Okay, Exodus chapter 21. Let's
just dive right in tonight. Let's begin reading in verse
12. Here in the giving of the law,
we read, He that smiteth a man, he that kills a man, so that
he die shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in
wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint
thee a place whither he shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously
upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him
from mine altar, that he may die. Now here we have the first
of several things mentioned in the law of God that carried the
death penalty. And it's not my intention tonight
to support or not support the death penalty. That's not the
issue. But these were several things in the law of God that
did carry the death penalty. And for these things, there was
no attempt made to reform the offender. That's what a prison
is. And that's what a prison was
designed to do. It was called a reformatory. It's where men and women went
to be reformed. And young offenders are sent
to what used to be called a reformed school. I don't know what they
call it now, but that's what they called it when I was there.
I'm just kidding. But I should have been there.
I should have been there. And the only difference between
me and those who were was that I didn't get called. The word
reform means to improve or to make better, to mend one's ways. I don't particularly like the
terminology of the gospel being referred to as reform doctrine. Myself, I'm not going to argue
or debate it. I'm just saying the gospel has
never changed. The word of God's always been
infallible. And the doctrine that I preach,
it hasn't gotten better. It's always been the truth of
scripture. My doctrine from years past has changed. I once believed
that I gave my heart to Jesus, and that's why I was saved. I
don't believe that anymore. But the gospel's never changed.
My doctrine has. Preaching Calvinism's not the
gospel. I wish folks could understand
that. Preaching Christ is the gospel. John Calvin certainly
had five good points. And you can preach Calvinism
without preaching Christ. You really can't. I've heard
it done. Without Christ, the doctrines of grace have no effectiveness. And when you preach Calvinism
without Christ, you've not preached the gospel. If you leave Christ
out of tulip, you've got a dead flower. But you can't preach
Christ and not preach the doctrines of grace. Our doctrine's not
reformed. Our doctrine's the word of God.
And it's the gospel. It's the good news for sinners.
We're the ones that fell into sin. We're the ones who are dead.
We're the ones who need life. God nor his word have ever changed. And in all honesty, reformation
won't do us any good. You know why? Because we're dead.
If you think about that, you can't improve a dead man. To
help him, you've got to give him life. Speaking of God's justice,
we see in verse 12 that the one who committed murder was not
to be reformed. He was to be killed. He shall
be surely put to death, verse 12 tells. And we see very clearly
in our text that when the life of another is taken, death is
required of the one who took it. And God calls it holy justice. God must punish sin. God says,
the one guilty of this crime shall be surely put to death. That's pretty certain, isn't
it? It says, shall surely be put to death. You're going to
die, God's justice says. You shall and you surely shall. It's for certain. And death is
what all men and women deserve by nature. God says, let every
mouth be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. Why? Because you are. You are
guilty. your sins against God and death
is what you and I deserve. Now, let me ask you a very serious
question. When you hear that, that that's
what you deserve, how does that make you feel? How does it make
you feel when you hear that God would be right and God would
be just if he sent you to hell forever? Does it make you angry? Does it make you uncomfortable?
Does it make you defensive? Does it make you want to defend
yourself? It does a lot of people. Oh, I'm not perfect, but I'm
not that bad. God says you are. How you truly
feel when you hear and you see the truth of how a holy God sees
you. Oh, that gives great evidence
to whether you believe God's Word or not. in order for any
and every sinner to see their great need, desperate need. Our need's not just a little
need, it's a desperate need. It's a great need. Our desperate
need of Christ. When every sinner sees that,
they must be willing and must be able to take sides with God
against themselves. And that can only be accomplished
by the gift of grace. If God shows you your condition
and you agree, then I tell you what the Lord Jesus told Peter.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed that to you, but God which is
in heaven. It's a divine revelation from
God. And like that old Syrophoenician
woman, the believer agrees with the Lord and says, yay Lord,
a dog I am. The Lord Jesus wouldn't even
talk to this woman. She was begging for help for
her daughter. Finally, when he did speak to
her, he said, it's not fit for me to give the children's bread.
It's not fit for me to give Gentile dogs like you. She said, I know
that. And a dog I am. But even the
dogs get the crumbs from the master's table. And they're sufficient,
friends. Crumbs of mercy from God's table
are more than sufficient for a dead dog like me. So seriously,
I ask you, how does it make you feel to hear me say that God
would be clear of any injustice if He condemned you to eternal
punishment and wrath forever? Would you agree? Would you bow
for forgiveness? Would you take sides with God
against yourself? Or will you get offended and
anger and indignation and hostility rise up within you? It's a telltale
sign. Or do we say with, O lame Mephibosheth,
what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead
dog as I am? God's people be the first to
tell you that anything apart from God's wrath, God's judgment,
God's justice, God's eternal punishment is but God's sovereign
love, mercy, and grace to us. Salvation's a gift that none
of us deserves. And that's where the rubber meets
the road. Believing God is submitting to God. Believing God is agreeing
with God. Taking sides with God against
yourself. And it's God who tells us who
and what we are and He does so from this book. The Word of God
it's called. The Holy Word of God. And to
rebel against what it says is to admit that our rebellion is
against God. And God has the right to do with
His creation as He wills. Would you agree? Oh, sin's such
an ugly thing, isn't it? And it often raises its ugly
head around me. And when sin reveals itself,
it's always ugly. The ugly things we do, though,
only reveals the ugly thing that we are. And I know it's not pleasant. It's not popular to talk about.
It's not pleasant to hear. But men by nature hate the God
that this book declares. And men and women by nature don't
like a God that's in control. They don't hate the God that
they've created in their own mind. They don't hate the God
of their own imagination. They don't hate the Christ that
loves everyone and died for everyone. Do you tell them about a God
that has mercy on who He wants to? Oh, without their cooperation
and help? And they'll claim your God to
be a devil. You tell them about a God that chose a people before
the foundation of the world, and only those whom He chose
will be saved, and they'll tell you that God looked ahead of
time, in time, and He chose them according to the good works they
do. be it far from any truth that
God would set His affection on anybody and save them simply
because He wanted to, that means He'd have to pass by some, and
that's not fair. You tell them about a Christ
that died only for those that the Father chose and gave Him,
and they'll tell you that very thing, that He's not fair and
that that's not their God. You tell them about a Savior
that does not love everybody and didn't die for the whole
world, and they'll desire to kill you and think that they're
doing God a favor. And that's what the Scriptures
say. You preach a God and a Jesus that are just good old boys,
just want what's best for you. You preach a God and a Jesus
that expects nothing more from you than for you to do your best,
treat people like you want to be treated, I've heard that so
many times, it makes me ill. God requires perfection, and
you can't provide it. His justice requires it. I'm
just amazed at how this subject keeps coming up in my studies.
A harling preacher will preach to sinners and tell them how
God's altogether such a One as they are, and men will flock
to hear Him. But none but a believer, a true
child of God, wants to hear over and over again how God can be
both a just God and a Savior. Only a believer wants to hear
that. And they want to hear it over and over again. Because
there's only one way that they can. So it's the same message
over and over. And we never get tired of hearing
it. God's people don't. But tonight we see again something
of God's holy justice in our text. Well, we always see something
of God's holy justice in every text that we look at, because
you can't preach the gospel without dealing with God's holy justice.
You can't. God's angry with the wicked every
day because He's just. And all of us have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. So how are we going to be reconciled
to Him? Isn't that the issue? Our text
here deals with two kinds of folks. Again, verse 12. He that smiteth a man so that
he die shall be surely put to death. No exceptions. Justice
requires it. Speaking of this same man in
verse 14, the law says, but if a man come presumptuously upon
his neighbor to slay him with thou, thou shall take him from
mine altar that he may die. And it's here that we see something
of the strictness of God's holy justice. God can by no means,
you know, we quote that verse all the time, but do we really
stop and think about what it means? God can by no means, under
no circumstances, clear the guilty. It simply means that his justice
won't let him. God's justice is inflexible,
it's unbending, it's uncompromising. The one who murdered with malice
in his heart, with wrath and hostility on his mind. There
can be no asylum, there can be no refuge, no escape, nothing
to screen him from the strictness of God's law and justice. And
notice that it's not man's sorrow or repentance that saves him.
Man cannot make the perfect sacrifice God requires. And God says in
verse 14, take him from mine altar that he may die. God doesn't
simply accept sorry. God only accepts perfect holiness
and righteousness and we can't provide it. We need Christ to
provide it for us. He's the only one that can. And
then we have the second group of people found in our text. Verse 13 describes that man who
unintentionally took the life of another. Describes that man
as a man that did not lie in wait, but God delivered him or
suffered him by divine providence without any malice, without any
premeditation to take a lie. Maybe he's out cutting wood and
the axe head slides off the handle and hits a guy in the head and
kills him. It wasn't intentional. It wasn't premeditated. God provided that man a place
to flee. Speaking of the cities of refuge
that God provided. But this is the lesson that we
have tonight. Both of these parties have broken
the law. And they're both guilty of murder. But God does make a difference
in the two. And what a picture, again, we
have of our redemption. There's no difference between
the believing sinner and the unbelieving sinner, but the difference
that God makes. I hope we've figured that out.
The only difference for me and a man on death row is the mercy
and grace of God. That's it. And you, too. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
five, if you would. It's clear from scripture that
every sinner is guilty, even of murder. And you might ask,
how so? I've never committed murder. And I know that you haven't.
You wouldn't be here if you had. But we all have broken this law,
all the same as we've broken all God's law, every law we've
broken. Now here in Matthew chapter five,
chapter five, excuse me, verse 21, it says, the Lord speaking
here says, you've heard that it was said by them of old time,
thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger
of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of
the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother Rokkah shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever
shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire." Now,
this is where so many go wrong. People self-righteously think
that they're good and they're moral, and some of them are. I mean, compared to me, there's
a lot of good and moral people out there. But that's not going
to save you, because you've got to be perfect. You've got to
be perfect. The problem with us is the problem
within, the problem with our heart. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. God asked the question,
who can know it? Truly only He can. We can't even
know our own heart. I know my heart's wicked, but
the depth of its wickedness, I can't fathom. In Matthew chapter 15, verse
18, it says, but those things which proceed out of the mouth
come forth from the heart. And they defile the man, for
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders. That's where
it begins, in the heart. Murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. And they come from the heart.
What happens outwardly with us is caused by what is in us inwardly. I heard years ago when I first
heard the gospel, it was such a revelation to me. And it helped
me to understand. Sin is not what you do, but sin
is what you are. You sin because you're a sinner. And it's what comes, we say the
things we say, we do the things that we do, because they come
from the heart. So what we need is a new heart.
And that's what God does for us. All of us has broken this
law. Because all of us at one time
or another have been angry with someone without a cause, angry
with a brother. This law reaches to the heart,
to the thoughts and intents of the heart. And we've all broken
it. Scripture declares there's none
righteous. That puts us all in the same
boat, doesn't it? All our feet are swift to shed
blood. That's what the Scriptures say.
That's what God says. Friends, we're guilty as charged.
So the real question is, how can man that's born of woman
be made just? That's really the issue. We know
that it has to be according to justice. That's a question that
the book of Job addresses. The question's asked in Job 15,
verse 14, man that is born of woman, what is he? That he should
be righteous. What is man? But what is man
but sinful, fallen, frail, feeble, mortal, weak, dying? We don't have to look far to
see that. Look in the mirror every day and see that I'm dying.
It's a slow death, but I'm dying. We start dying as soon as we're
born. It's appointed unto men once to die and then the judgment.
That's the issue. How are we going to stand before
God? Though man was made righteous,
created in the likeness of God, his disobedience lost him his
righteousness. He cannot by the deeds of the
law or the work of personal righteousness be justified in God's sight. Two questions asked in Job chapter
four, shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be
more pure than his maker? How can man be justified with
God is another question. And it's then that God clarifies
that question with another. He asks, how can a man be clean
that's born of woman? To be justified is to be clean,
to be perfectly clean. What kind of bride is Christ
going to present to himself? One without spot, wrinkle, or
any such thing. How can that be accomplished? How can it be accomplished justly?
Maybe that's the better question, the more accurate question. How can it be accomplished according
to the justice of God's law? One way. Can anyone tell me what it is?
Christ. Jesus Christ is the way. Now
let me show you one other scripture, Proverbs chapter 17. I want you
to look at this, and if you don't have this marked in your Bible,
you probably should, because it's just the heart. It's the
key of of all scripture when it deals
with the justice of God. Proverbs chapter 17, verse 15.
We've talked about this verse before. It says, he that justifieth
the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
what? An abomination to the Lord. If someone justifies, that word
here means clears, or declares to be right, one that is wicked,
that's an abomination to the Lord. And if someone condemns,
if someone judges, declares to be wrong, one that is just, lawful,
and righteous, is what that word just means. It's an abomination
to the Lord. The word abomination means disgusting. It means repulsive. It means
abhorrence. It means to hate, to detest,
to regard with disgust. You see, that's how serious this
matter is. God cannot clear the guilty.
He's got to remain just. And anyone who declares the wicked
to be right, God hates. And anyone who declares the innocent
to be guilty, God hates. So how? How does God remain just
and justify, clear, the ungodly? God becomes sin for them. God dies in your room instead. And God gets all the glory for
it. And He should, shouldn't He? According to 1 Samuel 12 verse
22, it simply pleased God to make you His people. For no reason
outside of Himself, it just pleased God to make you one of His. Oh,
but I was such a good little boy, doesn't matter. It wasn't
good enough. It wasn't good enough. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. That's why we are His people. And that's why we're
not in hell. because it pleased Him to make
us His. The Lord will not forsake us. Do you know why? For His
own great name's sake. That's the only reason some are
saved. If God purposed before time ever
was to save you, Sharon, He's going to save you because if
He doesn't save you, it doesn't do anything but bring dishonor
to His name. able to do exceeding, abundantly
above all we could think of. And he said, if I promised it,
I'll do it. I'll do it. It's God's sovereign power that
saves us. It's God who with sovereign power
keeps us. That's why we say, once saved,
always saved. If God saves you, you're saved.
You can't be lost, because He keeps us by His power. Salvation's
of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. It's His righteousness that saves
us. I need His perfect righteousness. How am I going to get it? He's
going to have to give it to me. Let me show you that and I'll
stop. I promise. Romans chapter 3. Look at verse
19. My... Love this passage of Scripture.
Romans 3. Verse 19. Now think about this as we read it.
Paul says, now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be
stopped. And all the world may become
guilty before God. You see, when God reveals to
a sinner that they're guilty, I mean guilty, truly guilty,
deserving of death. He brings that sinner to the
point they agree with him. Yay, Lord, a dog is what I am. And every mouth's gonna stop,
and all the world's gonna become guilty before God. A guilty man
has no right to speak before God. Verse 20, therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh, no body be justified in his sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. You see, the law was
never given for man to keep in order to be saved. The law was
given to show man what he was and what he was incapable of
doing. Isn't that what it says? Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. We say it all the time, no flesh
can be justified in God's sight by the deeds of the law because
the law's got to be perfectly kept in order for justice to
be satisfied. Our flesh is the problem and
it's always been the problem. There's never been a problem
with the law of God. The problem's with us. We can't
keep the law perfectly in order to be justified by it. That's
basically all that means. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. You better believe it is. Being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. What did our Lord say? The law, the prophets, the psalm,
they're all concerning me. That's what they witnessed. Even,
verse 22, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ. There's that faith of Jesus Christ
again, not our faith in Christ, but the actual faith of Christ. Unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference. Oh, how I hope this is of some
interest to you. For without the righteousness
of God, no man, no woman, no sinner shall see God. Unless our righteousness exceeds
the righteousness of the Pharisees, this religious world in which
we live, we're going to die in our sin.
The law condemns us by the laws of the knowledge of sin. The
law of God reveals to us our sin and our guilt. And now Paul
is talking to us about the righteousness of God and how it can be obtained
another way, a way that God can satisfy the law justly and still
save me. What is it? It's the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Not our faith,
but the faith of Christ. Look, we're all in the same boat. 23, for all of sin becomes sure
of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's where our redemption
is, it's in Christ. whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in His blood, and look at this,
to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. That's
what we preach. That's it. His righteousness. Not ours. Not our work. Not our will, not our way, we
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. In order to satisfy
the justice of God, you and I must possess God's righteousness,
His perfect righteousness. Righteousness, the very righteousness
of God found in Christ. It's in Christ. David said, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and
Thy truth say. It's the Lord's mercy and it's
the Lord's truth that saves us. And the heathen said, well, David,
where's your God? We got all our gods right here.
Where's yours at? He said, mine's in the heavens.
He's done whatsoever he's pleased. And they said, well, all ours
right here. We got fish-head gods. We got dog-head gods. We got frog-head gods. We got
log-head gods made of wood. Well, where's your God? I said He's in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever He pleases. I see your gods. I know what
they're doing. Nothing. They can't do anything.
They're made of silver and gold. They've been made with man's
hands. You read it. Psalm 115. He said
they have mouths, but they can't speak. They have ears, but they
can't hear. They got noses, but they can't smell. They got hands, but they handle
not. Feet, but they can't walk. They have throats, but they can't
talk. And those that made them are no better off, just like
them. And so are all those that trust
in them. And it was then that David said,
oh, Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He's the living God. Friends,
let's keep trusting in the Lord. He's our only hope of standing
justified before God. God's justice will not spare
the guilty. Christ is the one who made Himself
guilty. He knew no sin. He made Himself
to be sin. Do you see the beauty in that? God made Himself to be seen,
so that you might be made His perfect righteousness. Where?
In Christ! Okay. Well, next week, Lord willing,
we'll talk more about that place that God appoints for refuge. I'll give you a hint. That place
is a parcel. He didn't need that, he didn't
know that it is.