Proverbs 16 11 adjust weight
and balance are the Lord's all the weights of the bag are his
work Now I'm sure it's been taught
many times from this verse and others in scripture that God
requires honesty and integrity and That's true, but it's not
the truth of this verse The weights and balance system was designed
for accurately comparing the weights of two different things
or groups of things or amounts of material. It was used at the
time for measuring out product at market, mostly. If you were
buying a pound of rice, for example, rice would be poured into the
balance until the scales leveled out, assuming that the one pound
stone used on the other side of the balance was actually a
pound. Now, knowing something of human nature, it wouldn't
surprise us to know that many dishonest merchants would use
a false weight. The Lord addresses that in Proverbs
11.1, a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight
is his delight. Now they would likely, these
dishonest merchants would likely paint on this stone one pound
in big letters, you know, but then who knows what it actually
weighed. It probably wouldn't weigh a
lot less because it would be obvious they'd get caught and
they were probably careful. You know, people know how to
do bad stuff and they know how to get away with bad stuff. I'm
sure it was just a little bit under. So that if they were caught
by the authorities, they could say, oh, it's just an honest
mistake. Maybe a little bit of the stone chipped off or something.
Just an honest mistake. But over time, they'd make more
money because of it. And while it's true that God
hates dishonesty and treacherous dealings like that, cheating,
there's a lot more to this than that. The truth about this, as
with all scripture, is spiritual truth. The truth about this verse,
as with all scripture, is Christ. It's one thing for rice or beans
or corn at a market to be weighed in the balances, but what about
you? What about me? God doesn't weigh
beans in his balance. God weighs people on the scales
of his justice And that's a problem That's a problem Remember the
handwriting on the wall The handwriting on the wall if you ever heard
that phrase you know somebody will say well the handwriting's
on the wall that means there's no doubt this is this is It's
been settled it's been Well, that phrase comes from Daniel
chapter five, and we won't turn there for the sake of time, but
you'll know this story, I'm sure, and you can look at it later
if you'd like, but there was a wicked king named Belshazzar
who used the vessels of God's house to drink wine from. Those vessels were consecrated
under the Lord's service. They weren't to be used for anything
else but the service of God in his house. And while Belshazzar
and his princes and his wives and his concubines, it says,
drank from these vessels that were to be consecrated for the
service of God's house. It says in Daniel five, verse
five, in the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and wrote
over the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the King's
palace. And the king saw the part of
the hand that wrote. And then the king's countenance
was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints
of his loins were loosed. I don't know what that means,
but it sounds bad, doesn't it? That doesn't sound good. And
his knees smote one against another. So Balthasar sent for Daniel. Somebody told him he was looking
for somebody that could read the writing that was on the wall. He knew something about this. He knew it was from God or he
wouldn't have been so terrified about it. But he couldn't tell
what it said. And so somebody mentioned Daniel
that he was able to interpret dreams and things like that.
And he was a wise man in the favor of God. And so he sent
for Daniel. Daniel told him what it meant
three things were written on the wall and one of them was
this It's te ke L pronounced to call Or tickle took out the cow It
means this Daniel told him thou art weighed in the balances and
art found wanting That want that word wanting means lacking deficient
You came up light And we know this is not about the balances
of men. This is God's balance and The
truth of the matter is we all come up light in God's balance
When God weighs sinners in the balances of his justice Think
about this what's on the other side of the scale? Listen to Proverbs 11 one again
a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight
is His delight Now what does God delight in we're talking
about? Not a physical balance here. It's just a picture We're
talking about the spiritual balances of God's justice What would God
not consider to light? What would he consider? Valuable
enough If you're wanting, then there's not enough value on this
side to equal out with what's on the other side. What would
God consider valuable enough in the scales of his justice?
Remembering that it's not materials or anything like that that's
in this balance. It's people. It's man. He weighs mankind in
his balances. I believe it's Psalm 62.9. See if it is if not, we'll We
won't Sixty to none. Yeah Psalm 62 9 surely men of
low degree are vanity and Men of high degree are a lie. So it doesn't matter what your
degree is You don't measure up the next part of it is to be
laid in the balance of They are altogether lighter than vanity. So nobody measures up in God's
scale. But in Proverbs 11, one there,
the words just weight, a just weight is God's delight. What
is a just weight in God's book? Well, the word just in that verse
means perfect. It's got to be perfect. And if
we're talking about men being weighed, there's just one perfect
man. The word weight means stone, because that's what they used
as weights in the balance, stones that were a particular weight
to weigh other things against. And the only thing that God can
weigh you against that will be a true test of whether he will
delight in you or not. He delights in the perfect stone.
Will he delight in you? Will you measure up? Will you
be too light or just right? Well, the only way he can determine
that is if the perfect stone is Christ. Christ is the only
man that ever pleased God. He's the only man that ever fulfilled
the law of God. There's only one perfect stone,
and it's that stone which the builders rejected. He's called
a stone in another sense. He's the chief cornerstone in
the building of God's house, God's spiritual house, which
house we are. Paul said he's the chief cornerstone,
but he's the stone which the builders rejected. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to Acts 1730. In the times of this ignorance,
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And if
you're wondering who he is, he hath given assurance unto all
men in that he hath raised him from the dead." The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's gonna judge the world in
righteousness by that man. Now that has more than one meaning. It means that he has committed
all judgment into the hands of his son. So it is by Christ that
we're gonna be judged, and that's the way God has ordained it.
But also, what standard are we judged by? Christ is that too. He's not
only the judge, but he's the standard by which we're judged.
And that goes right along with what we're saying about this
just weight, this perfect stone. There's perfect, perfect stone. Now, who's gonna be weighed by
Christ and not be found wanting? Well, what can balance the scales? We're all found wanting, we're
all too light. Men of high degree, men of low
degree, we're all together lighter than vanity. There's no way we
can balance the scale if it's Christ on the other side. Now
we read where a false balance is an abomination to the Lord.
What would be a false balance? Well, if you measure yourself
against another sinner, you might measure up fine, but that's not
a just weight. That's a false balance. You might
measure yourself against your idea of what goodness is. Well,
my good outweighs my bad. You don't have any good. But
your idea of justice and goodness, that's a false balance. The only
true balance is the perfect stone, the son of God. And how in the
world can the scales be balanced? If there's just one perfect stone
and I'm on the other side, what's my hope to ever measure up? God's perfect standard. Well,
the only way Christ and I balance the scales is if I'm in Christ.
Only God can satisfy God. It's Christ and me weighed against
the perfect stone, which is Christ himself in his perfect righteousness.
Remember, this is not a physical scale. There doesn't have to
be two Christ's for this to be a reality. It's Christ in his
perfect self as all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And
then me over here. If the scales are going to balance
them, it's got to be me in him. Because only God can satisfy
God. You could say that the perfect
law of God is on the other side of the scale. And then me in
Christ. But think about this. What is
the law apart from Christ? It's meaningless. The law is
just words. Unless somebody can keep it.
Christ is the law fulfilled. So it's got to be Christ is the
perfect stone, not just the law. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. So if it's Christ on one side
and me and Christ on the other side, and the scales balance
out perfectly, then how much do I weigh? I can answer that from Isaiah
40 verse 15. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket. and are counted as the small
dust of the balance. Do you know how they count the
small dust of the balance when they're weighing things out?
If it's a little bit of dust, you know how they count that?
They don't, that's how. That's us. It doesn't count. It's Christ that God delights
in. A perfect weight He delights
in. I don't have anything to do with that, except that I get
in on it, because God put me in His Son. And let me read the rest of that.
Counted as the small dust, behold, He taketh up the isles as a very
little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the
beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. In case you're
wondering how much the small dust of the balance weighs, Verse
17 of Isaiah 40, all nations before him are as nothing and
they are counted to him less than nothing. God would be more
pleased with nothing than he is with you and me, apart from
Christ and vanity. Emptiness that's what vanity
is vanity is emptiness Only God can satisfy God. That's what Paul said what he
did in Philippians 3 7 But what things were gained to
me those I counted lost for Christ Yeah, doubtless in other words
when you add my works onto the scale it doesn't make it more
balanced, it makes it less balanced. It doesn't count in my favor.
It counts against me, Paul said. Everything I've, the best I've
ever done counts against me. Yea, doubtless and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them the way God does, but dumb. By God's grace, I count
them the way he does, that I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness.
If you put your works on the scale, you lose. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. the righteousness which is of
God by faith. May God give us faith in his
son so that he might delight in us in Christ and we not be
found in ourselves having our own righteousness before God.
We need Christ. And as I said, as in all scripture,
it's Christ, isn't it? It always is everywhere in Grantsburg. Amen. May God bless it to us.