I read a really good quote in
someone's bulletin this week. It was the words of John Bunyan,
the author of Pilgrim's Progress, that he offered in a prayer to
the Lord the very last time he preached. The very last time
he preached. And he said, Lord, let our hearts
be without words. rather than our words be without
heart. You know, men are attracted to
words, aren't they? Lord, give us a heart. I pray
that as we stand right now to sing number 22 in the Spiral
Hymnal, that Lord will give us heart to these words. Caleb,
you come, please. Thank you. number 22 in the Spiral Hymnal. Adam's sin defiles us all. By our deeds, as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retreat. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out His hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set astray In the time which God had set
Spirit came for His elect To regenerate and call From the
ruin of the fall By His power and by His grace We were born Please be seated. Morning, brothers and sisters.
If you would, for the call of worship this morning, we'll be
in Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to look
thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not, Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven
seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent
forth into all the earth. And he came and he took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vows full of others, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sang a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.
and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation. And has made us under our God
kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
And such are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, Amen, and the four and twenty
elders fell down, and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Our most holy Father, we thank
you again for this time, this day, for your gospel that you
sent forth. Be with our brother as he brings
forth the next message. We're so thankful that you give
us the first message, Lord. We ask that you cause both messages
to go forth with power and grace. Allow us, Lord, to be in your
good mercy to see through a glass darkly. Be with us, Lord, as
we always go our way. Cause us to reflect on you as
we ought. Be with us sick and infirmed,
Lord, as we all suffer mightily and have needs daily. We thank
you for all these things that must hold in perfect name. Amen. Let's stand once again. We'll
sing the hymn on the back of the bulletin. ? Approach, my soul, the mercy
seat ? ? Where Jesus answers prayer ? ? Where humbly all before
his feet ? ? For none can perish there ? Thy promise is my only plea,
with this I venture nigh. Thou callest burdened souls to
Thee as such, O Lord, am I. Be Thou my shield and hiding
place, that sheltered in Thy side. I made my thieves' accusers
pay, and tilled them Thou hast died. O wondrous love to read
and die, to bear my cross of shame, that guilty sinner such
as I may plead thy gracious name. Please be seated. On a hill far away stood an old
rugged cross. On the cross hung the substitute
lamb. It was on this old cross that
the chosen of God was forever redeemed by his hand. Turn my mind to repent and believe calls my heart to rest only in
thee. May Christ, my only plea, have
mercy on the sick. God's purpose stand sure, knowing
whom that are His, fulfilled in the person of Christ. It is finished was his cry, as
he lifted up his eyes, redeeming all for those whom he died. Turn my mind to repent and believe,
cause my heart to rest only in thee. May Christ, my only plea, have
mercy on the sinner me. As ordained before time, the
Lamb that was slain, arose over death, hell, and the grave. As my surety stands, salvation
complete, all my sin is forever forgave. Turn my mind to repent and believe, Calls my heart to rest only in
thee. May Christ, my only plea, Have
mercy on the sinner me. We can go home now. I worshiped our Lord through
that, Caleb. Thank you so much. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Judges 9. Judges 9. I often have heard someone say,
in justifying themselves, No one's perfect. No one's perfect. Perhaps you've said it yourself,
I'm talking about when people make that statement to justify
the hope of their salvation by saying, you know, no one's perfect. I want this message to leave
no doubt in anyone's mind as to what God requires He will
settle for nothing less than absolute perfection. Absolute perfection. who we find in our text as the
youngest son of Gideon, also known as Jerubbabel in our text. Gideon is dead. He's the last,
he's the judge that we've been looking at now for several weeks. And he's died a good old age. And then Abimelech comes along
And he has all of Gideon's 70 sons murdered. But the scripture
says that Jotham, the youngest son, hid himself. Jotham's name translated means
Jehovah is perfect. Jehovah is perfect. And Jotham in our text is a picture
of Christ. perfection of God. Perfect in
his nature and perfect in his work. And here's the hope that
every child of God has. I have a perfect Savior standing
in my stead before God Almighty. And God made him who knew no
sin to be sin for me. that I might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He's my surety. He's all my salvation. He's my satisfaction before God. And he, like Jotham in our text,
has hid himself. The Lord's still hiding himself
from the natural man. The natural man cannot see the
things of the spirit. He cannot know them. God has
to give him eyes to see in order for him to believe. And so the
natural man looks to his own life and he thinks, well, nobody's
perfect, but surely God will accept my efforts toward perfection
for my salvation. And I'm here to say on the authority
of God's Word to each one of us, no, he won't. No, he won't. No matter how close to perfection
we become, God won't accept it. How many
times we've said this in the past, God won't accept what we're
doing right now for our salvation. He accepts Christ. And We must
be found in him. We must be found in him. Not
having our own righteousness, which is by the law, but that
righteousness, which is by the faith and faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our surety. And he's pictured
here in Jotham. And he hides himself. Lord, you
have to reveal yourself if I'm going to know you. When God hides
himself, he's hidden in a place where we're not going to find
him by any natural efforts or pursuits of our own. No religious activity, no sincerity,
no nothing will discover him unless
he's pleased to reveal the mystery of his glory and of his grace
to our hearts. And he does that through the
preaching of the gospel. As I said in the previous hour,
the just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. We look through the spiritual
eyes of faith to see the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right
hand of God as our advocate and as our savior, our righteous
one. That's what John said, my little
children, I write these things unto you that you sin not, but
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. We have a perfect substitute,
a sin bearer, a savior seated at the right hand of God. Yes,
yes, my brethren, God requires perfection. And we rejoice in
that we have a perfect savior. Yes, my unbelieving friend, God
requires perfection. and you cannot perform it. You
cannot offer it up. The scripture says all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God. Truth is, it is an understatement
to say that everything about you and I, apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ, falls short of the glory of God, falls short
of His glory. He only accepts that which meets
up to the standard of his glory. Habakkuk puts it like this, my
eyes are too pure to look upon sin. He cannot look upon us. That is exactly the reason why
the father was required by his holy nature to forsake his son
on Calvary's cross. During those three hours, from
noon to 3 p.m., when the sky was blackened, there was a separation
between God the Father and God the Son. Why? Because God the
Son was bearing the sins of His people, and God Almighty could
not look upon Him. All He could do is pour out His
wrath and His justice on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ
we hear crying from the cross, My God, my God, why'st thou forsaken
me? Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. Jehovah is perfection. He hides
himself. And in hiding himself, he lives.
And notice with me, let's read verse five together in Judges
chapter nine. And he went unto his father's
house of Ophrah and slew his brethren. This is Abimelech.
The sons of Jerubabbel, being three score and 10 persons upon
one stone, notwithstanding yet, Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubabbel,
was left, for he hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gathered
together in all the house of Milo and went and made a Bemelech
king by the plane of the pillar that was in Shechem. And when
they told it to Jotham, He went and stood in the top of Mount
Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them,
hearken unto me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying
that to us right now. Hearken unto me, hearken unto
me, that God may hearken unto you. We have any hope of the
Lord hearing our pleas for mercy. We must hear his voice and believe
what he has declared. Now, Jotham's gonna go on Mount
Gerizim and he's gonna tell a parable. And the parable, the result of
the parable is the judgment of God against the men of Shechem
and against Abimelech, unless they repent. they don't, and
the fulfillment of that prophecy and that parable come to pass
by the end of this chapter when Abimelech and all the men of
Shechem are killed. Our Lord went up on several mountains
during his public ministry. We find him on a mountain preaching to a large
gathering of disciples. Matthew chapter five through
Matthew chapter seven, the longest recorded sermon we have of the
Lord Jesus Christ is called the Sermon on a Mount. And our Lord
reveals the hidden nature of his glory and of his grace in
that sermon. We find the Lord Jesus Christ
going up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John,
and he removes the veil of his humanity for just a few moments
so that the radiance of his glory is so bright that it blinds Peter,
James, and John, and they fall to the ground and hide their
faces. The Lord who had been hidden in his deity is now revealing
himself on a mountain to these disciples. Peter, as was often
his habit, and as often as our habit, spoke out of turn. He didn't know what to say. You
know, the best thing to do when you don't know what to say is say
nothing. But, you know, Peter hadn't learned that lesson yet.
And he said, Lord, let us build three tabernacles here, one for
you and one for for Elijah and one for Moses. Elijah and Moses
were the two that appeared with him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And they spake of that which would be accomplished at his
crucifixion. What would be accomplished at
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ? Everything the prophets
promised would be yea and amen in Christ through his death on
Calvary's cross. And everything that the law required
would be fulfilled by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross. And here our Lord on another
mountain, just like Jotham, he's revealing the purpose of God,
the perfection of God. Peter, the scripture says, when
he looked up, he saw Jesus only. Didn't see Elijah anymore, didn't
see Moses anymore, he saw Christ. That's where we look. We look
to the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to his
person. We look to his accomplished work
of redemption, truly for the child of God. Christ is all,
and he is in all. He's all that God requires, and
he's given all. He satisfied the requirements
of God, child of God. What a great hope we have. And
knowing that we have a Savior with whom the Father is pleased,
the Father saw the travail of his soul and the Father said,
I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. And here's how
we walk. We walk by faith, satisfied in
Christ, don't we? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. We have another mountain where
our Lord reveals himself. Matter of fact, it's exactly
the same mountain that Jotham goes up on, Mount Gerizim. Now Mount Gerizim is the mountain
that Joshua sent one of the priests up on to declare the blessings
of God to the children of Israel when they came into the promised
land. Remember they had Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and the
blessings went from Gerizim and the curses went from Ebal and
that was the beginning of the establishment of the children
of Israel in the promised land. That happened on Gerizim. Those
who hearken unto the voice of God have nothing but blessing
to look forward to. nothing but blessing, nothing
but the goodness of God. They have a Savior who says,
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace,
not of evil, to bring you to your expected end. They have
the voice of God saying, yes, I know there's times in your
life when things don't seem to be too peaceful, but All things
are being worked together for good for them that love Him and
those that are called according to His purpose. He can do nothing
but good for His children. Well, the blessings of God declared
from Mount Gerizim. You remember another place many
years later that a blessing came on Mount Gerizim? John chapter
4, when the Lord met that woman at the well in Sychar, that was
Mount Gerizim. the people that lived there had
built a temple on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans, and they worshiped
God there. And that's why that woman at
the well said, you know, our fathers say that we should worship
God on this mountain, but you say, you Jews say, we have to
go to Jerusalem. What'd the Lord say? The Lord say, it's not the place
you worship me. Now, they that worship God must
worship him in spirit and in truth. For such the father seeketh
after. He'll reveal himself to those.
That was on Mount Gerizim. And the woman said, Lord, give
me to drink that I thirst not or neither have to come back
to this well. And the Lord said, oh, if thou knewest who it was
that saith unto thee, give me to drink. You would ask of him
and he would give you living water. Go get your husband. Oh, what
a blessing this woman had to look forward to have with our
Lord. This all happened on Mount Gerizim,
the same place where Jotham is speaking now. A blessing and
a curse. A blessing if you have ears to
hear, a curse if you disregard what God is saying. That's the
blessing and the curse. The blessing and the curse is
not, I'll bless you if you live a good life and I'll curse you
if you live a bad life. No, the blessing is I'll bless
you with the blessing to hear. And the curses of God, the wrath
and judgment of God come upon those who will not hear, that
will not bow, that will not believe. So that woman at the well, go
get your husband. I don't have a husband. Oh, you've
spoken the truth. That's what the Lord said to
her. You've had five husbands and the man that you're living
with is not your husband. What'd she do? Oh, she wanted
that attention. She wanted that spotlight off
of her really quick. She said, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. And then she brought up the thing about where to worship.
She wanted to debate theology between the Samaritans and the
Jews. She wanted the attention off of herself. The Lord kept unfolding and revealing his glory
to her. Till she finally ran back down
into Sychar off of Mount Gerizim and said, Come meet a man, come
meet a man who told me everything I ever did. Is not this the Christ? Is not this the son of God? Gerizim, what a place, what a
blessing. Here's our Savior, here's Jehovah,
the perfect one, speaking the blessings of God in his perfect
person, in his perfect work, saying to his people, hearken
unto me, hearken unto me. We have another place, another
mountain where our Lord reveals himself, the Mount of Olives.
He gathers with his disciples and he speaks to them. When they
ask him, Lord, is it time now for you to establish your kingdom? They're still waiting for an
earthly kingdom. It's not for you to know the time of the season,
but you go back into Jerusalem and the spirit of God will come
upon you. And you'll be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and Judea,
Samaria, all the most parts of the world. And immediately, immediately,
he was caught up in the glory. They stood there gazing up into
the clouds and the angels came and said, oh man of Israel, why
gaze you up into heaven? This same Jesus, which has been
taken from you is going to come again in like manner. So the
Lord reveals the fact that he's ascended back into glory to prepare
the place for his people, taking with them, with him, the names
of his church. Everyone he lived and died for
went with him into glory. And of course, the mountain of
all mountains is Mount Calvary, isn't it? Mount Calvary, where
our Lord laid down his life for his sheep. Their sin bearer,
their substitute, satisfying the justice of God's holy law,
putting away their sins by the sacrifice of himself. And he
reveals himself there in so many ways. Father, forgive them for
they know not what they do. Isn't that still true of your
life? It's true of mine. We have no real concept of how
wicked and evil our sin is in the sight of God. When the Lord
shows us glimpses of his glory, we say with Daniel, my comeliness
has been turned into corruption. I thought I had some beauty about
me. I thought I had some strength about me. But now I realize that
everything about me is corrupt in light of his glory. We stop justifying ourselves
like Job did. Oh, how many times we read of
Job saying, this is not fair. Let me bring my case before your
tribunal and I'll prove that I'm innocent of these charges.
All this suffering that's come into my life, I don't deserve
this. That's what Job was saying. Until God speaks. Who is this
that darkens my counsel without knowledge? Job, brace yourself
like a man. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
And God begins to interrogate Job. He's not really interrogating
Job. Through his rhetorical questions,
he's revealing himself to Job. He says to Job, Job, where were
you? When I cast the stars into the
sky, when I separated the land from the sea. Job, throw a hook
into the water and see if you can reel in Leviathan. Lord, Job, I made that monster. And after God finishes revealing
himself to Job, what does Job say? Behold. First words out of it, behold.
And that word means, I see something now I've never seen before. And
the next three words are, I am vile. I'm vile. Lord, I have no reason to charge
you with wrongdoing, This is what took place on Mount
Calvary. And our Lord said, forgive them. They know not what they
do. But when our Lord reveals just
glimpses of his glory, we see enough of ourselves to know that
we have no righteousness. We have no perfection. We have
nothing to offer God for the redemption of our souls. We say
with Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up. And what's the first words out
of Isaiah's mouth? Woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen
the King. I'm gonna die. And what's the
Lord do? He takes a hot coal from off
the altar and he touches the lips of Isaiah and he said, there.
the hot fiery wrath of God's justice that fell on Mount Calvary
to put away the sins of his people. Jotham, Jehovah is perfect and
he requires perfection. When our Lord called that Syrophoenician
woman a dog, What did she say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Yeah, I'm standing in the presence
of holiness here and I'm a dog dependent upon you to scrape
some crumbs off the master's table onto the floor that I might
just get a little nourishment. Here's our hope. This all is
our hope through Mount Calvary. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
42, Isaiah 42. Verse 17, and they shall be turned
back. The prophet said, Lord, you turn
me and I shall be turned. Repentance is not a work that
we perform in order to earn favor with God. Repentance is a work
of grace performed by God in the heart. You know, if you just
repent and believe, God will reward you with salvation. No,
our repentance is so imperfect. Lord, turn me. You turn me and
I shall be turned. They shall be turned and they
shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images that say
to the molten images, you are our gods. Here you deaf and look
you blind that you may see. Lord, if you don't give me eyes
to see, I'll remain blind. How often, I think I used this
illustration recently, You know, you get dehydrated and your vision
gets blurry, doesn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
water of life. And if we don't drink freely
from that river flowing crystal clear from the throne of God,
your vision gets blurry, doesn't it? You lose sight, don't you? And so we've had enough of those
experiences to know, Lord, if you don't give me the water of
life, and if you don't turn me, if you don't, I will be blind.
And I'll forget everything that I've ever learned, everything
you've ever taught me. I'll forget it. I'm completely
dependent upon you always, always to keep me. Here's his promise, they shall
be turned. They shall be turned. Now look
at verse 19. Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger? Now, It's the same word, the same
idea that's being carried on from verse one. Look at verse
one in this chapter. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him,
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. This whole chapter
is about Christ. He goes on to say, he shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
He doesn't go around begging men to let him have his way.
Won't you invite Jesus into your heart? He doesn't have to do
that. He's God. He's God. He shall save his people from
their sins. Look, a bruised reed shall he
not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall
bring forth judgment and truth. And that's what he did on Calvary's
cross. Here's what he accomplished at Mount Calvary. He brought
forth judgment. He satisfied the justice of God
for all the sins of God's people by the sacrifice of himself once
and for all. Perfect sacrifice. God required
a sinless sacrifice, a lamb that was without spot and without
blemish. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our Jotham. Jehovah is perfect. He is the one who reveals himself
and speaks the word of God from the mountain and says, hearken
unto my words. So who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that
is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing many things,
but thou observeth not, opening the ears, but he heareth not. So I thought God was omniscient. He's talking about Christ here.
Who is blind as my servant? Whose death is the one that I
have sent? See much, but he observeth not. I'll tell you what this
is speaking of. I have separated your sins as
far as the East is from the West and I remember them no more. I need a God that's blind to
my sin. And that's what we have in Christ. The sins of God's
people, every single one of them, have been buried in the depths
of the sea. We're just beginning to know
how deep the ocean is and the secret places that it holds.
And God says, your sins are buried there, never to be brought back. I sewed them up in a bag. I threw
them behind my back. I separated them from you as
far as the East is from the West. And I remember them no more.
I need a savior that's blind to my sin. That's what he's talking
about here. There's our hope. You know, we,
we forgive one another as we ought. And what a blessing it
is when we're able to forget those offenses. But you know,
there's always a little, little memory of that there in there.
Person does the same thing and do us again and that same memory
comes back. Not with God. Not with God. He upbraid if it not. He doesn't roll his eyes at us
like we do one another, our children. They all know not you again.
Not you again. How many times am I going to
have to tell you? How many times am I going to have to forgive
you? The Lord told the disciples and said, you forgive your brother.
And Peter, thinking that he was being very virtuous, he said,
Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times? Here we have another representative
of that number 70. The Lord said, no, not seven
times, but seven times 70. And he wasn't talking about 490
times. He was talking about an infinite number of times. You forgive and forgive and forgive. What did Peter say? Lord, increase
our faith. If that's what you're, you're
going to have to give me faith. You're going to have to give
me. you're gonna have to give me hope in Christ. He's not talking
about increase my virtue, increase my ability. He's talking about
increase my dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. If I'm gonna
have that kind of forgiveness in my heart, you're gonna have
to show me how much you've forgiven me. You know what forgiveness
is? Forgiveness is a result of being
forgiven. Oh, what a perfect, perfect savior
we have. Look at verse 21 in our text
in Isaiah 42. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. He, this is the servant, the
messenger of God. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will magnify the law. All you and I can do is incite
the wrath of God's law. The Lord Jesus Christ magnified
the law. He upheld the law and he silenced
the curses and the judgments of the law against those for
whom he died. He magnified the law and he made
it honorable. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter
32, verse four. He is the rock. His work is perfect. And I began this message by saying,
well, you know, nobody's perfect. People who make that statement
to justify the hope of their salvation have no idea what God
requires. His work is perfect. He perfectly
satisfied the justice of God. He perfectly put away every sin
of every one of God's people. He didn't leave a single one.
If the Lord should mark iniquity, who should stand? If God finds
one part of God's law that I haven't kept, I'm going to hell for it. That's what the law requires.
but he magnified the law and he made it honorable. His work
is perfect, for all his ways are judgment of God of truth
and without iniquity, just and right is he. Brethren, our Jotham
has stood on the mountain of Mount Gerizim, on the top of
Mount Gerizim, just like he spoke, stood on other mountains, and
he's revealed himself by his word. And he said, hearken unto
me, listen now to this word. Second Samuel chapter 22. As for God, as for God, his way
is perfect. Perfect. The word of the Lord
is tried. He is the buckler to all them
who trust in Him. For who is a God? Save the Lord.
And who's a rock? Save our God. God is my strength
and power, and He maketh my way perfect. He maketh my way perfect. Why? Because He is the way. He
is the way. He's not gonna show us the way.
He is the way. Psalm 17, verse 37. Mark, the perfect man. And behold the upright, for that
man's end is peace. Mark. Set your affections on
things above, not on things of the earth, where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. Mark that perfect man, for the way of that man is peace. How am I going to have peace
with God? Marking the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the
perfect substitute, the perfect Savior, the one who has a perfect
nature, perfect righteousness, perfect wisdom, perfect understanding. He's perfect. He's perfect. And I'm perfect in Him. The Lord said to the to his disciples, except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. Now the scribes
and the Pharisees had exemplary outward appearances. Everybody
strove to be like a Pharisee, you know, just, oh, they're just
so outwardly religious. I'm sure there was a lot of moral
standards among them, but the Lord said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
have no wise in the kingdom of God. I've got to have a perfect
righteousness. In our righteousness as ours,
filthy rags before God. Oh, his nature is perfect. He's
God incarnate, the son of God. The perfection of God. What am I going to add to him? Men want to try to add their
works and their will. I said this earlier, I'll say
it again. The gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in the
glorious, perfect person of the Lord Jesus Christ and in his
perfect work of redemption is the only message of salvation
anywhere in the world that declares God to be God. Every other message
of salvation makes God dependent upon man for something, which
robs him of his deity. It robs him of his glory. You
know, he's done his part, now you got to do your part. I suspect that most of us know
who Stephen Hawking was. He, I guess, was the Einstein
of our generation. He died recently. He's the man
that was horribly crippled in a wheelchair and incredibly brilliant,
off the scales as far as IQ goes. He was an atheist. As far as
we know, he died an atheist. But Stephen Hawking once said,
as an atheist, if there is a God, there can be no such thing as
free will. Now that's an atheist who came
to that conclusion. You know, men want to, they honor,
the Lord said, they will honor me with their lips, but their
hearts will be far from me. They want to acknowledge me as
God. but then they strip me of my deity by making me dependent
upon something that they do in order for me to be able to save
them. The gospel of God's free grace in Christ is the only message
of salvation that declares God to be God. He is our Jotham. He is perfect. And God requires
perfection. And lest he stand in our stead
and save us of our sins, Unless by His perfect nature and His
perfect work, He puts away the sins of His people. There's nothing
we can do to earn God's favor. He is the sovereign, self-existent,
immutable, creator and sustainer of all of life, both physical
and spiritual. He's God. And God's people love
that. They love, they willingly bow
to a God who is God. Matter of fact, the only place
that true worship takes place is in the presence of that God. Every other form of religious
activity practiced by men is nothing but feigned worship. They're pretending to worship
God, but really they've already set themselves up on the throne
of God. God's people delight in bowing
before a God that's God. They delight in knowing that
all of their salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ who
himself is God. They rest in him. They fall on their knees like
Thomas when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, his Jotham. Jehovah is
perfect. When he came to that upper room,
could we call that a mountain? I suppose in a sorts it was. The Lord is revealing himself
in a high place. And John Thomas falls at his
feet and says, Oh my Lord, my God. Good news, isn't it? It's the
gospel. The gospel means good news. It's
the only good news there is. If salvation is in any way dependent
upon anything that you and I do, it's not good news. Matter of
fact, if we've got any sense about us at all, that'd be the
most fearful thing to hear. Have I done enough? Did I do
it right? Was I sincere? Is my faith strong
enough? His work is perfect. He redeemed
His people of their sins. He offered Himself to His Father,
and His Father accepted that sin offering. put away all the
sins of God's people. God made him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us. Bearing the sins of his people
in his body upon the tree, he put them away. Now he's standing
on a mountain, Gerizim, and he's speaking to the woman at the
well. And she's listening. What grace and what glory our
perfect Savior has for His imperfect people. Our Heavenly Father, thank You
for Your Word and thank You for all the revelations that You've
given us of Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
turn us and cause us to rest the hope of our immortal soul
in thy glorious Son and in his finished work. For we ask it
in his name, amen. 70, let's stand together, number
70. Lord God Almighty Early in the
morning Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, holy, holy merciful and mighty God in three
persons blessed Trinity holy holy All the saints adore thee, casting
down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and Seraphim falling
down before thee, which word and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, O the eye of sinful man, thy glory may
not see. Only thou art holy, there is
none beside thee. Perfect in power, in love and
purity. All thy works shall praise thy
name in earth and sky and sea. God in three persons, blessed
Trinity.