Then I read it. Then I read it. And you know, I thought, obviously,
we're talking about something here that is considered by Almighty
God to be that which is fair, just, a false balance. his abomination
to the Lord. Turn with me back to Proverbs
6. Some things are spoken in Proverbs
6, starting in verse 16. It says, These six things doth
the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, unto
his soul. A proud look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
the brethren. You know, I think we take way
too lightly things that God says He hates. He who is the omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent God, the Scripture says there is something that
is an abomination to Him. There's something that he despises.
Something that he is disgusted with. A false balance. As I read that, I thought obviously
there must be something about that that is more than what appears
to be on the outside at first. There's something that's got
to be deeper. than what is the obvious to a
man's fickle thinking, a false balance. 1 Timothy 5.21, Paul says, do nothing
by partiality. Don't do anything by partiality. And by that word, partiality,
this is what he meant. Don't tilt the scale. Don't tilt the scale. do nothing
by partiality. A just weight is the Lord's delight. Now, the Scripture here is speaking
of two things in God's attitude toward both of them, a false
balance and a just weight. One of them is an abomination
to Him. The other is His delight. A false balance or a deceitful
scale. That's what it means, a deceitful
scale. A just weight. If you have in
the margin, if you have a Cambridge Bible, you may look in that middle
section right there. It says on just weight, what
it says is a perfect stone. A just weight. A perfect stone. Now you know, we only know what
is false or deceitful as it is compared to that which is true.
Do you know how to reveal a false or a crooked stick? Just put
a straight stick next to it. I've heard tell that people that
work in banks, counterfeiting is a big deal. And do you know
how they teach people how to spot counterfeit money? They
only let them deal with real money. That's all they do. They teach them everything about
real money. Real money. Some of y'all may
work in a bank. All you do, you don't have to tell somebody or
go into all the aspects of counterfeit money. You just let somebody
deal with real money and they'll spot a counterfeit. You know,
that's the way it is with a believer. You preach the gospel. You set
forth Christ. You set forth truth, truth, truth. And when a believer hears a lie,
he knows it. That's whether you know it. Paul
says, I am determined not to preach anything save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The Scripture says that a false
balance is an abomination to the Lord, a false balance. Now that term, false balance,
has got to do with determining the purity of something. That's what it's talking about,
the purity of something. You take a scale and someone
brings in some metals, some precious metals, gold or silver or something
like that. How much is this worth? Well,
they've got a little scale over here. It's a little weight, an
ounce, a half ounce, a quarter ounce or something, and that
weight is placed on one side of the scale, and you begin to
weigh what you've got. And as you weigh, the scale,
the weights are placed on there, and when that balance comes up,
that's how much you've got. How pure is it? Pure gold, pure
silver weighs differently than that which is infused with something
that's impure. Pure balance. Pure balance. Now, the Scripture says that
a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. Now, what is this
balance? that the Scripture speaks of.
The Scripture says in Daniel 5.27, there was a man named Belshazzar. Belshazzar decided one day that
he would take some of the cups that had been taken by his father,
Nebuchadnezzar, taken from the temple and put in safekeeping. Belshazzar decided one night
he was going to have a big party Won't you go get those cups?
Bring them out." And he said, let's drink. Let's drink out
of those cups. Let's drink to our gods. So they
did. Had them a big, big party. Had them a lot of fun. During
the night, Scripture says that a hand appeared and began to
write on the walls in Daniel 5. And Scripture says that one
was brought in to give an interpretation of the writing And one of the
words was tikal, that was written on the wall. Tikal. What does
that mean? Daniel says, well, this is what
it means. You've been weighed in the balance
and you've been found wanting. Weighed in the balance. Man declares
his own faithfulness, his own work and his own will to be the
standard, to be the balance. But he who is omniscient, who
searches the hearts and tries the reins, who is no respecter
of person, who spotlessly is just, who rewards every man according
to his works, that is, either those works whereby a man stands
before God in himself, or the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Belshazzar, the Scripture says,
was wanting. You have been weighed in the
balance, in God's balance. Now, Scripture says here, a false
balance is an abomination to the Lord. But Belshazzar had
been weighed, found wanting, lacking that is. What did he
lack? Well, he lacked a necessary righteousness
that will stand under the scrutinizing eye of absolute holiness. What does a man outside of Christ
lack? He is unjust. He is undone. He is without hope. He is without
Christ. He is lost. The true balance
is the balance according to God's holiness. The true balance discerns
between the thoughts and the intents of the heart. In Isaiah
chapter 28, look at this, Isaiah 28, 17. Let's talk about God's balance.
How is Almighty God going to deal with a man? Isaiah 28, verse
16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone." Now what we're going to look at right here, we're
going to look at God's balance, God's scale. This is God's scale. He said, I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste." Who's that talking about? This tried stone, precious stone.
That's Christ. That's the Lord Jesus. Judgment. Also will I lay to the line,
and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. Man by nature has got himself
a scale. by which he himself thinks that
God is going to judge him. Men will stand before Almighty
God in that day. The Lord Jesus Himself says,
many will say to me in that day, Lord, haven't we prophesied in
Your name? Haven't we cast out devils in
Your name? Haven't we done many mighty and wonderful works in
Your name? Then will He say unto them, Depart
from Me those that had called themselves workers of many mighty
works. He says, Depart from Me, you
workers of iniquity. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Not affectionately, not lovingly,
not everlastingly, not savingly. Your balance, your false balance
is an abomination to Me. Man establishes himself a standard. And man's standard, man's balance,
false balance, false weight, false scale, that's what he's
talking about. Have you ever heard anybody say this? Well,
I think that what's going to happen, the scale, all my good
works, and I'll put all my good works over here. And then all
the bad works have been over here, see? And if my good works
outweigh my bad works, that's a false balance. That's a lying
balance. That's a deceitful balance. There
is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. All things are
naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Proverbs 16, verse 2 says, "...all
the ways of man." are clean in His own eyes, but the Lord weigheth
the spirits." I am telling you, a false balance,
a false scale is an abomination unto the Lord. A man, but for
God's grace, will deceive himself as to the goodness of his ways.
Saul of Tarsus said this of himself, he says, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, he said, I'm blameless. Man, I'm telling
you, Paul said, I'm telling you, this is the way it was. Man,
I put all my good stuff on one side, and I'm telling you, there
wasn't any bad stuff. Man, I weighed myself according
to my own standard, and before the law of God, I was absolutely
blameless. False balance. But God, who weigheth
the spirits, said of Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And all today who bow not to
the Lord Jesus Christ, who believe not His gospel, do the same thing. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. Let a man declare in his
heart that Almighty God will show him mercy for any other
reason save for his sovereign, saving grace, viewing that man,
considering that man, seeing that man, beholding that man,
the person of his blessed Son, And that man judges himself by
a false balance, deceitful. Woe unto that man that striveth
with his maker! Let the potsherds, that is, the
broken pieces of pottery, strive with the potsherds of this world.
A man says, well, I tell you what, this is the way it is.
Be this denomination, you'll be all right. Be a Southern Baptist,
or be a Methodist, or be a Catholic, a Presbyterian or a Bapticostal
or whatever you want to be. Call it what you want to. Let
the postures of this world strive with the postures of this world.
But I'm telling you, a false balance. There is but one way. There is but one truth. There
is but one life. And the Lord says, I am He. I
am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. And a false balance is an abomination
unto the Lord. That's false in deceitful scale. God says it disgusts Me. Weighed outside of Christ, man
has no hope. The Pharisee, the Scripture says,
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You that I am not
like other men who are extortioners and unjust and adulterers. Lord, I have weighed myself and
my balance, and I am not like them. This parable, the Scripture
said, was spoken to those who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. But as to a false baptism, that
is an abomination to the Lord, I'll tell you this, so it is
to the believer. Job 31.6 said this, Job 31.6,
let me be weighed, Job said, in an even balance. That word
even there means a just balance. Let me be weighed. Let me be
weighed in Him. Let me be weighed in Christ.
Let me be considered in Him." Say it like that. In the balance
of God's righteousness, not the righteousness which is of myself,
but that righteousness charged to me, that just weight which
is the Lord's delight. The Lord has appointed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained. God hates a false balance. That is a deceitful scale. God
hates it. I know what men say. It doesn't
matter what church you go to, what you believe, as long as
you're sincere. I said this before. Hitler was
sincere. He was. He was sincere. But a
man be sincerely wrong. A false balance. Oh, but a just
weight, a just weight is His delight. I like that interpretation
of that just weight. A perfect stone. A perfect stone. Oh, how can our hearts and minds
go but to Him who is the rock, the stone, that stone that Isaiah
spoke of. for a sure foundation, a tried
stone. I know to those that trust it
in themselves and find all their hope in their free will, refuse
this stone. I know that. Man by nature despises
the thought that he himself is not his own judge, his own scale. Man by nature hates the thought
of being told that He is in Himself absolutely vitrifying in the
sight of Almighty God in Himself. That from the crown of His head
to the sole of His foot, He's undone. He hates that by nature. He loves to be told that He's
something. Men will stumble at His Word,
that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the rock of offense because
He is sovereignly set forth as God Almighty. He's God. A false balance is an abomination
to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. Here's that weight
that is God's pleasure. That tried stone. A stone of
proof. A tried stone. Tried by the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world, sent, ordained, chosen by Almighty God, sent into this
world, came into this world and lived perfectly before Almighty
God. And God Almighty found Him faithful. This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Faithful in His willingness.
Faithful in His obedience. Faithful in His love. Faithful
unto death. Faithful. Faithful. Tried stone. Tested. Tempted by Satan. By wicked men. But proven by
Almighty God. A just weight. A perfect stone. One perfect. One man. One just man. Precious stone. Tried stone and precious stone,
Isaiah said. Valuable. Valuable to the Father. Precious to the Father, being
the Beloved Son. And precious to the believer.
Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious to you. Christ
is our hope. Christ is our hope. Our hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness,
our hope of eternal glory. Hope, the chief cornerstone upon
whom all the people of God are built. A false balance? Does it really matter? Does it
really matter? Does it matter what a man believes?
Does it? Does it matter? how man sets
himself up. I tell you, and I tell you with
assuredness, the Gospel that was set forth, this Gospel that
has faithfully been preached, faithfully preached, years and
years and years, the Gospel of Christ, Christ, God Almighty's
salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the perfect stone. The
just weight. A false balance is an abomination
to the Lord. Let man say, it doesn't matter. Let man say, it doesn't matter,
we're all going in the same direction. We're all going to the same goal.
I'm telling you, a false balance is an abomination to the Lord.
But a just weight is His delight. Christ, our hope of glory.