They do not learn righteousness
“But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.” (Isaiah 26:10)
Jehovah the Creator is Almighty God. All things in the universe were created by Him, and men are the existences made according to the image of God too. Thus men must deservedly seek for Jehovah and live obeying His words. Then their life will surely have no choice but to be happy. That is, a man of sound faith will enjoy the blessings of peace and health. This is because the Lord Jehovah, an eternal rock, protects a man of solid faith. The righteous path that believers should walk is an honest path and a path of peace led by God. Here it’s important after all for us to know what righteousness is.
The title of this sermon is ‘When grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness’. It’s so pitiable that they neglect the most necessary things in own life path. People’s brains’ inner are full of all kinds of clutter. And, they will make the world diverse by acting according to their own ideas from the brain. That is, depending on what people learn, their thoughts and deeds change, and the looks of the world are different too. Thus, if there are many wicked people, it will be an evil world, and if there are more righteous people, it will gradually change into a good world to live in. Isaiah the prophet classified the people of the world into two categories the righteous and the wicked. By that standard, those who obeyed Jehovah are the righteous, and the disobeyed belong in the wicked or the sinners. And the righteous live always showing the adoration to the Lord, as well as they would stand still in peace even before the desk of God’s judgment.
Christ gave the grace of salvation in order to change men righteous. Since Adam out of Eden, anyone haven’t lived as a righteous man. Because everything man thinks had been corrupt and sinful originally. Psalms the chapter 51 is a David’s confession that David repented when Nathan the prophet came and pointed out David’s fault after David’s sleeping with Bathsheba the wife of Uriah. He confessed, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Thinking of his own sins, David thoroughly confessed that he had a nature of sin from the moment he was conceived. In particular, in Psalms 51:3, the expression “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” shows that his confession is extremely truthful. It indicates that he is always living in a ‘admit’ attitude of sin, ‘remember’ the sin, and ‘repent’ the sin.
Differently to the righteous who live so eagerly looking at God, the wicked do not try to learn about righteousness though they have been receiving grace. That is clearly consistent with the two kinds of attitudes Jesus said. At the last judgment, two classes of sheep and goats stood on the right and left sides of the Lord. The righteous were ashamed of own good deeds with modest attitude regardless they had done well, but the wicked put forth in a lie good deeds that they did not do.
God bestows grace fairly for everyone to be blessed together a big or a little. And those who appreciate even a little thing will be blessed more than before. On the other hand, the characteristic of the wicked is that they don’t feel thankful for anything. If they don’t discard such a wrong behavior, they will come into a pitiable life that loses even what have enjoyed until then. The Bible teaches, in Thessalonians 5:18: “to give thanks in all circumstances.” It means never complain and dissatisfaction always, neither when meet good things nor bad things too. And what man has to learn righteousness is the demand God says us through Isaiah. Righteousness is the grace God gives even to those who live foolishly, and wickedly. The only way a person becomes righteous is to realize God’s grace and obey.
Evil people who do not try to learn righteousness have no choice but to live in anxiety every day. There would be nobody not to be afraid when receives attacking of fire. And yet, the righteous can stand firmly in the peace of God anytime. Because the they know well that everything God practices is surely beneficial to themselves. And they firmly predict that they will eventually overcome the difficulties of living in the end. The matter of question of what man you become only depends on what your own choice.
(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on May 23rd 2021)