Read a few verses from Proverbs
chapter 9. In the Proverbs, well, in 1 Corinthians,
the scripture says that God has made him, speaking of Christ,
to be unto us our wisdom. So all truth and understanding
comes in and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Proverbs,
Christ is spoken of as wisdom. So here in Proverbs chapter nine,
wisdom, wisdom hath builded her house. Upon this rock, I will build
my church. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. She hath killed her beast. She
hath mingled her wine. She hath also furnished her table. She hath set forth her maidens. She crieth unto the highest places
of the city. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for
him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of
my bread, and drink of my wine, which I have mingled. Oh, the
gospel's for the simple, isn't it? All right, Tom, you come, please.
We're gonna sing the hymn on the back of your bulletin. ? Not my works of righteousness
? ? Which our own hands have done ? ? But we are saved by
sovereign grace ? ? Abounding through the sun ? ? Tis from
the mercy of God ? our hopes begin. Tis by the water and the flood
our souls are washed from sin. Tis through the parents of His
death who hung upon the tree. The Spirit is sent down to bring
On such tribals as we. Raised from the dead, we live
anew, And justly guide by grace. Please be seated. Good morning. If you'd like to
turn with me, I'm going to read a few verses from John 17. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, and the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for I have given
them unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee
and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are
mine, and I am glorified in them. Dear Most Heavenly Father, we
thank you that you gathered us here this morning. And we ask
that you give us a need to know you and your precious son, Jesus
Christ. We ask that you teach us this
morning about the work that he finished and that you give us
your word and cause us to receive it. And may Christ get all the
glory and all things, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 340, 340 in the hardback timbrel.
? Close to thy heart ? Draw me,
my Savior, so precious thou art ? Hold me, O hold me, close to
thy heart Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my simple, calm, contrite
heart grants me the cleansing by blood ? And with its jollies I gladly
resign ? ? All of its pleasures, love, and
its pride ? ? Give me but Jesus, my Lord and my God ? life shall last. Till safe and glory my anchor
is cast. Through endless ages, ever to
be Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Colossians chapter four, Colossians chapter four. Last Sunday, we looked at the
responsibilities of the husband and wife and father and children
as it related to the gospel. And this morning I want to try
to draw the gospel out of verse 1 of chapter 4. The meaning of this is just as clear
as were the admonitions given to us in the previous chapter
in terms of responsibilities. Masters, give unto your servants.
Now, as we've been reminded, oftentimes the church was made
up of slaves. There were a lot of slaves in
that culture. And and so the Lord is is instructing
those who own slaves to treat them with dignity and fairness.
That's that's clear. Masters, give unto your servants
that which is just and equal. knowing that you also have a
master in heaven. Matthew chapter five through
seven, we have recorded in God's word, the Sermon on the Mount. It is the longest recorded message
preached by our Lord in his word. And one of the very familiar
parts of that message is what we have referred to as the golden
rule, where the Lord said in Matthew chapter seven, I think
it may be chapter six, therefore in all things whatsoever you
would that men do unto thee, do also unto them. In other words, treat others
the way you want them to treat you. That's pretty simple. Pretty
hard to practice, but how wonderful and how devoid of conflict relationships
would be if we could practice the golden rule. You want to
be treated with respect, treat others with respect. You want
to be treated with dignity, treat others with dignity. You want
to be treated with love, treat others with love. You want to
be treated with grace, treat others with grace, kindness,
compassion. Treat other people the way you
want them to treat you. Now that's what the Lord said,
and that's pretty simple principle of life, if you want to put it
that way. But here, the Holy Spirit is taking this to a whole
nother level. When he says, masters, give unto
your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you have
a master in heaven. Treat others with the same love and respect
and grace that your master has treated you. So now it's taken to a whole
different level, not just treat others the way you want them
to treat you, but treat others the way your master has treated
you. So the question, How has my master treated me?
Well, he's treated us with justice and with equality. The point
of this message is that God did not sacrifice on the altar of grace, his justice. He satisfied his justice on the
altar of grace that we might have his grace. So remember that
you have a master in heaven who has treated you with justice
and with equality. We often are reminded that Lady
Justice is blind. She's really not, is she? not
when it comes to the justice of this world. All men are equal
under the law. No man is above the law. Wonderful
ideals, but often there is a great disparity between that which
is just and that which is right. That's what this word equal means
in our text. It means right. Oftentimes things
are legal, but they're not morally right. And sometimes things are
morally right that are not legal. And so, but with God, justice
and right is always, there's never a disparity between the
two. Amen. All men are treated by
God equal. How oftentimes we've seen
in the scriptures, God is no respecter of persons. Turn with
me to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34. Verse six, and the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. Now, iniquity is the good things
that men do to try to earn favor with God. Transgression are the
shameful things that men do when they violate God's law and sin
is what men are. And so we are unequal in our
attempts to try to establish our righteousness before God.
That's what iniquity is. Transgression, we have transgressed
or broken the moral law of God. And thirdly, sin is what we are
by nature. And so the Lord's telling us
that he will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. And in
the same sentence, he says, and that will by no means clear the
guilty. We're all guilty of iniquity,
transgression, and sin. And the Lord's saying, I'm gonna
forgive that transgression, iniquity and sin, but I'm not gonna forgive
it by clearing the guilty or overlooking these transgressions,
iniquity and sin. I'm not going to sacrifice my
justice on the altar of grace. We stand guilty before God and
we're in need of forgiveness. And so back to our text in Colossians
chapter four, masters give unto your servants that
which is just and equal, knowing that you have a master in heaven
that has treated you with justice and with equality. How do you do that? We often
say, well, I don't want justice. I don't want, I don't want, you
know, the Lord to be fair. That's not the point here. The
point is that the Lord will in no wise clear the guilty. He
must punish sin. We brought this out recently
in 1 Samuel chapter 22, when David was hiding in a cave called
Adullam. And the word Adullam translated
means justice. And David here is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says that all
that were of his family came to the cave of Adullam. those
that were in distress, those that were in debt, and those
that were discontented. Now that's what sinners are.
Sinners are in distress. We're pressed between a rock
and a hard place. We are in debt. We owe a debt
that we cannot pay. We are discontent with anything
that we do to try to satisfy the demands of God's justice,
leaves a sinner discontent. I'm not satisfied. I can't find
any comfort or any peace or hope of my salvation in what I do.
And so all of David's family flee to the cave of Adullam,
the place of justice. in order that they might have
their sins forgiven, have their debts paid, be delivered from
this bitterness of soul, which is what discontent means. God satisfied his justice. at Calvary's cross. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. I will in no wise clear the guilty. God could not compromise his
holy justice. And so in that regard, we have
a master in heaven that has treated us with justice and with equality. He has not shown himself to be a respecter of
persons. He has not changed. And he has
not compromised his justice in order to be able to save. He
met those requirements. Remember that. Remember how that
you have a master in heaven that satisfied his justice and his
righteousness in order to save you in the sacrifice that he
made of his own son. And it will enable you to show
grace toward others. Matthew, I'm sorry, Romans chapter
eight, we'll begin reading in verse 28 and you know You know,
brethren, that all things work together for good for them that
love God and those that are called according to his purpose. For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
rose from the grave, was the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified. Now to be justified in the sight
of God is to be completely without sin. It's not to be just as if we
had not sinned, it is to be without sin. The scripture says, as he
is, so are we in this world. And herein, we have boldness
in the day of judgment. Our boldness in the day of judgment
is that we are justified. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification, having peace with
God. Who shall Moreover, whom he did
predestinate, verse 30, he also called, whom he called he justified,
whom he justified them he also glorified. Notice the tense of
glorification. It's past tense. You see, what
the Lord Jesus did, he did for his church. And when he went
to the cross, we went to the cross. When he put away sin,
our sin was put away. When he rose from the grave,
he was the firstborn among many brethren. When he ascended into
glory, we went with him. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who can charge God's elect with
anything? I mean, no one's going to clear the guilty. The difference
is they're not guilty anymore. They've been justified. It is
God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We have a master in heaven
who dealt with us justly and equally. In righteousness and
in justice, he satisfied the demands of his law and he established
righteousness so that all those for whom he died, there was no
need for him to clear, to ignore the guilt of the sins of his
people. He met them and he justified
us in him. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril assured for it is written,
for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. And here we go back to that old
man, that old man who's killed every day. Paul said, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? That old penina, that
old self-righteous man who would be tempted to look somewhere
other than Christ for their justification before God, for their righteousness
before God. That's what the word equal means
in our text. It means right, that which is
right according to the law. You have a master in heaven who
has treated you with justice and with righteousness in the
person of your substitute, your sin bearer, your savior. Remember that, remember that. Is there anything that enables
us to treat others with grace than to know that God has met
the demands of his law for us? Look at, as it is written, I'm
sorry, verse 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, I'm persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus." Oh, what hope,
what hope. Brethren, you have a master in
heaven. who has treated you with justice, and he's treated you
with righteousness. He has not compromised his justice. He has not sacrificed his righteousness. He satisfied it completely in
the person of our advocate, our savior, our substitute. That's
what the Lord's saying. Masters, treat your servants
with justice and equality, knowing that you have a master in heaven.
that has treated you that way. You're there in Romans chapter
eight. Turn back with me to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three. And look
with me at verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. What are we gonna do to justify
ourselves before God? We're really good at justifying
ourselves before one another. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished.
When as our sin bearer, he bore the sins of all of his people
and put them away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself,
he justified the righteousness of God. And when we come before
the throne of grace and take sides with God against ourselves,
confessing our sins, we justify God. We justify his righteousness. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the laws manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For
there's no difference. There's no difference. There's
no. There's no iniquity with God. There's no respecter of persons
with God. There's no difference. God must
deal with all men equally. He must deal with all men justly. He must deal with all men in
righteousness and in truth. And He will in no wise clear
the guilty. He will in no wise ignore one
sin. Not one single sin, they must
all be paid for. God's holy justice must be, it
must be kept. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Here's how we're
justified before God. whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus, where is boasting then? It is excluded by what law? By the law of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Oh, there's our hope. I have
a master in heaven. who has treated me with justice
and with equality. He didn't single me out and say,
well, you know, I'm going to overdo your sin while I pour
out the eternal wrath and judgment of my anger on others for all
eternity in a devil's hell. No, he didn't do that. No, the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered the hell of God's wrath for his people. He satisfied the demands of God's
holy justice. A message that is not consistent
with God's holy law will not save. And a God who would lower the
standard of his law in order to be able to save is mutable
and is not God. And yet, isn't that what we hear
people say? I've heard it said many times. People say, well, you know, I'm
doing my best. I'm doing my best. Brethren, our best is far, far
short of being sufficient. If God judges us based on our
best, we're going to be found wanting. If we're weighed in
the scale of God's justice, there's no amount of goodness that we
can put on the other side of the scale to balance it out.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God requires perfection. He required a lamb
that was without spot and without blemish. He required perfect
blood, sinless blood. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross. He was fulfilling what God said
when he said I will not. Allow the guilty to go unpunished. Not going to do it. And all men fit into one of two
categories, don't they? Either their sins have been punished
already on Calvary's cross, or they will spend all of eternity unable to satisfy God's justice. Unable. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 1 says
a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. A false balance. Now he's talking about men who
are in business who would put on one side of the scale a 15
ounce weight in order to sell 15 ounces of grain as a full
pound. And men do that all the time.
And God says a false balance is an abomination to me. He goes
on in that same proverb to say a just weight. And that word
weight is the word stone. They use stones as weights. And
so he says a just weight is my delight. A false balance, that's
what happens when we try to justify ourselves before God. we end
up with a false balance. And God says, it's an abomination
to me. You cannot put your righteousness
on one side of the scale, but a just stone. Oh, that rock that is higher
than us, that rock that is the stone that the builders rejected
that God has made the head of the corner, a just stone is my
delight. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
25, Deuteronomy 25. Look at verse 13 in Deuteronomy
25. Thou shalt not have in thy bag
divers' weights, a great and a small. Don't have different
sized stones in your bag to weigh out your product and deceive
some. Thou shalt not have in thine
house divers' measures, a great and a small, but thou shalt have
a perfect and a just stone. A perfect and just measure shalt
thou have that thy days may be lengthened in the land of the
Lord thy God has given thee. What is the land that the Lord
has given to us? Is it not the promised land? Obviously, dishonesty in business
is an abomination to God, but that's not what the Lord's talking
about any more than this verse that we're considering in Colossians
chapter four, verse one, where the Lord is talking about masters
and their servants and treating them with justice and equality. That's clear. Anybody with a
conscience knows they ought to act that way. They ought to be
fair. They ought not to lie. The law
of God's written all in man's heart. You don't have to be a
believer to know that that's true. But to see the gospel in
this, to see the Lord Jesus Christ as the just weight in which God
delights, to see our attempts to save ourselves as being an
unjust weight, yeah. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse
4 says, he is the rock. He is that rock. His work is
perfect. All his ways are judgment, a
God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Just and right is he. Masters,
treat your servants with justice and with equality, knowing that
you have a master in heaven that has treated you that way. Hmm. God required a sinless sacrifice. God made him. The Lord Jesus
Christ sin. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. We have a master
in heaven who has treated us with equality and with justice. In Christ, the requirements of God's holy
justice have been fulfilled. In Christ, righteousness has
been satisfied. What does that, what does that
do? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
seven and we'll look at this passage in closing. Matthew chapter
seven. Oh, I've had this verse quoted
to me on multiple occasions over the years in order to try to
quiet my objections to a false gospel. And that is not at all
what the Lord is saying here. Well, you know, here's the accusation
that the religious would make against us. Well, you're being
judgmental. No, the scripture says that we're
to make righteous judgments. We're to judge the difference
between that which is true and that which is not true, that
which is in error, that which is false. We must make righteous
judgments on those things. If we're to have any understanding
of the truth, we must come out from among them and be separate,
saith the Lord. So the Lord, when he says, judge
not that you be not judged, he's not talking about making righteous
judgments. He's talking about looking down your self-righteous
nose at other men, thinking that you're better than they are.
That's what he's talking about. Thinking, well, you know, I would
never do what that person's done. Oh, yes, you would. The Lord doesn't restrain you.
Child of God, you know that's true. You know you're completely
determined, dependent upon the restraining grace of God to keep
you from being a perfect devil. So the Lord says, judge not,
that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged. And with the measure you meet,
it shall be measured to you again. Here's what the Lord is saying
in Colossians chapter four, verse one. Masters, treat your servants
with justly and in equity because you have a master in heaven that's
treated you that way. This is going beyond the golden
rule of treat others the way you want them to treat you. This
is going to the state of treat others remembering how you've
been treated. You want to be treated, you want
to be treated by God with grace? You know, how, how easily, how easy it is for
us to require of others what we don't require of ourselves. How quickly we can stand in judgment
of others of the very same thing that we're guilty of ourselves.
You know, we're so good at that. Romans chapter two, verse one
says, you that judge another are guilty of the very same thing.
When we start pointing our finger at other people's sin and trying
to stand it, we forget that we have a master in heaven that's
treated us with justice and with equality. And why beholdest thou the mote,
verse three, that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the
beam that is in thine own eye? Now, a mote is a speck of dust. You get a little speck in your
eye. Go to your wife, your husband,
honey, help me get this thing out of my eye. Well, I can't
see it. Well, I know it's there, I feel it. And here you are,
trying to get the speck out of someone else's eye while you
got a log in your own. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the mote or the speck that is in thine eye, and
behold a beam that is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam that's in your own eye. Then you shall see clearly
to help your brother remove the speck that is in his eye. Masters, remember. Treat your servants
with justice. Give them a fair wage and with
equity. Remembering that you have a master
in heaven and he has treated you with justice. He has treated
you with equity. Our Heavenly Father. Enable us by your spirit to be
reminded often. Of what grace and what mercy? What kindness? What? Compassion you've shown toward
us. Enable us to look in faith back to what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us in satisfying justice and righteousness. Lord, make us to be a gracious
people toward one another. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 25 in a spiral hymnal, let's
stand together. in my heart. And if I could,
I would obey in spirit every part. Your law is holy, just,
and good, all perfect and all true. But I'm a weak and simple
wretch, its works I cannot do. And yet your law condemns me
not, it's all been satisfied, By your own son, my substitute,
and he for sinners died. In life Christ brought in righteousness,
such as the lowly required. In death He bore your dreadful
wrath, and there the curse expired. It points to Jesus' fight for
me, And gives me perfect peace. My faith in Jesus Christ I'm
free, From condemnation free. For all your love requires of
me, Christ Jesus is my plea. Can you see that thing?