All right, let's look back at
Jeremiah chapter 5. The title of this message is
One Righteous Man. One Righteous Man. This passage
starts out, this particular chapter starts out with God issuing forth
a command to His prophet Jeremiah. He called Jeremiah to be a prophet. He had commissioned Jeremiah
to be a prophet. He had equipped Jeremiah to be
a prophet and gave Jeremiah the message that he needed for his
day, his generation. The generation in which Jeremiah
prophesied and preached is much like our own. And we've seen
that in several indictments and charges that have been brought
against this nation, the nation Judah, a nation which had been
so blessed providentially and temporally and in the physical
things of this world. And yet they did not return thanks
unto God. They did not seek the Lord. There's
a picture of the natural man. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them." That's
a picture of us by nature. We've seen that. And so in bringing
forth these charges against the nation so that they know, at
least from the preaching of God's prophet, why judgment is coming
down upon them, he starts out with a search in verse 1 of chapter
5. Listen to it. He says, run ye
to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. Now, what he's
saying there literally is go down every street, every corner,
every place in this city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, the city of
God. And he says, and see now and
know and seek in the broad places thereof. In other words, search
wide and far, don't leave any stone unturned, if you can find
a man. What kind of man is he looking
for? He says, if there be any that executeth judgment or justice,
that seeketh the truth, truth there meaning faithfulness, one
who is faithful. And he says, if you can find
one man, one man, and what he's talking about here is one righteous
man. If you can find one man, one
righteous man, then I'll pardon this city. That's what God says.
So now, for whom is this search taken? Well, he's not searching
for a better man necessarily, as some people think. You know,
most people today, that's the way they think of salvation.
Salvation, oh, they'll say salvation is for sinners, but it's really
for better sinners. That's the way the world preaches
and teaches. But that's not what he's searching
for. He's searching for one righteous man. One perfect man. We read there in that Psalm,
as we opened up in Psalm 37, it says, mark the perfect man. You find him. Now, what he's
talking about here is can you find anybody in this city who
is righteous in himself? That's what he's talking about.
Because I'll tell you why. The one to whom he speaks here,
Jeremiah, was a righteous man, but his righteousness was in
Christ. We who are in Christ by God's
electing grace, by God's redemptive grace, by God's regenerating
grace, we can say upon God's authority without hesitation
and without embarrassment that we are righteous. We can say
that because it's God that justifies. But how can we say we're righteous?
Only in Christ. only as we stand before God washed
in the blood of Christ. We're redeemed. If you're redeemed,
you're righteous in the sight of God. Did you know that? You
can't be redeemed and be unrighteous. To be righteous before God means
that your debt's paid. You don't owe a debt to God's
law and justice. That's the sin debt, you see.
Justice is satisfied. Your record is clear in the eyes
of God's law court. That's what it is, to be redeemed.
If we're in Christ, we have His righteousness imputed to us,
charged to us, accounted to us, and that's the way God sees us,
and that's as real as real can be. That's even more real than
me looking straight at you right out here. Because that's the
mind of God. It's God that justifies. But
what's he talking about here? He's talking about anybody who's
righteous in himself. That's what he means. Now this,
if you read this before, it might have reminded you of another
time back in Genesis chapter 18. And that's when the angels came
to Abraham. And they were going down into
Sodom to destroy that city. And you remember it's recorded
there in Genesis chapter 18 verses 22 through 33. where Abraham said, well, what
if you find 50 righteous men? Or what if you find 10 righteous
men? He went all the way down to 10,
I think it was. And Abraham asked the Lord, he said, shall not
the judge of all the earth do right? Well, the answer to that
question is a resounding yes. The judge of all the earth, God
Almighty, always does right. He always judges according to
truth. But you know, a lot of people,
they look at passages like that, Genesis 18, and passages like
this, Jeremiah 5 and verse 1. And they might think, well, God
is trying to bargain here. He's trying to negotiate. And
that's absolutely not what God is doing. He wasn't bargaining
with Abraham. Don't you think that God already
knew that there weren't ten, five, or even one righteous man
in Sodom, righteous in himself now? Now, Lot was a righteous
man, righteous in Christ. God knew that. And then what
is God doing here with Jeremiah? Is he trying to find out something
he didn't know? In other words, is God trying
to find out some information through Jeremiah that he just
didn't know already? Is that the God of the Bible?
Well, you know better than that. God is omniscient. What does
that mean? That word omniscient, you may
hear me use it. It's a compound word. Omni, which
means all, all-encompassing, and science. omniscient, science
meaning knowledge. God knows everything. And not because He looked down
through a telescope of time or through a crystal ball. God is
the great determiner of all things. That's what the Bible says. So
God is not saying, now Jeremiah, I'm not certain about this, whether
I should do this or not, so you go see if you can find one righteous
person, and if you can find one, I'll pardon the sin. That's not
why God did this with Abraham in Genesis 18, and that's not
why he's doing it here in Jeremiah 5. I'll tell you exactly why
God is doing this. He is making a point. He is expressing and revealing
a truth that we need to know. And that's this. Among men born
of Adam, fallen, sinful, men and women born of Adam, there's
none righteous, no, not one. and he's driving that point home. Jeremiah, you go to and fro in
Jerusalem. Don't leave any stone unturned.
Go far and wide. Go to the broadways everywhere.
Don't leave out anybody. And if you can find one righteous
man, I'll pardon this city, are there any among men and women
born of Adam, even the best of us, not even including the worst
of us, even the best of us, who are righteous in ourselves? And
the answer is no. Now, we have to suspend what
we think and know by nature and what we see with these physical
eyes to understand this. And that's why the natural man
will not receive the things of the Spirit of God. I mean, you
go throughout your daily lives and you know some people who
are kind-hearted, who are generous, who are religious, who are moral,
and we just naturally think, well, that's a righteous person
or that's a good person. Well, God says they're not. Now,
isn't that right? God says all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Now, what are you going to do?
Are you going to believe your own eyes, your own thoughts, your own standards,
or are you going to believe God? You know, as he describes the
city of Judah, don't you suppose that there were some sincere
people there? Some moral, religious people
there? Yes, there were, just like our city. I guarantee you,
in our little city right here, our little area, there are some
just flat-out rebellious, nasty people And then there are some
more religious, sincere, moral people. But here's the point
that God's making. Among men and women born of Adam,
we all have sinned, you see. By one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and death passed upon all men for
all sin. Among men and women born of Adam,
there's none righteous, no, not one." Now what does that mean?
That means there's none who have a righteousness that equals,
measures up, and answers the level, the standard, the mark
of God's righteousness. We all fall short. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse
21, listen to it. It says this, this is the wise
man speaking as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit. He said,
there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
That's right. Proverbs 20 and verse 6, listen
to this. Most men will proclaim everyone
his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. You know what
that's saying is everybody by nature thinks they're at least,
they may not think they're perfect. But I guarantee you most people
don't think they've done anything bad enough to go to hell. Or at least they've done enough
to get into heaven. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good, no not one. That's what
God says. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who
would stand? Psalm 130 verse 3. How many times have we quoted
that? And he says, Jeremiah, if you
can find one righteous man, I'll pardon the city. That's what
he means there. Forgiving many for the righteousness of one.
Now there's a concept there, isn't there? What is that concept? It smacks of substitution. Here
he says, if you find one that seeketh the truth, that's a faithful
person. Somebody who's faithful. Faithful
to what? To do what God says. Think about
it. What's he teaching here? First
of all, he's saying that there's no one among us who executes
judgment and faithfulness to be found among men and women
born of Adam. Secondly, if we ever in the least
sense can be found in this way, If that could ever be said of
me, that I execute judgment and seeketh truth, there's only one
way it can be said of me, and that's as I stand in Christ.
That's the only way it can be said of you or any other person
born of Adam. And then another thing he's showing
here, now listen to what he says in verse 1. If you can find a
man, if there be any that executed judgment and seeketh truth, I'll
pardon it. Another great truth that is portrayed
in this verse is that pardon of sin has to be based on justice. Judgment. And then, of course, as we from
other passages of scripture from the whole Bible, we know that
God has found a man. One man. He's the God man. the Lord Jesus Christ there is
one righteous man but he's not just a man and he's not born
of Adam he was born of the seed of woman by the power of the
Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus Christ and for that one righteous man
who executed judgment in his obedience unto death on the cross
God pardons a whole city. Not a physical city. Not one
you can find on a physical map with latitude and longitude.
But a spiritual city. God's spiritual city of Jerusalem. His elect people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And it's through the execution
of judgment that Christ brings forth pardon. Look over at Jeremiah
chapter 23 and look at verse 5. In these prophecies of the
Messiah, that is how he is portrayed. He is not portrayed like people
today portray this false counterfeit Jesus who is trying to save you
if you are or who makes salvation a possibility if you'll cooperate. Listen to what he says in verse
5 of Jeremiah 23. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. That's
Christ. the greater son of David. And
a king shall reign and prosper. There are no possibilities here,
there are sureties. He says, and he shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. And in his days Judah shall be
saved, Israel shall dwell safely. This is his name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. There is the one righteous man
right there. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man,
God in human flesh. who executed judgment in his
substitutionary death on the cross, and who was faithful to
all the covenant obligations that were laid upon him to save
his people, his obedience unto death, the shedding of his precious
blood, the execution of righteousness before a holy God, and thereby
he brought about pardon for his people. But there was no pardon in Judah
for Jeremiah here as far as he could see. There was no righteous
men. Listen to what he says. Now let's read through this.
Verse 2. First of all, he says they're hypocrites. Verse 2.
Though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. That
saying the Lord liveth is an oath. They took an oath in the
name of the Lord, in the name of Jehovah. But he said they
swear falsely. They don't know God. We read
that back in Jeremiah chapter 4. They don't know God. If you don't know Christ, you
don't know God. And understand this, the Bible
teaches that any sinner who approaches this God, a holy God, a just
God, apart from Christ, that sinner is a hypocrite. That sinner has not come to confess
his sins and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse
3. He says they're rebellious, they're stubborn, they're stiff-necked.
He says, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? In other
words, God sees things as they really are. Religious professions
and ceremonies don't mean anything to God. Outward reformation,
you see, thou hast stricken them, but they've not grieved. See,
they've been hurt, but they don't grieve, not in a godly way. Thou
hast consumed them, but they've refused to receive correction."
In other words, it's just made them harder. He says, they have
made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to
return. Man, by nature, stubborn. If you want to find out what
man's will is like, read that verse again. That's man's will
right there. It's not free. It's enslaved
to his own sin and passions. his own self-righteousness, his
own ignorance. In verse 4, he says, Therefore
I said, Surely these are poor. And I think the sense of what
he's saying here, go to the poor people and see what they know. Well, they're foolish, he says.
For they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of
their God. See, the only way you can know the way of the Lord
is to know Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. The only way you can know the judgment of God is to
know Christ and Him crucified. How much does God hate sin? Well, when it was charged to
His Son, He punished it to the maximum, didn't He? I mean, He
didn't lighten up. Christ suffered a real soul suffering. We talked about that last time. His soul suffering. He sweat
great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was whipped
and beaten, spat upon, reviled of men. He was nailed to a cross. He cried out in anguish and pain. It's called the travail of his
soul. And then He actually died. Why? Because our sins charged
to Him. He was made a curse for us. He
was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, for us. And He died. That's how much God hates sin. And if you don't know Christ
and Him crucified and risen, you don't know the judgment of
God. Really. You may know something of God's
judgments in wrath, but you don't know the reality and the extent
of God's judgment against sin until you see Christ on that
cross dying for the sins of His sheep. Well, the poor are no
better off. Poverty is no guarantee of salvation. Verse 5, He goes to the rich.
He said, I will get me to the great men, the nobles. That's
what He's talking about. And I'll speak to them. This
is Jeremiah going back and forth now. For they have known the
way of the Lord. In other words, it has been shown. It's like people today, they
have a Bible. They can read their Bibles. Now, I know it has to
be revealed by God, the Holy Spirit. Or this is a closed book,
isn't it? It's like the Ethiopian said
to Philip, how can I accept some man? Some man's sin of God, show
me. But he says they've known the way of the Lord and the judgment
of their God. They've heard the truth. Jeremiah
is telling them the truth. But these have all together broken
the yoke and burst the bonds. What's that talking about? Well,
this is man at his best state right here. This is man at his
height. What is he? He's self-righteous.
He's proud. He's unyielding. But he won't
submit to God. He won't submit to Christ. You
see, the issue in salvation is submission. When God brings a
sinner to submission, submission to God's judgment, taking sides
with God against myself, that if God were to judge me based
on my best works, I'd be damned forever. Coming unto Christ as
the Lord my righteousness submitting to Him and His righteousness
alone as that which saves me and entitles me to glory. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Christ said come unto me all ye that labor and
are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. He said take my yoke
upon you. That's the yoke that they won't
have here. They've broken the yoke. They don't want His yoke.
That yoke, he said, for my yoke is easy. My burden is light.
It's not legalism. You know, man, this, this is
the depravity of man. Man by nature loves legalism. That's the truth. I'll tell you
what, if you want to start it, if you want to get a big group,
start your church. and put a set of rules down,
whether you put 10 or 12 or 15, and tell them all, now if you
can meet these rules here, you'll go to heaven. And people will
flock to it. Because man loves legalism. He
loves bondage. Man loves bondage. Later on,
in the next message here in Jeremiah 5, we're going to find out that
the false preachers who preach that legalistic bondage, salvation,
work salvation, they're telling lies. And what Jeremiah says
there, he says, the people love to hear it. They love to hear
it. Give them a set of rules. Give
them a taste not, touch not, handle not. Tell them what to
wear. what to watch, what not to, all
this, and they love it. Man, by nature, loves legalism.
But he cannot and will not love grace. That's right. That's depravity. He'll burst
the bonds, that is, those things which keep him in check of the
grace of God and the mercy of God. He rejects the truth. He turns the truth of God into
a lie. You see, God's search for truth
and justice, for righteousness among men comes up empty here.
And as I said, doesn't God know this before the search? Yes.
But he's making the point. If there's going to be any execution
of judgment, any faithfulness, any truth, any pardon, you know
what? You're not going to find it among
men and women born of Adam. God's got to send it. God's got
to enact it. God's got to do it. That's why
He sent His Son into the world, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them under the law. Look at verse 6. Now what
He's saying in verse 6 is this. Now because this is the case,
then He's going to give them what they've earned. He's going
to give them what they deserve. This is the reason He's saying
in verse 6, a lion out of the forest will slay them. That's
Babylon. He describes their punishment
from Babylon with three images here. The lion that comes out
of the forest will slay them. A wolf of the evenings, that's
a hungry wolf, shall spoil them. A leopard shall watch over their
cities. Everyone that go without fence shall be torn in pieces
because their transgressions are many and their backslidings
are increased. Their transgressions are many.
When I read that, I thought about what the Apostle John wrote in
1 John chapter 3, how the Lord Jesus Christ was sent into this
world to take away our transgressions. You see, that's our only hope.
Else we'll get what we deserve. And that's why we pray, Lord,
please don't give me what I've earned. Don't give me what I
deserve. Give me Christ. That's the issue. Well, he begins asking some questions
here. Look at verse 7. He says, How shall I pardon thee
for this? Well, that's the question of
questions, isn't it? How is God going to pardon? Some translations
say, Why should I pardon? And that's okay. But ask it this
way. Why should God pardon anybody?
Well, there's only one answer biblically to that question.
Because it glorifies God. So if there's going to be any
pardon at all, how shall God pardon in a way that glorifies
God? You see, the problem with religion
today is just like back then. People think that religion is
for them and revolves around them and centers around them.
This whole thing is about God. This whole thing is about the
glory of God. Why should God pardon any of
us? There's only one reason. for
His glory. Then how should God pardon? It
must be a way that glorifies Him. Shall not the God of the
whole earth do right? Remember? How can He then pardon a sinner? Well, there's no pardon without
Christ. Listen to this, he says, thy
children, verse 7, thy children have forsaken me and sworn by
them that are no gods. That's idolatry. Idolatry deserves
death. You pray to a dead God, that
leads to death. A dead person praying to a dead
God leads to death. Dead plus dead equals dead. When
I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery. This
heightens their sin. Because God is saying, look at
what I've done for them. And yet what have they done?
They've committed spiritual adultery. It's the same way today. Whatever
God has given us, this side of the grave that is good, every
good gift, every perfect gift, what do we do with it? The breath,
the air that we breathe, the homes we live in, our family,
or whatever, what do we do with it? Do we glorify Him and honor
Him? Do we seek after Him and His truth and His glory? or do
we use it upon ourselves and to feed our own passions and
our own ideas? He says, they've assembled themselves
by troops in the harlot's houses. Now he's speaking of spiritual
whoredom here. Somebody says, well, there was
physical whoredom too. Yes, there is everywhere. But
here he's putting the whole He's killing the whole covey with
one shot here. That's what he's doing. This is all men and women
by nature. And it's spiritual harlotry. Verse 8, they were as fed horses
in the morning, God fed them, and everyone neighed after his
neighbor's wife. In other words, instead of thanking
God for the food and the nourishment and the prosperity, what did
they do? They committed spiritual adultery.
Did they commit physical? Some of them did. And that's
bad. And that deserves hell too. Verse 9, shall I not visit for
these things? The visitation of wrath is what
he's talking about. Saith the Lord, and shall not
my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Vengeance belongeth
unto me, saith the Lord. This is God's justice. And then
God issues the command of judgment upon Judah. Now He issues forth
the command. Look at verse 10. He says, go
you up on her walls and destroy. This is the commandment of God
now. This is not Satan controlling
things. You know, people say, well, God
didn't do that. Satan did. No, God's issuing
the command. But now he says this again. He says, but make
not a full end. Now, hold on to that thought.
We'll come back to it. Make not a full end. He issues
the command, he says, for they are not the Lord's, or take away
her battlements, for they are not the Lord's. In other words,
their safety, they weren't seeking safety and security in Jehovah,
in Christ. And that's why he says, come
upon her battlements, they're not the Lord's. The Lord said,
don't you trust in armies, don't you trust in cities, don't you
trust in horses and weapons, you trust in the Lord. Verse
11, for the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt
very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. Verse 12, they
have belied the Lord. They lied about God, lied on
God, lied to God, and lied about God. They said, it is not He.
In other words, these blessings that we have, it's not God. We
earn those. We have those. And then they
said, neither shall evil come upon us. Peace, peace when there
is no peace. And this is the message of their
false prophets we're going to see later on and their leaders.
Peace, peace when there is no peace. Evil shall not come upon
us. Neither shall we see sword nor famine. We're fine. God's going to bless us. That's
a security and a peace that's based upon presumption and not
upon a proper ground. The ground of God's word, God's
grace, God's power in Christ. Verse 13, the prophets shall
become wind. What he's saying there is the
prophets of God are just windbags. That's what the people are saying.
They're just full of hot air. And this is why people think,
they're just hot air, I wish they'd shut up. And the word
is not in them, the word of God is not in them. Thus shall it
be done unto them. They're the ones who are going
to get the wrath. Now look at verse 14. Wherefore, or for this reason,
thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because you speak this word,
behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people
would, and it shall devour them. The word of God through the prophet
Jeremiah would be a devouring fire to these people. Our God
is a consuming fire. My friend, remember Paul said
about the preaching of the gospel, to many it's the savor of life
unto life, to others it's the savor of death unto death. The
fiery word of God, which exposes our sin and drives us to Christ,
is a fire of warmth and light to the people of God. But it's
a fire of wrath and destruction to those who refuse to believe. And that's what he's saying.
He's saying, your words are going to burn them up. That's the judgment
of God and devour them. Verse 15, Lo, I will bring a
nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. That's
Babylon who's coming down. It's a mighty nation, an ancient
nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandeth
what they say, a nation of foreigners. God's bringing judgment from
the heathen upon this nation. Verse 16, their quiver is an
open sepulcher, they are all mighty men. That means the bow,
the quiver that holds their heirs will be certain death for you.
It's an open sepulcher. That means the grave for you.
That means hell. That's what he's talking about.
Verse 17, thou eat up thine harvest and thy bread, all the good things
that God gave them, thou eat them up. Thy sons and thy daughters,
they should be eating the fruit of your labors, but no. Thou
eat up thy flocks and thine herds, thou shalt eat up thy vines and
thy fig trees, thou shalt impoverish thy fenced cities, your security
will be gone, your safety will be gone, wherein thou trustest,
and thou do it with a sword. Now look at verse 18. Nevertheless,
in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with
you. That's repeated three times here. First of all, in Jeremiah 4 and
verse 27. He said the whole land is going
to be desolate, yet will I not make a full end. Then chapter
5 and verse 10. Go ye upon her walls and destroy,
but make not a full end. Nevertheless, in those days,
saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you." What's
he talking about? Well, first of all, as I said
before, back over in chapter 4, God's not through with this
nation yet. Even though He's bringing destruction
on this nation, captivity upon this nation, God's not through
with this nation, Judah, yet. And the reason He's not through
with this nation is because of one righteous man. He's called the scepter of Judah
in Genesis 49.10. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. He's called Shiloh there too,
till Shiloh come. That's Christ. It was through
this nation, specifically through the tribe of Judah, the kingly
tribe, the tribe of David, that Christ, Jesus, the one righteous
man, the God-man, was going to come into this world according
to the flesh. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. So even though God was punishing
them and going to punish them more, bring them into captivity,
He would by His power, and it was totally by His power, and
His goodness, and His grace, and His purpose, and all according
to His covenant. Turn to Psalm 89 with me. Look
at Psalm 89. It's all according to His covenant. He was not going to make a full
and final and complete end to this nation. That wouldn't come
until later. God remembers mercy even in judgment. God will save a remnant according
to the election of grace. Why? Because of one righteous
man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Psalm 89, look
at verse 20. He says, I have found David my
servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him. Now, that's David
here as a type of Christ, the greater son of David. With whom
my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen
him. Now, this is not talking about the earthly King David.
Remember what he said, although my house be not so with God? He says in verse 22, and David
there, he said, God has made a covenant with me, has ordered
in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation, that word
salvation, remember what it is? Yeshua. Christ is all my salvation. That's what King David said.
He said in verse 22, the enemy shall not exact upon him, nor
the son of wickedness afflict him, and I will beat down his
foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness,
verse 24, and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall
his horn be exalted. That's the covenant. Go on down
in verse 28, he says in Psalm 89, My mercy will I keep for
him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. That's
the covenant of grace in Christ, the greater David. His seed also
will I make to endure forever. That's God's elect. out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And his throne as the days of
heaven, if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,
and break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, then will
I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with
stripes." Now that's us by nature, isn't it? We're sinners. But
look at verse 33. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him. nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
by my holiness that I will not lie unto David." Now why is all
that taking place? Because of one righteous man,
the God-man, the greater son of David. Christ is that one
man. That one righteous man, the God-man. But in that one righteous man,
the God-man, many shall be made righteous. That's right. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Job found out about it. He said, I have found a ransom.
That's what he found. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he's the propitiation for
our sins. Not for ours only, but the sins
of the whole world. As He is, so are we in this world. We're righteous in Christ. Mark the perfect man, we read,
and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. Who
is our peace? Christ is. Who is our perfection? Christ is. We're complete in
Him. And by this man, We who are in
him have the righteousness of God in him. Think about that. This one righteous man, the God-man,
and by him we have the righteousness of God imputed to us and which
we received by God-given faith.