Christ our Righteous Judge

By Pastor Matt Black

07 January 2006
Lord's Day evening
Isaiah 11:3-5

Open your Bibles to Isaiah 11.  The title of this evening’s message is “Christ our Righteous Judge”.

Isaiah 11:1-5, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.  3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”

2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Introduction: We come to a passage of Scripture that ought to inspire us to obey the Lord in every aspect of our lives today.  We see Christ as the rightful Judge of all creation.  He is the omni-benevolent judge—a judge that perform perfect good and right to the people.  Isaiah teaches this of Christ, and the New Testament teaches this clearly and unequivocally in John 5.  All judgment will not be dispensed by the Father, but has all been given to the Son.  John 5:22, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”  We continue reading in verses 26-27, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”

How is Christ uniquely qualified to judge the human race?

I. We looked last week at Christ’s Descent (verse 1-2).  Remember that God is going to bring a King out of the cut off stump of Jesse.  “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots…” This Branch will “grow out” or “tower out” of the dry, dead stump.  This King is going to be amazingly fruitful.  Last week we saw the true humanity and deity of Christ.  He is humble, coming out of a cut down stump.  What is amazing about all of this is the shear poverty and humble circumstances that the King of kings entered into this world.

II. Then we saw the re-establishment of Christ’s Dominion, and it’s not at all what we expect.  As every one anticipated Christ’s first coming, the people of His day thought He would come in power and majesty as He indeed will in His second coming.  But Christ indeed comes through humble circumstances to set things right first and foremost in the hearts of men. 

We learned last week that Christ is one with the Spirit of God—the Sprit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord rests upon Him and exudes out of Him.  His primary strength came not from His physical condition, but His spiritual union.  Christ was united to the Spirit of God because He was God, and He pours that same Spirit onto us.  We are baptized into the Spirit of God—regenerated!  We are given life.  We have, as Ephesians 1 tells us, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”  “The eyes of [our] understanding have been “enlightened”.  By this same Spirit of God we “know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power…” 

One of the themes that comes out of this is that the Prince of peace comes into this disordered mess.  Jesse’s royal son is cut down!  David’s royal kingdom seems to be AWOL.  The nation is in shambles.  What a picture of salvation!  But Christ comes in, and he begins to set things right spiritually.  I love that word, because Christ is truly utilizing the Spirit of life to set things aright in the souls of men.  The Spirit of the Lord is upon Him, surely not simply for Christ’s benefit, but that the ministry of the Spirit might flow into the hearts of men!  

Christ is given the “Spirit of God without measure” (John 3:34), and He comes to dispense the wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord through the Spirit of God. 

Now we move into verse three, and…

III. We see Christ’s Delight.  Isaiah 11:3, “And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD”.  The phrase “quick understanding” has a picturesque idea-it is really one word (xwr ruwach roo’-akh), and it means to have “a quickened or heightened sense of smell”.  It means to have the keen ability to smell the aroma of something.  The idea here is really that of delighting in the aroma of something.   Christ delights in the fear of the Lord himself, and he engenders and is perfectly aware of all who fear the Lord.  He delights in the fear of the Lord.  This really goes along with what Jesus said in John 4:34.  Christ said to His disciples, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” 

Application: What do you hunger for and delight in?  What are you of a quick understanding in?  Some people say—we’ll she knows all about cooking; he’s a whiz at computers.  O, he loves tearing things apart and putting them together.  Some of you could take an engine apart and almost put it together again.  Some of you are of a quick understanding when it comes to sports.  You know every player.  What is up there in your brain?  What data are you putting into it?  Are you of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord?  Is the will of God like the aroma of a T-Bone steak, or the smell of Baklava to you?  Some of you love the smell of mom’s homemade dinners.  Does the will of God smell sweet to you?  Do you rejoice in the fear of the Lord?

Christ sees the hearts.  This Branch has towered over all kings of Israel and is King of kings, and He knows your heart.  You might ask: to what extent does He know my heart?  He knows it perfectly.  You cannot count the sum of the thoughts God has for you.  He has perfect knowledge of you.  That brings us to our fourth point. 

IV. Fourthly, we see Christ’s Discernment. 

Christ does not judge according to appearance.  Verse 3, “he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:”   He does not view things as man views things.  We read in 1 Samuel 16:6-7—Samuel goes to the house of Jesse and “looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. 7  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

You may have it all together here.  You may say all the right words to your boss and to your wife.  But what is your heart like? 

God knows what your heart is like.  I will tell you the measure of your heart.  What do you put in it?  We read in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  Whatever is in your heart will eventually spring out of it!

What should we do with this?  Judge yourself in secret.  Let Christ judge you in secret.  Put off the old man and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22ff). 

V. Christ’s Defense (verses 4-5).

A. Our security is Christ. 

Christ judges with perfect righteousness. Verse 4.  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”

Revelation 1:16 b: out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword!

We must leave the judgment to Christ.  You let people say whatever they want to say about you. Let them speak.  If your heart is one with God, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.  Live transparently.  Let your profiting in Christ be apparent unto all.  Leave the judgment up to God.  He won’t fail you.  Do you think God is going to cut you short?  He never does that.  He’s never done that one time.  You love God with all your heart.  Fear the Lord with all your heart.  Forget what anybody says.  It doesn’t matter.  Let them speak.  Let the criticism come.  Pretty soon you’ll find out that your think skin is your trust in the Lord who “with righteousness judges the poor and reproves with equity the meek of the earth.”  Our thick skin is the shelter of our righteous judge and King.  We must not get our thick skin from bitterness.  Our defense is God!

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal. (Listen)

Aren’t you glad that God is our defense?  You can be perfectly sweet spirited when someone is railing on you.  We are to respond with genuine goodness to those who do wrong to us.  This is your defense!

B. Our spiritual armour is in Christ.

Do you have the Spirit of God upon you?  Is your defense the spiritual armour described in Ephesians 6?  Turn over there.  This passage is amazing because everything that is described in Christ in our text tonight, is applied to the Christian in Ephesians 6.  It is no surprise to us since Paul tells us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”.  And that is what we ought to do.  Let’s read this now. 

Ephesians 6:10ff, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

I want you to realize that putting on this armour is the same thing as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ as your King.  Let Him have dominion over you.  So let us look ahead to the next time something bad comes your way.  Tomorrow you may get news that you just simply can’t handle.  Have you ever had a day or a week or a year or three years like that?  Here’s your prescription: put on the armour of God.  God never fails.  Not even once.  In the history of the universe!  Every morning His mercies are new.  Great is Thy faithfulness! 

Perhaps you say, I don’t think I’m worthy of salvation.  You know what?  You’re right!  You get that answer right.  Put on the helmet of salvation and you will be secure.  When you want security for your salvation, you do not look to how your own works please God.  Oh, your faith should be fruitful and without holiness no man will see the Lord, but when you want security, look to the wrath of God that was put on Jesus Christ.  Get on your knees and weep and cry and joy and rejoice because “Jesus paid it all”!  If you look to yourself, you certainly will see a child of hell!  Your best righteousness is filthy rags!  But if you look to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that is where joy and love comes.

How about this one—how about talking to this Mighty King?  How about prayer—speaking to this One who is going to slay the wicked with the breath of His mouth?

How about uniting your heart with Christ and putting the Word of God into your heart so that you can use it and wield the Word like a mighty sword—that Sword of the Spirit?  There is no sin that can overcome the word of God.  With the Sword of the Spirit in your heart and hand, there is no sin that can have dominion over you, if you know how to wield it.  It is sufficient for all things!  If you will go to the Word of God, He will fill you.  This word is sufficient to take care of you against evil, against all bad circumstances, against all temptations.  Put your heart in this Word.  Give yourself to it.  Abandon yourself to the Word of God—this is the way that God has prescribed for you to fight for your joy in Him. 

Conclusion:  Having done all that, you need to STAND!  Stand for the Lord this week.  Don’t bow down to any circumstance.  It is idolatry.  It’s saying God is not able.  Some of you here have been through it.  Trust in the Lord!  He is faithful and true.  He never fails.  He is the Judge of all.  He is righteous.  He stands with you.  He fights for you with righteousness and faithfulness and truth.  Put on the whole armour.  Trust in Him.  He is able.  Stand!

Closing Hymn:  188 Jesus Shall Reign