I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
17. Proverbs 17, verse 26. Proverbs
17, 26. The Scripture declares also to
punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. God Almighty is right. God is just. God is holy. God is good. And he's going to do that which
is consistent with his character. What the Lord does is just and
right and holy and good. Now, the Scripture declares,
and these words are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just
write this down. These are the Lord's words. as the Spirit of God moved upon,
the Scripture says, holy men, made so by the grace of God to
pin these words down. But these are the words of the
Lord. And He said to condemn the righteous is not fair, it's
not holy, it's not just, It's not good and it's not right.
It's not right. And to slay, and when it says
to strike princes, a prince, that word prince means a willing-hearted
volunteer. That's what the word prince means,
a willing-hearted volunteer. to slay the willing-hearted volunteer
for doing uprightness, for doing right, to slay him, to condemn
the righteous, not fair, and to slay a prince for his equity, for his uprightness. That's not fair either. Therefore,
the Lord is not going to do it. Why? Because he's holy, he's
just, he's right, he's good. He's not going to do. Now, just
hold your place. Turn over to Genesis 18.23. Genesis
18.23. Abraham asked about this very issue.
This is clearly set forth. Genesis 18.23. You know the Lord and two angels
has appeared to Abraham. The angels have gone out. They've
gone towards Sodom. And Abraham's talking to the
Lord. And he asks this question, Genesis 18, 23. And Abraham drew
near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the
wicked? Perventure. There be fifty righteous within
the city. Wilt thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That
be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked.
That be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find
in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all
the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said,
Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which
am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack
five of the fifty righteous, wilt thou destroy all the city
for lack of five? And he said, If I find there
forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet
again and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it
for forty's sake. He said to him, Oh, let not the Lord be
angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty
be found. He said, I will not do it if
I find thirty there. He said, Behold, now I have taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty
found there. And he said, I will not destroy
it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not the
Lord be angry. And I will speak yet but this
once. Peradventure 10 shall be found there." And he said, I
will not destroy it for 10's sake. And the Lord went his way,
and as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned
unto his place. The Lord had promised, if I find
as few as 10, I won't destroy Sodom. But in
Genesis 19 and verse 23, obviously he didn't find 10, because the
Scripture says, in Genesis 19, 23, the sun was risen upon the
earth when Lot entered into Zoar, and the Lord rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the
inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. The Lord judged that place because
there was none. There was none found that were
righteous. You say, well, wait a minute. No, there were none that were
found in themselves to be righteous. Romans 3, 10 and 12 says, and
it is written, there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way.
They have together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. But turn over to 2 Peter. But you'd say, well, let me ask
you this. Doesn't the scripture say that
Lot was delivered? Yeah. And it doesn't say that just
Lot was delivered, that only Lot, for that mere fact. Let me tell you exactly what
it says. 2 Peter 2. 6 and 7 says this, 2 Peter 2, 6
and 7, And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that after should live ungodly. You want to know what's going
to happen? And delivered Just lot, vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked. And that doesn't
mean that word just there doesn't mean only. He just delivered
lot. That was just lot. No, it means
justified lot. He delivered just, holy, innocent,
righteous lot. But I thought you said that there
were none righteous, that there were none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God, none that doeth good. There's
not in themselves. But here's the foundation of
mercy. Do you know what? Let me tell you. By nature, men
do not believe that man was ruined in the fall. Men by nature hear
what I'm telling you right now. Did God find any righteous in
themselves in Sodom? No. Was Noah in himself? Was Noah righteous in himself? No. There was none righteous. Well, back in Genesis 19, I know
I'm flip-flopping back and forth, but that's okay. And I say that, I don't mean
that disrespectfully. I meant we're turning back and
forth. Genesis 19, 15, 16. Genesis 19, 15, When the morning
arose, then the angels hastened lot, saying, Arise, take thy
wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men
laid hold upon his hand, upon the hand of his wife, upon the
hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful." unto him,
and they brought him forth and set him without the city." Do you know why Lot was delivered
out of Sodom? Because of the mercy of God. Because of the compassion of
God, I will have mercy upon whom I'll have mercy. The Lord showed
mercy to Lot. Not for Lot's sake. Lot was a
rebel just like anybody else, but he showed mercy to Lot for
the sake of, number one, the just one, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. And the Lord did it according
to His good pleasure. He did it because He chose to. Had he been pleased to do so,
he could have set his affection on anybody else in that city
if he chose to, and Lot would have perished justly. 1 Peter 3.18 says, For Christ,
and here's the gospel, here's the truth, was Lot just in himself? No. And neither were we. None of us. There's not an ounce
of difference in anybody in this room this morning. We were all
conceived in sin. We all came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. We're all as an unclean thing
from the sole of our foot, crown of our head. There's nothing
but putrefying sores, unbound, unmollified, unanointed. There's nothing in us that's
good. If you've got a heart today for
this glorious gospel of God's grace, God made you so. God gave
you a heart for that. For Christ, 2 Peter 3.18, also
hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust. that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
But back in Proverbs, you say, I thought you said, the just
for the unjust. He died the just for the unjust. But I thought that you said in
Proverbs 17, 26, also to punish the just is not good. And He died the just. for the
unjust. Was that fair? Was that right? God's going to do right. Did
God do right when He punished the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. Yes. He sure did. God's holy. He's just. He's good. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, the just for the unjust. God punished him,
poured out his wrath. Did he do that which was holy
and right and good? Yes, sir. But Almighty God did something,
as old brother Scott used to say for himself, he did something
in absolute justice. Christ Jesus By the Father, He,
the Father, He hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the Father, made Him sin. Who could do that but God? He made Him sin for us, for His
people. for His elect, for His chosen,
for the bride of Christ, the anointed of God, the sons of
God by God's grace. He made Him sin for us who knew
no sin. He's just. And I can't explain this, but
I can tell you this, this is the only hope that a sinner's
got. that He made Him sin for me. He who knew no sin, the just
for the unjust. Why? That we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. My sins got to be dealt with. God's got to be just in dealing
with my sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
just one in Himself, was made what His people are. in themselves. Sin! And he was numbered with
the transgressors. And he bore in his own body,
the scripture says, Isaiah 53, 12, the sin of many, of many. He didn't say all. The Lord qualified
that. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. the sheep, and he's not a failure. He accomplished what he did. He finished it. He bore the sin
of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He made
a come-between. He's the mediator. He made intercession. You just figured he's the advocate. He's dealing on behalf of his
people before God, and he's suffering the absolute justice of God. This is what's going to happen
to a rebel. He's going to be under the wrath
of Almighty God. Christ, Galatians 3.13, hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed us. He bought back. He paid the ransom. What's it going to cost? What's
the cost of redemption? What's it going to cost, something
that is desired? What's the redemption price for
that? What's it cost? It's going to
cost absolutely the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
going to have to be satisfied. The law's going to have to be
honored. The law said the soul that sins is going to die. What's
he going to cause? He's going to have to die. How's
he going to die? The wages of sin is death. He
made sin. And God dealt with him and all
of his people in him. They died with him, in him. And he paid the price and rescued
them from the curse of the law and suffered the punishment of
God for us. made sin, and now in Him, in
Him, His people, regenerated by the grace of God, given a
new heart that does not sin. Those who believe Him, robed
in His righteousness, and they stand now before God just, just,
In Christ, holy. No condemnation. No condemnation. To punish the just is not good.
And the just was made sin and God dealt with him. And he paid
the price. And I'll tell you another thing
that's not right. To strike princes for equity, to strike a willing
hearted volunteer. And those regenerated by the
grace of God are willing, hearted volunteers. They will to come. He's given them a new heart.
And they come. And they come, and they come
in Him to Him. and they're robed in his righteousness
and they are righteous. It's not good to strike those
willing-hearted volunteers. God will never do it. He struck
his son one time on behalf of his people. One time. And one
time got the job done by one sacrifice. He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's the truth. Amen. Let's take a break.