Well, it's good to see all of
you. And once again, we thank the
Lord for this blessed privilege that we have to meet together. Our God's on the throne. For
that, we're thankful. I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter
29. I'd like to look at last verse of this particular chapter. Proverbs 29, I'd like to read
verse 27. The scripture declares an unjust
man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright
in the way is abomination to the wicked. Now, found within
this world, there's two kinds of people, and only two kinds
of people, just and unjust. It doesn't matter
Where they're from, these are the two found. Those who have
been, by the grace of God, justified. What does that mean? Acquitted.
Acquitted by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And made by
the grace of God to cast themselves upon the mercy and compassion
of the Lord. That's one kind. And the other
kind is those that have been left to themselves in the darkness
of sin and unbelief, whose care or concern for their
own eternal soul is non-existent. That's the only kind there are.
Now, within these two types, we're going to find two attitudes,
two distinct attitudes, and these attitudes are contrary one to
the other. And that's what we just read
in verse 27, Proverbs 29. Here's the two attitudes. An unjust man, one that is without
any heart for the things of God. An unjust man is disgusting. That's what abomination means.
He's disgusting to the just. And he that is upright, that's
right, that's straight, in the way, is disgusting to the wicked. There's just two things that
we can behold in man. Either those that love the things
of God and things that don't. And all else is without any merit whatsoever.
So, man that is upright in the way, That man that by the grace
of God has been made to see his need of the Lord Jesus Christ,
cast himself upon the mercy of God. That man, according to these
scriptures, is straight. He's right. He's
in the path and the journey of the things of God, loving the
things of God. That man is walking by faith.
He sees himself as needy, without hope, without Christ. That man
that is without Christ, all of these things that are right and
honorable and truthful, that's an abomination. They disgust
him. That's what scripture says. Men
can say what they want to say about it. but according to the
word of the Lord, these two things. Now we see from our passage that
these, these two natures, they're found within this world and they're,
they're contrary one to the other. So therefore we could ask this,
who makes a man a woman to differ? If the things of God, are disgusting
to a sinner. God has left him to himself.
But if these things that honor and glorify and magnify the Lord,
if these things are precious and holy, then by the grace of
God, God Almighty has done something for that person. Now, when it
comes to the things of God that are loved. Someone would look
at those things and quickly surmise that God's done something for
him. But if by God's good pleasure, he's left a man to himself to
do the things that are pleasing in his own sight, that man right
there has no hope if someone has found themselves with a desire
for religion. That man that would say of himself
as he looks at that one that loves the things of God, that
man will say concerning himself, I've made a decision for the
Lord, I've walked after that which I think is right. He would
say of himself, I thank thee, praying to himself, I thank thee,
God, that I'm not as other men are. I'm not unjust, I'm not
an adulterer. I know I'm especially not like
this publican over here. While that publican, seeing something
of his need of Christ, would cry out and say, Lord, be merciful
to me. I'm a sinner. That man will not
even desire to lift up his eyes, the scripture says, to heaven,
but will smite upon his breast, saying, Lord, I need you. Lord, help me. And the miracle
of the publican's cry was that he knew that he owed the whole
of his justification, his acquittal, before Almighty God to the good
pleasure and grace of God. Because he knows that in himself,
he is no more than a vile sinner, worthy of death, worthy of the
fire of hell. Paul the apostle, a man that
formerly saw himself as worthy Well, why, turn over to Philippians
3, Philippians chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. Why did the apostle Paul, before,
what was it that caused him to look at himself? Well, he said,
verse 5, Philippians chapter 3, verse 5 and 6, He was circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.
In Hebrew, the Hebrews is touching the law. There was a Pharisee
concerning zeal. He persecuted the church, touching
the righteousness, which is of the law. This is what Paul saw
himself as. Blameless. No charge. Nothing in me that you could
look at and say, there's an infraction right there. That's how he saw
himself. When the apostle Paul, by the
grace of God, was made to see something of his need of Christ. And here's the believer. When
he sees himself in need of a savior, to do something for him that
he could not do for himself. This is what he said. By the
grace of God, First Corinthians 15 to you. By the grace of God. I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. But I labored the more abundantly
than they all yet not I. But the grace of God. Which was
with me. The Apostle Paul was made to
know something of God's mercy and grace to him. He knew that
Almighty God had reached down and had taken a sinner, a sinner
that he knew himself to be, but a sinner that was going to go
through the rest of this life doing one thing, magnifying the
grace of Almighty God while he was in this body of death. Now, I want you to realize something,
believer. If Almighty God has done something
for any of us, we're going to confess this. By God's grace,
I am what I am. We're going to go through this
life magnifying the Lord of glory and having to live in this body
of flesh. I want you to turn with me to
Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. And while
you're turning there, I wanna just share something with you.
Romans chapter seven. I'm gonna start reading just
a minute in verse 14. While you're holding your place
right there, Back in Proverbs chapter 29, this passage of scripture that
we read, verse 27, an unjust man is an abomination to the
just man, to the just, and he that is upright in the way is
abomination to the wicked. Now, it would be so easy for
the flesh After somebody has had a religious experience, and
they're going to say, I realize this, I've seen the error of
my ways, and I've given my heart unto the Lord, and I'm walking
in the straight and narrow way, and I'm a Christian. That's the verse, the tongue,
the talk of a Pharisee. That's what the Pharisee said.
I'm so thankful that I'm not like everybody else. Oh, I fast, I go to church, I
read my Bible. I'm such a good person. That's not the speech of a believer. This verse of scripture, I'd
looked at this thing for two or three days. And by the grace
of God, I think the Lord's given me just a little light on it.
That verse of scripture, that's the speech of a believer and
the attitude of a believer that's expressing, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, This is God's people regenerated by the grace
of God. Now let me ask you something.
You just hold your place. You can turn back to Proverbs
29 if you'd like to. I'm gonna read something out
of Romans chapter seven in just a moment. Back in Proverbs chapter
29 in verse 27. An unjust man is an abomination
to the just. You that know the Lord. You that
by the grace of God's been called out of the darkness of sin and
unbelief. But you that know that that old
man is still in you. He's still there. And he's still
raising his ugly head every moment. Let me ask you something. An
unjust man, one that knows not God. You know who that is, Pat? That's
us by nature. I'm getting ready to read it
out of Romans 7, prove what I'm saying is so. An unjust man. is an abomination. He's disgusting
to the just. You don't have to look around
and look for somebody in this congregation that's unjust or
something. Just look at home. Here's where
we are. This is us. An unjust man. Now this is Marvin. I'll just go ahead and say it
for me. This is Marvin by nature. That old nature that's still
within me. An unjust man is disgusting to the new man. And he that is upright in the
way, as a new man, by the grace of
God, is disgusting to the wicked.
Now, beloved, Every believer, this congregation, every believer,
every true believer in this world, they've got two men in them.
They don't like each other. That old man that I see, now
you can turn over to Romans chapter 7. I'm going to show you what
I'm saying. This is Paul the Apostle speaking
under the inspiration of God's Spirit, and he's talking about
himself. So therefore, when I read this,
I can tell you what I'm truthfully saying. If I know the Lord, this
is me talking of myself. Chapter 7, verse 15. For that
which I do, I allow not, I know not. For what I would, that do I not. And what I hate, that I do. That which I despise, that which
disgusts me. That's me. That's me. That's
that old man that's still there. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good, then it's no more
I that do it, that's not a new man, but sin that dwelleth in
me. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, Well, it's no good thing. For the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. If I would, but if I do that
I would not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is
present with me. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh of sin. Beloved, We're in a world that we're gonna
live in until God takes us out of this world. And in this world,
for the regenerated saint of Almighty God, there's a battle
that's going on. And we're gonna fight. We're
gonna fight in this war until God is pleased to deliver us. While the Spirit of God in indescribable
wisdom and mercy has been pleased to pluck the objects of His mercy
and compassion from the jaws of justice, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them that live in Christ Jesus, those that
are born from above. But while we're in this world,
and have been delivered from the penalty of death. Delivered from the guilt of death. We haven't been delivered from
the presence of sin. While this guilt and punishment
has been put away through the sacrifice, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're going to suffer until we
leave this world. And I'm telling you what we see
in ourselves is going to disgust us. You that know the Lord, let me
ask you something. Did you groan under what you
see in yourself? I'm going to tell you something. That is not the characteristic
of an unbeliever. An unbeliever does not groan
under the sin that he found within, that's there. He doesn't groan
under it. We're honest about it. We'll admit that. Before
the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ to us, let me ask you
something. How many times, how many times, Fred, how many times
did we groan under the penalty of our sin? Groan under the weight
of what we see in ourselves and the disrespect that we had before
God. Oh, but blessed be God, I want
you to turn over and then I'll close. 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians 15. We're in this world groaning
under the presence of sin. And the blessing that we have
is to know that the Lord has delivered us from the penalty
of it. But there's coming a day when
the glorious liberty is going to be given unto the people of
God. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I'm going to read
verses 49 to 58. First Corinthians 15, starting in verse 49. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. There's coming a day when we
all admit right now, right now, that we've borne the image of
the earthy. We know something about what
it is to have to walk in this world and see the frailty of
our flesh. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for
the times that I've thought disrespectfully toward you. I know why I've done
it. Because sin is present with me
and I war against it and it just grieves me because As we have
borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. I don't know anything about that
right now, because all I know is what it is to bear the image
of the earthly, to struggle with it. Verse 50, now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God, Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye at the last trump, the trump shall sound. There's coming
a time when, according to these scriptures, there's going to
be the sound of the trump. and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This corruptible must
put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal
shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying which is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Sting of death is sin, strength
of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. There's two men in every believer. Two men, just and unjust. Almighty God's been pleased by
the grace of God to give a new man. It's created a new man in
righteousness and holiness. Now there's two, but that old
one's still there. And they don't get along. They
fight one another. They war against one another.
That old man disgust the new man. And you that know him know
what I mean. You're not happy with what you
see in yourself, you're not. But thanks be to God, that old
man that's defeated, that old man, one day gonna be put off. And all that'll be left is that
which is right, upright, straight, perfect, and holy. Come quickly,
Lord Jesus. Lord, help us as we struggle. For Christ's sake, we ask these
things. Amen, amen. All right, let's take a few minutes
break.