Good morning. The honor really
is all mine, John. I don't deserve any praise from
men or God. I want to bring a sermon this
morning from the book of Acts. If you want to turn there, Acts
chapter 13. And I plan to read from verse
14 through verse 48, if you want to follow along with me in the
reading. I've entitled this message, Justified
by This Man. Justified by This Man, because
in the scripture we're going to read, we're going to see that
that's the reason that we are forgiven and that we are justified
by God. In verse 14 of Acts 13 we read,
but when they departed from Perga they came to Antioch in Pisidia
and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
This would be Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas, if you read
verses 2 and 4, were separated by the Spirit of God to the work
God gave them to do. The Lord Jesus Christ sent them
to preach his gospel. And the gospel The preaching
of the gospel is what the Spirit of God enables men to do. That's
the work. If a man preaches the gospel,
it's by the Spirit of God. If he doesn't, then he doesn't
have the Spirit of God. So don't we beseech the Lord
that he would give us his Spirit today. So they came to Antioch
and they went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers
of the synagogue sent to them saying, you men and brethren,
if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. It was
an invitation to preach the gospel. Obviously an open door given
by God himself. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. Now when we read through this,
you're going to see Paul recounting a large amount of history in
a short amount of time. And I always wondered why he
does that. Let's read it together. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt. And with a high arm brought he
them out of it. And about the time of forty years
suffered he their manners in the wilderness. So at this point,
the people of Israel have already been delivered out of Egypt and
brought into the wilderness and God is putting up with their
ways and their manners. Verse 19. And when he had destroyed
seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land
to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them
judges, about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until
Samuel a prophet. And afterward they desired a
king. This was the people's request
when they saw the kings of the nations around them. And God
gave unto them Saul the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin,
by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him,
God removed Saul, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the
son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. That's a lot in one, so much
in that sermon so far. The apostle rehearses to these
men listening to him the history of Israel from the time of their
bondage in Egypt until the time that God crowned or found David
and made him king over Israel. And he immediately interprets
that history pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one God
raised up. Raised up to Israel to be a Savior. Verse 24. When John had first
preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all
the people of Israel. That's when it became evident
that God raised up Jesus to be a Savior was when it was first
known was when John preached before his coming the baptism
of repentance to all the people of Israel. In verse 25, And as
John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am?
I am not he. But behold, there cometh one
after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to lose,
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. Now these men were devout Jews. They were in the synagogue on
the Sabbath day reading the law and the prophets. And here is
Paul speaking to them about salvation. The word of this salvation is
sent to you. And I can imagine that they probably
wondered, what salvation do we need? We are the people you just
described, these favored people that God delivered from Egypt
and gave us all the way through King David. And now you're talking
about a Savior and His name, Jesus? We know about Him and
that we need salvation. Verse 27, Paul continues, For
they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they
knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning
him. Now he's driving home to them a very important point.
They were guilty, like their fathers, of those who killed
the Lord Jesus Christ. Didn't know, they didn't understand
the prophecies, and because they didn't understand them in their
unbelief, When they heard him and saw him, they took him and
hated and envied and killed him. And they fulfilled God's word
in doing that. And though they found no cause of death in him,
yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain, they conspired
against him. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead.
And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses unto the people.
So they want to make sure these men hearing them understand that
this resurrection of Christ from the dead was not just something
they made up. Many witnesses saw it. They were
the ones, the people of the Jews were the ones who put him to
death and God raised him from the dead. And we declare to you,
glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus, again, as it is also written in the
second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. So Jesus is, according to scripture,
the Son of God, the one God raised up and prophesied that he would
do so, the resurrection from the dead. It's not something
the Pharisees made up, though the Sadducees denied it. And
verse 34, and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead
now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. That's the covenant God
made with his son. And he's speaking to him in Isaiah
55.3, and to all who believe him, that he would give them
the sure mercies of David, which obviously had to be speaking
of Christ, because in Isaiah, David was long since dead. And
verse 35, Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt
not suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. So in three
ways, from scripture, Paul proves that Christ is the one God spoke
of in the Old Testament. First, in Psalm 27, where he
said, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, referring
to the resurrection when God declared him to be his son. And
then secondly, when he said in Isaiah 55, 3, I will give you
the sure mercies of David, and here in Psalm 16, that he would
not see corruption, though they laid him in the tomb. David saw
corruption, he goes on, for David, after he had served his own generation
by the will of God, fell asleep. And he was laid unto his fathers,
and he saw corruption. But he, whom God raised again,
saw no corruption. Therefore, those prophecies could
not have been speaking about David. They had to be speaking
about David's son, which wonderfully is greater than David. Now when
we have children, we don't usually think of them as greater than
we are, do we? Our children have to be somewhat
lesser than we are, but here, And that was the tradition in
those days. The son was never greater than his father. Abraham
was much greater than his children in the eyes of the Jews. And
here, the son of David is greater than David himself, who was the
greatest king they ever knew. And they thought that was the
great king. Here, Paul is saying, no, the
great king is not David, but his son, whom God raised from
the dead. And verse 38, Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Now that's an amazing statement
to these people. There's a lot of things the law
of Moses would not justify a man. if he had sinned he could bring
a sacrifice, but for the most part they were trivial things
that the sacrifices would allow them to excuse them. But they
never justified men by those things. And he goes on, beware therefore
lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.
Now a warning is issued. He just spoke to them of God's
promises to the prophets how it was a promise of salvation,
how He had raised up a Savior, Jesus, the Son of God, spoken
of in Scripture, Old Testament Scripture, throughout. And He
proved to them by His resurrection that He was the One God spoke
of then. And now He says that was for
the forgiveness of sins, justified by Him. by this man. And now
he gives them a warning. Beware therefore, lest that come
upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, you
despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it to you." And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue,
the Gentiles, we saw that these words might be preached to them
the next Sabbath. That's an amazing thing. Here
were Gentiles, the heathen, the ungodly. despised by the Jews,
and they said, we want to hear this again. Salvation? Forgiveness of sins and justification
from the law of Moses? Now when the congregation was
broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. You see the effects of the preaching
of the gospel? These men heard, they wanted
to hear it again, and they continued in the grace of God. And the
next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear
the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing you
put it from you and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Salvation is by grace. Damnation
is by our own merits. Verse 47, For so hath the Lord
commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ. And verse
48, the last verse I want to read, And when the Gentiles heard
this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. That could really be the end
of the sermon, couldn't it? But here we have to think about,
why did God guide Paul to preach the entire history of the nation
of Israel in such a short space? Was Paul simply trying to demonstrate
his proficiency in the Scriptures so that they would then believe
him when he preached the Gospel? No. No, he wasn't doing that. What he was doing was really
two things. He was doing what God told Ezekiel to do in chapter
20 of Ezekiel, when he said, when they come to inquire of
you, of the Lord, when they come to inquire of me from you, then
show them their abominations. And so Ezekiel was told what
to do. And he rehearsed all of their
history. From the time in Egypt, God told them, I'm going to bring
you out of Egypt. And he said, put away your idols.
They did not. And the Lord said, I'm going
to pour out my fury upon you. But he didn't do that. And he
didn't do it for his name's sake. And then when they came out of
Egypt into the wilderness, he gave them his laws and required
them to keep his Sabbaths. But they wouldn't do that. They
despised his laws. And they worshiped idols. And
he said, I'm going to destroy them. But he didn't do it. And
the reason why is for his name's sake. This is all in Ezekiel
chapter 20. And so Paul is doing the same thing here. He's rehearsing
their history to them. And the first thing he does by
doing so is he shows them the goodness of God towards the nation
of Israel and their hatred and sin against God in spite of his
goodness. This is why He lays it out this
way. Do you see the history of your
fathers? This is what they were like. God delivered them many
times. 450 years He gave them judges.
Finally Saul, according to their wishes, a man just like what
they wanted. They despised God. They even offered their children
to idols in fire. They're His firstborn. And God
gave them up to do those things, to show them their corruptions.
To show them what they were. They were sinners. Great sinners. And they claimed to be righteous. They claimed to be religious
people. Claimed to be God's people. They rested upon the fact that
God favored their fathers, He must favor them. And so Paul
unfolds it. They had read from the Law and
the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets, that's what I'm going
to tell you about. What is the message of the Law
and the Prophets? What is the message of the Law
and the Prophets? And he gives them the message.
First, your sin. Second, God's goodness to the
nation in temporal things. But mostly, and this is where
he's getting to, the One who was promised, the Savior. And
so he gets to verse 22 when he speaks of David and he says,
he speaks of David and he's holding up David as a prophet and a king. And as a prophet in his life,
he demonstrates the message God has for Israel. And so he says,
I have found David, a man after my own heart. Why does he say
that? Why did the Lord say that about
David? Well, he was, but pre-eminently the Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who is after God's own heart. Because all that he did pleased
the Father, and his Father spoke from heaven many times. This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Thy law is within
my heart, he said in the verses we just read in Hebrews chapter
10. So he holds up David. Here, in
David, see Christ, the man after God's own heart. But he's more
than man, because later he says he's the Son of God. And he's
going to do what? Look at it in verse 22. He shall
fulfill all my will. Now that's what the Lord Jesus
did. The man after God's own heart who came to fulfill all
his will. And he's the Savior, the promised Savior. God raised
him up. John preached about him. John
the Baptist. And who was he? Jesus said He
was the greatest prophet that ever lived. He did no miracle
and yet He was the greatest prophet that ever lived. So all of the
prophets culminating in John preached Christ and Him crucified. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 11
they preached the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. This was the whole summary of
the Old Testament Law and Prophets. Christ and Him crucified. And
so Paul is doing that. And he's using the testimony
of David and John the Baptist to show them. Look, that's what
God was saying through David. That's what God was saying through
John the Baptist. But remember, you wouldn't hear Him. The publicans
and Pharisees justified God, but not you. You wouldn't hear
Him. And so he goes on and he talks about how John the Baptist
said, don't look at me, I'm not the Christ. But he comes, and
when he comes, know that he's from heaven, therefore he's above
all, I'm not worthy to unloose his foot, his sandal, not his
shoe. And so he concludes that part
of the sermon, he says, men and brethren, children of the stock
of Abraham, and whoever among you fears God to you is the word
of this salvation sent. Now that is grace. Why? Because these were the people
that killed the Lord Jesus Christ. Weren't they? They turned him
over to Pilate. You do the deed, we can't by
law. And they gave him over to the Gentiles. Just like Joseph's
brethren gave Joseph over to the Egyptians. To the Midianite
merchantsmen. Sold him into slavery. These
men gave Christ over to their enemies. They hated Him. And
when Joseph cried in the pit without water, his brothers turned
a deaf ear. And so it's written in Isaiah
55 and 53 that we despised Him. We rejected Him. We wouldn't
hear Him. And so these men here are the
sinners. These are the ones who are the
guilty ones. But to them is this word of salvation
sent. Isn't that the great mercy? Wasn't
it the greatest mercy you could ever think of? In the Old Testament,
when Joseph, when he received his brothers, he says, I am Joseph,
I am Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Now don't be angry
with yourselves, for it wasn't you that sent me here, it was
God. Now that's mercy, isn't it? The
humility of Joseph on the place of the judgment seat in Egypt,
having authority over all of Egypt, and he speaks to his brothers
in humility and reconciling words of peace and forgiveness. And
here, Paul is preaching as an ambassador of Jesus Christ to
these guilty men. who were the murderers of Christ.
Their fathers certainly were, their brethren were. Whether
they themselves had a hand in it, they were of that sort, and
that's why he's preaching to them. And then he goes on and
he proves that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one spoken of when
God spoke of David, who would be buried, who would be put on
the tree, and buried, and put in the tomb, but God would raise
him from the dead. Why did God raise the Lord Jesus
from the dead? Why was he able to, as you said,
John, earlier, why was he able to overcome death? Because he
overcame the cause of death. Wasn't that it? And that's why
he says, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Look
at it with me in verse 38 and 39. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins." The forgiveness of sins. I was thinking
of a good illustration. You know, there's so many that
you could... Forgiveness is only something that's good news to
a sinner, isn't it? Have you ever felt the burden
of your wrong? Sometimes we get caught red-handed. You can think of just about anything
you'd rather, anything you'd give to get out from under being
known as guilty. Maybe it was your mom and dad.
your brothers, your sisters, your wife, or whoever it was. I am red-handed guilty. Or maybe it was the weight of
the knowledge of your sins on your own conscience. When you
read something in Scripture and say, that man, that woman whom
the Lord destroyed for their sins, I did that and worse. And you feel the guilt of it
and the weight of it as you read Scripture. And you wonder, is
there any hope for me? And here he says, be it known
to you that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins. So I want you to consider, first
of all, this man. Through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sins. And he goes on, and by him all
that believe are justified from all things from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. Through this man. Through
this man the forgiveness of sin, through this man you are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. All the law and the prophets
were speaking about this. You know the acrostic we use,
tulip, t-u-l-i-p, total depravity, unconditional election, limited
Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.
I wish there was room for one more letter at least in there.
J. I just can't fit it in. Justification
by this man. Because that's what the Scripture
is about. We might not realize it, but all of Scripture speaks
about this. Justification by this man. Now
if I was doing something very dangerous I would do whatever
is necessary to guard my safety. And if you were asking me to
do something dangerous and you said, what can I do to be safe? I would make sure that I told
you the best safety equipment to use. And here we are facing
what really is the most awesome thing that anyone could ever
think of, any man could ever think, which is facing God in
judgment. And we need to know something.
How in the world can I, a sinner, be justified before God in judgment? We justify ourselves all the
time, don't we? We justify our words, we justify
our actions. Well, I did it, but it was because,
and we give that reason, So many times I can think, we can all
think of so many excuses we've come up with. We do it all the
time. I find myself justifying myself every day to somebody. Well, the reason I, is because
I, you know, I remember I was four or five years old, my dad
had a camper shell, it was probably made of that thin aluminum, and
he told me not to climb on it, and we had a long driveway, and
I'm up there climbing on it while he's at work, and I look up,
and there's my dad driving down the driveway, caught red-handed. And he comes up to me, what are
you doing? I'm scratching my leg. That's called justifying
yourself. I didn't want to face the truth
because I was guilty. And I knew what my dad would
do because he did it anyway. He saw right through it. We justify
ourselves all the time. But that helps us understand
what the word justify means. What does it mean? It means to
defend ourselves. against the wrong we've been
accused of doing. Or it's to claim that we actually
did the right thing. But we don't, ourselves, our
own justification won't work before God, because God has a
law, and He's going to compare our performance to that law,
and He's going to go down it. In the book of James, in chapter
2, verse 10, it says, if you've offended in one thing, you've
broken the whole law. And so this matter of being justified
before the judge is a very serious matter and it's terrifying to
think of standing before God. And it's natural for us to think
of being justified in only one way. We have to come up with
whatever God requires. And we have to pay like I did
when I climbed up on my dad's camper. Something for doing the
wrong we have to make amends for the wrongs and we have to
fulfill the right and So we think about how to do that And there
are a lot of people in scripture who did that and failed I want
to turn with you to one of those look at Matthew chapter 7 because
It helps us to see how not To come before God to be justified
Matthew chapter 7 in verse 8 13, it says, Enter ye in at the straight
gate. S-T-R-A-I-T, straight. It means
a small gate, a compressed gate, something that's difficult to
find and get through. And Jesus says that's where you
need to come in. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide
is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat. This is the Lord Jesus.
He's the judge. He says most people go in the
wide gate, and the end of that is the way to destruction, because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life,
and few there be that find it. Few. So this matter of justification
is very important to me, because few find it. And so I immediately
think when you read those, all right, how do I get in the straight
gate? I remember when I read, heard those words as a young
person, I would think, how in the world can I get in the straight
gate? What does it look like? Where can I find it? You know
the Straits of Magellan, a little tiny narrow place in the geography
on the map. You can't find it easily. You're
driving, you're riding your boat, you look in the shoreline, you
can't see it because everything starts looking the same. It's
invisible, almost, to your eyes. And then he goes on, verse 15,
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are rabbiting wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, but a corrupt
tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast
into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruit you
shall know them." Why does he do this? Why does the Lord say,
in the context of the narrow gate and the wide gate and the
destruction and the way to life and salvation, He talks about
these prophets, false prophets. And He says, beware of them.
They look like sheep, but they're not sheep, they're wolves. And
they have a mission. It's to deceive. and to bring
to death. They're not interested in the
sheep, they're interested in themselves. And so he says, you
know them by their fruit. What is this fruit of a false
prophet? Well, in Deuteronomy 13, God
told Moses, if a prophet comes to you and says, now we need
to go serve other gods, and he goes about and performs miracles,
the Lord has sent him to test you. because his doctrine concerning
God and His works in salvation are wrong, therefore his fruit
is wrong. The fruit here spoken of is the
truth, or the lack of it. These men didn't have it, and
they didn't preach it, and therefore their fruit was corrupt, because
they were corrupt. They didn't have anything in
their heart, because it's out of the heart of man that we speak.
Our mouth speaks what's in us. Our conscience will confess in
that day what we're truly thinking. Because the judge of all the
earth will require it of us. Verse 21, Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. So this
is talking still about the straight, narrow, and the broad way. You're not going to enter if
you just say, Lord, Lord, but He that does the will of my Father,
which is in heaven. Not talking, not saying, Lord,
Lord, but actually doing the will of my Father is required.
Many will say to me in that day, not just a few, but many will
say this. And this is Christ speaking in prophecy here. We
think somehow we can avoid this. No, this is going to happen.
Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? We preached in your name. They
called him Lord. And they cast out devils. I can't do that. And we did many wonderful works. What were these men doing? They
were asking the Lord Jesus Christ to look at the history of their
lives and consider the evidences of their lives as a way of justifying
themselves before the judge. And what did he say? Well, he
knew. He didn't have to search. I will
profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. you that work iniquity. Now if these men who were obviously
the professing Christian leaders, if they appeared before Christ
with the message that they preached on earth as false prophets, And
they used that as their answer to justify themselves before
Christ. And it failed. What will happen
to all those who carry the same answer in their conscience to
judgment on that day? They're part of the broad way
that leads to destruction. So what then is the narrow way?
Well, he says it here. Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that does the will of my Father. And what is that? Didn't Jesus
say, I come to do thy will, O God? And didn't Paul say, where we
just read in Acts 13, by this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins? And didn't Jesus say in John
6, in verse 40, let me read this to you. In John 6, verse 40, regarding
the will of His Father, He said this, This is the Father's will,
verse 39, which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given
Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day. And, verse 40, this is the will of Him that sent
Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him,
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. And Jesus also said in chapter 5, verse 24, that whoever believes
on Me has already passed from condemnation, from judgment to
life. He shall not enter into judgment.
So, in Acts 13, when He says, by this man, He's referring to
that narrow way. He's referring to that way that
enters into life and salvation, the way which Christ Himself
walked. And we enter into, He is the
way, is He not? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by Me. He's the way. And these men who
brought their own, they referred to what they did. They thought,
well, it has to be okay. We were unable to do it. That
must have been by God's grace. And they called Jesus Lord. Everything
they did, they did in His name. They really believed that they
were just before God, but they were not just before God, because
God knows our heart. And he says, you're workers of
iniquity. You use the law unlawfully. The law was never given to justify
a man, not by his own words. Do you know that no man ever
born to Adam, no man or woman ever born to Adam has ever been
justified before God by what they are or do? None. There is
none righteous. No, not one. Not even one. Well then, how can Paul preach
here that the Lord Jesus Christ is the man through whom God justifies
people for things for which the law of Moses couldn't justify
us. Look at Romans chapter 4. The
book of Romans is the book that explains this as well as all
of scripture, really, but it's very clear here. Look at Romans
chapter 4, verse 5. In verse 4 it says this, Now to him that worketh, that's
someone who tries, who gives it their best shot, strenuously,
striving, I want to enter in, I'm going to go in the broad
gate, or maybe I'm going to get in the narrow gate, and I imagine
what that is. To him that worketh is the reward,
not reckoned of grace, but debt. These men who came to Jesus in
Matthew 7, They had done all these things and they brought
them and they actually found in his judgment that they weren't
in the crediting column, they were in the debit column. Oh,
the very things I thought I was doing, I mean, I wasted my life
doing these things. I really worked like the prodigal
sons, I mean, the prodigals, the son of the father, his brother.
I've served you all my life. You never made me a kid. You
never had a party for me. Done all this for nothing. You're
right. Actually, it's been worse than
nothing. It actually added to the debt. You worked in order to justify
yourself before God when His law had one use for you, to prove
your guilt. And so he goes on, verse 5, "...but
to him that worketh not." Only grace can do this. "...but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly." Now here's a word. Ungodly. How can God justify the ungodly? How can God justify any man? That's what Job asked. How can
man be just with God? Job's friends came to him. Bildad
said, well, you know, the Lord did, you know, your kids did
die and it was probably for their iniquity, but if you seek God
and make your supplications before Him, if you were perfect, then
He would hear you. And this is found in Job 8. And
Job said later in verse 2 of chapter 9, he said, I know it's
true, but how can man be just with God? How? You've told me
what I know. I can't be justified before God
by myself, by anything in me or of me, but how can it happen?
By this man. By this man. You see? And this is, I think, the most
amazing part of the Gospel, is that God, in His wisdom, devised
a scheme, if you could use those words about God, because it was
always in his heart. This is God's justice. Well,
we can't do this, but God determined from eternity to make one man
stand in the place instead of his people, all of his people.
And whatever debt they owed, he was made obligated to pay.
and whatever righteousness that God required, whatever commandments,
whatever requirements God had for them, He laid it on Him to
fulfill. That's what God devised from
eternity. And we know that because when
He created the world, He made a man, Adam. And He revealed
later, He made him in the figure of Him who was to come, who already
was before He came. That man, Adam, stood by himself
before God, one command, do not eat of that tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. But if you do, you're going to
die in that day. And so he did, and he died. And
when he ate of that tree, he immediately became guilty. And
God called to him, Adam, where are you? Why are you hiding? Did you eat the fruit that I
told you not to eat? Well, the woman that you gave
me, she gave me from the fruit and I ate it. At that time, Adam ate that fruit
and became guilty. God judged him and condemned
him for that sin. And in that one sin of that one
man, all humanity, all ever born to Adam, man, woman, boy or girl,
throughout time, fell in sin then, and became guilty before
God, and condemned by God, condemned, and sentenced to death. And death
began right then. Right away, Adam's body began
to die. Right then, he became dead in sins, and his spirit
died. And he faced the prospect of eternal damnation. And God did that because He had
ordained from eternity to make one man in the place of His people.
One man. Just like Pastor Gene read. In
the volume of the book, it is written of me. I come to do thy
will, O God. And so, the apostle is preaching
this to the Jews who didn't understand this. It's not in the individual
prophets. They spoke of this man. It's
not in John the Baptist. It's not in David. It's not in
the best of the best of your men. It's in this man. And you
took him. And you hated Him, and envied
Him, and plotted to put Him to death, hired someone to betray
Him, and you accomplished the deed. And you did it. And then
you buried Him. But God raised Him from the dead.
Because in His death He died the one man for the many. He
bore their sins as His own. He owned them before God. Remember
in Leviticus 16, where the high priest once a year on the Day
of Atonement came in and made atonement for the sins of Israel?
What did he do when he took the scapegoat? Remember that in Leviticus
16? Let me read that to you. This is an important thing. He says in Leviticus 16 verse
21, Aaron, who was there, the high priest pointing to Christ,
shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and
confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel. and
all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness." Who is the High
Priest? Who is the High Priest of His
people? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ? Did not the Lord Jesus
Christ make atonement for our sins? Did He not fulfill this
law when He laid His own hands, as it were, on His own head and
owned our sins and confessed them as is before God? And He
bore them. They were taken from us, lifted
from us, and put upon Him because from eternity He had pledged
Himself to answer God for all of our sins and to fulfill all
our righteousness. By this man is preached to you
the forgiveness of sins. This is the narrow way. This
is the way to life, the way of salvation. You can only enter
it Are there examples of God justifying the ungodly in Scripture? Because as a sinner, I want to
know. I want to know if God could justify me. Do you ever wonder
that? Would He? Could He? Did He? Has
He? I fear my sin is great. I fear
it's so great that I've sinned away all possibility of salvation. And I know that sense of loss of the presence of God, because
of sin or that feeling of guilt, and my heart is cold, and my
attitude is proud, and my will is stubborn, and my way is rebellious,
and in all these things, I find myself on every page, don't you? There's Demas, look at him, he
loved this world and left. That's me. Oh, there's Ananias
and Sapphira lying to the Holy Ghost about giving so much when
they didn't. That's me too. Or how about David
who committed adultery and then murdered the wife of the woman
that he took and lied about it and pretended that he was still
a good guy. That's me. Or how about Peter
who denied the Lord? Or how about those two thieves
on the cross? They were guilty. We're here because we're... They were thieves. They were
guilty. We're here because we deserve it. Are there examples
in Scripture of Christ, of the Lord justifying the ungodly? Aren't these people that we mentioned
here those the Lord has justified? The ungodly. Sometimes we think
about our sins. It doesn't happen so often. But
sometimes we do. And it's a terrible thing. You
remember something you did to your mom, your dad, your employer,
your wife, your brother, your sister, your children. And it
just bothers you. Something fierce. I've done worse
than so many. And so the question comes, how
can I give an answer to God in judgment? How can I stand before
the judge of all the earth? Abel was justified. Wasn't he
a sinner? Well, it didn't seem like it
too much because we don't have a lot of record of him. But Noah
was. Wasn't he? In that day in Genesis
6-5, God looked upon every man and saw the imaginations of his
heart. Their heart was only evil continually. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And so, so the Lord justified
him. And Abraham, Remember him? God
called him out of the land of the Chaldees, the land of idolatry. And then he immediately says,
I'm going to bless all the nations of the earth in your seed. And
he was speaking of justifications. God's going to do it. And great
sinners like David and Peter and Paul, murderers of Christ,
were justified. Because God justifies the ungodly. Remember King Manasseh? 55, I
think 55 years he was a king. God brought him low and humbled
him. He had only one plea, for God's mercy. And God saved Manasseh,
the king. And he had a son. Two years he
reigned, and God killed him. What was the difference between
these two men? It was God. It was God's grace, wasn't it? What about Israel? All these
times, God says, I'm going to destroy you, but He didn't. And
He didn't for His namesake. All these things are teaching
us how God saves us not for what He finds in us. The ungodly. I think we need to turn that
over in our minds daily. Christ died for the ungodly. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. Remember what the
man said, I'm a great sinner and nothing at all. That's where
he got that. Christ died for the ungodly,
but Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's my answer. The Lord
Jesus. Remember the examples God has
given to us in scripture of justification. I like examples, but I especially
like scriptural examples. Adam, we already spoke about
him, one man, one sin, one time, and the entire human race plunged
into sin and death. How holy is God? Look at that. Think about that. One man, one
time, and Adam all died. That's a holy God, isn't it? And remember the account of Joshua
in Zechariah chapter 3. Here's Joshua, he's standing
before the Lord, it says, in Zechariah chapter 3, he says,
He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel
of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
Here's a guilty sinner, standing before the judge of all. And
here's Satan to accuse him, and he's dressed. Joshua is standing
there dressed, it says, in filthy garments. Let's read verse 2.
And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. Even
the Lord of the chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire? And Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel, the angel of the Lord.
That's our mediator, the Lord Jesus. Here God is standing,
sitting in judgment, and here's this sinner. And what does the
Lord say? And he answered and spake unto
those that stood before him, the Lord, saying, Take away the
filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with the change of Raymond. That's justification
before God. I'm going to take away your sins.
I'm going to clothe the nakedness of the barrenness of your own
obedience and righteousness with the robe, the spotless robe of
Christ's obedience and everlasting righteousness. And in that you
shall appear before God spotless, blameless, faultless in the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. For His sake. That's the narrow
gate. And then I love this one in Philemon.
Remember Philemon? He was the master. Onesimus was
the slave. Onesimus ran away from his master. Maybe when he ran away, he took
something. Or maybe he left undone some
work that was part of a contract. And Philemon was hurt by that.
He had a loss because of Onesimus' disobedience in running away
from his master, Philemon. And so Onesimus, in the providence
of God, meets up with Paul in prison, and he hears the gospel,
and the Lord gives him faith, gives him life, and he's made
a new man. God had justified him in Christ,
and he gives him that life because of that. And so Paul takes out
his letter. This is the apostle. When he
writes, he writes by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. And he
tends a letter to Philemon, and he says, now Philemon, I'm going
to send unto you Onesimus. And when I do, I want you, I'm
going to read this to you. It's the book just before the
book of Hebrews in Scripture. He says in verse 12, And verse
10, he says, I beseech thee, speaking to Philemon in the letter,
for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in
time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and
to me. And listen to these words in verse 12 of Philemon, whom
I have sent again, he's coming back to you now, thou, Philemon,
receive him that is mine own bowels. This is a picture of
justification. Here we have one pleading on
the behalf of another to his master that he had wronged. And he says, the slave has sinned, but the son
has suffered. And he says, when you see him,
Onesimus, don't think of his merits. Don't think of his demerits. Don't think of his past. Don't
think of his future. Receive him that is mine own
bowels, because he is dear to me. And then verse 17, he says
this, And if thou count me a partner, Paul writes to Philemon in his
letter, receive him as me, as myself. Think about my merit
instead of his. Think about what you owe me instead
of what he owes you. And if he has wronged you or
owes you anything, put it on my account. I'll repay it. That's
the pledge of the Apostle to Philemon in behalf of Onesimus
as the surety. And so Onesimus takes the letter
inspired by God and written by the Apostle to his master that
he had wronged. Read this. Read this. And so
the Lord says the same thing to us. Let me read this to you
in Isaiah chapter 43. He says, in Isaiah 43 and verse
25, he says, I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake. For mine own sake. And I will
not remember thy sins. Now, put me in remembrance. Bring the letter. the One that
was penned by my Son in the words of Scripture, that speaks of
Him throughout, the One who did the will of God and bore the
iniquities of His people as His own iniquities. And bring that,
and put me in remembrance. Remind me, I don't need to be
reminded, but you do, when you come, looking to Christ, see
that God receives you, for Christ's sake, alone. You have nothing
else. If you have any other baggage,
you can't get into the gate. It's too narrow. It only fits
one size. The obedience and atoning blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all sinners in Him enter
that gate. He's the way. Put me in remembrance. Remind
me. The Lord can't forget His Son. He can't forget His covenant
that He made with His Son. He can't forget the people He
gave to His Son. He can't forget the sins, the
price that He required for the sins that He laid on His Son.
He can't forget the agony of His Son when He paid for those
sins. He can't forget the heart of
obedience in which the Lord Jesus Christ willingly gave Himself
up for His people. He can't forget how much He was
pleased with His Son. put me in remembrance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who said it. I,
even I am He that blots out your transgression for my own sake.
Amen.