There's not many times when preparing
to preach that I don't feel like I'm in over my head. I'll be
honest with you, I just, I do. And I guess in many ways I am. But I take it very seriously.
I always want my words to you to be a comfort and encourage
you. Last Sunday, we considered out of Psalm 130 who would be
able to stand before the Lord if God were to mark our iniquities. We discovered that none can stand
before a holy God in their own right and in their own righteousness. Why? Because God requires perfect
righteousness. Righteousness and the Holy Spirit
through the Apostle Paul said, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no not
one. I don't only not have the perfect
righteousness that God requires, but I have no righteousness.
There's none righteous, no not one. How then can any be saved? Well, Paul tells us in his very
next breath, he tells us that we being justified freely. That word means without a cause.
Same way that folks hated the Lord Jesus freely, they hated
him without a cause. We are justified freely by his
grace. The scripture says through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Sinners are justified
freely, freely. Boy, that's a precious word. That's a precious, precious word.
Freely by God's grace, the free redemption is found only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we sing, tell me the
story of Jesus. That's the only story that'll
benefit leprosy-ridden sinners. Now David concluded in the 130th
Psalm that none could stand, none can stand in their own work,
in their own righteousness, in their own merit. All our righteousnesses,
plural, are as filthy rags. Paul told Titus, he said, not
by works, plural, of righteousness which we've done, but according
to his mercy he saved us. But the righteousness of God
is a singular thing. We must possess the very righteousness
of God. All the things, all the works,
all the righteousnesses, all the many undertakings that men
attempt to do in order to appease and satisfy God's holy justice
come short. way short of the glory of which
God deserves. And Paul tells us plainly that
we cannot be saved, we cannot be redeemed or made perfectly
righteous by works which we've done, but according to his mercy
he saved us. David not only asked who shall
stand, he also by this question made a confession David knew
that a just and a holy God must mark the sinner's sin. God's
too holy, too just to excuse sin. Sin has to be dealt with.
We've talked about that so much in the last few weeks. So David's
question here of who shall stand actually becomes a confession.
David is confessing that he can't stand. He can't stand before
God with any righteousness of his own. I can't stand and offer
anything within myself that would be any value to God. Many in
that day of judgment, our Lord said, will stand and say, Lord,
haven't we done many wonderful works in your name? And he'll
profess unto them, I never knew you. And isn't it amazing that
what man thinks to be good works of righteousness, God declares
to be works of iniquity. Who shall stand? None will stand
because there's none righteous, no not one. God is always justified,
always just and right when he speaks against the fallen sinner.
That's what David said. God's always clear when he judges
any wrongdoing in us, when he marks that sin against us, we're
guilty. And if God should mark our sin
against us, none shall stand. What does the scripture say about
us? All of us fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
God. And there's that precious word,
but again. But God, who is rich in mercy
with his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened, made us alive together with Christ. And then Paul simply adds those
five words, by grace. By grace are you saved. How can
any sinner stand and be saved? David said, but. There is forgiveness
with thee. And that's the gospel message.
There is forgiveness in Christ. So all that really matters when
I stand before God in judgment is who's going to stand with
me? Who's going to stand for me? Who's going to stand in my
place? I want to talk to you this morning
just for a little while about our advocate, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. I ended last week's message by
reading you a verse found in the Old Testament book of Micah,
chapter seven. I want you to turn there with
me if you would. You can count back seven short
Old Testament books from the Gospel of Matthew and you'll
find the book of Micah wedged between the book of Jonah and
the book of Nahum. Micah chapter 7 verse 9. This chapter begins with Micah's
words in verse 1 which says, woe is me. Did you notice that? That little word woe means to
possess great sorrow, affliction, and distress. Micah here is sorrowful
over a combination of difficulties and afflictions. He was grieved
at the lowest state of the church, for one thing. This is something
that grieves me a great deal. There are many today who profess
to love Christ who seem to have no real concern for the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. That concerns me. It seems as
though they can take the preaching of the gospel or leave it, and
with them many other things take precedence over the preaching
and worship of Christ. It ought not be, not for one
who professes to know God. Those who can go without hearing
the message of Christ, who is the bread of life, will perish
with the lack of that bread. And most of you know me and my
methods quite well. I don't, nor will I ever, Lord
willing, reprimand folks for missing church. We answer to
God, not to men. Yet I do say this without reservation,
that I'll soon be 62 years old, and I've been around long enough
to know that men and women, including myself, we pretty much and basically
do what we want to do. Men and women come to hear the
glorious gospel because they want to. A child of God must
hear it. It's imperative. It's the most
important thing in their life. It's spiritual food and it's
nourishment for the soul. They can't live without it. And
others, with the exception of sickness, health issues, along
with other unforeseen circumstances, simply don't come because they
don't want to. And I know this. where there's
no hunger to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, there should be great concern. The Lord through
Hosea said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because
they've rejected knowledge. Men reject the knowledge of Christ.
Christ said that eternal life is to know the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom God sent, John 17 through. And to those
who have no interest in knowing God or Christ, to those who have
rejected knowledge, God through Hosea said, I will also reject
thee. And isn't that a solemn warning? Oh my Lord, Have mercy on me,
keep me by your power. Don't let me have my own way. Micah, he loved the church and
the people of God. And I always think about the
words of the beloved John who said that we know that we've
passed from death to life by our love for the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. The lack of concern in the things
of Christ of those who profess to be God's children burdened
Micah greatly. And it burdens me too. Now, notice
in verse two here of chapter seven, Micah continues with his
burden of great concern and he says, the good man, and that
word good there means godly man, is perished out of the earth.
And there's none upright among men. They all lie in wait for
blood. They hunt every man, his brother
with a net." And then in verse three, Micah refers to those.
to these as those who do evil with both hands earnestly. He says the prince and the judge
ask for a reward. But there are multitudes of professing
Christians today who attend religious organizations thinking they can
somehow obtain rewards in heaven for all the good things that
they do. Micah said that Great man utters his mischief's desire. Mischief's desire. Men and women
desire to be saved by a work of righteousness that they do.
We all know folks like that. We hear men talk about what they
do for God, not what God has done for the sinner. And they
say that they're going to receive many great rewards and glory.
And Micah continues here in verse four and he says, the best of
them is a briar. You know what a briar is. It's
a little stickly prickly thing that causes nothing but pain. A briar is good for nothing but
burning. Briars do nothing but prick and
scratch those that come in contact with them. Micah goes on to say
that the most upright of these professing believers are sharper
than a thorn hedge. Have you ever attempted to walk
through a heavy thicket of briars and thorns? Oh, I'm telling you,
your hands will get pricked, your face will get scratched,
your clothes will be torn. The most upright among these
false professors, who Micah speaks of here, attempt only to wound
and rob the fleece of God's sheep, the righteousness. They cause
great sorrow and distress among the undershepherds, the pastors
of God. And Micah was burdened with those
who professed to know God, yet had no real concern for the glory
of Christ. And again in verse four, Micah
said, the day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh now
shall be their perplexity. It seems as though these imitators
of righteousness ignored God's true prophets, God's true preachers,
who were sometimes in scriptures called watchmen. God calls pastors
to be watchmen over men's souls. God's preachers are not harlings
who care not for the sheep. God's pastors are caring shepherds.
Matter of fact, that's what the word pastor means, shepherd. Pastors, shepherds are given
by God for the perfecting, for the maturing of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, to minister to the people of God,
for the attending and serving of God's elect, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. In Ezekiel chapter three, God
said, I have set thee a watchman into the house of Israel. Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. As an under shepherd, a watchman,
I warn you from sinning before the Lord Jesus Christ, before
God. And notice that Micah here declares
that their visitation cometh, a time when God would plague
these false professors with such perplexities that they wouldn't
know how to get out of. Friends, be not deceived. God
is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And these things,
I'm telling you, they afflicted and they burdened Micah, the
prophet of the Lord. And from his heart, he proclaimed,
woe is me. Now, this is a mournful cry that
we often hear falling from the lips of faithful men in the book
of God. And look what Micah says in verse
five. When it comes to salvation, when
it comes to appeasing God, he says, trust not in a friend.
Don't put any confidence in a God, in political matters, and judges,
and governors, and kings, or presidents. He said keep the
doors of your mouth closed from speaking treason or saying anything
that will persuade even your wife, the one you hold in your
arms, to think negatively of the gospel. And then in verse
six we read, for the son dishonoreth the father, and the daughter
riseth up against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are the men of his own
house. Christ himself quoted that verse
in Matthew 10 and in Luke 12. And I ask you, how many of your
family hate the gospel of Christ? And all these things bring great
woe, bring affliction, bring sorrow to all of us. How do we overcome
these things? Here's how, verse seven. Therefore,
I will look unto the Lord. I'll wait for the God of my salvation,
and my God will hear me. Did you hear that? When you look
to the Lord, when you wait on the Lord, the God of your salvation,
God will hear you. No ifs, no ands, no buts about
it. God will hear you. Now look at verse 8. He says,
rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. And when I sit in darkness, the
Lord shall be a light unto me. Now, did you notice that Micah
didn't say, I might possibly fall? He didn't say, if I fall. He said, when I fall. We're all
going to fall. But the elect of God in and by
and through the power of God's grace say, I shall arise. Micah
didn't say, I may sit in darkness. He didn't say, if I sit in darkness. He said, when I sit in darkness. There are gonna be times of darkness
for us. You can count on it. Micah said,
when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. And
when I read that verse, I couldn't help but to think about what
John said in his first epistle, chapter 2, verse 1. He said, my little children,
I'll quote it to you. You don't have to turn there.
My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. the righteous. Now that
little word, if, in the English language is called a conditional
particle. First John says, I write these
things unto you that you sin not. Was John saying here that
believers can live above sin? Well, absolutely not. He had
just finished saying in the beginning of his letter, he said, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not
in us. John knew very well that all believers sin. And you see,
in our case, we know and understand very well the condition of man.
If any man sin, in our case, means when a man sins. That's what Micah said. He said,
when I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be my light. It's not if, but when. John is
not telling us that we can live above sin. Micah's not telling
us that. But John is telling us that we
should want to. We should want to. John is telling
us that we should desire to live without sin. Is that not the
case with you, child of God? Oh, I tell you, there used to
be pleasure of sin in us for a season, but now I hate my sin. I detest it. Job said, I abhor
myself. I abhor how I am. That's the
lot of the believer. John is telling us we should
hate our sin, that we should not delight in sin, that we should
not willfully continue in sin. And Paul asked, shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. God forbid. You see, the gospel is not about
living above sin. The gospel is this. When we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Now it took me a lot longer than
I wanted to to get there. But that's what Micah is saying
here in our text. The gospel is all about Christ. It's all about Him. He's our
advocate. He's that one mediator between
God and man. He is our intercessor who sits
at the right hand of God in all power and majesty and maketh
intercession for us. God sits right now, Shelley,
at the right hand of God and pleads your cause. Isn't that
a remarkable thought? He's able to save his people
to the uttermost. That word means evermore. All
that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them, Hebrews 7.25. And remember that it's not our
prayers, that change things, it's the One who prays for us
who changes things. We're saved forever because He
forever lives to make intercession for us. Now that's what an advocate
does. He pleads the case and the cause
of the One He represents. Now I just want to give you three
quick things in closing concerning Christ, our Advocate. What a broken sinner knows is
the first thing. What does a broken sinner know?
Micah is broken here. He's broken. Micah says in verse
nine, he said, I will bear the indignation the Lord. Now Micah here is speaking of
himself and the church of the living God and he is not saying
that he or the church of God will bear the wrath and the fury
and God's justice and eternal judgment. That's not what he's
saying at all. He's talking here about the fatherly correction
and divine chastisement of God. God's children are always the
objects of His love. God's elect are never under His
wrath. Christ bore the wrath and indignation
of God for us. He's no longer angry. with those
who are found in Christ. We have no debt to God's law. The justice of God can extract
nothing from us. Why? Because it was satisfied
when it exhausted itself upon Christ. This is speaking of the
strongest love known to man. And that's the love that the
heavenly father has for his children. And this is not a vindictive
indication. We can never bear, stand, or
survive under God's holy wrath and fury. To bear his loving
correction, one has to be humbled under the mighty hand of God
that they may be exalted in due time. And the true child of God
quietly submits to this divine correction. The true child of
God patiently endures the affliction that's given him. The true child
of God doesn't murmur, doesn't complain, doesn't express discontent
when the correction of their loving father comes upon them,
for they know he chastens, he corrects those whom he loves. In Revelation 3, verse 19, Christ
said this. He said, as many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
And the writer of Hebrews wrote this. Listen to these words.
Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children? My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth. Did you hear that? Whom the Lord
loves, he corrects. And he scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. And if ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom
the Father chasteneth not? And again, verse 9 here in Micah,
chapter 7, a broken sinner knows that this fatherly chastening
comes because we've sinned against him. Do you see that? Sin is
the cause, and it's the reason of all affliction and distress. There's no salvation apart from
a confession of sin that arises from a revelation in Christ.
And if we say we have no sin, John said, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth's not in us. Now secondly, what did Micah
believe? He believed that he had a divine
advocate. Micah said, I will bear the indignation
of the Lord, look at it, verse nine, because I have sinned against
thee, I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause and execute
judgment for me. As our mediator, as our advocate,
as our intercessor, as our lawyer in the high court of heaven,
Christ will take our case. He will plead our cause. He will execute judgment for
us. Every believing child of God,
now I'm telling you, has reason to hope and be confident in these
things. Being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Did God not promise to present
to himself a glorious church, a glorious bride, not having
spot, wrinkle, nor any such thing, but it should be holy and without
blemish? That's the promise of God. Micah,
third thing, had a sweet and precious hope. So do you who
trust in him. Again, verse nine, I'll bear
the indignation of the Lord because I've sinned against him. Until
he plead my cause and execute judgment for me, he will bring
me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness. John said, and him was life,
and the life was the light of man. And our Lord said, I'm the
light of the world, and he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life. David sung, for
with thee is the fountain of life, in light shall we see light. And I suppose the greatest hope
that any sinner could have would be the glorious promise that
we shall behold His righteousness. That which I need the most, that
being the perfect righteousness of God. There is no hope in beholding
our righteousness, filthy rags. We shall behold His righteousness. His righteousness. His righteousness
is now my righteousness. For when we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Who is that advocate? John told
us. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Oh, may God enable us to put
all our trust in Him. Put all your eggs in that basket.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our advocate. In him we have life. I appreciate your attention.
Before we dismiss in prayer and. Go downstairs to have a meal
together. The kitchen helpers are excused
to go on downstairs to prepare the meal. And I'm going to ask. Paul, if he'll dismisses.