Let's turn to Psalm 7 again,
brethren, and let's read just one verse, verse 8. I've titled the message, Judge
the People, Judge Me. Judge the People, Judge Me. Verse 8 says, the Lord shall
judge the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in
me. shall judge the people." Everybody in this world is going
to be brought before the judgment seat of God Almighty. Everybody
in this world is. And everyone is going to be judged. And this is how we're going to
be judged. According to our righteousness. And according to our integrity
that is in us. Every one of us is going to be
judged according to our righteousness and our integrity that is in
us. Integrity, the English word is
from a Latin word that means integer. It means, you know,
a fraction is a divided part. An integer is a whole. Integrity
means wholeness, wholeness. Now, I spent some time this week
in a courtroom and a judge made a statement to me that stayed
with me. He said, we were there to be jurors, and
he said, you are judges of the facts. I am the judge of the law. Well, the Lord before whom we
all must stand, he's the judge of the law, and he is the judge
of the facts. He is the judge who will judge
according to the righteousness of the law, and he is the judge
who looks on the heart. Not as man looks, not as man
tries to judge by the outward fact, but on the heart. Now,
Titus 3.5 is very clear to us. And let's look there. Titus 3,
chapter 5. And I want you to see this very
clear declaration. Titus 3.5. When you think of righteousness,
it means righteousness worked, right works. Verse 5, not by
works of righteousness which we have done. You see that? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Do you see that? Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. His mercy. His mercy. He saved us. That's righteousness
of God. Now He didn't sweep justice under
the rug, but He showed us mercy. Now that's righteousness. Now
here, look, here's the next part. But there's an integrity of heart
that has to be, a wholeness of a heart that has to be. He says,
He didn't save us by works of righteousness which we've done,
but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's what's done in us. in
us. The righteousness that was by
His mercy accomplished for us was what is the righteousness
done for His people. This washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost is what He's done in His people. In His people. Now, the righteousness
of the believer, we know this, is not by our obedience. That's
clear. This is what the Scripture says
clearly. Listen to this. As by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. By the obedience of one. Now
the believer's wholeness, that integrity of the heart, the wholeness
of the heart, it's not of our flesh. It's not of our flesh. Just as these works of righteousness
are not done by our flesh. There's absolutely nothing about
us as we're born into this world that's worth a cent. It's not worth anything. It don't
aid anything. It don't help anything. All it
does is hinder. That's all it does. Us. It doesn't
hinder God. But look. But this washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, this is the new
heart. And this new heart is created
in righteousness and true holiness. It's created in of perfect righteousness
and is by perfect righteousness and is created by perfect holiness,
by complete holiness. And it's made righteous and holy. This new man It's Christ in you. It's the hope of glory. It's
the new man created in Christ Jesus. And when that Christ is
formed in you, when He's formed in a sinner, this is what we
behold in Christ. Christ is made unto us righteousness
and sanctification. He's our righteousness and He
is the one in whom we are holy and
complete. We quit looking at ourselves
all together when we've been made a new creature in Christ. Now, notice here in our text
that the righteousness and integrity is personal. It's my righteousness
and my integrity that is in me. Now the righteousness of the
believer that's born of the Spirit of God is the Lord my righteousness. He's my righteousness. And the
integrity, the wholeness of the new man in the believer is Christ
our sanctifier, Christ our holiness, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, all my righteousness and
all my integrity that is in me is Christ my righteousness and
Christ my sanctification. So if I'm going to behold righteousness
and integrity, I've got to look at Christ, not myself, at Christ. All right? Let's go back now.
We looked at this last time, but I want to look at this just
a little more in depth here. Look at this. Christ stood and
He said this. Psalm 7 verse 8. He said, The
Lord shall judge the people. And he stood in place of his
people and he said, Judge me, O Lord. Judge me, O Lord, according
to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in
me. Let's talk about righteousness
and integrity. Let's talk about righteousness
and true holiness. Now, the law of God was broken.
I want you to turn over to Romans 3. The law of God was broken by Adam. And it was broken by
a man. And the law of God's got to be
fulfilled by a man. Now, when Adam broke it, Everybody
that was in Adam broke it. So that means there ain't anybody
born in Adam that can fix it. Nobody born in Adam can correct
it. So God sent forth His Son, Christ
Jesus, to bear the sin of His people to satisfy his offended
justice. That's what the scriptures tell
us here in Romans 3.26. I know you say, Clay, you show
us this every time you preach. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. Romans 3.26. Let's look at verse
25. God hath set forth, we're talking
about Christ, He set him forth a propitiation through faith
in his blood to declare his righteousness. Do you see that? To declare his
righteousness. Look at verse 26. To declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now, he was set forth
to manifest the righteousness of God. Look at, to justify his
people. Now look at Isaiah 53. Go back
to Isaiah 53. What is... Verse 5. He was wounded for our
transgressions. Do you see this? He was wounded
for our transgressions. He what? He was bruised for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." That tells us
who He did this for, who the us is that we're talking about
here. It's those that He healed by
His own stripes. And everyone that He healed by
His own stripes shall be saved. If there's a man in hell, it
means that He didn't bury everybody. Punishment but he bore this now
watch all we like sheep have gone astray We have turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all He bore in his own body the sins of his people. He was made
a curse for his people now When he laid on him the iniquity of
us all he came to declare to God just So God is just to pour
out His wrath upon His Son because He made Him who knew no sin, He made Him sin for us who knew
no sin. He made Him sin for us. So He's
just to pour out His wrath upon Him. But now, I want you to see
this. He says, verse 7, He was oppressed
and He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, silent. He doesn't say anything. So he
opened not his mouth. He didn't say anything. He was
taken from prison and from judgment. Everything man did unto him was
unjust. Everything we did to him was
unjust. Everything, everything wicked
hands did unto him was unjust. And he didn't open his mouth.
He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. The Lord put him to grief. The
Lord unleashed all hell upon him. He allowed, you remember
Job, how the Lord allowed Satan to have his way with him, and
he maintained his integrity in his heart. It was the Lord who
did it. It was the Lord who unleashed
Satan, touched him, but it was the Lord who allowed him to.
Now it says here in verse 10, that though it was wicked hands,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. I know this has been a He was made, the Lord laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was made the guilty one before
God Almighty. Yet at the same time, he was
the righteous servant of God. I know that's a mystery. I know
that's a mystery. But I want you to see this. He
justified his people from the law. When he was made sin, he
died Under the curse of the law, under the penalty of the law,
he bore it and he died. He bore it. So he justified his
people. We broke the law. We had to be
justified from breaking it. But we got to fulfill it. We
got to completely have obeyed the law and everything the law requires
actively. We have to obey it. fulfill all
righteousness. It's not enough to be simply
justified from having broken it. We've got to be made the
righteousness of God, which is the righteousness of the law.
It's the righteousness of God. What's the fulfillment of the
whole law of God? Look at Luke 10, 25. Luke 10, 25. What's the fulfillment
of the law? You remember this, Luke 10, 25. Behold, a certain lawyer stood
up. This man was trying to come to
God by his works of righteousness. This man was trying to come to
God thinking he was whole in his own heart and serving God
with all his heart and soul. Now look, he stood up and he
tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord said unto him, What's
written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering
said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Thou shalt love. Where's love? Love's in the heart,
isn't it? Love's within. Love's inside
it. Love is within it. Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. See that? With all
of it. With all thy soul. And with all thy strength. That's in the power and might,
the strength. And with all thy mind. Now that's
God, who trieth the reins in the hearts, who knows the heart,
who looks on the heart. Got to serve him with all your
heart. And thy neighbor as thyself. And the Lord said unto him, thou
hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt live. this do,
and thou shalt live." Now that's the righteousness required of
the law. What's required to fulfill the
whole law of God? Now listen to me. Listen, hear
this right here. What's required to fulfill the
whole law of God? This is what's required. One must love God and his neighbor to the point of being made sin and dying under
divine justice in order to declare God just and the justifier and at the same time free his
brethren from the curse of the law so they can go free. This
do and you can live. That's what we have to do. Who's done that? Who's the only
one that's ever done that? Do you see how righteousness
and justice are meeting together right here? What's the righteousness
of the law? What's the active righteousness
of the law? I've got to love God with all
my heart, so much so I'm willing to be made sin, to die under
the curse of the law, to free my brethren from the curse of
that law and declare God just. That's the law. You see, God didn't give a law
for us to try to make ourselves righteous by it or justify ourselves
by it. He gave it and allowed us to break it and
sent forth His Son to keep it and to justify us from it to
show us He's the only one that's righteous. He's the only one
that's righteous. God is. And when we behold Him,
we behold We behold God. We behold the righteousness of
God in Christ Jesus. Christ the Son of God. He loved
God and His brethren with integrity of heart, wholeness of the heart
until He was made sin in order to declare to God just and the
justifier. And He thereby justified His
brethren and made His brethren the righteousness of God. And
you remember whenever the Lord, now I want you to stay with me
here. You remember when the Lord was, whenever He was come out
of the Garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers came to arrest Him.
Remember what the Lord said to the soldiers. Judas came out,
betrayed him with a kiss. The soldiers came forth to arrest
him, and he said this. He said, you can take me, but
let these my brethren go. You can't take them. You can
take me, but let them go. And when all the fury of hell
was unleashed upon him, when all the injustice of men, and
God turned his back, as it were, on his son, as he was laying
down his life so that his children could go free and God would be
just, This was the righteousness and the integrity of his heart. He was saying, Lord, judge the
people. Judge me according to my righteousness
and according to my integrity that is in me. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth. Not to try to free himself from
that. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and he didn't open his mouth. Why? He loved God and he loved
his brethren. He did it to fulfill all righteousness,
and because He is that righteous, holy One, He did that on behalf
of His people. Now, doing so, He satisfied justice
and He fulfilled the whole law. And the Lord was satisfied with
the righteousness of His dear Son, satisfied with His holiness. And He raised Him from the dead. when He calls a sinner, and we're
created anew in the Spirit, and the Spirit enters in, Christ
enters in, and He makes us to behold Him, who is our righteousness,
and who is our holiness, by His presence in our heart, by His
coming in and taking hold of our heart, by His coming in and
making us all together a new creation, a new man, I'm not
talking about the old. I'm talking about a new man in
spirit. A new man created in Christ Jesus. Created in righteousness and
true holiness. Christ in you, the hope of glory. When He comes
in and does this, brethren, The completeness of the new man,
the completeness of the new heart is we stop trying to defend ourselves. We stop trying to open our mouth. We stop now. Our righteousness,
our holiness is Christ Jesus alone. It's Him alone. And this
Spirit of Christ in the believer It makes this new man have a
spirit like our Father, have a spirit like our Master. We're strengthened by Him, we're
kept by Him, we're led by Him. We walk in His Spirit. And this
is what He does. Every time He ever lives to make
intercession for us, every time, The Pharisees, unrighteous men,
wicked men, try to lay a charge to one of his own. He says in
the presence of God, he is God, he says of himself, judge the
people. Oh Lord, judge me according to
my righteousness, according to the integrity that is in me.
so that he won't charge his people. He will not allow anyone else
to charge his people. He will not let Satan, the accuser
of the brethren, and all his merry band of wicked pranksters,
he won't let them bring his people into condemnation. He will not
do it. Christ will not allow it. Now, we have this old man within
us. Look over at Galatians now. Galatians. I want you to see something.
Look back there at Luke 10. Luke 10. We're back there where that larger
stood up and said that. Whenever the Lord said that to
him, it said, verse 29, he willing to justify himself said unto
Jesus, and who's my neighbor? He's trying to justify me. He
said, who's my neighbor? And the Lord gives him this parable
here of a man that's, he's just, he's left for dead, this man
is. And a priest passed by him and wouldn't have anything to
do with him. And a Levite passed by him and wouldn't have anything
to do with him. But a certain Samaritan came
to him and he saw him. And he had compassion on him.
And he went to him. And he bound up his wounds. And
he poured in oil and wine. And he set him on his own beast.
And he brought him to an end. And he took care of him. And
he told the one that was at the end, he gave him two pence. And
he said, you take care of him. And whatever you spend more than
this, I'll repay you. I'll come again and I'll repay
you. He said to that logger, he said,
now which one of these three? The priest that passed by him
on the other side, religion isn't going to help us. And the Levite
that passed by on the other side, the law is not going to help
us. But this one who came and bound up the wounds. and poured
in the oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and took
him to an inn, and provided all the funding necessary to take
care of this poor one that had been left for dead, and said
to the host of the inn, I'm coming again, and when I come again,
I'm gonna pay you whatever more you spent, I'll pay you again.
That's exactly what Christ Jesus the Lord did. Exactly what Christ
Jesus the Lord did. Exactly what Christ Jesus the
Lord has done. And the Lord turned to him and
he said, now let me ask you a question. Which of these was neighbor to
him? Which of these three was neighbor to him? And the man
said, verse 37, I guess it was him that showed mercy on him.
You see, God satisfied His own justice. God fulfilled His own
righteousness that He might show us mercy. And you know what the
Lord said to that man? He said, then said Jesus unto
him, Go and do thou likewise. Instead of showing judgment,
show mercy. Go do likewise. Go do likewise. Instead of showing judgment,
show mercy. Now look at Galatians 6. The
natural man will bite and will devour. The natural man will
bite and will devour. He's going to point. He's going
to accuse. He's going to use everything
that the believer holds dear to do so. He's going to compare John's
disciples with his own disciples as if
they're one and say, why don't you and your disciples do like
John and us do? When he's not even one with John
and us. That's what the Pharisees are
going to do. That's what natural men did to
our Lord and His disciples. And that's what natural men do
today. They show judgment, not mercy. Judgment and not mercy. Look
at Galatians 5. Let me see here. Look at verse 29. As then, he
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the spirit, even so it is now. You see that? He's going
back and looking there at that one that was born of the bondwoman
in Abraham's day, of Abraham's flesh, and that one that was
born of the free woman. One's a picture of a child of
grace born of the Spirit of God by promise. The other one's a
spirit of a man born of the flesh. And as it was in that day, he
that was of the flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit,
even so it is now. But now, look over here now at... I'm sorry, that was Galatians
4, 29. Look over here now at Galatians
5. I'm sorry, Galatians 4.31. So then, brethren, we're not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. We've been born
of the Spirit of God. We're freed from the law. We're
showing mercy now. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. You see, he's taken
the accuser away. He's taken all reason to be accused
away because he himself put himself in that place. And he's freed
us from that yoke of bondage. And he says here, don't be entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back under that yoke
of bondage. Look down at Verse 14, for all the law is
fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. How did Christ do that? He trusted
God and he laid down his life for his brethren. He bore their
burden. How do we do that? We can't do
what Christ did. All we have to do is believe
on Christ and not take that burden and
put it back on our brethren, but do what the Lord told that
blogger. Now you go forth and you show
mercy just like that good Samaritan did. You go forth and you show
mercy. But look at verse 15, if you
bite and devour one another, that's what dogs do. That's what
the concision does. That's what men who are trying
to make somebody righteous and somebody holy by cutting them,
and cutting themselves, and constraining them, and laying accusations
to them, and compelling them, making them to do that which
they deem to be righteous and holy. They bite and devour one
another. And Paul says if you bite and
devour one another, If you don't show mercy to one another, if
you show judgment rather than mercy, take heed that you be
not consumed one of another. The Lord said of the Pharisee,
beware of the leaven of the Pharisee. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. It takes the whole batch of dough
and makes it rise up. Rise up. And when dogs rise up
and start fighting with each other, They don't stop until
they consumed each other. Now that's what you and I are
in our flesh. And the believer born of the
Spirit of God hates it. Abhors it. In ourselves, I'm
talking about. We hate it. We absolutely hate
it. We don't like the self-righteous
old man that's within us anymore. We hate that old man. I despise
that old man in me. You know what's extremely difficult? Go home and try this. Go home
and try to point your finger at somebody and have your hands
full at the same time. It's nearly impossible. Nearly
impossible. You see, while the Pharisee's
busy pointing at somebody else, and saying, you ought to be doing
this, and you ought to be doing that, and you ought to be doing
the other, and you ought to be doing that, and you ought to
be doing that. You know what God's people are doing
that He's helped carrying by the strength of His Spirit and
causing us to walk in the Spirit? You know what they're doing?
They got their hands open and they're doing everything that
the self-righteous man is saying y'all ought to be doing. And
while the self-righteous man is pointing and saying, you ought
to be doing that, he's the only one that ain't doing anything.
And the believer is doing everything. Doing everything. He's doing
everything. Listen. If you want to bring somebody
home and entertain strangers, as the Lord says we ought to
do, do it. Do it. But don't try to make your brother
and sister do it. You do it. I do it. You want to give to your needy
brethren? You want to give to poor folks
in your community or wherever? Do it. Don't try to make your brethren
do it. You want to You want to give with what God's
prospered you with so that you can support the preaching of
the gospel and the work of God's grace in this place? Do it. But don't try to make your brethren
do it. The moment we start trying to
make somebody else do, we'll cease dealing in mercy
and we start dealing in judgment. That's so. That's what we are
in our flesh. whatever it is that God's given. And this is what we can trust.
This is what I know for a fact. The Spirit of God makes His people
willing. Makes His people willing to do
all these things so that I don't have to make His children willing
or try to constrain them to do, and neither do you. We don't have to do that. And when we see somebody that
we don't think is doing what we think they ought to be doing,
and sadly, that eye offends us constantly. We need to pluck
that thing out. It offends us constantly. But
when we see somebody else not doing as we think they ought
to be doing, we need to remember this. The Lord said, judge me
according to my righteousness and mine integrity that's in
me and let these, my brethren, go. Let them alone. So, if we want to look at somebody
and say, I don't think that brother or that sister is doing what
they ought to do, the Lord says, look at me. Judge me. Judge me. You know what James
said? We become judges of of our brethren,
we cease to be doers of the law and we become judges of the law.
There's only one judge of the law. He's the judge of the law,
and he's the judge of the acts. He is. He judges not as man said,
but according to the heart that he's made, and he upholds the
upright heart he's made. And so, By His grace, when we
are overtaken in that fault, or if
another is overtaken in that fault, He says in verse 1, ye
which are spiritual, ye which are walking in the Spirit. We're
always in the Spirit. The believer is always in the
Spirit. We're always being led of the Spirit. But we err. We have that old man and it falls
into error constantly. And this is the fault Paul's
dealing with here. He's biting and devouring one
another. So if a man bites and tries to devour me, if he's overtaken
in that fault trying to bring me back under the yoke and compel
me and constrain me and make me do something, my brother,
my sister, What do I do? Restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness. What restores you? I want to
give you three places to look up restore. In Isaiah 43, the
Lord said the problem in Israel was there was none that said
restore. If you want to see what that
problem was, all you got to do is look at what it was like when
Christ came and walked this earth. How did religious men treat him?
Nobody was saying, restore, oppressing, binding, yoking. Look in Psalm
69, he said, I think it's Psalm 69, he said, I restored that
which I took not away. And by his spirit, he says to
us right here, now you restore. You restore. Restore. Considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. What does that mean to? What
am I doing? Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Remember what the Lord told that
lawyer? Go and do. Do what? Show mercy. Go and show mercy. That's the
law of Christ. in the hearts of His people.
Go and show mercy." Well, why do we need to remember that?
For if a man thinks himself to be something when he's nothing,
he deceives himself. He deceives himself. What's the
Lord going to say in the last day? You know what He's going
to say of all His people in the last day? There's going to be
a whole congregation. All the people's going to be gathered.
There's going to be the assembly of the wicked, and there's going
to be the congregation of the righteous. They're all going
to be assembled before Him in the day of judgment. And you
know what He's going to say of these people for whom He bore
judgment, for whom He fulfilled righteousness? those who He's
given this heart to know He is our righteousness and holiness.
You know what He's going to say of them? He's going to say, their
righteousness is of me. Now where do you want to stand
in that day? Do you want to stand in your
own works of righteousness, in your own so-called holiness and
completeness of our own heart, or do we want to stand in Christ
our righteousness and our holiness? May I be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of Him,
the righteousness which is by faith. That's where I want to
stand. My defense is of God who upholds
the upright in heart. I believe he'll do that. Amen.