing in our heart. Unrighteousness means not living right-godless, as if there is no God to watch us, no God to answer to. There is the belief that there are no rules, and no restraint needed. A pay day doesn’t always come after this life. Many times it happens here. This is the effect of it. Though Jesus pardoned the believer from sin, many of the physical scars remain.
Righteousness exists and can be attained. It can be maintained. If we live wrong, forget God and live as the flesh wants, the effect tears us away from God. They change us more and more. Everything about us has an effect. Sin and unrighteousness have many effects. There are sins of thought, sins of the tongue along with the sins of the heart.
Righteousness has no down side. Satan wants us to think we’ll be less satisfied, he says we’ll be weak so that we lose our confidence. He tells us we won’t be carefree anymore. It’s quite the opposite. We are free from care, confident, sure, and poised. We have direction and enjoy freedom that allows us to sit down and rest in it. There is no negative effect of righteousness. It’s all we ever looked for. We can attain it, experience it and maintain it. We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven. Amidst the world and its wickedness we can be at peace with God. John said this is the light in a dark world. It is hated, but light shows the evil deeds. There is no greater pleasure that to walk in the light of his righteousness.
Verse 1 says “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” The inner working of the King begins in our heart when we believe and make him our King. When we give the throne of our hearts to him, we will do all right. We can’t do it on our own. We can’t be outwardly righteous. The King must sit on the throne of our heart. When he is trusted to rule our heart we experience again what it’s all about to be saved. Because Jesus is in our heart we have the outer effect of righteousness. Before Jesus we had no help; we could not do things right. With Jesus we have the ability to do right.
Verse 8 says “But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.” This is doing good for others. We try to please the Master. We should have the desire to do good. The world needs true goodness that is not hypocritical. What we have is good; we should give it to the world.
Verse 20 says “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters…” Sometimes it’s hard to sow the seed. Sometime it gets thrown back into our face. Don’t look at those things. Trust God and do right. By your own living, even the seeds that bounce have still been sowed. The effect is not in our hands. You may never get a thank you for what you do. That doesn’t matter. We are to please God. When we live right the reaping will come in due season.
Is it worth it? Absolutely! In the midst of this dark, hopeless, and fearful time the blessing and effect of living right has given us assurance of a resting place. Things may be getting worse, but we still get to come to church. Because we have Christ in our heart, we have the ability to still live in righteousness. In all the uncertainties we can still have peace.
The fears of the world are real, but commit them all to the Savior. Let’s do right. We need a little more righteousness in our everyday life. People do anything and everything to get high. The best high in life is getting into Jesus. Bring him into your world and all you own. The more we do this, the more paradise we have and the more settled and assured we are.
The work of righteousness has the effect of peace.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 