Deuteronomy chapter 25. We'll
be in verses 13 through 19. Let's read these together. Thou shalt not have in thy bag
different weights, a great and a small weight. Thou shalt not
have in thine house different measures, a great and a small
measure. But thou shalt have a perfect
and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have,
that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee. For all that do such things,
and all that do unrighteously, or an abomination unto the Lord
thy God. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way when you were come forth out of Egypt, how
he met thee by the way and smoked the hindmost of thee, even all
that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary,
and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be when the
Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round
about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for
an inheritance to possess, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven, and thou shalt not forget. You
and I are responsible to glorify holy God. Every man is responsible
to obey God. in thought, word, and deed, in
perfect holiness. No exceptions. With sinners,
the only way that we glorify God is by looking away from ourselves,
believing on Christ Jesus, the Son of God. But how is it that
totally ignorant, unjust, unholy prisoners of sin do that? How do we even do that one thing
of looking from ourselves to Christ the Lord? Repentance is
turning from ourselves. Faith is trusting Christ the
Lord. Scripture says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 30, of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. God will receive glory from sinners
who have been made to understand that they owe all that they are
to His particular choice and grace toward them in Christ Jesus. The way that we get in Christ
Jesus is of God. He puts sinners in Christ Jesus
by His sovereign choice. We get in Christ that way and
that way alone. Our minds have been so thoroughly
corrupted by sin that the only way our own ignorance is overcome
is by God himself making Christ wisdom unto us. Our sense of God's justice has
been so completely eradicated that we think it is just for
God to accept us based on a superficial obedience to his law. That God
is just to totally disregard the sin that we are by nature
and the sin that we're guilty of prior to us coming to our
religious experience and deciding we're going to turn over a new
leaf. That sin's got to be dealt with. Our God's not just. And
we don't have any understanding of that justice, of the righteousness
of God until God makes Christ righteousness unto us. Our spiritual corruption runs
so deep that our idea of separation from this world and of holiness
before God is something we think we can obtain by our own strength,
by our own obedience to the law. by doing something or abstaining
from something, we think that has made us holy before God and
separates us from this world. And we boast in it and are proud
of it and what we've done or haven't done. And therein reveal
that we're not holy. We're still trusting ourselves.
And until God makes Christ's sanctification unto us, will
go on thinking. That's how we're sanctified,
by our strength. We are so totally set upon ourselves,
so totally set upon having our way, so totally set upon saving
ourselves, of being our own wisdom, our own righteousness, our own
sanctification, and so set on everybody else catering to us
and treating us that way, that we will not realize we are not
our own. that we have been bought with
the blood of Christ and we are not our own and we will not realize
that. A sinner will not own up to that
and confess, look away from himself to Christ until God makes Christ
unto us redemption. And so when he does that, he
puts us in Christ, he makes Christ our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption, because therein, by God doing
that, we gain glory in anything. And that's what, as it is written,
he that glorieth. Got a glory in God, what he did
for us. And that's worshiping God. And
until God breaks our old, unjust, deceitful balances, we go on
glorying in this flesh. Whether we think we contribute
99% to these things, or whether we think we contribute 1% to
these things, it's a deceitful, wicked balance. It's an unjust,
unholy weight and measure. And God won't have it. He won't
have it. The title of the message this
morning is, A Perfect and Just Weight, A Perfect and Just Measure. We're gonna see great and small
weights, what that means. We're gonna see the perfect and
just weight, the perfect and just measure. And we're gonna
see the thing that thou shalt have, the thing that thou shalt
have. First of all, Deuteronomy 25,
13 tells us, Deuteronomy 25, 13, thou shalt
not have in thy bag different weights, a great weight and a
small weight. Thou shalt not have in thine
house different measures, a great measure and a small measure.
The meaning of this law is this, we're to use just weights and
measures. When we deal, the weight has
to do with dry goods, what's weighed. The measures have to
do with a liquid, what's poured out, oil and wine and things
that are measured by a liquid. The law states here that whenever
items were brought to be put on a scale, They were not to
have, if you're buying some items, they would bring the item and
they would put it on a scale. And they would have a weight
that was the required measurement of an IFA, of the just weight,
the just measure. And they'd have it, just like
you have a $100 bill. It's got to be a real $100 bill,
it can't be a counterfeit. And they would have this weight
and they'd put it on a scale and they would measure it to
see if this is the correct weight. Now if I'm buying something and
I come to the scales to the market to buy something and I walk into
the market and I pull out my heavier weight out of my bag
and when the seller puts the goods up there on the scale and
I take my heavier weight and I put it up there, it's going
to show that he hasn't quite given me what I've paid for.
He hasn't quite given me an EFA yet. So he has to put more on
there to level it out so that I have And that's deceitful because
I bring in a weight that's not the true weight. It's a heavier
weight so I can get more when I'm buying it. And then if I
turn around then and I'm selling my goods, and I take my smaller
weight out then, and I put it up there so that it looks like
I've given way more than enough to the person who's buying it,
I make a big profit off of it. I've bought at a deceitful weight,
I'm selling it at a deceitful weight, so I'm profiting on both
ends of the deal. God said, that's deceitful. You
can't come to God that way. It's got to be just. We can't
have a great stone and a small stone. He says, for all that
do such things and all that do unrighteously are an abomination
to the Lord thy God. Now lately, we've heard the public
outcry, whether it's legitimate or not, it's alleged that there
were some unjust dealings of men in corporate positions, lenders
and so on, and they used deceitful practices in their dealings with
working with men and women. And we've seen how far-reaching
the effects of such deceitfulness can have upon a nation. Eventually,
it's going to catch up to everybody involved. It's going to have
an effect on everybody involved. Corruption, which subverts just
dealing between men and men, undermines society. It'll completely
undermine society. If somebody starts counterfeiting
our currency to the point that it weakens our dollar, our society
is weakened, is diminished. So it is with unjust dealings
between men and women. If that happens, the laws of
buying and selling are corrupted. A nation has no security and
is sure to fall. Well, far worse is the deceitful
measure used when approaching the all-knowing God of heaven
and earth. If any of God's law does not pronounce us guilty
before God and place us squarely at His feet of mercy, then we
can be sure we have not heard the law. We can be sure that
we're guilty by thinking we have obeyed it. We're guilty of an
unjust and imperfect balance. This law had a direct relation
to the offerings which sinners brought to the temple of the
Lord. If the weights and measures were deceitful, when it came
time to bring an ephah of a homer of wheat as an offering, when
it came to bring the tenth part of a bath of oil, the precise
amount would be off. It would be unjust. The precise
amount wouldn't be brought. It would be unjust and deceitful
before God. He says this, He hath showed
thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God? Are there yet the treasures of
wickedness in the house of the wicked? And the scant measure
that is an abomination? Shall I count them pure with
the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Now, this is the case with every sinner. If this was the only
law God had given, If this was the only law God had given, this
one law would be enough to shut our mouths guilty before God
Almighty. This one law would. Just this
one. In verses 17-19, the Lord calls
to remembrance the unjust, deceitful dealings of Amalek to the children
of Israel. They were freed from slavery,
came out of Egypt like a... tired, weak, like a babe in Christ
who's just been delivered by God's grace. And Amalek came
up by surprise as they walked in the way. And he struck from
behind and he attacked the weakest and the faintest among them.
And he did so because he didn't fear God. And he's held up here
as an example of unjust, unholy, unrighteous dealings of men right
here. A child of God, by God's grace,
is just learning of Christ. Just walking with Christ by faith. And a mallet comes up by surprise
and says, now, before you get over to one side on this thing
and out of balance on this thing, you understand that Christ's
work and what He did doesn't balance out this equation. What you do. and your acceptance
of Him. This balances out the equation.
Now you've got to understand now that lawlessness is on this
side and legalism is on this side and it is up to you to keep
the balance. It's up to you to use Christ
to balance this thing out as you walk the tightrope of faith. If we begin to imagine that God's
choice of us was based on something in us, it's an imperfect, unjust
weight. If we begin to imagine that Christ's
work of making God just and justifier is only made effectual by our
faith, that's an unjust weight and an unjust measure. If we
imagine that Christ, that regeneration or conversion is somehow dependent
upon the sinner's power to choose or reject Christ so that ultimately
the choice is ours and lays in our hands, that's an unjust and
unholy weight. If we imagine that perseverance
is something in which the believer should glory, then we fail to
recognize that He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We fail to recognize
that in everything you are enriched by Him, in all utterance and
in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus, who shall also confirm you unto the end,
that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Every gift we got from Him, our
complete standing we got from Him, We were called into this
fellowship by Him. And Scripture says, and He'll
confirm us unto the end. And this is the favorite. This
is the favorite among those around us. You begin in the Spirit. You begin at Mount Zion in Christ.
But now, if you're going to be made perfect, If you're going
to be sanctified, you become holy by going back to Mount Sinai,
by going back to the law, to your flesh, to your obedience,
to your will, to your wisdom, to your strength. That is an
imperfect and unjust balance. Different weights and different
measures, both of them are like abomination to the Lord. Do you
understand that? I don't care if you don't agree
with what I'm saying. I don't care. I'm not the one
you got to deal with. You got to deal with holy God
is who you got to deal with. You've got to come into his presence
and he will accept nothing but a holy and just measure. That's it. That's all. God states
in His law that we cannot have two stones, two weights in our
bag. When the Lord said, Woe unto
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and
anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, faith. They paid these things. And they
told sinners to obey God. That this is the law. You need
to obey God. That being holy before God and
separate from this world was by obeying the law. being separated and holy in this
world is trusting Christ through faith. It's in him that the whole law
is established and in whom sinners establish the law. The weight by which they balance
the scales of justice was the unholy, unrighteous weight of
man. the best righteousness and the
best justice, the most perfect and just weight would only be
as perfect as the best man. And it would still fall short
of the glory of God. But they had another stone to
measure what they received. That was the stone they used
to measure what they were going to give to God, was the law.
But they had another stone based on how they wanted God to measure
out His justice and His righteousness to them. And it was a lot smaller. A lot smaller so that He wouldn't
be quite as just and harsh with them. They were sincere. They'd done
many works which in comparison with other abominations may have
not been as bad an abomination. But an abomination is an abomination.
Coming short of the glory of God is coming short of the glory
of God. There can't be two stones in our bag. There can't be a
great stone and a lesser stone. There can't be our persons in
Christ's person. There cannot be our works in
Christ's work. There can only be the exact requirement
which God requires. And that's Christ Jesus the Lord. That word perfect and that word
just, that word perfect means whole. W-h-o-l-e. It's got to be holy. You can't
be missing any part whatsoever. And that word just is righteous. It's got to be holy and righteous.
That's what God requires. But listen to me now. The weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, as well as
the lesser, are perfectly performed, not by us, but by Christ Jesus
the Lord. He is the exact ephah, the shekel
of the sanctuary. And by faith in Him, we have
established the law of God. We have the measurement which
God requires. But as long as our message, or
as long as our ideas of sanctification and righteousness and justification
focuses on us, It's unjust. It's unjust. We not only omit
the love of Christ which constrains sinners to deal justly. That's
the only thing that constrains sinners to deal justly, in mercy
and faithfully with other men, is the love of Christ and how
God dealt justly and perfectly with His people. That is the
only thing that will constrain a believer to walk honorably
with Him. Appointing men to the flesh won't
do it. That's dealing imperfectly, unjustly,
deceitfully with men and it will not do. Do you hear me? It won't do. Do you hear me? It will not do. I don't care
if your daddy said it, that it'll do. If your mama said it'll do.
If you think it'll do. I don't care. It won't do. You've got to understand that.
It will not do. Because you're going to come one day into the
balances of a holy God and when you do, you will have to have
the holiness God requires, the righteousness God requires. And
if you do not have it, hear me brethren, hear me, you will perish
in your sins. Justly. If it was just me, if it was
just my way of thinking, I would just say, here, have your way. It's God's way. It's God's way. Notice something in Deuteronomy
25, 13. It does not say simply that we
are not to use different ways. Thou shalt not have them. Don't
have them. Don't even imagine, entertain
the thought of falsifying these weights, because you're guilty. Sin is what we are, brethren.
Sin's not what we do. What we do is the result of what
we are. When you walked out of the grocery
store with your buggy, and you loaded all those groceries into
your car, and you looked underneath the buggy, and there was that
bag of charcoal or that bag of dog food that you forgot to put
on the counter and ring up, When you look back at that store and
how far it was back up there and you had that fleeting thought
of how easy it'd be just to drive off, you broke God's law. And when you took that bag and
walked all that way back up there and you handed it back to the
clerk and had them check out and you had that thought of what
a good thing that was, you offended God's law as self-righteous instead
of Christ being all your righteousness. That's just how precise God measures
in the heart. The man who pats himself on the
back glories in his goodness because he didn't drive off.
He may be less offensive to God than the man who drove away without
paying. But there is none good, no not one. There's none that
doeth good and sinneth not. The point is, mortifying this
flesh, yielding our members unto holiness is not done by trusting
your flesh, but looking away from this flesh. It's not done
by expecting your members to balance somehow between lawlessness
and legalism. It's done by looking to the author
and finisher of faith, seeking those things which are above
where Christ sits. As He is, so are you in this
world. It's beholding Him and receiving
our strength from Him and knowing that in Him I'm holy. A believer
yields his members unto righteousness because he beholds Him and loves
Him, not because he's under the law to do so. He's not. That's what makes him want to
yield to Christ is, I'm free. I'm free. Did you see the scripture
I read in Romans 5 through 6? Go on and read. Go home tonight
and read 6 through 5 through 6 through 7 through 8 and see
how many times dominion is talked about. See how many times reigning
is talked about. It's power that's being talked
about. And everywhere that you find that mortification of the
flesh is mentioned, go through scripture and note something.
Everywhere that you find the mortification of the flesh, where
you find men being exhorted to turn from this flesh and to trust
Christ, you're going to find before, during, and after those
passages of Scripture, it's all concerning Christ Jesus the Lord.
It's all saying, because you're dead in Christ. You died in Him.
Sin has no more dominion over you. Therefore, death has no
more dominion over you. You're holy in Him. You're free
in Him. So that our constraint is the
love of Christ for us. You don't find anywhere where
the Scripture just takes the law and says, Now here, don't
do this and do this. Because that's an unlawful use
of the law. A law was given to shut our mouths
that every man might become guilty before the law. The law wasn't
given for you to fly to it and try to come to God in it. That
wasn't why it was given. And you don't find the law used
for that purpose. Find me a place. Find me a place in the Gospels,
or in the Scriptures, New Testament, where that's used. It's always
having these promises, brethren. These promises are not yes and
maybe, depending on how well you obey God now. No, they're
yes and amen in Christ Jesus who perfectly obeyed Him as the
representative of God's people. And therein, by just simply trusting
Him, we're perfect and holy in Him. And only when we behold
Him. We're just about to the end of our study in Hebrews.
Twelve out of thirteen. We're going to the thirteenth
chapter. We're coming to some very practical instruction. But
for the first twelve chapters, it's all been about Christ and
Him crucified. Hadn't it? If we're going to
mortify the deeds of this flesh, if we're going to behold Him
as our wisdom, if we're going to behold Him as our righteousness,
if He's going to be made sanctification unto us, if we're going to see
that we're bought and we're His and we belong to Him, it's going
to be through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified, not
through the preaching of what you need to be doing. Not through
the preaching of how you balance the scale. You don't balance
nothing. You know what you are? You know what I am? Deserving
of hell right this minute outside of Christ. That's what we are.
That's all we are. Before you were converted and
after you were converted in your flesh, that's all you're worthy
of. This flesh is not... We're just not going to come
to God in this flesh in any shape, form or fashion. Well, quickly,
I want to show you this perfect weight, this perfect and just
measure. Deuteronomy 25, 15, But thou
shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure
shalt thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. A whole, holy, just, righteous
weight and measure shalt thou have. If you would approach God,
If you'd be accepted of God, have your days lengthened in
the land God gives, thou shalt have a perfect and just weight,
a perfect and just measure shalt thou have. That means God requires
no sin in your conception, never a sinful thought, a perfect fulfillment
of submission to Him, of trust in Him. Christ is the perfect
and just weight. He is the perfect and just way. In His person, He's the perfect
and just One, the holy man. He, in His heart, was perfect
and just under God's law. His obedience didn't make Him
just. His obedience didn't make Him righteous. His obedience
manifest what He was through and through. Holy, perfect, just. And on behalf of His people,
Christ Jesus offered the perfect and just offering to God that
His people offended. No sin was in Him, so He's perfect
to be accepted. And He took the sin of His people
and offered Himself upon the scales of infinite justice. Look
at Romans chapter 8 with me. For He hath made Him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. That comes just before. One chapter
before we're told to turn from the filthiness of this flesh,
and that's the constraining love that turns us from the filthiness
of this flesh. Look at Romans 8, verse 3. For
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, because of our flesh. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. How's the righteousness of the
law fulfilled in us? You know a measure is a filling. It's something that's filled.
The measure is. What Christ is, because He's
the perfect and just weight. What He is in bearing the wrath,
the infinite wrath of God, the eternal wrath of God that was
poured out on Him. He comes to sinners in need and
He pours out the fulfillment of the law. He pours out righteousness. He pours out holiness. He pours
out justice. He pours out everything God requires. It's Him. Listen, for they that
are after the flesh, you know what they mind? You know what
they mind? You know what their mind's on?
Their mind's on the flesh and it's on touch not, taste not,
handle not. whether I have done it or I haven't
done it, how I can balance this equation, how I can make this
equation lean in man's favor. Just don't stand in the gap now. Open up the gap so men can say,
leave here going, well now, so that one can hear it and say,
well, that sounds to me like he's saying Christ is everything.
And the other one can leave going, well, I see, I have a part in
this thing too. That way, that's deceitful measure.
Both hearers, whoever wants to hear it can hear it the way they
want to. Do you hear it that way this morning? Do you? I hope
that you're not thinking I'm leaving it open. I'm trying to
stand in the gap there. That's what we're supposed to
do. That's what God's messengers do. You know, God never saved
a soul with an idol. He never did. He's never saved
a single soul with an idol. It doesn't matter if you call
your idol Jesus. He never saved a soul with an
idol. They that mind the flesh, mind
the things of the flesh. They that are after the Spirit,
they mind the things of the Spirit. They seek those things which
are above. They look at things that are unseen. They look at
things that can't be seen with the carnal eye. For to be carnally
minded, what is it? Look at verse 6. It's death. Death. Go on in those things. Go on looking to your flesh.
Go on trusting that you've sanctified yourself. Why not trust yourself
for all your wisdom, for your justification, for your redemption?
Just resurrect yourself. Do everything yourself. Why not?
We're going to do any of it? Let's do it all ourselves. Let's
take God down off His throne and put ourselves there and be
God. By God's grace, I have a heart
for the Redeemer that came to this place and laid down His
life for me, that poured out His blood for me, that gave,
gave, gave, gave Himself for me. And I will not, I don't care
how congenial anybody is, I don't care what sentimental reasons
we have, I will not bow, I will not compromise what my God and
my Savior accomplished for His people in setting them free from
the dominion of sin. Let anybody that wants to do
it. This one's not. If He keeps me, I won't. If He
keeps me, I won't do it. The carnal mind, verse 7, that
mind that's set on these things down below, that's set on touch
not, taste not, handle not, is set on them because it hates
God. Enmity against God. You can decode
it all you want to. That's what it means. For it's
not subject to the law of God, and it can't be. Can't be. Can't be. Can't be. So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. There's no way to do it. You
didn't think this was talking about you going out and committing
adultery, did you? You going out and committing
fornication, did you? It's dealing with those things, but it's dealing
with what you think of Christ is what it's dealing with. That's
what all God's law is dealing with. You'll manifest, that's
Scripture in Romans 6, it says, those, whichever servants you
are, that's who you obey. It's not saying you're going
to become His servant by what you do or don't do. It's saying
it'll be manifest who servants you are. You'll mind the things
of this flesh if you're not His servant. If you're your own God,
you'll mind the things of this flesh. This is the stone. This is the
one stone wherewith God weighs and measures all men. And he
didn't, you know, when it came time, when his son was made sin,
you behold this holy and just measure. He didn't just say,
well, now that's my son. Well, now that's mama and daddy. I can't deny them. Well, now
that's my son or my daughter. I can't deny them. Oh, that's
my profession. That's my decision. That's my,
I can't deny that. I can't deny myself. When He
put sin upon His own Son, He did not sweep over and say, that's
my Son, I won't pour out wrath upon Him, I won't satisfy my
justice. He poured out infinite justice upon Him and satisfied
His own justice. No more, no less. The perfect,
the perfect eternal Justice was satisfied towards every sinner
for whom Christ laid down his life satisfied Look at Acts 17 Acts 17 and God's
raised him and God raised Him because justice has been satisfied
by Him. Sin has been condemned in the
flesh by Him. He reconciled His people to God. Atonement was made by Him. Satisfaction
has been made by Him. They're no longer wanting. They're
perfect and just in Him. And this is the stone, this is
the measurement that's going to be judged by. Everything's
going to be judged by. Acts 17 31. Because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
how well one man, how he's showing compared to another man. Nope.
By that man. Christ Jesus, the perfect and
just weight, the perfect and just measure, whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead. Well, now, I believe God shall
bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether
it be good or whether it be evil. So He's going to weigh out my
good and my evil works. Yes, He is. Like I've told you before,
they're going to all be on the same side of the scale, your
good works and your evil works. And Christ's going to be on the
other one. His perfect righteousness be on the other side. It's not
my goodness you'll be weighed against. It's not the good or
evil of any other sinner you'll be weighed against. The righteousness
which you will be judged by, the perfect and just way, will
be Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God. And here's what God says
then. Talk no more so exceedingly proud. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord's a God of knowledge, and by Him actions
are weighed. Actions are weighed by Him. You know, only by faith in Christ
do sinners establish the law. Only by trusting Him, only by
trusting Him do we fully meet the just and holy measure God
requires. Because He is that holy, just
measure. Isn't that what Scripture says?
It says, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid,
yea, we establish the law. Then in Romans 4.14 it says,
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect. It's my promise. My promise. And He's fulfillment
of that promise. When we're paying with our own
money, we kind of get this, you know it. We can hear Christ exalted
to the point that all of our giving and all of our doings
taken away and we get a little hot under the collar if God hadn't
done something for us in the heart. We'll get hot and mad,
angry about that. But I guarantee you, I worked
at a place when I was in college. We sold shrimp. And the owner
of the place, when he, we had a man that came around every
so often to check our weights and make sure that our scales
were set right. And the reason that he had to do that was because
what we are by nature. We wouldn't have folks that had
jobs like that if we kept this law. We don't keep it. And the
man I worked for measured the shrimp uncooked and cooked them. And so he'd have a pound of uncooked
shrimp and when you boiled them, they shrink. And so then he would
measure out a pound cooked. And he put a red mark right there
on the scale. And when you measured out a pound
of shrimp, that's where you measured them. You didn't measure them
a full pound because that wasn't a full measure. That was over
a pound to him. Well, folks would buy these.
Folks would come in and they'd give their money. They'd give
their own money. And they'd get these, buy them
a pound of shrimp. And they'd walk out and they'd
take that pound of shrimp home and they'd have a scale or something
at their house. And they'd plop those shrimp
down on that scale and it didn't come up to be a pound. And man,
they'd come back up there to that counter, and they'd be hot
out of the collar. Now, I bought a pound of shrimp,
and I paid my hard-earned money. I want my pound of shrimp. You
want justice, do you? God gave His Son, and you're
coming to Him no other way. If you come to Him, you're coming
in what He gave and what He paid. He gave His Son, who gave His
life, and you're not coming to Him. with a scant measure, calling
it your righteousness and your holiness and thinking God's going
to accept it. Just as hot as we get when somebody
defrauds us because they took away a stinking dollar from us,
how much more do you think holy God's going to react to somebody
coming in their own righteousness with an unjust measure, not with
his son? Well, now, thirdly, the thing
thou shalt have. Here's what got my attention
when I read this law. I read this law, Deuteronomy
25, verse 15, I read this, 13 and 14, verses 13 and 14, I read
that, and right away I thought, boy, that's me. I have great and small weight.
You know, we always, when we're looking at the other person,
Don't we do that? Well, we're looking at the other
person. Well, they should have done that. They should have done
that. This would have been right and just for them to do that.
Put ourselves in the exact same situation. And that weight gets
a whole lot smaller, doesn't it? Well, I meant well, though.
We can justify ourselves, can't we, over how we reacted in the
same way, the same circumstances. And we'll be more lenient with
ourselves. I saw those first two. And then I saw that verse
15. Thou shalt have a perfect and just weight. A perfect and
just measure shalt thou have that thy days may be lengthened
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Now how am I
going to have that? How am I going to have that perfect
and just measure that he requires? I know I don't fulfill this law.
I know I don't obey this law. I think about it. I can buy a
block of cheese and think of cheating the guy that's cutting
the block of cheese. I know I don't fulfill that law.
And therein I've broken every one of his laws. So how am I
going to have this just measure? When God brings a sinner to behold
the exactness, the perfect and just scales of God, set forth
in Christ upon the cursive tree, that sinner is brought to behold
what she is and she hears that according to all her works and
all her righteousness and all the deeds of her flesh and all
that she's done, all her life and religion, she hears God say,
Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. You've come up short. And such
a sinner is brought by God to behold themselves, and they'll
be honest with themselves. We won't be honest with ourselves
until we see Christ. We'll have every excuse in the
book, and we'll get them out of this book, right here, until
we see Him. Until we see Him. And when we
see Him, we'll put our hand on our mouth. We'll cover our eyes
and our feet, and we'll say, undone. I am undone. And that sinner that's brought
to that place cries out to God and says, God, I need a just
measure. I need a just weight. I can't
come into your presence without being perfectly holy and perfectly
righteous to be accepted by you. I see who you are and I cannot
call my righteousnesses are unjust. All my works in religion are
unjust. Everything about me, I am unjust
before you, God. And when he brings us right there,
When He brings us there, God writes His law on the inward
parts. He forms Christ in you, the hope
of glory in that still, small voice that says to you in your
innermost part. Deuteronomy 25, 15. Fear not. Fear not. Thou shalt have a perfect
and just measure. Wait. A perfect and just measure
shalt thou have. It's free. Perfect. You justify a perfect and just
measure of grace, of righteousness, of holiness. It's yours. Have
it. Have it. Thou shalt have it. Have it. It's yours. It cost
you nothing because I balanced my own scales. I'm the righteousness
you lack. My righteousness is your righteousness.
Thou shalt have a perfect and just measure. Have it. Faith and repentance, a just
measure of faith and repentance, of growth in knowledge and understanding
of Him, of power and grace to keep you from evil. That's sanctification. Lord, don't take them out of
the world. Keep them from the evil. Separate them from it.
Turn them from it. To preserve you, to bring you
home, a perfect and just measure, weighed out by the triune God
to you, that thy days may be lengthened. Lengthened to all
eternity. To eternal life with Him. In the land. the new heavens
and the new earth that He's created, wherein dwells righteousness
and true holiness, where everything that's made has been made by
Him, which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Sure. The person that's been
brought there, you can't twist their arm and get them to go
back. to that old deceitful measure
again. You can't make them sit down and listen to a man preach
using those old deceitful weights and measures anymore. Makes them
sick to their stomach. Makes them nauseated. Makes them
want to vomit. Because they're talking about
your God who did this for you. Who satisfied His own law for
you. And that sinner saved by free grace throws away that fleshly
bag with its imperfect weights. And Christ, who started this
work in us, continually, faithfully, never allows us to go back to
that filthy bag again and look to those weights. He continually
keeps us from that evil of looking to this old dirty mop to try
to clean a dirty floor. He keeps us from Him. We came here. We came here to
remember His broken body and His shed blood. Is this the Christ you trust? If it is not, You will drink
damnation to yourself, taking this cup of this bread and this
wine, because you're not discerning the Lord's body and His blood. You're taking this thing lightly. What we're about to do is to
remember His body, which was broken because of your sin. Do you believe Him? And this body was broken. And this blood was shed because
your sin put Him there. And He willingly went there and
had His body broken. And His blood shed because of
your unjust, wicked balances. And the perfect and just measure
of a thrice holy God broke the body of Christ Jesus and shed
His blood. God's holy and just measure broke
his body and shed his blood. Couldn't be any other way. Salvation
couldn't be any other way for his people. And because our God's
perfect and just, the scales of divine justice say of you,
believer, with his stripes, you're healed. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. Made complete. W-H-O-L-E. Holy in Him. I pray this is the God we remember. And I pray this is the body and
the blood that we discern in this thing. Because if we're
yet trusting one bit in ourselves, we're discerning another body.
We're looking to our own body and not to His. Would you turn
from your flesh? Would you yield your members
unto Him? What lasciviousness, what covetousness
for us to look to these members to try to do something that only
our God can do.