To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created these things, and bringeth out
their host by number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from him, from my God. Hast thou not heard that
the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, and there is no searching
of his understanding? He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength, Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, and they shall run and not be weary, and they shall
walk and not faint. Let's pray. Lord bless us tonight. Give us
grace to speak. Comfort us, Lord, with the truth
of your gospel. Speak to our hearts. May our Lord Jesus be exalted
in his precious name. Amen. To whom then will you liken me? Or shall I be equal? Sayeth the The Holy One. That sounds pretty exclusive,
doesn't it? The Holy One. Especially when you understand
what holy means. It means a part. None like Nobody else. And so, he's asking, who will
you think of as a rival to the God that's revealed in this book? He is the only apart one. Everybody else is a dime a dozen. There's lots of angels, there's
lots of devils. There's lots of people. And there
ain't a dime's worth of difference in any of us. There's only one God. He's the
only one that there's only one of. He is holy. And all others who
are called gods, he said, are just like the ones that made
them. Those that made them are like unto them. That's because
All the other gods of men's imaginations, of man's manufacture, are really
just manifestations of man's determination to worship himself.
That's why their gods are like them. But the Holy One, He alone is holy. And that's
really just another way of saying He alone is alone. He alone is
a part. He alone, and He's alone in a
lot of ways. Every attribute of His is holy. God alone is sovereign. Man talks about letting go and
letting God, but how dare you liken yourself to
the one who there's no one like? We don't let God do anything.
He does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases.
And when you presume to control Him in some way, you're likening
yourself to Him. And He said, How are you going
to do that? I'm the Holy One. We don't let God do anything. He might let us have another
breath. There it was, I got one more.
He might let me have another one. I don't let Him have anything,
do anything. He lets us. He alone is sovereign. There's
only one that can do as he pleases. There can't be any rivals in
that. Somebody's getting their way. Tommy said a while ago,
there's only a hammer and a nail. There's just one hammer in this
house. And he's it. You know that thing got you,
there's just one hammer. We're all nails and he's gonna
put us where he pleases. I'm thankful he pounded me in
in a pretty good spot. I like the spot he put me. And I like the fact that he did
it. I'm thankful he did it. He alone is life. He only is life. You know, people have a baby
and they say, we created life. No, you didn't. No. Are you really going to liken
yourself to God? Who alone creates anything, much
less life? You know, I hear these things,
and I know people don't, most of the time they probably maybe
don't even mean what they're saying. We created life. They
don't mean to presume that they made something out of nothing.
But why don't we just make an effort to come to the place where
we give God glory and everything like that? instead of exalting
ourselves. When one of us has a baby, let's
bless his name. Praise God, from whom all blessings
flow. And when a baby is born, that's
a picture of what he's able to do for us spiritually. if he's
pleased to. He can birth us again from above
by his spirit with the word of his power. It's a picture of
real life. And unless you've been begotten
again, by God unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, that are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time." 1 Peter 1, 3-5. Unless that's true of you,
that's a lot, isn't it? And unless that's true of you,
then you are dead while you live. And you too. God must give life, he alone. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. He's not like the God of religion,
who, you know, did the best he could, he made life available
to dead people. Think about that for a minute.
You're dead as a hammer, but life's available to you. The God who cried, Lazarus come
forth. And a four day stinking dead
man came out of the grave. He don't make life available.
The mighty God who took the hand of a little dead girl. And said,
Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And she opened her eyes now.
They were already mourning her death. They were already, the
funeral had already begun. The funeral procession. I say
unto thee. I say unto thee, arise. And she opened her eyes and he
said, bring her something to eat. You don't make life available. God alone is love. These are things that we don't
often think about. God alone is love. And His love is in His Son. It's displayed in His Son. It's
revealed in His Son. It's contained in His Son. His
love for sinners is in Christ. Herein is love. That God loved
a people. That God loved somebody. His
people and sent his son to be their sin offering. A man and
a woman fall in love and we know something about that. There's
nothing wrong with calling it that. That's fine. They get married
and they live happily ever after. We say that's love. God said
that's just a picture of love. That's just a picture. That's
just an illustration of love. Herein is love. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his bride, the church. That's the definition of love. It's a great blessing to find
somebody to spend your life with. But if you haven't had the love
of God in Christ shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost,
If you're not married to the Son of God and the eternal bond
of divine grace, you don't know what love is. You can't possibly
know what love is. You see, God's love is holy.
That means there's nothing like it. It's apart from everything
else that can be called love. And I say there's nothing like
it, but God's love is not an it. God is love. I can't even talk right when
I talk about Him, because He's the Holy One. He's not again in this, like
the God of this religious generation. He loves everybody, and yet countless
millions of those that He loves go to hell, because His pathetic
love can't do anything about it. He'd sure like to. My God said, I love my sheep,
and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. He alone is just. He is a part in that. He is just. He said in Isaiah 45, 21, Tell
you and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? And who hath told it from
that time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. No God else. In what sense, Lord? A just God. He is alone in his justice. We preach the sovereignty of
God and salvation, and people say, that's not fair. A worm is saying to the judge
of all the earth, that's not fair. God gave his only begotten son. Now you think about this. God
gave his son. And the more you think about
that, the more lost you're going to be in the wonder of it. But
God gave his only begotten, well-beloved son that he might be just and justify you if you're his. And somebody's going to accuse
Him of not being just in saving whom He pleases? And thank God for the second
part of that declaration we just read in Isaiah 45. Because if
God is strictly just, we're all goners. But bless His holy name. There
is nobody like Him. He is a part. in that He is a
just God and a Savior. Our God is not like the one who
is preached in the satanic synagogues of our age, who loves everybody
and died to save everybody. But if you don't do something
for Him now, if you don't make a decision for Him or live for
Him or serve Him, He'll put you in hell. Where's the justice
in that? Christ, the Son of God, shed
his precious blood and made his very soul an offering for my
sin and yet if I don't live up to that somehow, if I don't make
myself worthy of that in some way, I go to hell. I've got no
interest in that God. Our God is just and his justice
is holy. He will by no means clear the
guilty. He will demand and exact eternal
punishment from every sinner who stands guilty before Him. But bless His holy name, He's
a just God and a Savior. Because of what we read so often
in Romans chapter 3, He justifies sinners freely. There's no difference
in us. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not
one, but he justifies sinners freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God must eternally pour out his
wrath upon every sinner who stands guilty before him, but bless
his name by his grace there are going to be sinners that stand
before him without any guilt. The righteousness of God without
the law is revealed. Same chapter, Romans 3. In Christ
who is set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood. We're going to look at that more
closely in a minute. But he must pour out his wrath
on everyone that stands guilty before him. But some sinners
are going to stand before him not guilty. If you are not redeemed
by the... Now we're talking about the apartness
of His justice. He alone is just. If you stand before God, when all is said and done in
that last day, and you are not redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ, if He did not die for you when
He poured out His soul in offering for sin, then God must forever pour out
His wrath upon you. He is just. But if God has poured out His
wrath on His Son and redeemed you by His precious blood, then
He must save you. He must receive you. He must accept you. He must declare
you not guilty. He must bless you. He must delight
in you forever. You are without spot and without
blemish before him in love. He alone is just. When he died, let's settle this
question and we'll be through. I want to be brief tonight and
I hope I can be. When he died, Ben, If that's
the truth, if he died for me, I'm forever blessed in spite
of myself. If Christ died for me, even when
I think I'm lost, I'm saved. I can't mess it up. I can't lose
it. I can't get out from under his
precious blood. And nobody can pluck me out of
his mighty hand now. If that's true, you know what
I want to know? Here's what I want to know. When
he died, did he die for me? Did he die for me? Because I
tell you right now, if he did, it's time to start celebrating.
We start right here, can't we? We're going to celebrate, sure
enough, one of these days, but we might as well start now. If
he died for me, if he died for you, Let's think about a couple
things about that. Did He die for me? Did Christ
die for me? First of all, we know this from
the Word of God. If He did, it is of God. It's not because of anything
in you. Jonah 2 and Acts, salvation is of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1.27. In order to be brief, I'll have
to just read this to you. Listen. 1 Corinthians 1.27. But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world,
to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty.
And God hath chosen the base things of the world, and the
things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things which
are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of Him, of Him are you in
Christ Jesus. Of His choosing, isn't that what
it's been saying that whole content? Of His choosing, by His choice,
you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. If he is made
unto you redemption, that's of God. That's of God. The second thing is this now. We can't see the Lamb's book
of life. We're not going to get a look
at that in this life. We're not going to see God's
eternal book. I wasn't there when God chose
his people in eternity. He hasn't revealed their names
to me. So I can't be sure about you. And I can't be sure about
me that way. But when our Lord said, I pray
not for the world, but for those that you've given me. Was he
talking about me? He didn't list any names there. But where we read a while ago
in Romans chapter 3, there's one part of that description
of those justified ones that you and I experience. Let's turn
over there together and look at it, and we'll close with this
wonderful thought. Romans 3, 23. I want to just
take it step by step and make a couple of comments on each
phrase of this. And I think we can clear this
up. Did he die for me? Am I redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ? Well, verse 23, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. I'm definitely in on that.
I know that. I'm in on that one. You are too. Being justified freely by his
grace, Let's just pause there for a second. Somebody is guiltless
before God. Just because He wanted them to
be. Isn't that what it said? Freely. Without any cause in
them. So that could be anybody, couldn't
it? That could be the worst of the worst. We just read where
He chose the worst of the worst. On purpose. To the praise of
the glory of His grace. Somebody is without guilt before
God, just because He wanted them to be. Alright, so let's read,
freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. We already know that, we've already
said that, right? Because the only way God can
save us, the only way He can be just, and declare us justified,
is if Christ redeems us with His precious blood. The Lord
Jesus Christ redeemed somebody with his precious blood. Verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. Now think about this. This is
where I saw a thing or two here that I've never seen. How many
times have we gone through this passage of scripture in this
church? A lot of times. I saw at least one thing I've
never seen before in my life. Verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. God has provided a sin offering. You remember what Abraham said
when God told him to offer Isaac his only son whom he loved? His
only son whom he loved. When they were walking up Mount
Moriah and Isaac said, Abraham, Father, We have wood. We have fire. But where's the
land? And Abraham said, son, God will
provide himself a land. Paul said he did. His precious darling son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. God gave him as a sin offering. for these guiltless ones, for
these redeemed ones, for these ones who are righteous without the
law, without them keeping the law. God will provide himself a lamb.
Now, but listen. He is set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. Now think about this. Does that mean that your faith
somehow legitimizes His offering? Is He not a sin offering apart
from your faith? Well, think with me for a second.
Of course He is. He is the sin offering. He is
God's Lamb that takes away sin. whether you and I ever believe
or not. But listen, is he my lamb? Is he my sin offering? You see, in the Old Testament,
God required sinners to offer a lamb. He still does. Now he's a propitiation period,
but is he mine? He set forth His Son to be a
propitiation through faith in His blood. If He's your propitiation, you
offer Him by faith in that precious blood. You're saying before God,
as the publican did, God be propitious to me on the mercy seat. I'm
a sinner. I offer that precious blood.
for my sin, the only sin offering that God will accept. He is my
sin offering through faith. He's the sin offering period,
but he's my sin offering through faith in his blood. You see that? We come to the place where we
offer him. We claim him, we own him before
God as our sin offering. If he is my sin offerer, if he
died for me, then I'll come before God like that publican did. Through
faith in his blood. You see that? A sin offering
is offered by a sinner to God. But the blood of bulls and goats
couldn't ever take away sin. So it was by faith. It was through
faith in his blood, as Paul put it, that Abel offered the more
excellent sacrifice. You see that? Through faith in
his blood, Abel offered Christ. There's just one excellent sacrifice. All right, the next phrase, to
declare his righteousness. for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. Here's something else
I've never seen before. God set forth the Lamb, the sin
offering, to show that he was righteous in forgiving the sins
of his people in the past. Do you see what that's saying
there? to set forth to declare His righteousness for the remission
of those sins. To show that when God counted
Abraham, for example, Abraham believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. On what basis? The precious blood
of Christ. That's what he's saying right
there. He set him forth to be a propitiation to declare the
righteousness of God in justifying Abraham and all those who had
sinned. The reason he didn't throw them in hell right when
they sinned is because though Christ hadn't shed that blood
yet through the forbearance of God, it was already counted to
their favor. It was already put to their account.
He was already shed for them in the purpose of God. It's eternal
blood. But look, he's talking about
sins that are past, but then in verse 26, I always thought
he was just repeating himself for emphasis, but no, he's saying
to declare, I say, at this time too. What about my sins now? Abraham was covered, what about
me? Right now. God is righteous to justify sinners
because of the sin offering. You see that? To declare, I say,
at this time, his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. He didn't, for the remission of sins, not that are
past, but right now. God is righteous to forgive the
sins of his people because there's a sin offering, a propitiation.
And He's your sin offering through faith in His blood. You've got to bring a sin offering
to God. And the only way you can bring
the Lord Jesus Christ as your sin offering to God is by faith. So all of that, sins that are
past and right now, God is righteous to justify sinners. Because of
that propitious sacrifice, that God might be just and justify
you. I've never seen that like that
before. Maybe if we keep looking at it, we might just actually
learn something one of these days. Maybe there's a lot we
still haven't seen. You reckon? I reckon. But it's not anything new, it's
just we see Christ more and more, don't we? It's not something
new. I didn't find out anything new. I just found out a little
bit better that Christ is all of my hope. He's all of my righteousness. He's all of my cleansing, all
of my acceptance with God. He always has been that for the
people of God. And He is right now. that he might be just and the
justifier because of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary for his
sheep. God can be holy, the just God and the Savior. And he is. But is he my Savior? We still haven't gotten to that
yet, have we? Just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Isn't that you? You ought to know if you believe
on him or not. I ought to know that. There's times when I don't.
That's alright. Because your salvation doesn't
depend on what you know. How much you know. It's who you
know. And even when I can't see, he
sees me. Even when I can't rest in Him. God is satisfied with it. For me. So that's the question. Do you
believe on the Son of God? And I don't say that's the question
because it seems like it to me. John 9 35. The Lord Jesus heard
that they had cast that old blind man out of the church. He wasn't
good enough for them. He couldn't answer all their
theological questions. He wasn't smart enough to be
saved. He didn't know enough. You think
about what this represents. He didn't know enough. He couldn't
answer all their smart aleck questions. He hadn't been to
the colleges they had been to. He said, one thing I know. I
was blind, and this Jesus of Nazareth came along, and now
I can see. That's what I know. So the Lord
heard that they had kicked him out of the church, and he said
unto him, Do you believe on the Son of God? Boy, that's just,
that's pretty direct, isn't it? That is the question of all questions.
That's what we came to in our text there, didn't we, what we
read. That's what it comes down to. Do you have any hope? What hope do you have that when
the Lord Jesus Christ died, he died for you? Well, do you believe
on him? Do you believe on the Son of God? Do you believe on the Son of
God? And he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? Now look, it wasn't a bad answer.
It wasn't bad of the man who said, Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief. There's nothing wrong with saying I believe on you.
But boy, I like this answer too, don't you? I want to believe
on him. Who is he so that I might? I'm still asking that, aren't
you? I want to believe on him. If
you do want to believe on him, you believe on him. Because if you didn't, you wouldn't
want to. This world is full of people that don't want to. Oh Lord, who is he? Lord, reveal yourself to us. In this beautiful ordinance.
Reveal yourself to us in your word, in the gospel. Set forth
your son. as the propitiation for our sins
this very night, that we might believe on Him. If you have to look back to answer
that question, do you believe on the Son of God? Oh yeah, I...
No. I sure do want to, don't you?
Who is He? Tell me who He is. Tell me who
He is. And Jesus said unto him, you've seen him. Just a little while ago you didn't
see anything or anybody, but now you've seen him. That was
his answer before, wasn't it, to those Pharisees. All I know
is he made me see. You've seen him and it is he
that talketh with thee. It's the one that found you when
you got kicked out. It's the only one that gives
a hoot about you. Even his parents said. They distanced
themselves from him, didn't they? The Pharisee started questioning
his parents. And they said, well, he's an adult. You ask him. We
don't want anything to do with him. Leave us out of it. The
Lord Jesus found him. I like that language, don't you?
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found
him, the kingdom of heaven is like
unto a shepherd. For when he had lost one sheep,
left the ninety and nine, and went and found him. And thou hast both seen him,
and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. May he reveal himself to us that
we might say, Lord, we believe, and then do this. And he worshipped
it. What a wonderful thing it is.
Is there anything in this world like worshipping him? That is sure enough Him doing
something for us, isn't it? If we ever worship Him. Many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this
book. But these are written that you might believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. That's what that Ethiopian eunuch
said right before Philip baptized him. I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. And that believing, you might
have life through his name. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Let's find out who he is. that
we might believe on him. Well, tell me, would you and
Barbara...