Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. The text will be found in verse
18. The scripture says the path,
but the path of the just. The path of the just. is as a
shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
Now, the wise man Solomon, writing these Proverbs, he does so by
contrast here, by contrast. He first gives the path of the
wicked, the path of the wicked in verse 14. He says, "...Enter
not the path of the wicked, Go not into the evil way of men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn
from it. Pass away. Why? For they sleep
not except they have done mischief. And their sleep is taken away
unless they have caused some to fall. For they eat the bread
of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The wicked way. He says to avoid. The wicked
way. He says don't go near it. And
the cause of it is found in verse 19. The way of the wicked is
as darkness. They know not what they stumble
at. The way of the wicked is darkness. It's just being in a dark room,
constantly hitting things, falling on things, and you have no clue
what it is that causes you to fall. But this way that is to be avoided
by nature cannot be avoided. This is our path by nature, the
path of the wicked. And this way of the wicked always
leads to one place, hell. It always leads to destruction,
to destruction. But in the midst of this, there's
a bright and shining light. In the midst of this dark path
that he is describing, there is one verse here. One hope,
one way, and that is the path of the just. The path of the
just is contrasted. He said instead of stumbling,
the path of the just is as a shining light. It's bright, it's clear,
it's plain. It's plain. And it leads not
to stumbling, but to a perfect day. A perfect day. I want us to look at this passage
by way of asking five questions. Five questions concerning this
passage. We're just going to Pick it apart. Look at it. Examine it. What
is this path of the just? First of all, we must know who
is the just. What is it to be just? And we
all know what it is to be wicked. What is it to be just? Second
of all, what is the path the just follow? What is this path
that the just man takes? Thirdly, what is the light of
this path? What causes this path to be plain
and clear? And fourthly, how does this path
grow brighter? How does it grow brighter? And
what is, fifthly, what is the perfect day? What is the perfect
day? So first of all, who is the just?
Now without doubt in my mind, The just man is Jesus Christ. He is the only just man. The only just man. He is this
Son to whom the writer is writing. If you were to go back and look
at verse 10, he says, Here, O my Son, receive my sayings. The
years of Thy life shall be many. I have taught Thee in the way
of wisdom. I have led Thee in the right
path. When Thou goest, Thy steps shall not be straightened. When
Thou runnest, Thou shalt not stumble. Who is this that's not
stumbled? Who is this whose paths shall not be straightened? Who
is this that was taught of God? It is Christ. Christ is the just
Son of God. It was the Son of God who was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And the Scriptures are very clear
concerning His learning. Concerning His learning that
He must learn by the things He suffered. Is that not something
that is far beyond my comprehension, that the One who created all
learning should learn? Yet this speaks of His humility,
of His condescension, that He who is the Son of God, who knew
all things, must condescend to men of low estate. In order to
save them, He must be made flesh and suffer. And by the things
He suffered, He learned. He learned as He was taught of
the Father. Jesus, the Scripture says, being
found in fashion as a man, in the nature of a man, humbled
himself, humbled himself, and became obedient, obedient. He became a man by the Holy Spirit
preparing him a body. The Scripture says, "...sacrifice
and offering, thou wouldest not burn offerings, but a body hast
thou prepared for me." And in this body, he became obedient
unto God. Consider the great condescension
of Christ. Consider Him who is above all
things, made all things, by whom all things consist. And yet He
condescended to take upon Him this frail flesh, this finite body. And so Jesus, as a man, As a
man, the scripture declares to us, he was given the Holy Spirit
without measure. I tell you what, every one of
us who believe, we have the Holy Spirit in us, but what a small
measure. How long do we long to be filled
with the Spirit? How many times have we actually
experienced some measure of the Spirit inside of us that draws
us to God and Christ and faith and love and every grace? And
yet we want that constantly, but this man, This man had the
Spirit of God without measure given to him. Perfect in wisdom
and understanding, the Scripture says, I do always please the
Father. I do always please the Father. He being wisdom. exalted the wisdom of God by
declaring only the words God gave him to speak." What a man! What a man! To speak only what God says to
speak. Who among us has done that? Who can stay his tongue? being unjust creatures as we
are, and yet we still spill out pride. And this tongue is like
a ship that it moves the whole body, doesn't it? What James
says, it's a small member that's set on fire of hell. Not this man. Oh, not this man. Boy, how great was this man.
This man was not just a man, he was the God-man. The high
priest and mediator and king, and he did not exalt himself,
he did not promote himself, but God did exalt him. God sustained
him, and in God he found his strength. in every temptation and every
trouble Christ did not lean on his own strength though he had
strength though he had all strength he had the right and yet he gave
up his right and humbled himself as a man Jesus was the most holy. He was the only just and
holy man that ever lived. He did no sin. He thought no
sin. He felt no sin. He was the sinless
man. The only one. The only sinless
man. You remember what he told those
Jews? Which of you convinces me of
sin? Who can accuse me of sin? They
tried, did they not? They tried over and over to find
one sin in him. You know, that's part of the
Passover. When they instituted the Passover, they had to pick
a spotless lamb. And the priest was to go over
this lamb. That's where we get that saying,
going over with a fine-tooth comb. They would comb through
the lamb, looking for one hair that was black. One hair. And when they found the spotless
lamb, they offered it. Jesus Christ is the just and
spotless Lamb of God. He is the just man and all who
believe on Him shall be just. This is the only way that we
who are all wicked may be made just, is by the just man. Over in Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.
It says, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Pretty inclusive, isn't it? We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Same thing he said just before,
there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. We are all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Well, how then can we be just? being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be the propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past. Through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might
be just And what? The justifier. Who's a just man? Christ is the
just man. For what purpose? That He might
be the justifier. Of who? The ungodly. The ungodly. We were not just, we were not
righteous when we came in the world. The Scriptures are plain.
They're clear. Behold, in sin did my mother
conceive me. I was shapen in iniquity, David
said. We came forth from the womb speaking
lies. You children, anybody teach you
to lie? Anybody teach us to lie? Why? You were born lying. We're born liars. We have sinned
and are far from righteousness. We would not obey the law of
God and we could not obey the law of God. So then how are men made just? I want to know. Is there any
greater question as to how a man could be justified? Is there
any greater need that a man has, being a sinner, than to be justified
before God? To be just? There's no greater
need. So how are men made just? Well, I want you to first understand
what it means to be just. I've just told you what it means
to be just. It means to be as righteous as Christ is. I told
you he was the only just man. There's the bar. There's the
bar. If you don't meet that, you will
not enter into heaven. If you are not as righteous as
God himself, you will not make it. You will not make it. To remember what justified means,
it means to be innocent. Innocent of all crimes. I know we've heard that, just
as if I never sinned. That's not quite what it means. It means I never sinned. That's
what it means. It means to be holy. To be just
is to be holy. To be just is to be righteous.
To be just is to be without sin. That's what it is to be just.
To be without guilt. And so then, we are all being
born guilty. If any man is to be justified,
isn't it of necessity it be freely? Without merit? If we are to be
justified, it must be without merit, because we are already
guilty. If we are to be justified, it
must be freely, for there's nothing worthy or meritorious in us. There's nothing. We have to pay
the debt of our sin. We have nothing but our guilt,
and deserve nothing but God's wrath. So for you to be the just man,
it must be done by someone else. It must be done by someone else. But I'm hopeful, and not only
wishful, but confident. That's what the word hope means,
confidence. I am confident that there are some who will be just. I am confident because God justifies
the ungodly. The Scriptures declare that He
will be just and the justifier. And if some are justified of
God, then there's hope for us. There's hope to be justified. And so this morning I'll ask
you, knowing who the just man is, knowing what just men look
like, Are you just? Are you just? And I just said,
if you are not, you will not see heaven. Now I'm not asking if you're
justified before men. That's easy. You want to fool me, that's easy.
I want to be fooled, don't you? I want to see millions of people
come to Christ, and that'd be great, wouldn't it? And so if
you want to fool me, that's easy to do. But it doesn't do a thing
for you. It doesn't justify you if I say
you're justified. That's what men want to hear
from preachers, isn't it? They want to hear them say, you're
saved. Look, I can't tell you that.
I don't know. I can tell you what salvation
is, I'll tell you who it is, I'll tell you what it is to be
saved, how a person is saved, but I can't say that about you.
Are you just before God? That's the question. I'm not
asking you to justify your own self. Then you begin to make
excuses. We like to justify ourselves,
don't we? like that rich man. He said, what do I do? Jesus said, love the Lord God
with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Well, who's my neighbor? He did that to justify himself.
He's trying to find a loophole. Everybody wants to find a loophole.
No, there's no loophole. You are either holy or you're
not. You're righteous or you're not. There's no middle ground
here. There's no almost holy. There's no almost just. You're
either just or you're not. To be just is to be without guilt
before the eyes of God, who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins
of men, and giveth every man according to his own doing." You know that? That God's going
to give you exactly what you deserve. What will he give a just man?
Heaven. Why? He deserves it. He's earned
it. He's just! He's without sin! What will he give an unrighteous
man? Hell. Why? Because that's what he's
earned. That's what he's earned. And so then, how can a man know
if he is justified before God? Well, that brings me to the second
question. What is his path? The just man has a path. The
wicked man has a path, and his path is sin. A wicked man has
a path, and his path is unrighteousness. But the just man has a path.
He has a path. What is the path, then, of the
just? If you are justified, then you
must be by the same path of the just man. You must go by the
same path. The path of Jesus Christ. Remember,
He is the just man, and this is His path. This is His path. And if we are to be just, we
must follow this same path. Only the path of the just man
can justify sinners. And what is this path that Christ
took when He came into the world? First of all, it was a path of
obedience to the Law of God. This is the path by which the
just man, Jesus Christ, took. Obedience to the Law. And Jesus
tells us that He did not come to destroy the Law, but what?
To fulfill it. to fulfill the law. And this is clearly seen if you
go to Isaiah, go to Isaiah chapter 42. I think it's one of the clearest
passages and prophecies of what Christ came to do as far as his
obedience. In verse 18, He says, "...Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see." Who is blind but My servant,
and deaf as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that
is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant, seeing many things,
but thou observest not opening the ears, but he heareth not."
Does that mean Jesus Christ can be born blind and deaf? Is that
what it means? No. What it means is He is blind
and deaf to sin. Just as a blind man cannot see,
Jesus Christ could not sin. He could not sin. He was born not of the seed of
Adam, but rather the seed of the woman. He was prepared to
body the Spirit, born without sin, and He could not be tempted
with sin. As I've said, He said to those
Jews, which of you convinces me of sin? Even His own enemies
confessed. I find no fault in this man. See, the Son of God was righteous
from eternity. He was one equal with the Father,
even in His humanity. He said, I and my Father are
one. So why? Why must He come to obey
the law? Why must He follow the path of
righteousness? Him being righteous, is it just
not natural that He was righteous before He became flesh? Yes.
And when He became flesh, was it not natural for Him to be
righteous? Yes. But why should He do such
a thing? Why should he follow this path
of obedience, binding himself to the law of God? The Scripture
says in verse 21 of Isaiah 42, the Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. The path of the Lord Jesus Christ
in righteousness was not for himself. He followed this path
not for himself, but rather as a representative man to obtain
righteousness for his people. He did it as their High Priest,
as the High Priest of Israel. Now, who did the High Priest
of Israel represent? Everyone? No. Israel. He went into that temple with
the sacrifice for who? Israel. And so the just man came
into this world to obtain righteousness which none of his people could
obtain. He did it for them as a mediator. For there is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus, the only mediator, represented
all that were given to Him of the Father, so that when He performed
all the righteousness of God as a just man, so did all of His elect follow
this same path. They did righteous in Him. in him. Therefore, the
path of the just, those justified before God, is faith in Him. The only way for me to be just
is to be righteous, and the only way for me to be righteous is
in Him. As the just man followed the
path, even so did I follow the path in Him. in Christ. And so then all who believe on
Him. This is the means by which the
righteousness of God that was imputed to us becomes imparted
to us is through faith in Him. In Him. Over in Romans 4, the Apostle
gives us the example of Abraham concerning his righteousness,
the righteousness of this just man imputed to him, Romans 4
and verse 1, he said, What shall we say then that Abraham our
father hath pertaining to the flesh found? For if Abraham were
justified by works, he have whereof the glory, but not before God. Why? Because no man is justified
by his works before God. No man is going to be justified
by his own work and obedience. For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted, imputed to him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the
reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly."
His faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David had described the
blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without
work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Will not impute sin. Who is this
man? Because I want to be this man.
I want to be the one to whom the Lord blesses and will not
impute my sin. Who is that man? He that believeth
in Jesus Christ alone. I want you to understand faith
is... faith is simple in this aspect, it's singular. The moment
you add anything to Him, you ruin it. It's not through faith.
The moment you put anything to Him, puts your work with His,
you've ruined it. You're not following the path
of the just. You're following the path of the wicked. The wicked,
that's what they do by nature, is add. They try to obtain favor
by law. And so all who believe on Christ,
listen, you are justified not by works but by grace. by grace
for God had from eternity imputed and charged to our account the
righteousness of Christ and this faith is only imparted through
belief in uh... over in the Romans chapter 3
in verse 22 it says the righteousness of God which was by the faith
of Jesus Christ there's that path he took the righteousness
of God he obtained the righteousness of God by his faith And this
righteousness of God is unto all and upon all, imputed and
imparted upon all and unto all them that believe. Them that believe. The second
part of his path was not only righteousness and obedience to
the law, but it was by way of death. Christ came into the world
for one purpose, to die for the sins of his people. If we are to be truly innocent
before God, then I tell you this, sin must be punished. It must
be. I know that men have this false
assumption that God sweeps sin under the rug or something, just
kind of turns a blind eye to it. Sin is a mistake and He just
forgives it without consequence. No. Sin must be punished. Sin will be punished. Without doubt. The soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die. But again, we're dealing with
this matter of justification. How can we who are guilty... Now, God doesn't ignore the fact
that you're guilty. He's not going to ignore it.
This is why Christ came, because He could not ignore it. He must
deal with it. But this matter of guilt... Have
you ever thought about this? How can you be innocent when
you've already been guilty of something? See a man, he does something,
commits a crime, he goes to jail, he spends his time in jail and
he gets out. But yet you and I both know he's
guilty. He still bears the guilt. He
still bears the guilt. How can guilt be removed? That's
what it takes to justify someone. That guilt must be removed. With us, this is impossible.
I can never take that man's guilt. You could pay the crime for him,
you could do the time for him, but you can never take away his
guilt. You can never make him justified. This is why Christ must have
suffered and died upon the tree. that he should as our substitute
bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Scripture says in Hebrews 10
that he came to do the will of God. By the which will? The will of God. We are sanctified,
holy, just through the offering of the body of Christ once for
all. Every priest ended daily ministering,
offering sacrifices, the same sacrifices that could never take
away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, sat down on the right hand of God. From
henceforth, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool for
by one offering, he hath perfected." forever. Them that are holy. Sanctified. Holy. The path of Jesus Christ was
by bearing our sins. The sinless, spotless Son of
God was made sin. God imputed our sins to His Son. And He bore their guilt, and God punished our sins in
Him. Therefore, all who are justified
by faith in His blood, we walk this same path. the path of sacrifice
and obedience. What is it to obey God? We're
not talking about the law. What is it that one who has been
justified, one who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, one
who has been made holy before God, what is our obedience? It
is to believe on the Son of God. That is the obedience. That is
the law of faith by which we are now shackled together. That
is the yoke, the burden that we bears. Believe, my burden
is light. Isn't that what He said? It is. We're not lawless. We're not
antinomians. We have a law, the law of faith.
And listen, the law of love. Love to God and love to the brethren. This is our law. This is what
we walk. This is the path of the just
man. You know what John says about a man who doesn't love
the brethren? He says he's a liar. That's plain and simple language.
You don't love the brethren, don't tell me how much you believe
in Christ. That's not true. Your faith is
a sham if you don't love the brethren. Why? He loved the brethren. You see, you follow His path,
His path of suffering. Isn't that right? We suffer in
this world for the sake of Christ, for the glory of Christ. We suffer. He said, if any man come after
Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
Me. Is that what our Master did? Then that's what we do. We do
it not for salvation, but because we are saved by His path. We
follow His path. And this path that we follow
is narrow. There's one object. One object. Christ is all. Christ is all. This is why we
preach Christ all the time, every time. Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him risen again. Christ
and Him reigning. Christ is all. Why? He's our path. You know what
He said? I am the way. I'm the path. I'm the truth. And I'm the life. No man comes
to God but by me. There's only one path. If you
were to be just before God, I want you to understand there's only
one path. One path. It's narrow in not that you're
trying to walk a tightrope into glory. Garbage. That's garbage. This path is firm, it is solid,
it is fixed, and there's only one, Jesus Christ, named crucified. All who believe on Him are walking
this path, the path of faith, the path of love and hope in
Him. We are justified by Christ and
we owe our lives to Him. The will, the mind, the heart,
the body, the soul, the spirit, we owe to Him. Isn't that what
Paul says? Therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you should present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy. Now, how is it made holy? He
made holy, didn't he? Holy and acceptable unto God. Why should we do this? It's just
reasonable. It's our reasonable service.
A debtor to mercy alone. Of covenant mercy, I say. And so then we can see thirdly,
what is the light of this path? Well, Jesus is the just man.
Jesus is the path. Guess what? Jesus is the light.
He's the light. He said, I am the light of the
world. It is by Him alone that our sin
is exposed. Isn't that right? Now what He
comes to do when He... We saw what He came to do. Now
in the experience of grace, this light shines out of darkness.
It shines into our heart to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ.
And He does this by first exposing our sin, our need of Him. This
light strips us of every excuse. It exposes all deception, all
of our lies. It bears us before God. Shows us our need of mercy. Jesus
is the light that commands, that God commands to shine. This didn't
happen by accident, did it? If this light ever shines on
you, it's not by accident. God commanded that light to shine
in the darkness. It didn't shine by your free
will. It didn't shine by your merit. It didn't shine by your
work. It shined because God sent it. When God sends the light
of Jesus Christ, we can do nothing but believe. Nothing but follow
Christ. Nothing. We are justified. And now we believe on Him through
the grace of God. And what is this light as it
grows brighter? What is the brightness of this
light? Look at that in your text again. It says, "...this light
shineth more and more." More and more. What is this? John Gill said this, it shines
clearer and clearer, so does true grace. It grows and increases
more and more. As every grace does, faith, hope,
love, patience, humility. The light of the knowledge of
Christ, the way, shines brighter. Our sin becomes more and more
revealed to us as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
I remember when we were young in the faith, we thought we would
get better. Isn't that what you thought?
This flesh would get better? That this would be easier as
we went along? That we would feel closer to
God as we went along this path? But what have we found? We've
found only that our sin grows. Now listen, it was always
that bad. You just now realize that the
light shining on it is the only reason you know anything about
it. And the more the light shines, what is it that we become? We
confess more of our sins. More of our unworthiness. More
of our inability. We see more of this, but praise
God, that's not all the light shines on. It also shows us more
of the holiness of God, more of Christ, more of His glory,
more of His crucifixion, more of His grace and mercy upon us
daily, constantly pouring out wave after wave of forgiveness
and mercy daily upon us. That grows. And so we grow in the grace and
knowledge of God. But how does this light shine? Listen, through the preaching
of the Gospel. This is how this light shines in us. The Gospel
is preached and God applies this Word daily. It is as necessary
for us as bread to hear this Word. Over and over again, to
hear of the just man, to hear of his path of righteousness
and his crucifixion. To hear of his mercies. More
about Jesus would I know, more of His grace to others show,
more of His saving fullness see, more of His coming Prince of
Peace. I want to know more! I like that one, Paul said that
I may know Him. Now who knew Him? The Apostle
knew Him, but he said I want to know Him. And as we grow,
what do we know? Christ is all. I know more today
of this, Christ is all, than I did yesterday. Why? The light
shines brighter and brighter. Until when? The coming day. The
perfect day. What is this perfect day? This
perfect day, again I'll quote Gil, because it's very succinct.
He says, this is the glorious to come. The day without clouds. When there will be nothing to
interpose between God and His saints. When there will be no more clouds
of darkness, unbelief, doubts and fears. When the sun will
always be seen. No more withdrawn, eclipsed or
set. even Christ, the Son of Righteousness,
whose glory will always be beheld by the righteous for all eternity. There will be no more night or
afflictions, desertions and death, when the light of the knowledge
will be clear and perfect, and all saints shall see His face
and know even as they are known." Does that not sound like a perfect
day? That sounds like a perfect day.
No more sin. No more sorrow. No more death. This is what it is for the just
man. The just man. Who is the just man? Christ.
What's his path? The salvation of his people.
Who is the just man among us? All who believe in the just man.
All who follow his path by faith. And this light grows brighter
and brighter until He comes again and receives us to ourselves.
You know what, that day He's going to come and He's going
to say this to you, to the just, to the just, and only to the
just He'll say, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. Why? You deserve it. Me? In Him, you deserve it. Because He deserved it. You deserve
it. And God bless his word to you.