So turn with me to the gospel
according to Zechariah. Chapter 8 of the book of Zechariah
and I want to read two verses tonight and then look at some
other verses that help us with those two verses. These two verses
are verse 16 and verse 17. Verse 16 and verse 17 and I want
you to keep your finger there because we're going to go back
about four or five books into the book of Micah for one reading
that goes along with these two verses of scripture. These are
the things that ye shall do. Speak every man the truth to
his neighbor. Execute judgment of truth and
peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine evil
in your hearts against his neighbor. And love no false oath. For all
these are things that I hate, saith the Lord." Now, I don't
know how that made you feel when you read those with me, but I
know how it made me feel as I read them originally, going through
the book of Zechariah, because I don't measure up. I don't measure
up to that standard. Well, keep your finger there
and turn back with me to the book of Micah. The book of Micah
right after Jonah the book of Micah and I want to look at chapter
6 and verse 8 chapter 6 and verse 8 another gospel according to
this is a gospel according to Micah and he shares almost the
same thing here as Zachariah did and I don't know how this
is going to make you feel but we're going to find out that
we have great hope not in ourselves but in our Savior the Lord Jesus
Christ it tells us here in the book of Micah chapter 6 verse
8 He hath showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the
Lord require of thee? but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Now as we look at those
two verses and many others in the Old Testament as well as
the New Testament, share with us some things I believe that
every believer in Christ Jesus aspire to. I believe that God's
people, they wake up in the morning and say, Lord help me not to
sin today. We know who we are, and the Lord
knows who we are, and we find that our aspirations sometimes
fall greatly short of what actually happens in the day. and it seems
that we are in the same situation that our dear brother in Christ
the Apostle Paul is in when he writes to us in the book of Romans
so would you turn with me to the book of Romans keeping these
things in mind that we just read here and if you turn to the book
of Romans chapter 7 now here in the book of Zacharias says
these are the things ye shall do speak ye every man the truth
I pray that God's people aspire to the truth. They aspire to
tell the truth. But more than that, we aspire
to know the truth. To know the truth because to
know the truth is to set us free. But we're going to find out that
we fall greatly short of that. We can't keep the standard. We
don't have that ability in ourselves to do that. And instead of making
us feel bad about it, these passages of Scripture should bring us
to the point that we trust Christ that has taken care of all of
these requirements. So we find there in verse 17,
let none of you imagine evil in your hearts. There in the
book of Zechariah chapter 8 in verse 17, don't think bad of
your neighbor. Don't think bad of those around
you, and don't love a false oath, don't promise things, and so
forth. But look, notice with me over
here in the book of Romans, chapter 7. The Apostle Paul was used
by the Spirit of God to write much of the New Testament, and
it is as we find in the Old Testament, holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. These are the words of God for
us. Zechariah wrote many years before
Paul, but their messages agreed completely. There was no variation
between the two, because the same author is the author of
both of them, the Holy Spirit. He's not going to change his
mind halfway through and say, well, we're going to go from
here to here. We're going to find out that the same truth
is taught Old Testament and New Testament. Here in the book of
Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7 and there in verse 19. Read with me in Romans chapter
7 and verse 19. Now this is how I felt as I read
that passage of scripture in the book of Zechariah and also
in the book of Micah. It says, for the good that I
would, I do not. Now, have you been there? I aspire
to this. I truly would like to be able
to do this. I want to do this. But the Apostle
Paul said, for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil
which I would not, that I do. Some people have mentioned to
me that this was written, Paul, these words are recorded before
he was saved. That is not true. He would not
even have any thought about this. It would not have entered into
his mind. But after the Lord saved him, he had this conflict
of mind, conflict of heart. Now, he goes on to say, now,
if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. Do you find that? Is
that part of your makeup? Just like the Apostle Paul, as
a believer in Christ Jesus, as saved by the grace of God, as
born again by the Holy Spirit, as the Word of God was brought
to him through the preaching of the gospel, and God did a
work, a masterful work that he does in every one of his children,
every one of his lost sheep. This work is a master's work. the work of the Holy Spirit,
the work of the Father, the work of the Son. And here we find
that the Apostle Paul is writing this, and we also read some wonderful
things. Ephesians chapter 1, Romans chapter
9, 10 and 11, all those great passages of Scripture about the
sovereignty of God, and yet when Paul reflects upon himself, he
says, here are the things I would really want to do, I do not.
There is a law in this. And you know, as we read over
there in the book of Zechariah and the book of Micah, we find
that that is the heart of a believer. The things I would not do, those
I do. And the things I would do, I
don't do those things. And that's what the Lord said,
I require this of you. I require this of you. Well,
we're caught in a conundrum. We have a problem until we find
grace and then the problem is over. Well, it goes on here in
the book of Romans. He says there in verse 22, for
I delight in the law of God, the word of God, the purpose
of God, the grace of God, the gospel of God. After the inward
man, I delight in that. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. It's the law of sin
that is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me now notice
that the holy spirit brought him to this point he says who
shall deliver me not what shall i deliver me but who shall deliver
me who shall deliver me from this who is able to deliver me
from this and that's the one that is going to deliver every
one of his children from all of these problems that we find
faced in Zechariah chapter 8 verses 16 and 17 and Micah chapter 8
there or chapter 6 there about the requirements of God who shall
deliver us from the conflict the problem that we face right
here in the Word of God when he says, I require this of you,
I demand this of you. And then he goes on to say, O
wretched man that I am. And every believer comes to that
conclusion about this in themselves. And it may be that feeling that
we have every day, O wretched man that I am, I just can't do
this. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now notice
the next verse. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. I thank God. As we look at this
passage of scripture, we find that he thanks God. The answer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the one that is going to
deal with all of this. Many years ago, I was sitting
at a table in a restaurant, and a pastor asked me, he says, Norm,
how many of those requirements placed upon pastors in the book
of Timothy and Titus have you fulfilled? You know what I said? None of them. None of them. I haven't kept any of them. But
I have someone that has kept them for me. And he went on to
say, well, I have them all down but one or two, and I'm working
on them. Well, you know, honestly, honestly, when we look at it
honestly, none of us can keep the requirements of God, but
that should bring us not looking inwardly into ourself, looking
to our belly button, but it should drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ,
just as this condition caused Paul to be driven to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who shall deliver me? What can
happen about this? Who can help me in this circumstance?
Who's able to overcome this? Who can present me spotless? Well, he says, I thank God. Don't
look in your belly button. Look to Christ. All these failures
on our part of a regenerated children of God serve to cause
us to look to Christ. They drive us to Christ. We are
unable in ourselves to do this. And we recognize that as the
Holy Spirit gives us ability to see these things in the scripture. Here's the requirement. Who kept
the requirement? Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All things has Christ taken care of on our behalf. we um uh we
look to christ for all things and that is including sanctification
you know the scriptures tell us in the book of romans or excuse
me first corinthians chapter 1 there in verse 30 that that
christ is our sanctification there are four things mentioned
there and every one of them are outstandingly Valuable to every
believer. He is our redemption He is our
sanctification and outside of him. We have no sanctification
He is, we find that, well, turn with me if you would, to the
book of 2 Thessalonians. Wonderful passage of scripture
over here in the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. The same word is used here as
we find over in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30 when Christ
is our sanctification. Here we read that the apostle
Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in his second letter and he's
writing again the gospel according to Thessalonians. He said here
in verse 13 of chapter two, but we are bound to give thanks all
the way to God. That's where it is. We are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because Now, here we go. This is all our hope. This is all our sanctification.
This is all our redemption. This is everything that we have
in Christ Jesus, because God hath from the beginning. He didn't
start it when we believed. He had it prepared from the beginning,
before the foundation of the world. From the beginning, chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. He is all our
sanctification and we are put in a sanctified place by the
Holy Spirit. We've been sanctified in a sense
from eternity because He has set His people aside and He has
caused them to be sanctified. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief in the truth. By sanctification is meant not
anything external. We're not sanctified by anything
external. We're not sanctified by our works.
We're not sanctified by our prayers. We're not sanctified by anything
external. We're not sanctified by someone
else. We're not sanctified by keeping the ordinances. We're
not sanctified by any reformation on our part. How often we even
think about it sometimes well if I didn't do that if I didn't
go there if I all this busyness that religion prompts us to and
Lord help me to get over that in my own self because our sanctification
is not found in anything external. We're not made sanctified by
where we don't go or where we do go. We're not sanctified by
any of those things. We're sanctified in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world. We were sanctified by
the Holy Spirit set apart. And then when he saves us, he
causes us to understand that this sanctification is in Christ
Jesus the Lord and it cannot and it will not be improved upon
because god will not allow us to go there it is because of
christ we are sanctified we're not sanctified by obedience of
the law because we cannot be obedient to the law we can't
be obedient to two verses in the book of zachariah chapter
8 verses 16 and 17 We can't be obedient to two verses out of
the Old Testament. We can't be obedient to one verse
in the book of Micah. There it talks about the requirements
that God has. But there is one. His name is
Jesus and he kept it all on the behalf of all his people. He
has kept every bit of it. It's by His obedience and not
our obedience. It is not by our submission to
some ordinances that we become sanctified. But internally, internally,
God, by His Spirit, by His Spirit sanctifies us in regeneration
and causes us to be as sanctified as we ever will be. We will never
be able to present ourselves spotless. Think about that for
a moment. We will never be able to present
ourselves spotless. It's not us that is presenting. It is God that presents us spotless. It is God that presents us sanctified. It is God that has kept the law. It is God that has kept those
two verses in Zechariah chapter 8. It is God that has kept that
verse in the book of Micah. the spiritual life in the soul
that God grants to us. Our will settle in the will of
God and the way of salvation by Christ. So let me ponder just
a moment, and I sometimes ponder incorrectly, but the Apostle
Paul was led to write in Romans chapter six. Would you turn there
with me? Romans chapter six. Romans chapter 6 we have these
glorious words written Romans chapter 6 verses 1 & 2 What shall we say then? now There
were a whole group of people that seemed to have gotten this
letter now It says it's written to Rome, but it could be written
to the Dalles or any of your hometowns anywhere you live the
same thing goes on when people have an inkling of grace and
and have not the Spirit of God, they have this idea that I'm
going to let grace be so great because I'm going to just do
what I want to do and that way it will be more gracious for
God to forgive me. Notice here, what shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now, my
friends, I think you are with me when we come to this subject.
I sin a whole lot more than I want to. I don't have to make position
for it. He goes on, God forbid, how shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Now, people
may say, you know, if I believed that, I would go do what I will. Well, there's the problem right
there. That's the problem. This idea that I could just go
do anything because I've been saved by grace is an error that
has been brought out of man's hearts and man's minds and not
out of the Word of God. God's people are like the Apostle
Paul Oh, wretched man that I am. That's the difference. You know,
I think of this as we read about this, we read about the Apostle
Paul in that phrase. Probably these folks did not
really know the grace of God that would come up with that
idea. They probably didn't know what God's grace was. And if
they had of, they would have never been saying things like
that. That is just an air that comes from natural man's heart.
Now, there's another thing that comes along with this, and I
don't spend a lot of time preaching about what the error is, but
here, at this point, I just want to make a point, and that is
progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification is
at variance with Christ, and sanctification full and complete
is found in Him. Now, progressive sanctification
is presented by a man in the book of Luke, chapter 18. Would
you turn there with me to Luke chapter 18? We find in Luke chapter
18 that progressive sanctification is brought out here by a man
in the book of Luke chapter 18. Now, none of God's people will
ever be able to say, I have kept Zechariah chapter 8 verses 16
and 17. I have done it all. I have practiced it, and I'm
keeping it, and I'm going to do it. None of God's people are
able to do that. We are sinners saved by grace.
We have one that has kept all of that on our behalf, and he
has done it on our account. He's put it to our account. He
said, this is yours. I've taken care of it for you
on this point. Here in the book of Luke chapter
18, we are introduced and we've looked at this many times in
our time here in the book of Zechariah and the other books
of the Old Testament too. Beginning with verse 9, we have
someone that believes in progressive sanctification. We have someone
that believes that he can improve his position before God by not
doing something or by doing a great deal of something. Now, if we
do things with the idea that we're making our position better
with God, then we have a wrong idea. God does not deal with
that at all. He only deals with His Son. He
does not deal with external things that people do. Here in the book
of Luke chapter 18 verse 9, the Lord said He spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves. So we have those
who trust in themselves to accomplish everything that God requires
And yet the believer finds out, I can't keep any of that God
requires. Someone mightier, greater than me, the one of the covenant,
the head of the covenant, must keep it for me. I can't keep
it by myself. They were righteous and despised
others. Two men went up to the temple to pray. They're both
going to the same place, and they're both going to be involved
in the same thing. They're both symbolizing prayer. Two men went up to the temple.
They're religious. They go up to the temple to pray.
One was a Pharisee and the other is a publican. Now, we know a
lot about Pharisees and we know a lot about publicans as it's
been brought out in the scriptures. One has a great deal of honor
among the people. The Apostle Paul, or Saul of
Tarsus I should call him, was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
that's what he called himself but he said after the Lord saved
him I count all that as done that's it's null and void everything
that I practiced in that is null and void now the Pharisee shares
with us that he is not sanctified enough but he needs some more
sanctification he is progressively getting better and better and
better now he demonstrates exactly what happens when we start practicing
this very thing He begins to find fault with everybody else. Did you notice that? The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not
as other men are. I thank Thee that I'm not like
those other folks. I thank Thee that I'm able to
keep the law. I thank Thee that I'm able to
sanctify myself. I thank Thee that I can keep
Zechariah chapter 8 verses 16 and 17. I can go over to the
book of Micah and I can prove that I'm doing that very same
thing. He goes on to tell us here, and not as other men, that
are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. He
is demonstrating what it is to practice self-sanctification. He's doing this job on his own. He doesn't have God, he doesn't
have Christ, he doesn't have the gospel, so he's going to
do it on his own, and he's practicing, and he's very proud of it. Pride
is what is practiced in this kind of lifestyle. If you can
say, I've kept all of Zechariah chapter 8 verses 16 and 17, not
the rest of the book, just those two verses, then pride is your
partner. Because we, as God's people,
cannot do that. It's impossible for us to do
that. He goes on to say here, I fast. This is what I do. I fast twice
in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
Now, probably that's not the end of the list, but we're thankful
to God that the Lord Jesus Christ intervenes in this discussion
that this guy has with himself, pretending that he's praying
to God and bragging on all the things that he's done. that he's
kept everything that God has required of him to do. He has
kept what we read over there, it says, and let none of you
imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbor. Speak, every man,
the truth. Execute the judgment of truth
and peace. And love no false oath. This man has said, I have accomplished
that. The first thing out of his mouth
is, I've lied to myself and I've lied to God because I have not
kept any of that. And then we find that God intervenes
here. Christ intervenes in his discussion
with himself about how great he is and tells us about the
other guy that is there that this Pharisee has found fault
with. He said here, And the publican, standing afar off, would not
lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, turn with me, if you would,
over to the book of the Psalms. Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Notice with me here in this Psalm.
Wonderful statement that God makes about if he keeps track
Well, let's just read this psalm 130 verse 3 Psalm 130 in verse
3 The Lord shares with us here
If thou Lord now, that's Jehovah If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities
now if we have not followed Zechariah chapter 8 verses 16 and 17 then
God must mark iniquities somewhere if I haven't kept what God has
required if I haven't followed what God requires then someone
must have iniquities marked to their account now it goes on
to say If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand?" Now, if God is going to mark iniquities, since
we couldn't keep Zechariah 8, verses 16 and 17, if He said
we have to keep that and we can't, then who's going to stand? Nobody. Nobody's going to stand. Nobody's
going to stand before God. Nobody's going to stand before
God and say, I fast twice in a week and I've done all of these
things because we are iniquitous. We are full of iniquity. We're
full of sin. Now, some time ago, I was in
a discussion along this line and a man asked me, he says,
OK, Norm, if it's not sanctification that I produce in myself, how
do I mark progress? How do I know? How I'm moving
along. How do I know what I'm going...
And I said, well, the only way that I can answer that is go
to the scriptures. There's only one place I can
go, and that's to the scriptures. And let's see what God's people
said in the Bible about themselves. And this, they marked, this is
how they marked progress. What do you think about yourself?
And what do you think about God? Who's the most important? Am
I like the Pharisee and I'm bragging on myself and the things that
I'm doing and accomplishing or am I like the the publican saying
be Merciful to me a sinner. That's the thing be merciful
to me a sinner He's crying for mercy and there's only one that
gives mercy and that's God So he's at the right place now if
we followed that out just a little further way to find out that
that man went home justified That man went home justified.
He's just before God because all of that iniquity was placed
on Christ, imputed to Christ, given to Christ. So let's see
what, how do we mark progress? Well, we read one verse of scripture
there that the apostle Paul wrote says, whoa, excuse me. Oh, wretched man that I am. Oh,
wretched. That is a sign of progress. Here's
a man that's been saved for many years, and instead of getting
bigger and bigger in himself, he's saying, oh, wretched man
that I am, who can deliver me from this? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
my progress. He's the one that counts me right
before God. Justified before God. Well, let's
look over here in the book of Isaiah. Chapter 6. Isaiah chapter
6. Isaiah shares with us some wonderful
things here in Isaiah chapter 6. In Isaiah chapter 6, we read
about in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. What a
glorious thing. that Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah,
got to see the Lord is by God's decree and not by Isaiah's. All right, Isaiah chapter 6.
I want to look at verse 5. After Isaiah got to see the Lord,
he saw Him high and lifted up. He saw Him in His glory. He saw
Him in His sovereignty. He saw Him in His electing. He
saw Him in His sanctifying He saw him fulfilling all the law.
He saw him fulfilling all the word of God. He saw him meeting
all the demands of God. And here Isaiah shares this with
us, Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone. No greater position
in this world than to be shown by the Holy Spirit that we are
undone. Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. All those around me, they're
in the same boat I'm in. We're all related to Adam, but
there is one, there is one that can take us out of the mess we're
in, Jesus Christ the righteous. All of those requirements that
God demanded, There we read in Zechariah chapter 8 and verses
16 and 17 in Micah, there we read, this is what God requires. This is what God requires. This
is what God demands. This is what He expects. And
yet we cannot fulfill one bit of that. And yet there is one
who did on the behalf of all His people. And here we read
about one that knew what God had done for him. Woe is me,
for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I saw the glory of
God, and it didn't bring me to a point for me to say, Well,
God, I thank Thee that I am not like other folks. He is crying
as the publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. That's the only people God has
mercy for is a sinner and he makes us to be that a sinner
is a Wonderful thing for the Holy Spirit has made him thus
and so we find here now progress That's greatest progress. I've
ever had What was me? greatest progress so if we're
measuring our rise in sanctification by the things that we're doing
then we're not making any progress at all. In fact, we're going
anti-progress. The only progress that we can
have is to find ourselves like the publican, Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Well, let's look at another place.
Another great leader of the church, another great preacher of the
gospel, here in the book of Luke chapter five. In the book of
Luke chapter five. In Luke chapter five, we find
the apostle Peter. There in Romans we read about
the Apostle Paul. Here is Apostle Peter, chapter
5 of the book of Luke. In the book of Luke, chapter
5, and down there in verse, let's start with verse 3 here. It says,
and he, Christ, entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's. Now is that on purpose or is
that a mistake? It's on purpose. He went to Simon's
boat. Now that's who this is going
we're going to read about here. He entered into the ships which
was Simon's and prayed him that he thrust out a little from the
land and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now,
when he had left speaking, after he'd finished his message, after
he'd preached the gospel, after he declared it, you know, he
left. Isn't it wonderful that we find
in the scriptures that God puts his people, that he intends to
save, he puts them aside. They're gonna deal with the Lord
alone. Now, when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your
nets for a draw. The Lord said, go out there into
this lake, into this sea, and let down your nets, because you're
going to catch a great big host of fish. And Simon answering,
and said unto him, now how often? We're like this. We have the
answer already. Simon had the answer already.
He said, master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. But he concluded this, nevertheless,
At thy word I will let down the net. And when he had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both
ships, so they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, now
notice progress. We have some progress made here.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Depart from me,
I am a sinful man. That's progress. Greatest progress
that can be made is to see the Lord, to hear the Lord, to hear
him say, cast your net down. You'll get a great drought of
fish. And so we worked and worked and worked, but at your word.
Now, the apostle Peter, as we see him here, he says, Lord,
I am, depart from me. I'm not worthy to be in your
presence. I'm not worthy to be a believer. I'm not worthy to
be one of your sheep." And you know that's the greatest statement.
I'm not worthy. But God is the Savior, and He
saves whom He wills. He saves those He chose in Christ
before the foundation of the world. It's His salvation to
His people. And he does it when he wills.
And it is, as we find progress is made, that God's people never
say, I kept Zechariah 8, verses 16 and 17. I kept it down. No.
We find out that we cannot keep it. But it drives us to the one
who has kept it. Oh, there's safety in Him. There's
safety in Christ. There's hope in Christ. The keeping
of the law is in Christ. Everything that God demanded
and required even it's brought out here in the book of Zechariah
and also in the book of Micah and all through the Old Testament
Everything that God required Jesus Christ kept it and he gives
that gift of Imputation of his righteousness to everyone that
belongs to him Oh, how glorious this is that it is he that keeps
us. It is he. So we don't want to
look into our belly buttons. Oh my goodness. We do look to
Christ. And when we look to Christ, we're
like, Isaiah, woe is me. There's nothing in me that can
keep any of that. There's no sanctification that
I can procure, but I am sanctified in Christ. There's no redemption
that I can procure, but I am redeemed in Christ. There's no
hope that I have in myself, I have my hope in Christ. So all of
this is fulfilled in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice
in it. And the Apostle Peter rejoiced
in it, and Isaiah rejoiced in it, and the Apostle Paul rejoiced
in it. As we go on, one other place
we want to go, that next verse right after He says there in
the book of Romans chapter seven, join me in Romans chapter eight,
verse one, very next verse. If we didn't have a chapter division
there, we'd say, wow, this is the conclusion of that, but Romans
chapter eight, verse one. Notice, just after he said there
in, excuse me, Romans chapter eight. Verse 1, now just after he said this, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Next verse, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Christ Jesus,
who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Everyone
that God saves walks after the spirit. So there is therefore
now no condemnation, even though the Apostle Paul said, woe is
me. There is therefore now no condemnation. If God should mark
iniquity, who shall stand? Now there's only one person that
God ever marked iniquity. Of all of the elect, this one
elect one, his son. He marked iniquity on him. But
none of his people he marked iniquity. Oh, how glorious is
this. The gospel is so sweet. We are
just blessed to find out that Jesus Christ bore all our sin
in his body on the tree and that we Though we read those things,
I say, hallelujah, someone's kept this for me. Hallelujah,
someone's kept this for me. I aspire to it. I delight to
do that. But knowing myself, I go to the
one who has, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, going back there just one
more time to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 8, verse 16
and 17. The scriptures say this. These
are the things ye shall do. Oh, thank God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll take that. Speak every man
the truth to his neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I'll
take that. Execute the judgment of truth
and peace in your gates. The Lord says, I'll take that.
And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbor.
The Lord Jesus Christ says, I'll take that. Love no false oath. I'll take that. For all these things are what
I hate, saith the Lord. I'll take that. So we give glory
to God, glory to the Lord Jesus Christ as our sanctification,
as our redemption, as all those things that we find. And so we
rest at peace. The Lord Jesus has taken it on
our behalf. I love you.