Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17, I'd like to look
at one verse, verse 15. This is the next verse. in our
study through the book of Proverbs, going verse by verse, which is
a good way to do it. Proverbs 17, 15, he that justifieth
the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
an abomination to the Lord. to God's word, according to God's law, punishment
is due and absolutely must be executed upon the wicked. And the righteous absolutely
must be justified. They must be declared innocent. Now, the scripture says that
God is just and that he will by no means,
under no circumstances, not even remotely, shall the thought be
considered that he is going to clear the guilty. Ezekiel 18 verse 4 says this,
Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also
the soul of the Son is mine, and the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. Ezekiel 18.20 says, the soul
that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. I know this. God is absolutely
fair. God's fair. That's what God is
just means. God is just. There's no plea bargaining with
God. No letting off. There's no looking
the other way. God's just. And God Almighty
is going to deal with sin in absolute justice. According to God's Word, Romans 3.20 says, Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Do you know what that means?
That means that there's not one thing in the world that I can
do to save myself. There's not one thing in the
world I can do to save myself. For by the law, what's the purpose
of the law? For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. That means God's law shows me
what I am. And that's all it does. There
is no mercy in God's law. There's no mercy. God is fair. And therefore, punishment ought
to come to the wicked. And the righteous ought to be
justified. This is fair. This is fair. A man proven to be guilty and
let off, or a man proven to be innocent
and then condemned, is not fair. And here, both of those scenarios
are declared to be an abomination You know what that means? That
means it disgusts God. It disgusts Him. It is disgusting to me, He said,
that the wicked should be justified and that the innocent, the just,
should be condemned. That disgusts me. I know this. Almighty God is
going to settle all accounts in absolute justice. So let me ask you this question
because I'm in the same boat you are. I'm a sinner. I was born in sin. I've come
forth from my mother's womb. I've been a liar since I was
born. All I've ever desired to do is
sin against God. So let me ask you this. When
it comes to God justifying, Romans 4-5, the ungodly, that is to
say, pronouncing God's people, God's sheep, God's elect, when
it comes to God pronouncing them to be clean, no condemnation. I know what Romans 8-1 says.
Romans 8 says, "...therefore now no condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus." I know when I believe and read
by faith that Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God My question is
this, in light of Proverbs 17, 15, he that justifieth the wicked,
he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. And then where I read that God
does justify the ungodly, and I'm going to have to ask
this question, is there unrighteousness with God? No. Paul said, Romans
9, 14, God forbid. God is just. But I know that he said in Romans
9.15, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy. Now this is some good news right
here. Especially after what I've just
been reading. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So here's the
ultimate question. In light of this passage right
here. And boy, we've looked at this passage so many times, Job
25, verse 4. How then can man be justified
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Now, I guarantee you, and I understand
this, if the Lord did not teach us the answer to this question,
we wouldn't know. If God is just and is going to
deal with sin in absolute justice, and I know He is, and if somebody
were to ask me, and I had no earthly idea, if God is fair,
and He is, and He is going to deal with sin, and He shall,
how then can a man or a woman be saved? How can God be just
in dealing with sin and justify a sinner. How? Well, there's only one way. He's going to have to deal with
us in a substitute. You find out the answer to that
question, and you're going to see how Almighty God can justly Justly, justify the ungodly. Now concerning the Lord justifying
the wicked. He that justifieth the wicked. That's an abomination to God.
I've got two questions. I asked this question earlier.
Is there anything in us that is condemnable? Being born in
Adam, you know the answer to that. The answer is yes. I won't
make you wonder. Is there anything in us that
is, as far as being in Adam, born in Adam, condemnable? Listen,
I'll just read this to you. 2 Samuel 24, 17. King David had
numbered the people. Don't worry about it. David numbered the people. And
the Lord gave him a decision he was going to have
to make. God Almighty dealt with him. He said, OK, David, you numbered
the people. Now I've got a question for you,
for you to answer, and you tell me what, you know, But you decide
what you want to do. He said, seven years of famine? Do you want to flee three months
from your enemies or three days of pestilence? And the prophet
Gad said, you advise and I'll return and give that answer to
the Lord. unto Gad, I am in a great strait.
Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies
are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man." So the
Lord gave him three days of pestilence. And the Scripture says in those
three days, because of David's rebellion against God, God sent
pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed,
and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy
thousand men. God killed 70,000 men because
of David's rebellion. And when the angel stretched
out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented
him of the evil, stopped him, and said to the angel that destroyed
the people, it's enough. Stay now thine hand. And the
angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Aaronah, the
Jebusite. And here's the answer to the
question I ask. Is there anything in us that is condemnable in
ourselves? And David spake unto the Lord
when he saw the angel that smote the people and said, Lo, I have
sinned and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they
done? Let thine hand, I pray thee,
be against me, against my Father's house. Is there anything in a
believer that is worthy of death. Yes. Yes. We're sinners. We're sinners. Secondly, here's my second question. Do I need to be justified before
God? Absolutely. Because I am a sinner. I'm a sinner. And I could say,
From now on, I'm not going to do one thing, which is not possible. But if you decided I was not
going to sin against God one more time in ignorance to say
that, it doesn't make a bit of difference. I've already rebelled
against God. But Job 33.24 says, Then He is
gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit. But I'm guilty. I'm already guilty. And the Scripture says that God
will by no means, Exodus 34.7, will by no means clear the guilty. He's not going to do it. Now,
I'm telling you that this little simple ABC 1, 2, 3, people say,
all you've got to do is just walk down the aisle and the Lord
will just sweep it under. I'm telling you, God is going
to deal with sin. And people act as though that
it's no big deal. It's a big deal. We're guilty. And in absolute justice, God
states according to Job 33, 24, he said, you deliver him. I have
found a ransom. I looked up. I wanted to know
exactly the interpretation of that. How is that I've found
a ransom? It's not that God just discovered
it. God has never discovered anything. Known from the beginning
are the ways of the Lord. He knows the end from the beginning.
God has never discovered anything. When He says, I have found a
ransom, here is where He says, there exists a covering, an atonement. You deliver Him. There exists
an atonement. The Lord Jesus, according to
God's eternal covenant of grace, has ever stood as the surety. That's what we talked about in
the first service. Found of God whoever knew Him. The Lord said,
Proverbs 8. We've read that many times. He
said, I was ever before Him. I was brought up with Him. I
was daily His delight. He came into this world to save
His people. Now, tell me this. How can God
be just? and justify a sinner. Here's
the way it is. Only this way. Almighty God is
going to judge my sin. And He did it when the Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross. As I said in John 10.15, He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep The Scripture says that He bore
our griefs. Whose griefs? According to the
Lord, He bore the grief of the sheep. Now, we have to understand
this. We dealt with this. If you say,
well, He died for everybody's sins, then there's going to be
people in hell that He shed His blood for and you might as well
admit it. God was a failure. If you say
that, and you say, well, no, I don't think he was a failure,
but I think what it is is we've got to accept it to make it effectual. Then I say, well, then salvation
is by your works. It ain't going to fly. It ain't
going to fly. He laid down his life for the
sheep. And he paid totally their debt. He bore our griefs in his own
body. Carried our sorrows. And he was
stricken of God for our sins, the sins of all that the Father
gave him. The Lord God of heaven said,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I will have compassion. When he died at Calvary, I want
you to take your Bible here as I wrap this up. Psalm 40, verse
12. When he died at Calvary, for whose sins was he dying? Well, we know this. He was dying
for the sins of his people. They were his people's sins. But I want you to notice how
intimately did he bear their guilt. How intimately? Look at Psalm 40 and verse 12. Here is the words of our Lord
through the prophet David in his speaking of our Lord's crucifixion. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, their iniquities have taken Now
wait a minute, that's not what he said. Whose iniquities? Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine hand, therefore my heart faileth me. My heart faileth me. If you have your margin there
that says forsaken, who forsook Him? His very heart. His Father. I God, my God, why
hast Thou forsaken me? You know why? Because where sin
was found upon Him, they were made His. They were made His. He absolutely bore the guilt
of His people. Himself. Made sin. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21.
He hath made Him sin. Almighty God absolutely in absolute
justice did not justify the wicked. What did He do? He dealt. with them in a substitute. He dealt with his people in absolute
justice. And in absolute justice, the
law, where the law found sin to be on him. The law says, death,
the soul that sinneth. You see, he was sinless, right,
and was made sin. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21
says, for he hath made him sin who knew no sin. Absolute holiness
himself. He absolutely bore the guilt
of his elect, and those iniquities were made his. Bore them in his
body. And God dealt with his people
in Christ. Back in Proverbs 17, he that
justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even both, an abomination to
the Lord. We are the ones that drink iniquity
like water. In ourselves there is none righteous,
no, not one. We are all as an unclean thing,
but in Him in our substitute, He that bore our sins, God Almighty
that did not justify us in our rebellion. He dealt with us in
Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
and God forsook Him, the just One, He hung on that cross As
I said a moment ago, made sin. God Almighty dealt with him as
sin itself. The sin of His people. I've said
before, these things are too high for us. But I'm telling
you, thanks be unto Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, The just one
suffered under the wrath and justice of God for his people. He was made a curse. God forsook him because sin was
found there. And now, in absolute mercy, God
Almighty can and does justly forgive the
sin of His people. As I've said before, He doesn't
just sweep it under the rug. When God Almighty, the sin that
I have committed while I've stood here in this pulpit preaching, the moments that my mind has
wandered, the moments that I've thought thoughts not honorable
to Him, God Almighty can in absolute
justice forgive His people because He has dealt with that sin in
Christ. Lord bless these words, I pray,
to our hearts for Christ's sake.