“Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!”- Isaiah 5:22-23
The justification of wickedness will interrupt the operation of righteousness. Like a white blood cell, righteousness will find and destroy sin, and when the preaching of truth falls on a ready heart it convicts or converts.
In the prophet Isaiah’s day, there were false prophets falsifying God’s judgment on sin. Desiring to ease the burden of the word of God. Or so they thought. They told the people “Smooth things” and prophesied deceit. While Isaiah spoke the truth in righteousness. The people flocked to the false prophets because they coddled their sin, justifying the wicked, which took away from the possibility of righteousness. A work where the righteousness of God will confront sin, and the truth of God’s word exposes sin. Once exposed the sinner will quake under the truth that God is righteous, and they are wicked. Then they will either yield, rage, or run. Rage like a dying animal with its last stand. Rage like a wolf's den disturbed, or a bear robbed of her cubs. Yet, in all the rage and discomfort, it must not be that the work of righteousness is taken away; for the end of it is peace and assurance. As Isaiah says in chapter thirty-two: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Righteousness will purge out sin and establish peace. The peace of knowing God richer, fuller, deeper, and sincerely. This will settle in and promote more righteousness. Reveal more grace. Humble the penitent still further. God desires the work of righteousness to be accomplished on the earth, by accomplishing it in earth. In you and me. From the very beginning he sought to preserve righteousness, saying of Noah “for thee have I seen righteous before me.” The Holy Ghost, coupled with the Word of God is not only the giving of righteousness but an instructor in righteousness. I ask, what area of life could not be better with instruction in righteousness? What if all relationships were righteous? All the businesses just? What if every heart of man was set to do what is right? Bars would close, gambling halls, strip clubs, and prisons boarded up. Locksmiths and security companies would go out of business. Donation boxes would fill up, while poverty and homelessness went down. Our fighting forces and weapons money redistributed. This is because the cleansing wave of righteousness flows like a mighty stream, purging out the deadness of the land, and leaving behind water that gives life. Well said the prophet Amos “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)
This stream of righteousness can reach you. Are you a liar? Are you a cheat? Are you ashamed of the sin you are living with or living in? Do not comfort it, kill it! Do not justify it. Kill it! As David did Goliath, pick up the sword and cut its head off. Kill it, kill it all. Why can’t we be rid of wickedness? Why can’t righteousness work a work in you? Nobody wants a little bit of cancer; they want to be rid of it. Why should we settle to have a little bit of sin within, when within our reach is the means to destroy it? Christ offered the work of righteousness as a gift. Take it, take it by faith and stop at nothing until you have it. Kneel before God, die to yourself and surrender to Christ.
