Okay, we're going to stay right
there and beginning at Proverbs 11. And the passage is verse
one, a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight
is his delight. You know, the Bible says, I'll
turn over to Proverbs 20. I'll show you some things. The
Bible says a lot about just weights, false balances. Look at Proverbs
chapter 20, we'll just read a few verses here because I want you
to see how important this is as it is applied to the salvation
of God's people. What it is that, you know what
the false balance and the just way, you think about the scales
of justice, you know the statue of the woman with the blindfold
on and holding out the scales, they say justice is blind. And
that justice, those scales have to balance. And if they tip to
the negative, then the person is convicted and to be put in
jail or whatever the law says. But they balance. That's what
he's talking about. And then think about it in business.
A lot of people don't know about this today, but when you'd go
to the butcher shop and you'd order some meat and they would
weigh it. That's how they would determine the price. And you
remember the old joke about the butcher putting his thumb on
the scale to get a little bit more? See, that's an unjust way. That's a false balance there.
But it has to equal out. And what does it have to measure
up to? Well, those verses in Proverbs 11 told us they have
to measure up to righteousness. But here's the point. They have
to measure up to righteousness as God measures it, not as we
measure it now. but as God measures it. Well,
look here in chapter 20 of Proverbs, look at verse nine. Listen to
this. It says, who can say I have made
my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? Now, none of us can say
that, can we? We're sinners. We're either sinners
lost in our sins or we're sinners saved by grace. That's the only
two kind of people there are on this earth as far as that's
concerned. And then it says in verse 10, diverse weights, different
weights. That is a different standard
for different people. Now you know what that describes?
Religion. Think about it. You go to one
church, they might have one standard. You go to another church, they
might have another standard. One religion, that religion.
Diverse weights and diverse measures, both of them are alike abomination
to the Lord. God has one righteous standard
by which to measure. Not various ones. And there is
no sliding scale by which God measures. Man does. Somebody
says, well, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as badass. Oh, so
and so. That's the sliding scale religion. It's an abomination to the Lord.
God does not measure us on a sliding scale. So think about that and
then look down at verse 21 of this same chapter, Proverbs 20.
And there are a lot of other verses we could go to. We don't
have time to go to them all. But look at verse 21. An inheritance may be gotten
hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be
blessed. And what it means is getting something unjustly. Say not thou I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Diverse weights
are an abomination unto the Lord, and a false balance is not good. Man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand
his own way? Think about that. Now obviously what's happening
here when we talk about a false balance, back here in Proverbs
11, a false balance is an abomination to look, but a just weight is
his delight. The first thing we need to understand
about this is the scales that he's using are used for weighing
or measuring people. He's not talking about groceries
here. Oh, you can apply these maxims to things like that, but
that's not what this is about. This is about you and me. This is about how we are measured,
how people are measured in the scales of justice. And what is
a false balance? Well, obviously it's one that
does not measure properly. One that does not measure righteously. There's no justice done, see.
Justice is perverted by a false balance. There's cheating going
on here, see. And what is a just way? One that
measures properly. One that measures righteously.
This is justice, you see. I think about one of the New
Testament words for sin, which is iniquity. Now a lot of translations
translate the word iniquity as lawlessness. But the import of
the word iniquity is that it is unequal. It doesn't balance
out. You see what I'm saying? Doesn't
measure up. And so whatever does not measure
up to God's standard, to the scales of God's justice, is iniquity. No matter how good it looks to
us, or to others. So keep that in mind. We're weighing
people here. The second thing we need to have
burned into our minds and our hearts is that it's God who does
the weighing here. It's not me. It's not you. It's
not a judge down here at the courthouse. It's God Almighty
who is the weigher. And the balance therefore itself
is the word of God and that's his word of justice, his word
of righteousness. Remember in the book of Hebrews,
I believe it's chapter five, it talks about how believers
ought to be skilled in the word of righteousness. What is the
word of righteousness? Look over at Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16 and look at verse
10. Well, look at verse nine, let's
read that one first. The reason I said that is because
I've got that one underlined in my Bible. A man's heart diviseth
his ways, but the Lord directeth his steps. I love that. You know,
we make our plans, we make our choices, but it's God who directs
our steps. He's in control. So that establishes
God as the supreme judge of all matters. And look at what he
says in verse 10. He says, a divine sentence is
in the lips of the king. His mouth transgresseth not in
judgment. A just weight and balance are
the Lord's. A just weight and balance are
the Lord's. They belong to God. All the weights
of the bag are his work. And that's literally all the
stones of his bag are his work. Now that's important. And it says, it's an abomination
to kings to commit wickedness for the throne is established
by righteousness. You see that? A just weight and
balance are the Lord's and all the stones of his bag are his
work. Not man's work, but his work. Over there in Proverbs 20 that
we read, it could read literally about the diverse weights and
the just balance, a stone and a stone, stones crafted by man,
weights and measures of their own imaginations and inventions
make them look good in their own eyes, but they're not good
in God's eyes. It is God alone who is the source
of that which brings sinners to measure up in his scales of
justice. And that's preached out in the
gospel. The gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed.
It's God alone who is the source of the gospel. A perfect stone is... In chapter
11, verse 1, that just weight could be read, a perfect stone. A perfect stone is God's delight. And you know who that perfect
stone is, don't you? The same word that's used in
the Hebrew here is used in the prophecies of passages like Isaiah
28. The stone which the builders
set it not, the stone of stumbling, that's Christ. That's who it
is. That perfect stone. It's not
me. It's not you. It's not how I
measure up to you. You're probably a whole lot better
than me. But you're not the standard, Christ is, you see. God has set
that standard. Only the righteousness of Christ
is acceptable to God. If we're in Christ, then we have
the righteousness of God charged to us, accounted to us. And anything
less, Christ is the stone, and anything less is an abomination
to God. Only Christ can cleanse us and
work righteousness for us, and it's God who imputes it to us.
And if we claim salvation based on anything less than that perfect
stone who is Christ the Lord in the glory of his person and
the power of his finished work, do you know that's an abomination
to God? Think about that. It's God who
weighs with the scales and balances of justice. It's God who makes
the judgment as to whether the scales are balanced. It's God
who crafts the stones of his purse. The stone by which God
weighs his people, again, the perfect righteousness of Christ,
the very righteousness of God. Christ died to establish that
righteousness, and the Bible says, and I quote it just about
every message, Acts 17, 31. God has appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that stone, that man whom
he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance unto all
men, and that he raised him from the dead. Oh, Lord, give me a just weight,
a perfect stone. Here's the third thing. In ourselves,
by our works, none of us can balance the scales. When I read
about this in studying, I thought about a passage in the book of
Daniel. Read this sometime. You don't
have to turn there, because it's a long story. But it's in Daniel
chapter 5, where a king named Belshazzar, he decided to throw
a party in honor of himself. And he told his lords to go get
the vessels that his, I think it's his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar,
had stolen from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and bring
those vessels, the cups and the candlesticks and all that, and
so they can fill them up with wine and get drunk at their party
and rejoice. And during that party, something
miraculous happened. And it's a true story. A hand
appeared. from God, and wrote something
on the wall. And Belshazzar didn't understand
it, and they went and got Daniel, and they said, do you know what
this is saying? It was something, if I can remember this, let's
see if I can. Mene, mene, farsa, tikal. Check me on that. Daniel 5. But you know what it
said to Belshazzar? It said, you're weighed in the
balance, and found wanting, lacking. You don't measure up, buddy.
You're the king. You look good to everybody around
here and they'll do what you say, but you're weighed in God's
balance and you're found lacking. Well, my friend, by nature and
based upon our best efforts to be good people, when it comes
to God's measure, God's balance, We're all weighed in the balance
and found wanting. That right? There's none righteous,
no not one. There's none good, no not one.
None that doeth good, no not one. Now this is talking about
God's just weight. God's scales. God's balance. So here's the fourth thing. Here's
the good news now. In salvation. In forgiveness,
in righteousness, our only hope is to be found in Christ, the
Lord our righteousness. It's the only way we're going
to measure up. It's the only way we're going
to have a just weight and the scales be balanced to be found
in Christ. Paul said it. He said, I count
all the things that I used to hold so dear, all those stones
that I was making up, being a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of the
Pharisees, trying to keep the law, all those stones, he said,
I count them but dung that I may win Christ. And be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ. The righteousness
of God which is by faith. Unless we're found in Christ,
we're going to be like old Belshazzar, found wanting. We read it this
morning in the book of Job, chapter 25. How can a sinful man be just
with God and how can he that is born of woman that is born
dead and trespasses and sins be clean? And it's only by the grace of
God through the blood of Jesus Christ. What can wash away my
sin? You see, I only need one stone.
I only need one stone to balance the scales. And that's the stone
that the builders have set it on. It's the stone that self-righteous
people trip over. And in being trapped, it's the
rock. Christ Jesus. And the evidence
of one being found in Christ is faith in Him. God-given faith. Who is your hope of balancing
out the scale? Who is your hope? Somebody said,
well, I want to know that I'm saved. Well, what's your hope
of salvation? Well, I'm trying to do this,
I'm trying to do that, I get baptized, I walk down, I've done
this, I've given my tithe, all that. Those are stones that will
not balance the scale. All you need is Christ. Isn't that right? Well, does
that mean we don't do anything? No. There's such things as thanksgiving. There's such things as gratitude
and love. But all you need to balance this
scale is Christ. And here's the fifth thing. Beware
of any proposed way of salvation that does not balance the scales. And my friend, there's a lot
of them. You know what a false balance
is as it applies to people spiritually? A false gospel. The gospel of free willism, the
gospel of salvation conditioned on sinners. A gospel that puts
you on a sliding scale and measures you out as you compare to others.
False balances have always been prevalent, even today. Think
about those who stood before the Lord as He spoke in Matthew
7, 21-23, when He said, Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, shall
be saved. Only those who do the will of
my Father." What's the will of His Father? That we believe on
the Son and rest in Him. And they said, Lord, Lord, haven't
we preached in Your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? And He came back, He said, Depart
from Me, you that do not measure up. Because you see, preaching
in His name and casting out demons and doing many wonderful works
will not balance the scales. You that work iniquity, I never
knew you. Do you understand what that means?
I'm a preacher. I've been doing this for, what,
40 years now? What am I going to say when I
stand before God? Lord, I preached 40 years in
your name. If I do it, the scales aren't going to balance out. The only thing I have to say
is, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
That's my only hope. My only hope is the same as your
only hope. The fact that I've been up here
preaching for all those years, it's not a stone that will balance
the scale. It'll tip the scale against me
because my preaching is not my righteousness, Christ is. My
believing, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a gift from
God, that's a miracle of grace, but my believing is not my righteousness,
Christ is. Does that make sense? I preached
that out in Oregon and a young man who's a pastor of a Southern
Baptist Church liked to got up and come after me. He said, I
can't believe you said that. I said, I know you can't believe
it, because you don't believe it. I said, faith is not our Savior.
Christ is. He said, I can't believe you
said that. And I said, you know why that offends you so much?
I told the young man, you know why that statement offends you
so much? Because Christ is not your Savior. Your faith is. That won't balance the second.
Yes, we believe. Yes, we've repented. Yes, we persevere. But Christ
is our righteousness. All of this in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Why are there so many diverse
measures and weights in religion today? It's because by nature,
people don't like the way of God's judgment. They prefer to
make up their own ways. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men, the way of death. The broad road, many be therein
that find it, false balances. They prefer to make up their
own stones, their own balances by which to compare themselves.
But always remember, it is God alone who provides the scales
and does the measuring. And his standard is the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Found nowhere else. It cannot be found in the baptismal
pool. It cannot be found in the offering
plate. It cannot be found in charitable
giving or whatever. All those things which may be
good in and of themselves, They don't even compare to the death,
the burial, the resurrection, the merits, suffering of our
Savior unto death to establish the only righteousness by which
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Isn't that right? Don't be fooled by measuring
yourself by a false balance. Only look to that just weight.
That one stone that God has freely and fully provided for His people,
He that spared not His own Son, but freely, freely gave Him up
for us all, all who believe, that's Christ. All spiritual
blessings in Him. All spiritual blessings and benefits
in Christ. And that's the only just weight
that God has provided and will use in the end. Okay.