Let's begin tonight in John chapter
3. We've all heard the saying, the
exception to the rule, and when we say that saying, the exception
to the rule, what we mean is something out of the ordinary,
something not commonly done, something that rarely happens,
out of the exception to the rule, an unexpected outcome, a deviation,
a departure from the normal. But are there any exceptions
to God's rule of justice? In the end, God's rule is really
the only rule that matters. What is God's sovereign rule
concerning us and our sin? What's the sovereign rule of
God's holy justice? Well, as we saw this morning,
the wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. God will by no means clear the guilty. From the scriptures
tonight, I want to give you five exceptions to the rule of God's
holy justice. There are some exceptions, but
they're only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm so thankful
that there are exceptions. And I'm not referring to exceptions
that we make or that we cause. We can make no exceptions to
the will and the purpose of a sovereign God, and these are the exceptions
that God himself makes. All these exceptions, as I said,
are made in Christ. I wrote this down earlier, except
for the exceptions that God himself makes, there are no exceptions. Now, God's the only one who can
truly give an eternal ultimatum. You know what an ultimatum is.
It's a final demand or statement of terms. For example, you may
have an employer who says, if you're late for work one more
time, you're going to be fired. That's an ultimatum. A parent
may say to a child, if you disobey me again, I'm going to punish
you. That's an ultimatum. But with
the sinner, there's no opportunity for us to escape God's final
demand of perfection. That's what God requires, perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted. God accepts nothing less than
perfection. And we're born guilty and we're
born condemned. And we can't truly threaten anyone
with ultimatums that are beyond our ability to enforce. But God
can, he can enforce every ultimatum that he gives. But let's look
at some ultimatums tonight, some final demands that God gives
along with the exceptions that God alone makes. Now here in
John chapter 3, our Lord converses, you know this passage well. He
converses with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He's a ruler of the
Jews. He came to Jesus by night. And
in verse 2, he says, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And then in verse 3, the Lord
Jesus gives us our first ultimatum and exception of God's rule of
justice. He says, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a sinner be born
from above. Except a sinner make a man a
new creation, a new creature in Christ, a woman, a new creature.
Death will be sin's wages. And the only exception is that
any sinner has is to be born again, to be born from above.
If not, he says, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. If not, they
cannot enter into God's Kingdom. We must be made new creatures,
a new creation. If any man, any woman be in Christ,
he's the exception. Not improved. Not reformed, but
new, born from above. Old things are passed away. I
love the thought of that. My sin is gone. As we read this
morning, as far as the east is from the west. All things are
become new. How? Paul tells us very plainly
in 2 Corinthians 9, 5, excuse me, verse 19, to wit, meaning
this is how, that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world,
His people in the world, unto Himself. Isn't that an amazing
thought? God reconciling us, the messes
and wretches that we are, unto Himself. My, my, what a blessed
exception. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. How can a holy and a just God
not punish our sin? only by being born again in Christ. That's the exception to the rule. The Lord tells this educated
Pharisee, who understands nothing concerning this new birth, why
he said, Lord, how can a man, when he's grown, enter into his
mother's womb again? He didn't know what he was talking
about. And he understood nothing of
this. And the Lord said, the wind blows where it listeth.
That word listeth simply means where it chooses. The wind blows
where it chooses. And so it is with God. He chooses who to have mercy
upon. And thank God that He said, I
will have mercy. God wills to have mercy on some. And He says, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. God, through His Spirit, works
how, when, and where He pleases. And He acts freely and independently
of the dead sinner. Aren't you glad? Aren't you thankful? How can anyone believe the salvation
is a cooperative effort between God and man? Well, we're dead. What can a dead man do? Absolutely
nothing. Verse 8, he says, The wind bloweth
where it listeth, where it chooses. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence or where it cometh, and whither
or where it goeth. So it is every one that is born
of the Spirit, We do the sinning, and God does the saving. Now
that word wind and that word spirit, I found this very interesting,
and we're not Greek scholars by any means, but we do have
concordances, and I love to look at the original words often used
in scripture, and that word wind and that word spirit come from
the same Greek word. The original Greek word is pneuma. We get our English word pneumonia
from it. And it simply means breath. It
means a current of air. And I just love the thought of
that. Our breath and the wind are both given by God. That was
given to me as a gift of God, that breath right there. And
it's the same with the wind. I love the thought of that. They
act independently of our will and our work and our way. The
wind blows where it wills. And so does the Spirit of God.
It's a miraculous thing. It's a mysterious thing. Let
me give you an example from scripture. The angel of the Lord appeared
to Mary, and he said, you shall have a son. And you remember
how she responded. She said, how, Lord, since I
know not a man? And the angel of the Lord told
her how. You remember what he said to her? He said, the Holy
Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the highest shall
overshadow you. And there's no doubt that that's
an exception to the rule, isn't it? And this is the same thing
that happens when an elect sinner is born again. God's Spirit comes
upon them and God's power overshadows them and gives them life. The new birth is not a reformation. It's a new creation. It's being
born again. It's God creating something out
of nothing. A new birth is a new creation. It's being born again. It's God
bringing the existence of life to a life that did not exist.
It's God making us a new creation in Christ. And except you and
I be born again, we cannot be saved, we cannot see, and we
cannot enter. And this is the Lord's ultimatum,
and we can't change it. Only God in Christ can accomplish
it for us. And I love being shut up to the
mercy and grace of God, because it's a sure thing when God does
the saving. The second exception to the sovereign
rule of God's holy justice, that being God's ultimatum of death
to the soul that sins, is found in Luke chapter 13, if you would
turn there with me. Luke chapter 13. I want you to look at verse 3.
And while you're turning, let me say that twice in this passage,
the Lord tells us the same thing. Luke 13, verse 3. Here in verse 3, our Lord says,
I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, you shall all likewise
perish. And in verse five, he says the
same exact words. Now listen, whether Jew or Gentile,
whether male or female, whether rich or poor, whether young or
old, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Here we
see in verse 1 that there were some Galileans whom Pilate ordered
to be murdered. It was said by some Jewish historians
that these men of Galilee opposed paying tribute to Caesar, and
knowing that, Pilate himself sent a company of soldiers, and
it says there in verse 1, It says it mingled their blood
with their sacrifices. And what the Jews were asking
the Lord was this, did this happen to these men because they were
greater sinners than other Galileans? And isn't that the attitude of
free will works religion? If you do good, good things happen
to you, and if you do bad, bad things happen to you. And if
you're a faithful Christian, well, life is a bed of roses,
but if you're a wretched sinner, you better watch out. and the
decision of which you are is up to you. I had a man ask me
not long ago, and I hate it when people ask you questions like
this. He said, why do bad things happen to good people? You've
had people ask you that before. Well, first, there is no good
people. There's nothing to do with good.
But secondly, everything that God does works together for the
good of his people. I love that, don't you? Everything
that happens in this life, God is working it for good. He works
all things after the counsel of His own will and purpose,
and He's working all things for the believer's good. And our
Lord here responds in verse 2 by asking His own question. He asks,
suppose ye or do you think or imagine that these Galileans
were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered these things?
And before they could answer, he answers for them. Our Lord
often did that. And our Lord replies, no, not
so, but except you repent of your sin, you shall all likewise
perish. Then in verse four, the Lord
speaks of 18 men who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell.
And our Lord asked, do you think that they were greater sinners
above all men that lived in Jerusalem? And then again in verse five,
our Lord repeats, I tell you nay, not so, but except you repent. who, except you repent, you shall
perish as they did. Now salvation, you know this,
you hear good preaching all the time, you hear true preaching,
you hear the gospel preached from your pastor, but salvation's
not something we decide. How could anyone read this blessed
book that you hold tonight in your hands and believe that?
It's clear from beginning to end, the salvations of the Lord.
It's not something we decide. Death for our sins is what all
of us deserve. And I suppose if there was anything
that we disagreed on, it would be who's the chief of sinners.
You would say you were, and I would say that I was. Our death would be justice. And
life is the exception. It's the exception to the rule.
Mercy and grace are the exception. Life is found only in Christ.
So we see again that Jesus Christ is the exception. There's really
only one, and that's Christ. What is repentance? Well, our
English dictionary defines it as sincere regret or remorse. It's much more than that. Much
more than that. Many folks have sincere regret
and remorse for sin when they get caught. When they get caught
in their sin. But that's not true repentance.
No, that's regretting and being sorry you got caught. Paul said
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10, the sorrow of the world worketh
death, but godly sorrow works repentance to salvation. Godly repentance is a change.
Godly repentance is a turning. Godly repentance is to seek the
Lord, to call upon the God who in Christ forgives. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the righteous man forsake or turn from his thoughts and
let him return. Turn to the Lord and he'll have
mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Seek the Lord. Call on him. Forsake your way. return to the
Lord. That's true repentance. Oh may
God grant us true repentance. Solomon wrote this proverb, He
that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesseth
and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Shall have, no doubt about
it. He shall have mercy. God told
Ezekiel, Yet, if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from
his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die of his
iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Hosea 14.1, O Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine
iniquity. True repentance is a change of
mind, it's a change of heart, and most of all, it's a change
of masters, a change of God. Repentance is the gift of God.
We know that. Are you sorry over your sin?
God's people are. We hate our sin. Job said, I
abhor myself. Paul said, oh wretched man that
I am. David said, my sin is ever before me. We know something
about that, don't we? God has granted us repentance
as a gift. And thank God it is a gift. God has granted repentance to
the Gentiles. I'm a Gentile. I'll take that.
That's a gift that I'll gladly take. The goodness of God leads
you to repentance. Repentance is an exception to
condemnation and true repentance, dear friends, is only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he's our message.
That's what we preach. Back home, I have a cousin that
lives in the next county and a man in our church is a contractor
and she's in real estate and he She found out that he went
to our church and that I was the pastor. And she said, what
did David Lee, that's what my family calls me, and says, what
did David Lee preach on this Sunday? And she said, he said
he preached on what he preaches on every Sunday and every Wednesday. And she goes, really? I'm sorry? And he said, oh no. And that's
what we do. We preach the same message just
from different texts. I hear John, I hear Bruce, I
hear Paul, these other men preach. It's the same message, isn't
it? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What God has done for sinners.
Oh, we don't ever get tired of hearing it, do we? Because that's
what we are and that's what we need. We need God's mercy and
grace. He's granted repentance to us.
What an exception to the rule. Our Lord said, I came not to
call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Him, the Lord
Jesus, hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. And that brings us to the third exception. First, except
a sinner be born again. Second, accept a sinner, repent.
And the third exception for sin's wages is found in Matthew chapter
18. Turn there with me, please. Matthew chapter 18. We'll begin
in verse one. The exception to the rule. Christ is the exception. Matthew
chapter 18, verse one. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst
of them and said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted
and become as little children willing to be taught, willing
to be led, willing to serve. you shall not enter into the
kingdom of God. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven, except you be converted." That word converted means to
be made suitable for a new purpose. Conversion is not a makeover,
it's a do-over. You know, there used to be a
show on television, I may be telling on myself here, but it
was called Extreme Makeover. You may remember that, you may
not. They'd take someone like me and endeavor to make them
handsome. And it was rightly called Extreme
Makeover because that's what it would be to do that for me. But when they got through with
the makeovers, these folks didn't look the same at all. They looked
considerably different. but they were the same. You see,
changing the outward has never changed the inward. A conversion
is to change the inward, which by the grace of God changes the
outward. It's never accomplished the other
way. Sinners don't need makeovers, we need do-overs. Conversion's
not simply restoration, it's not simply reformation, it's
a new creation. Recently back home, I noticed
this dilapidated house on the way to church, and each time
we would go to service, they'd done a little more to it. The
exterior was old, it was weathered, it was in bad shape, but whoever
owned the house, they had started putting on new siding, and then
they put on new soffits and new trim and new guttering on the
outside, and soon it looked like a brand new house. But all they
were doing was covering up what was underneath. They were just
hiding what was old and weathered and in bad shape. That's not
conversion. None of the inward structure
had been changed, just covered up, made to look new. You know,
that's what religion does, isn't it? That's what religion does. Our Lord told the Pharisees that
they were like the sepulchers, ornamented tombs, beautiful on
the outside, but full of death on the inside. The Lord said,
except you be converted and become as little children, you shall
not enter. Enter what? The kingdom of heaven. You shall
not be saved from the wrath of God. You shall not live but die
in your sin. This is not something we can,
of ourselves, become. We have to be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Our Lord Jesus was made and sinned
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And that's only accomplished
in Christ. It's found in Him and Him alone.
Christ is the exception to God's holy and just rule of condemnation. In Psalm 51 verse 13, David said,
then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be
converted unto thee. And that's what preaching is.
That's what preaching is. From God's word, we show sinners
God's ways, God's ultimatums, and most importantly, God's exceptions
in Christ. God's grace and mercy are exceptions
to his justice and condemnation upon sinners. The Lord Jesus
said, for this people's heart is wax gross and their ears are
dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed and lest at
any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted. and I should heal thee, on Matthew
13, 15. Preaching is the means that God uses to give sight,
give hearing, and understanding to the heart. That's just how
God ordained it, by what the world calls foolishness. It's
not foolishness to you, is it? No, it's the power of God unto
salvation. Preaching is the ordained means
that God incorporates to heal those that are sick in sin. And
that's why we love preaching. The gospel is for those who have
great need, and we're poor and needy. Only Christ can convert
and heal us, and Jesus Christ is the only exception to God's
holy justice, which demands death and sends wages. And that brings
me to the fourth exception, and this fourth ultimatum concerning
the death of the wicked is found back just a few pages in Matthew
chapter 5. Look there with me, please. beginning
in verse 20, Matthew chapter 5. Here again the Lord Jesus says
in verse 20 of Matthew 5, for I say unto you that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
God. And you know, there's no doubt
that that statement must have been shocking to Christ's disciples. The Pharisees were professional
religionists. They were people who tithed and
fasted and prayed out in the public and stuffed their robes
full of prayers so the people would think that they were holy
and righteous. Everyone thought they were holy. And the Lord said, unless your
righteousness exceed theirs, you won't see the kingdom of
God. You'll die in your sin. And I'm sure the disciples must
have thought, who then could be saved? If these men aren't
saved, who can be? And the Lord said, that which
is impossible with men is possible with God. Only God can make the
exception. What kind of righteousness did
the Pharisees have? Do you ever think about that?
Well, the Lord says, unless your righteousness exceed theirs. So we see first that it was their
righteousness. That's the problem. Our righteousness
is filthy rags. God won't accept it. Filthy rags. Theirs was. It's not the righteousness
of God. It was theirs. They had a zeal
for God, but it was not according to knowledge. They were ignorant
of God's righteousness. They thought God was altogether
like themselves. That's what's wrong today in
religion. Men think that God is altogether
one as they are. They're not. Nowhere close. Oh, God help us to to see that. The Pharisees went about to establish
their own righteousness. It was an outward righteousness.
They made clean the outside of the cup, but on the inside it
was full of excess and extortion. And the Pharisees' righteousness
consisted of two things, doing and not doing. The Pharisee in
the temple prayed, God, I thank you. I'm not like other men.
I'm not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. That was his righteousness. And
it was an outward righteousness. They made an effort to carefully
clean the outside of the cup, but inside it was just full of
envy and jealousy and strife and lust and hatred. The Pharisee
said, I'm not like other men. I'm much better. I do this and
I don't do that. He said, I tithe, I give alms
to the poor, I fast. He was a professional religionist.
We still got a lot of Pharisees today. Folks that are convinced
that they're holier than thou, but they don't know what true
holiness is. It can only be obtained in and
by and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our righteousness,
dear friends, must exceed theirs. And it does, and this is the
reason it's Christ's righteousness imputed to us. My righteousness
is perfect righteousness, because it's His. And He imputed it to
me, He gave it to me freely. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, which is filthy rags, but the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Not by my faith, but
by His faith. Our faith is in his faith, isn't
it? I don't rest in any faithfulness I might have, I'd rest in his
faithfulness to me. It's not our obedience to the
law that saves us, it's Christ's obedience to God's law that does.
Our Lord Jesus came into the world, took on flesh and blood,
kept every jot and tittle of the law as our representative
and our substitute. imputing and charging his perfect
righteousness to our account. And it exceeds the righteousness
of the Pharisees. And Christ's righteousness is
the exception. And whenever God looks at the
believer, what does he see? He sees the perfect righteousness
of his beloved son. Maybe you're taking that too
far, preacher. You can't take that too far. In my oneness and
my union with Christ, I'm as perfect as he is. Oh, I wish
we could get a hold of that. I wish we could really believe
that, as we all. You know, on the way here to
North Carolina, we kind of misjudged the weather a little bit. And
it was kind of cold. And I brought shorts. And I said,
we're going to have to stop. I'm going to pick up a coat.
And so we did. And we stopped. And I bought
a coat without money. And you might ask, well, how
did you do that? Well, very easily. I charged it. But I charged it
to my account. And eventually, I'm going to
have to pay for that. Oh, every one that thirsteth, come ye to
the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye and buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. How do we buy without money and
without price? It's charged to the account of
another. It's charged to Christ's account. And that brings me to
the fifth exception to the wages of sin, which is death. It's found back in the Gospel
of John, chapter 6, if you'd turn there with me. And you know
this one, I know, you're already ahead of me, I can see it. John
6, verse 44, you know this verse well. Speaking of man's inability
to come to Christ for life, the Lord Jesus says in verse 44,
no man, no woman, no sinner can come to me except, oh, don't
you love that word? Except the father which hath
sent me draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. No sinner
has the ability to come to Christ, and for no man can, when we're
dead. No sinner has the desire to come
to Christ because no man will. And the exception to this is
like all the others. It's the difference that God
makes. Who maketh it different from another? What do we have
that we did not receive? And if we received it, why do
we glory in it as though we did receive it? When it was God that
gave it to us as a free gift. except the Father which sent
me draw him." Do you know that word draw in the original language
means to drag? That's offensive to some folks. They'll tell you straight up
that it was not their will, it was not against their will to
come to Christ. They're offended by that. They'll
tell you proudly that God didn't have to drag them in order to
come. And the only thing that I can
say to that is they've never truly come. The true child of
God will tell you without hesitation that God drugged them. But He
didn't drag them against their will. He made them willing in
the day of His power. God made us willing to be drugged. I was willing for God to drag
me. Why? Because I can't walk. Like
Mephibosheth, I'm lame on both feet from a great fall. Lord,
drag me, if you must. Make me willing to be dragged.
I'm willing for the Father to drag me. I'm happy to be dragged.
Why? Because I could not come. And
because I would not come. Drag me, Lord, just as long as
I get there. It's a loving drag. Not like
in those old western movies where the outlaw lassoes the guy with
the rope and drags him behind their horse. No, not like that.
against their will, but being my good shepherd, my Lord tenderly
comes, as we said earlier, puts me on my shoulder and carries
me all the way home. I'm so glad that he drug me by
his mercy and grace, made me willing in the day of his power. God the Father took all the wrath,
all the judgment, all the justice, and the condemnation that you
and I deserved, and we deserved it. And he put it on his beloved
son, all on Christ. Jesus Christ, dear friends, is
the exception to the rule. If you hear that statement or
that saying again, may God enable you to think on these things
that we've seen. He is the exception. We're born
again because of him. We're made new creatures in Christ.
We're given repentance because of Christ. God forgives us for
Christ's sake. We're converted because It's
God that makes us to differ in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our righteousness
exceeds all others because He, our Lord, took our sin and made
us the perfect righteousness of God in Him. And we come to
Christ because He made us able and He made us willing to come
to Him for life. He is the exception. And with
that said, let me just quickly give you one more. Our Lord said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. All
the other exceptions are wrapped up in this one. When we partake
of Christ, He becomes one with us and we become one with Him.
And being one with Christ is the exception to the wrath and
the judgment and the condemnation of God. You see, I don't want
what I deserve. I want to be an exception to
the rule. And in Christ, I am. May God be pleased to make it
so for his glory, our good, and for Christ's sake. Thank you.