If you will take your Bible and
turn with me again to Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. Our text will be found in verse
18. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse
18. The title of the message is,
The Just Man's Path. The Just Man's Path. In verse 18 it says, But the
path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day. Now, I want us to examine this
passage of Scripture by asking five questions. Five questions,
really four, I combined the last two. I didn't want to decide
five, I'd go extended, so I made the last two the same question,
but really there are five. First of all, who is the just?
Who is the just? If we are to follow the path
of the just, then who is the just? Second of all, what is
the path that the just man follows? What is the light of the path
of the just man? And how does it grow brighter?
And what in the world is a perfect day? Anybody know what a perfect
day is? Anybody experienced a perfect
day yet? So, I want to know what that
is. So, first of all, who is the just? Who is this just man? It says, but the path of the
just. Now, no doubt this is this son
that is being instructed here, this one being instructed. We
see this in the very beginning. He says, hear ye children, hear
ye children. He compels him as a son here
in verse 10 here. Oh, my son, and receive instruction. We know that this Son is the
Lord Jesus Christ in His humility, in His humanity. When He condescended
to become a man, He became the servant of God, of necessity. Because He is a man, He found
Himself in fashion as a man. Therefore, He humbled Himself
and became obedient. The Scripture says he learned
by the things that he suffered. That he grew in wisdom and understanding. Now, I can't explain that. He
who created all things and knew all things grew in wisdom and
understanding. I think the clearest way to see
it is that he grew in understanding of suffering. God never suffered. But Christ did. Christ the God-man
suffered. And He experienced it for Himself. for himself. And he was instructed
of God. He being the eternal Son of God
was made flesh and dwelt among us. A lot of us don't even like
being flesh ourselves. Does anybody like being who they
are? Everybody's trying to be somebody
different, aren't they? Everybody's trying to pretend. You know,
I see people go to the... I go to the barber shop and I
try to... get my hair done the way my wife likes it. But I see
people taking pictures of other people up there and say, I want
to look like this. I know they can't work miracles.
And he ain't going to walk out of there like that. I don't care
how much money they pay. We all don't want to be in this
flesh, but yet, here it is, the Son of God humbled Himself and
became a man. And every trouble Every trouble
that we experience in this life, He has experienced a hundredfold
of what our troubles are. Our troubles do not even compare
with the troubles that the Lord Jesus Christ faced every single
day. When you were a child, what did
you think of the person that was always good? The person that
always was good. The good kid that got away with
everything and you didn't get away with anything. Well, you
were mad at Him. You were mad at Him because He
was good. And you weren't. How much more do you suppose
that everyone was mad at the Lord Jesus because He was good
at all times? How much do you think they despised
Him because of His knowledge and understanding and wisdom?
At 12 years old, He was teaching the doctors. He was teaching
the doctors of the law. He was hated and despised. He
was rejected of men and he learned by the things that he suffered.
And Jesus being found in fashion as a man in the body prepared
by the Holy Spirit, he humbled himself even unto death. He was
obedient. Obedient. I imagine that it was frustrating.
I know it's frustrating for me. The few times that I even thought
I was right, I was mad at my parents. Thinking they were wrong. How many times you thought your
parents were wrong? Well, we all do. Then we grow up and we
figure, hey, it's not so wrong. We were not so right and they're
not so wrong. But imagine this, that Jesus
Christ did always that which was right. How frustrating do
you think that was even to his parents? I couldn't imagine having
a perfect kid. He suffered. And he learned by
these things that he suffered. Jesus being a man, the Holy Spirit
was given to him without measure, and so was wisdom and understanding. And yet, he always pleased God. He never sought to please men.
He sought to please only God. And he being wisdom exalted,
the wisdom of God, by declaring the words of God's mouth. The
words of Jesus Christ, He says, are not His own. He did not speak
a word that was not given to Him of the Father. Now, I can't
imagine that. I can't imagine that. I can't
imagine any of the words right now. Only by faith can I preach
to you. I can't preach to you because
I don't even feel or see that these words come from God, but
they do. They're God's Word. It's God's Word. He sent me with
His message. But how much more so Christ Jesus
was sent with the Word of God. He was sent with the Word of
God, with the Spirit of God. And He was the God-Man Mediator. The great High Priest and King
that did not exalt Himself. Is that something? Have you ever
heard of anybody that is a ruler that has not exalted themselves? I'll tell you, if they weren't
exalting themselves or somebody lifting up them, they would never
be king or ruler. They have to promote themselves.
And we don't promote ourselves. Believers in Christ, we should
never promote ourselves. What is there to promote? Nothing. But here's one who was just and
never promoted himself. And yet God has exalted him. God has set him above every one
of us. Every name that is named, God
has set Christ to be the ruler and a king over all men. Over all men. He is the only mediator. And God exalted him and sustained
him. and gave him strength in obedience. And Jesus was most definitely
the only just man that ever lived. He was the only righteous man
that ever lived. Why is this important? Why is
it important for us to look to Christ, who is the only just
man? Well, because none of us are
just. Now this should condemn us. When
Christ walked before men, they were mad because His actions
and His obedience condemned their sin. And that's exactly what
happens. That's why we were mad with the kid that was good or
we were mad at our parents. Why we're mad at each other is
because we want our way and we want it right now. We don't get
it. That's just sin nature. It's who we all are. Some of
us may be better at hiding it than others, but truly, we are
sinners, every one of us. The Scriptures are a great leveler
of all men. They put all men on the same
playing field, on the same surface, equally worthless before God. Did I make that clear enough? I hope that the Spirit made that
clear enough that we, you and me, by ourselves, by our own
works, by our own goodness, by our own whatever we want to call
it, it is nothing but sin. We can do nothing but sin. That's it. You may please me, but I'm not
the judge. You may please someone else,
but they're not the judge. And you may try to please yourself,
but yourself is not the judge. God is the judge. And He has
raised the standard. What is the standard? What is
the minimum? I remember my friend, when he
was getting out of the military, he did a little physical test. He did the minimum. And he got
a whole bunch of time left. The sergeant said, well, you've
got plenty of time left. And he said, well, if the minimum
wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum. What's the minimum? What's the minimum that God requires? He requires that you be just. That's the minimum. The minimum
is the maximum. And the maximum is the minimum.
Holy righteousness. And nothing else. Is that clear? Are you a just
man? Have you obeyed God? There's
only one who has done this. His name is Jesus Christ the
Lord. He obeyed the law of God and
brought in the only righteousness that matters, and that is the
righteousness of God. Go to Romans chapter 3. I think Romans 3, if you would
just read that, there is the gospel in the smallest portion
of Scripture I can find. The clearest that I can see it
is in Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. In verse 10, as it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are all there together become unprofitable. There is
none that doeth good. No, not one. Now, did I just say that? Did
I just not tell you that your a sinner, that you're unjust. Verse 18, there is no fear of
God before their eyes. Is that not clear in the world?
Can you not see that? There's no fear of God. No fear of God. People go along in this world
and defy the very existence of God and have no fear. Now, we know that whatsoever
the law sayeth, sayeth to them who are under the law. Now, if you want to know the
purpose of the law, here it is. that every mouth may be stopped
and the whole world may become guilty before God. If you want
to read the law, if you want to try to do good, if you want
to try to obey and present your works unto God, the law was never
meant for your perfection. The law was only meant to show
your sin. That's it. That you could shut
up. That God would shut our mouths.
Thou shalt not lie. Is that not clear enough? I'm a liar. That's all that says to me. That
doesn't tell me to go out here and try not to lie. That tells
me that I'm a liar. And no matter how hard I try
to tell the truth, I'm still a liar. Guilty. Guilty. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. No flesh shall
be innocent in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. Friends, he believed God. And by his faith, he obeyed God
in every way. and has brought in an everlasting
righteousness as the just man. As the just man. And this righteousness
was not for Himself. Remember, He was God. He needed
no righteousness Himself. This was not for Himself. This
was for us. The righteousness of God He worked
was for us. And it is given to all who believe
on Him. Righteousness charged to our
account instead of sin. Righteousness given in the body
by the Holy Spirit in the new creation. He is the just man. And if any
man is in Christ, he is justified. Justified. from all sin. If a man is justified,
he must of necessity be freely justified. Is that not right?
Freely. We must be freely justified because
we are truly guilty. Truly guilty. God must do this work because
we could not. There's nothing worthy or meritorious
of us. There's nothing we could have
done to pay for the debt we owed to God. That's why hell is eternal. That's why when you die, if you
die in your sins and you go to hell, it will be eternal because
your death can never pay for your sins. Never. Never satisfied. And yet there is. Here it is. God had declared that some are
to be justified. Some are justified. Who are the
just? Who are the justified? I'm not asking if you're justified
of yourself or if you're justified of other men. The only thing
matters, are you justified of God? Does God declare you to
be innocent? A man Must be just. Well, how is a man made just? Because I need to be made just.
If I'm going to be innocent, I need that to be a miracle,
really. It's got to be a miracle. Well, I may be made just because
Jesus, being the just man, walked the just path. Look at your text. It says the path of the just. What is the path of the just?
If we are to be justified, it must be by the path of Jesus
Christ, who is the only man without sin. Now, the path of Christ
was by way of obedience to the law of God. Scripture says that
in Isaiah chapter 42, it says, no one is blind or deaf like
my servant. What does that mean? Christ was
blind and deaf to sin. In other words, it never affected
him. It never once entered his mind to sin. Never once. Isn't that amazing? I can't keep
it out. It could never penetrate him. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? Which of you entices me to sin? You can't do that. It's impossible.
I can't sin. Christ never sinned. Jesus tells
us that He did all things that pleased the Father. The Son of
God was righteous from eternity, one with the Father, and He was
righteous in His humanity. Jesus, when He came, He came
as a mediator between God and men. He became a man so that
He might stand between you and God, the sinner and the just
and holy God. And he did this by representation.
Substitution. This is how a man is made just
by substitution. Not by substitution plus works.
Not by substitution in what we do. By substitution absolutely
and free by the grace of God. Jesus Christ was a representative
man. And He represented all that the
Father gave Him and performed all the righteous obedience that
was necessary for their salvation. Therefore, the path of the just
is by faith in Christ. If you are to walk the path of
the just, if you are to be just, it is only through the righteousness
of Christ and none of yourself. None of yourself. None of yourself. I tell you, with men, that's
impossible. The only hope for us is to believe
on Christ, who is the righteousness. And by that, He has imputed, charged to my account, the righteousness
that Christ has performed. So that all He did, I did. All He accomplished, I accomplished. Scripture says in Romans 4 concerning
Abraham, He said, Abraham believed God and it was accounted. It
was accounted to him, imputed to him for righteousness. accredited. And all who believe Christ, not
by works, but by the grace of God, have from eternity been
charged as innocent. This is a miracle. This is a
miracle of justification. Justification is not just as
if I never sin. I never sin in the eyes of God. Why? He charged Christ's righteousness
to me before the foundation of the world. What about our sin? How is that possible? We are
guilty. And how is it that God can declare us just and still
be just? If I declare that my son is innocent,
well, I've just made myself unjust and you know it. I've just lied
to you because my son is a product of me. I'm unjust in my son. How, then, can we say with any
degree of justice that that God says we're innocent when we actually
have committed sin? Well, the path of Christ not
only led through the righteousness of God by obedience to the law,
but also through death. The way of the just is through
death. Death. If we are truly to be innocent
of all sin. Sin must be punished in another. God does not get rid of our sin
without His justice being satisfied. That's what the world thinks
of God. The world can deal with an unjust God. They can deal
with a God who makes salvation possible. They can't deal with
a God that has accomplished salvation in Jesus Christ by His death. If a man steal, let me illustrate
it for you, if a man steals something and he's sentenced to prison,
he goes to prison and he does well and he pays his debt to
society and he is released, he is free from that thievery. He should be free from that thievery.
He's paid the penalty for it. Let me ask you this. Could he
ever say that he was innocent? No. He did steal. He was guilty. If we in some part have some
payment to offer God, we are still guilty. Or even our own
conscience is condemning us that we are guilty. This is why Christ
must have suffered and died on the cross. This is why it's important.
This is why it's necessary for you to hear this, that Christ
Jesus died in the stead of sinners. In other words, He took our guilt. God imputed our guilt to Him. And on the cross, He did not
just suffer a physical death. He suffered a violent death under
the wrath of Almighty God for all the sins of His people. Hebrews 10 says, By the witch's
will. Whose will? The will of God. We were sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. What does that mean? We were
sanctified? You were set apart and righteous before God in Christ. This is the love of God, that He sent His only Son to
die as a substitute for the most miserably vile men that ever
walked the face of the earth. And I'm at the top of the list. Scripture says, for by his one
offering he hath perfected. Now that's past tense, isn't
it? He hath perfected already. How long am I perfected? Forever. Forever. Them that are sanctified. The path of Jesus Christ was
by burying our sins in His own body on the tree, and He was
made guilty in our stead, so that now then, our guilt was
truly paid for. Our guilt was truly placed on
Christ, and He bore it under the wrath of God, and yet He
maintained His deity, His sinless perfection at the same time.
Miracle of miracles that I can't understand that. But I know this, by faith I believe
on Him." How do I know that he was successful? Well, I know
this by the Word of God. By the Word of God. The Word
of God tells me that this path of the just man is very narrow.
What does that mean? Does that mean I need to walk
a tightrope? Do I need to walk the tightrope of the law and
hope not to fall off into hell? No, that's not what it means.
It means that there's only one. That's what it means. This way
is narrow because there's only one just man, and he's only walked
one just path, and he's made one just sacrifice. It's very
narrow. There's only one. This is why
it's important we know who Christ is. Because there's a lot of
Christs. There's a lot of antichrists. How do we know the difference?
Well, the light. It says the path of the just
is as a shining light. What is the path of light? What
is this light of the path of the just man Jesus was? The light
of the world, the Scripture says. But you cannot separate the physical
Word of God, Christ, and the written Word. This is the light. by which we know that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. By the Word of God, we know that
He has sacrificed Himself once for our sin. We know that He
has risen from the dead, and we know His sacrifice was accepted
of God, because He is risen from the dead. God's not left Him
just one witness. He's left Him Oh, these witnesses, many witnesses
through the centuries, God has left himself witnesses. More men saw the ascension of
the Lord Jesus Christ and saw the Declaration of Independence
being signed. You know that? 500 men saw Him after His death and
ascending to glory. Isn't that something? And yet
men still will not believe. Where's your proof? They need
less proof to convict a man of murder. All they need is one
or two witnesses and they'll put a man away forever. But yet
we have more than that. We have centuries of it. And
yet men will still not believe and trust Christ. And this light, this light that
God has given is not only the light of the Word, but it is
a light in us. You can know this Word academically. But if you do not know this Word
experimentally, you are not in the path of the just. Have you experienced grace? Do you know Christ? I didn't
ask if you know about Him. Do you know Him? It's altogether different, isn't
it? Altogether different. If you do not know Him, You do
not believe Him. You do not trust in Him if you
don't know Him. To know Him is to believe Him.
And to believe Him is to know Him. It's an experimental light. There's
a light in me. It doesn't shine like I want
it to. But it does shine. I do believe. I now believe on Christ. And I don't care if I ever believed
before, I believe now. I trust now. And I'll tell you,
this light has not gotten dimmer, it's grown. My experience tells
me that this light grows, just as the Word of God tells me it
grows. We must grow. in the grace and
knowledge of Christ. Have you reached the plateau
of excellence in knowledge? Have you sailed the heights of
experience and knowledge that you need no more instruction? I think I reached that when I
was eleven, twelve, somewhere around there. I thought I did. I realized I didn't know anything. I still don't. Not like I should. Not like I want to either. Because
I want to know Him. Paul said that I may know Him.
Do you want to know Him? Do you have that desire to know
Him? It's not natural. That's supernatural. That's a
miracle. If you want to know Him and you
want to believe and trust Him, that's something that God has
to give. Nobody can give that to you. And how does this light come? It comes by the Holy Spirit through
preaching. Friends, I don't do this because
I make a lot of money at it. I don't do this because I want
to be popular in the community. I don't do this because it's
easy. I do this that you might have
life, because this is the only way
you get it. You're not going to be sitting at home and one
day lightning strikes. You know you need to be under
the sound of the gospel. And anybody that denies that,
they're a fool. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 says, For
the preaching of the cross is to them that go to hell foolishness. Think what I'm doing is foolish?
Think what I'm doing is a waste of your time? You're a fool. And hell is your portion. but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. This is how the light grows.
Do you want to grow in grace and knowledge of the truth? Then
why would you miss the worship? I don't understand. How could
you grow without it? Unless you just think what I'm
doing is foolish. Not foolish to me. I take this
very seriously. And I tell you, you should too.
You should take this very seriously. The just man will take it seriously. The just man will grow and this
light The Scripture said, shineth more and more unto the perfect day. What is
this perfect day? I've never experienced a perfect
day. I've never seen it in this world. Every day I get up thinking
today is going to be perfect. I've got it all planned out.
Everything is set in order. And I've got this going and this
going and I'm going to go home and the wife's going to welcome
me with open arms and the children are going to be glad to see me.
The dogs are going to come and lick at my feet and say, oh,
we're so glad to see you. Oh, every day it fails. It's not even when they do it,
it's not exactly the way I wanted it or thought it should be. So
it's not a perfect day. I know this, it's coming. And
it's coming fast. This life seems to go by so much
faster. As we get older, we have the
same amount of time as we did when we were young. But it seems
to get faster. And I think more and more as
the day approaches, I think of the perfect day. Perfect day is when I'll see
the perfect man. And he'll welcome me. Come. Come, he says to me. You blessed
of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. Is that not a gracious sound?
Who would not be anxious at that? Paul said, I've got a difficult
question. I've got a difficult thing here. I don't know which
is better. To depart and leave you would
be better for me. But it's not better for you.
So I'm going to stay. Paul was looking forward to it.
If you believe in Christ, you should look forward to it too. I think we've become so cynical that we don't even think that
the Lord would come today. Who thought of that? Who thought
the Lord would come today? Maybe today, that would be fine. That would be good for us who
believe. Because we know the just man,
we know His path. We follow His path by faith.
We trust in Him. And He's going to bring me to
a perfect end. What in the world should I not
give to Him? My life? What's that worth? Nothing. My body? Christ is all. Christ is all. Is He all to you? And if He's
not, why not? Is He not lovely? Has He not
done that which is good for you? Given you life today? Let you
be here to hear His Word of grace? If the Holy Spirit don't use
that to move your heart, nothing will move it. Pray that God blesses each one
of us. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Gil, would you dismiss us in
prayer?