Alright, let's open our Bibles
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The past
several weeks we've been studying through this chapter where the
Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has been
defining and describing, setting the boundaries as it were, of
what a true gospel ministry is. The true gospel ministry. And we've seen several facets
of that, and I hope it's helped you in your understanding of
what it is not only to believe the gospel, the good news, that's
what the word means, the good news of salvation by God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ, but also what it is to be part
of a true gospel ministry this morning I want to focus in on
verse 16 and the title of the message is the gospel judgment
the gospel judgment what I want us to see from this passage and
others is simply this that a true gospel ministry is a ministry
of judgment a ministry of judgment now to the world When you talk
about judgment and judging, most people will either say, well,
you're talking about the final judgment. And we do talk about
that. In fact, Paul mentioned that back in verse 10. Look at
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. He said, we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. And I showed there how the issue
of the judgment seat of Christ is a sinner's relationship to
Christ. Are we in Christ? Or are we on
our own, basically? If we're in Christ, we're fine.
We're righteous in Him. We're washed in His blood, clothed
in His righteousness, forgiven of all our sins, justified before
God. If we stand before God without
Christ, then we're doomed forever. That's basically it. No matter
who we are or what we've done, no matter how many times we've
been baptized, how many church services we've attended, how
much money we've given away, if we stand before God without
Christ, then God imputes, charges our sins against us and we'll
have no hope in ourselves. That's the bottom line. So we
do talk about judgment in the gospel ministry. But the gospel
itself, the good news, the message, the good news is a message of
judgment. And I want us to look back at
verse 15, first of all. Listen to what he says here.
Remember I preached this last week on the fruit of the gospel
ministry. It says that Christ died for
all, that's the Lord Jesus Christ who died, the all there is his
people, that's his sheep. John chapter 10, he said he laid
down his life for his sheep. That they which live, they which
live, that's the all there, that's being born again by the Spirit.
That's ones who have spiritual, eternal life. Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Now that new birth, that spiritual
life is the product, the result, the fruit of His death on the
cross. and he said that we looked at
it back in john chapter twelve when he talked about the seed
of we use that illustration of a farmer planning that seed of
wheat that seed of wheat planted in the ground it dies and it
brings forth much free and that he was using that as an illustration
of his death out of christ death comes life and the first proof
of that is his own resurrection he died was buried arose again
the third day And out of his death comes the life of his people. They're born again by the Spirit.
You must be born again. But that new birth, that new
life is the product, the fruit of his death. His death is the
ground of our salvation. The work of the Holy Spirit in
the new birth is the fruit of his death, the fruit of our salvation.
So he says that they which live, verse 15, should not henceforth,
that is, should not from that time forward, from the time forward
that they're born again, live unto themselves. Live for their
own selfish purposes. Live for their own glory. Live
by their own works, but they live unto Him. Live for the glory
of God in Christ. Christ but unto Him which died
for them and rose again." There again, the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ. Now, he says in verse 16, now here's,
all for whom Christ died, died with Him in order that they might
live unto Him. And so we ask this question,
well, for whom did Christ die? Well, it's answered right here.
All who come to live for Him, brought to live for Him. God
has reconciled us unto Himself. Those who are not charged with
their sins. You know, David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who did he impute
him to? Who did he charge him to? He
charged him to Christ. And Paul's going to deal with
that later on here in 2 Corinthians 5. And what does that mean? It
means they'll be reconciled to God. What is it to be reconciled
to God? It's when you're brought under
the power of the Holy Spirit to believe the gospel. the good
news of how god save sinners by his grace not by works by
his grace grace greater than i've seen it's all of grace is
not part grace is not part god and part u what i i think i can
remember which all one of the old preachers that somebody asking
one time they said that what part did you have in your salvation
And he said, well, God did all the saving, I did all the sinning.
That's about the size of it. And God brings a sinner to see
his sins, to see his depravity, to see how impotent we are, not
just in our works, but even in our will. That's the truth. And he brings us to Christ, begging
for mercy, like that old publican. And that's what happens, and
we're reconciled to Him in Christ. Did Christ die for me? Well,
have I been reconciled unto Him? Am I living unto Christ or am
I living unto myself? And that's the reality of it.
Look at verse 16. He says, Wherefore, or for this
reason, because this is the case, because this is the reality,
henceforth, From this time forward, that's what that means, from
the time that we began living unto Him, we were born again
by the Spirit, He says, know we no man after the flesh. Now that word know, it doesn't
mean just awareness or head knowledge or an acknowledgement. In other
words, I may know your name, for example, but I may not know
you. You may know my name, but you
may not know me. And you see, we have to get to
know each other. That's not what this word means. When he says, know we, know man
after the face, this word know means to make an estimation of
it, our estimate of one another. How do we know one another? Literally,
it means judgment of one another. judgment of men concerning salvation,
concerning spiritual things. And really what it involves is
an issue of fellowship. With whom are we to have spiritual
fellowship? You know what fellowship is?
That's brotherhood. He said, with whom are we not to have
spiritual fellowship? You know, the Bible teaches us
not to have fellowship with unbelievers. With whom are we partners in
the gospel ministry? With whom are we enemies? Do
we have enemies? We sure do. But he says we know
no man after the flesh. What's he talking about? He's
talking about judgment. The gospel ministry is a ministry of spiritual
judgment. Let me read you a verse out of
Hebrews chapter 11. I want you to think about this.
This is Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 7. You know what Hebrews
11 is? That's the hall of faith where the writer of Hebrews,
whom I believe was the Apostle Paul, went back and he covered
the Old Testament and those stalwarts of the faith made so by the grace
of God. And he mentions Noah in Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 7. Now listen to this verse. Hebrews
11, 7. He says, That means because God commanded
him and by the word of God, Noah being warned of God of things
not yet seen, what was he warned of God? About a flood coming
to destroy the world. So by faith, Noah being warned
of God of things not yet seen moved with fear. In other words,
he acted in accordance with what God taught him with reverence
and respect for God. When God said it, I know it's
true. And he revered God. And it says,
he prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Noah built an ark.
Now listen to this line. By the witch, he condemned the
world. Noah condemned the world? How
did he do that? Was he a judge, a jury, an executioner? No. Did he go around saying,
you're saved, you're not, you're saved? No. By the witch he condemned
the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith. And that's the righteousness
of God in Christ. Noah condemned the world. What
did Noah do? He built an ark. How was that
the condemnation of the world? Well, what did Noah say about
that ark? He said, listen, He said, a flood's
coming, this world's going to be destroyed, and there's only
one way to escape that flood, the ark. And if you're not on
that ark, what's going to happen to you? You're going to be destroyed. Condemnation. Now what do we
say in the gospel ministry? God is a just God and He must
punish sin, all sin. Not just some sins. Not just
what we see as the worst sins. But all sin. The wages of sin
is death. Isn't that right? The wages of
sin is death. Which sins? All sin. Doesn't make any distinction
there. What is sin? Coming short of the glory of
God. Missing the mark. Transgressing the law. Owing
a debt. All those things. The wages of
sin is death. Now, what do we say in the gospel
ministry? Here's the good news. There's only one way to escape
death and condemnation because of sin. What is that one way? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The blood of Christ. The righteousness
of Christ. And if you're not in Christ,
our ark, what's going to happen? You're going to be condemned
forever. Now that's the judgment I'm talking about. There's one
way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Christ said, John 14, 6, No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. One way of salvation. No other
way. Every other way is a false way.
Every other way is a way of death. There is a way that seems right
unto a man. It's the way of death. There's
a broad road. It leads to destruction. There's
a narrow way. It leads to life. One way of
salvation. One way of forgiveness. for all
our sins. What is that way? The blood of
Christ. Without His blood, condemnation. One way of justification before
God, one way of righteousness, without His righteousness imputed,
charged, accounted, no justification, only condemnation. Romans 8,
1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ. Outside of Christ, condemnation. Now, how can we make proper judgments
concerning these matters of life and death? How can we do that?
Well, I want you to turn in your Bible to the most misquoted verse
in the Bible. Go ahead. Turn to the most misused, abused,
misquoted verse in the Bible. Now, be honest. How many of you
have gone to Matthew 7, verse 1? because that's it matthew
seven verse one look at they asked a preacher one time
what's the most misquoted verse in the bible and he said it's
god helps those who helps themselves well that's not even in the bible
i think it was benjamin franklin who said that but it's not the
bible besides that's that's a false gospel too If God helps those
who help themselves, we're doomed. But here is what I call the most
misquoted verse in the Bible, Matthew 7 and verse 1. It says,
this is the Lord speaking in a sermon on a map. And he says,
judge not that you be not judged. Now how many of you heard that
quoted and it stops right there? And usually people when they
quote that, they're saying, well, we should never judge. The problem
is we can't help but judge. We always do judge. God's given
us a mind. If you're talking to somebody
about religion, about church, or about doctrine, and they say
something, well, I believe this, and you say, well, I disagree,
you've made a judgment. That's a judgment. If you say
this person This person preaches a false gospel. You know the
scripture says that. Galatians chapter 1, Paul wrote,
he said, if they come preaching any other gospel than that which
we've preached, let them be anathema. Galatians 1 and verse 6, 7, 8
and 9. It's a judgment. But you see,
the Bible doesn't forbid all judgment. Listen to what he's
saying here. Look at Matthew 7 verse 1. He
says, Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment
you judge, you shall be judged. Whatever your standard of judgment
is, it's going to come back on you. That's what he's saying.
If you use a self-righteous standard of judgment, then that's the
way you're going to be judged. That's the standard you'll be
judged by. He says, and with what measure you meet, you dish
it out, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest
thou... What's he talking about? Listen
to it. He says, And why beholdest thou the mote, that's a splinter,
that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam,
that's a big log, that's in thine own eye. I want to tell you something. You know more about your own
sin than you do about mine. What you see in me that's wrong,
and there's a lot wrong. It's just a little splinter compared
to what you know about yourself in your own heart. You may not
admit it, But it's there. You know the thoughts. I can't
see your thoughts. You can't see mine. Those evil
thoughts that we have, don't we have them? We have to fight
them all the time. We have a warfare. If we're believers, we have a
warfare of the flesh and the spirit. That includes our thoughts,
our motives. And Christ condemned those in
Matthew chapter 5. He said it's not only a sin to
commit the act of murder, but it's a sin to think it. It's
not only a sin to commit the act of adultery, but it's a sin
to lust, to think it. I can't see you thinking it.
You can. So you know a whole lot more
about yours than you do mine. So whatever you accuse me of
and judge me by, by way of sin, it's just a little splinter based
on your knowledge of me. But your knowledge of your own
heart, your own thoughts, that's a big log. You know that. And here's the issue here. Look
at verse 4. He says, Or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and
behold the beam that is in thine own eye? Verse 5, Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt
thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye.
If you can get rid of your sin and take care of that matter,
then you have a right to judge everybody else for their sin.
Problem is, is we can't take care of our sin. Problem is,
we can't conquer our sin. That's why we need salvation
by grace. What's he forbidding here? He's
forbidding self-righteous judgment. It'd be like the Jews, the self-righteous,
unbelieving, religious Jews. who looked at Gentiles and said,
I know they're lost. I know they're going to hell.
Why? Because they're sinners. Well, the problem is they were
sinners too. You're a sinner too. Where does
that leave you? Oh, but I'm not as bad a sinner
as they are. How do you know? Huh? Look at that beam in your own
eye instead of judging that splinter in their eye. You see? Any sin,
every sin, all sin deserves damnation. I'll give you a prime example
of it. A tornado or a hurricane sweeps through one of the big
cities, one of the infamous cities, like New Orleans. And everybody
says, oh, the judgment of God came down upon that sinful city. They deserved it. Well, what
about little old Ashland, Kentucky? Well, we don't deserve it. We're
the buckle on the Bible belt. There's a church on every street
corner around this place. Is that right? Is that the way
we think? That's what we think naturally,
isn't it? But my friend, New Orleans deserved it no more than
what this city right here deserves it. Why didn't it hit this city? I don't know. Only God knows
that. But I know this, it isn't because
that Ashland is more righteous than New Orleans. I know that. Because none of us are. Even
in our religion. You see, when he says, look back
here at 2 Corinthians 5. He says, verse 16, Wherefore
henceforth from this time forth know we no man after the flesh,
Our knowledge of any person when it comes to a relationship with
God is not to be measured or judged or assessed after the
flesh. Now what is it to do it after
the flesh? Incidentally, you might want to read on in Matthew
chapter 7. Because right after he says judge
not that you be not judged, he makes statements like this, beware
of false prophets. Now how are you going to be aware
of them unless you judge them to be false? Now, how are you
going to judge them? Well, not by the flesh. What
is it to judge by flesh? Well, first of all, it's to judge
by outward appearance. Outward appearance. Christ brought
the Pharisees to task over that issue. Listen to this, Matthew
23 and verse 28. He says, Even so you also outwardly
appear righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy
and iniquity. To judge after the flesh, to
know anyone after the flesh, is outward appearance. Christ
told His disciples in John chapter 7 and verse 24, listen to this,
He says, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment. Now how can we judge righteous
judgment? Only by the Word of God. That's it. Stay with the
Word of God. What does God say? Here's another
way. Turn to Romans chapter 2. Listen to this. Verse 28. Here's another way of judging
after the flesh. Physical heritage. The Jew said, we be Abraham's
seed. We're descendants of Abraham.
Look at Romans chapter 2 and verse 28. Paul writes here, by
inspiration of the Spirit, he says, for he is not a Jew which
is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh." Just because you're a physical
descendant of Abraham and circumcised in the flesh, that doesn't mean
anything. He says, but he is a Jew which
is one inwardly. You see that? And circumcision
is that of the heart. What is circumcision of the heart?
That's the new birth. That's what Paul's talking about
in 2 Corinthians 5 there when he talks about living unto God.
He says in the Spirit and not in the letter. It's not the law
matter. It's a spiritual matter. It's
a work of the Spirit. It's not a work of the law. That's
what the letter is there, the law. The law cannot circumcise
your heart. The law cannot give you life.
The law cannot make you righteous, you see. The Spirit leads to
Christ who is our righteousness. And he gives life from Christ,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. Do you notice there,
he said there, he is not a Jew, which is one of... What's he
talking about? He's talking about a spiritual Jew. What is a spiritual Jew? He's a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's a member of a spiritual
nation, not an earthly nation. A spiritual nation. He's a citizen
in the heavenly Jerusalem. Not literal, physical, geographical
Jerusalem. But a spiritual one. The Jerusalem
which is from above, you see. Look over at Romans chapter 4.
Turn the page over to Romans 4. You see, physical heritage
has nothing to do with it. Nationality has nothing to do
with it. Whether or not a person believes
the gospel, whether or not a person is my brother or sister in Christ
has nothing to do with these outward things. Look at verse
1 of chapter 4. He says, What shall we say then
that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Remember
what Paul said, We know no man after the flesh. You know what?
That includes Abraham. For if Abraham were justified,
declared not guilty, righteous before God, by works, he hath
whereof to glory, but not before God. You see, God knows better. He knows the score. God knows
the heart. He looks upon the heart. And he says in verse 3,
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. What did God promise Abraham? Salvation by grace through the
promised Messiah. The Lord said that in John chapter
8. Remember? He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day, and he saw it, and he was glad. Abraham looked for
forgiveness of all his sins by the blood of the Messiah who
was to come Abraham looked for righteousness not in himself
or by his works, but in the Messiah who was to come That's what God
promised and it was imputed. It says he accounted charged
to him for righteousness and verse 4 says now to him that
worketh and If you have to work for it now, it's the reward not
reckoned of grace but of dead. In other words, if you work for
it, it's not what God gives you, it's what God owes you. Well,
my friend, salvation is not that way. Salvation is by grace. Look at verse 5. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, what is his faith? It's
in Christ, who is my righteousness. I'm righteous before God, not
by my works, but because I'm resting in Christ, who is my
righteousness. That's it, you see. It's not
a fleshly thing. Let me give you this. Turn back
to Matthew 7 there. Look back at that. when we say we know no man after
the flesh it's not by physical heritage thirdly it's not by
religious works or moral works even now let me tell you something
uh... I'm all I am a strong advocate
for moral reformation and you are too we want people to act
right and do right we want ourselves to act right and do right don't
we We want the nation, for example, we talk about the moral compass
of the nation and how it's dwindling. Well, I don't like that. I hope
you don't either, and I stand against it and preach against
it. But moral reformation is not salvation. Now, there may
be and many times are moral reformations that come about as a result of
salvation. All right? But look at Matthew
7 and verse 21. It says in verse 21, our Lord
says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. And that is to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and follow him. Verse 22, many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. That's a derivative
of the same word in 2 Corinthians 5.16, knowing no man after the
flesh. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. That's iniquity, he said. Because
moral reformations without Christ, what do they do? Well, think
about it. Think about the Pharisee who
stood outside the temple and said, Lord, I thank God that
I'm not like other men. I'm not immoral. I do this, I
do that. I'm not an extortioner, I'm not
an adulterer. I fast twice in the week, give
tithes of all that I have. Look over at Philippians chapter
3. I read part of this at the opening of the of the service. Listen to the Apostle Paul. He says in verse 3 of Philippians
3, he says, we are the circumcision.
Now what he's talking about there is circumcision of the heart.
Incidentally, when he talks about back there in verse 2, dogs,
evil workers, the concision, he's talking about those Jewish
unbelievers who sought to impose physical circumcision upon the
Gentiles in order to be saved. And he called them the concision.
That means mutilators. All they're doing, they're not
helping you when they do that. In other words, if they talk
you into being circumcised in order to be saved or to be righteous
before God, they're not helping you at all. They're just mutilating
you. That's it, you see. He says in verse 3, for we are
the circumcision. Who's that? That's the born again.
Circumcised of the heart. Circumcised in ears. Stephen
mentioned that in Acts chapter 7. In other words, you hear things
they don't hear. You hear the glory of God in
the preaching of the gospel. It's an offense unto them. you
see it's something they hate and he says which worship God
in the spirit that is we worship God from the heart not in outward
outward things he says we rejoice in Christ Jesus that word rejoice
there means to glory or to have confidence we have confidence
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh now listen to verse
4 he says though I might also have confidence in the flesh
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I am more." Now, if you're trusting in the flesh
for salvation, Paul says, I can go one better than you. I can
outdo you. And here's what he says, verse
5. Circumcised the eighth day. That's according to the law.
Of the stock of Israel. I'm an Israelite. I'm a descendant
of Abraham. Of the tribe of Benjamin. That's
an honored tribe. The Hebrew of Hebrews, of pure
blood. Incidentally, I don't know how Paul knew that, but
that's what he claimed. Pure blood Hebrew, no mixed blood
in me. As touching the law of heresy. That's one who went above
and beyond the call of duty. Verse 6, concerning Zeal persecuting
the church. He was a warrior against heresy. That's what he means there, because
when he was unsaved, He looked at the church as being
a heresy. Remember when Stephen preached,
Saul of Tarsus held their coats while they stoned him. And over
there in Acts chapter 8, it talks about how Saul made havoc of
the church. And when he was converted on
the road to Damascus, he wasn't on his way to a prayer meeting,
was he? He was on his way to arrest Christians and to put
them in jail and put them on trial and have them executed. And that's what he said, touching
the righteousness which is in the law blameless. Nobody could
accuse him. Alright? You see, there was no
salvation in any of that. This did not make Saul of Tarsus
a righteous man before God. You understand that? In fact,
when he was converted, now when he was unconverted, when he was
lost in his sin, he judged. He made this judgment, that these
things were his salvation. That these things, circumcised
the eight, the Hebrew, that they made him righteous before God.
But when Christ stopped him on the Damascus road, and put him
in the dust, and showed him his sin and his depravity, and showed
him Christ, listen to how his judgment changed. Listen to it,
verse 7. But what things were gained to me, those I counted
lost for Christ." One old preacher called that radical spiritual
heart surgery. And that's exactly what, in other
words, my way of looking at things now changed. My assessment, my
value system changed. What I thought was my salvation
before, what I thought made me righteous before, I count it
lost now. I put it in the loss, I thought
it was in the profit column, now I put it in the loss column.
What changed your mind, Paul? What changed your heart? Verse
8, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dumb that I may
win Christ. When I saw His glory, the glory
of His person, who is Jesus Christ? He is God in human flesh. You
mean He's the Savior? That's exactly right. That's
who it took to save this sinner from his sins. God in human flesh. You mean God, the second person
of the Trinity, God the Son, condescended to come down here
to save His people from their sins? That's exactly what I mean.
And what did he accomplish? He obeyed unto death. He suffered. He bled. He died. He was made sin, 2 Corinthians
5.21. He took upon himself the accountability,
the debt, of all my sins and put them away by the shedding
of his precious blood. now where do my works the fact
that i'm a hebrew of hebrews where does that stack up against
the son of god incarnate dying on a cross how could i compare
my heritage my works my efforts to what the son of god incarnate
did on that cross to do so to think that i could even compare
to what he accomplished is unbelief is heresy Sin. Think about it. All of it to
bring forth a righteousness that no man can produce. That's what
he did. And I'll tell you another thing,
reformations and experiences of life not in tune with the
gospel will not save a sinner. You know Christ told the Pharisees
in Matthew 23 and verse 15, He said, Woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, Listen to this, he says, you encompass
sea and land. That means you go all over the
earth to make one proselyte, to get one convert, get a Gentile,
clean him up. Make him stop this, stop that,
start this, start that. And when he's made, he says,
you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
That's sobering, isn't it? He said, you may clean the outside
of the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion
and excess. Outward circumstances will not
give us a true judgment and assessment of sinners. Look at Job. We've
been studying the book of Job. Job lost everything he had, including
his health. And he had three religious friends
coming by to help him and comfort him. And here's what they said.
There's some sin in your life that you're hiding or you're
trying to keep in your heart. You need to get rid of that sin
and God will bless you like He's doing us, us righteous folks.
You know what the Bible says to folks like that? Judge not
that you be not judged. That's right. Look back at 2
Corinthians 5 verse 16. You know what the key to gospel
judgment is? Listen to this. Verse 16 again.
Wherefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh. Here's
the key. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we Him no more. That is,
after the flesh. The key to gospel judgment is
discerning Christ. That's what the key is. And to
prove this, he compares with man's natural assessment of Christ.
Look over at Isaiah 53. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came to this earth. And when they saw Him in the
flesh, He had a human body, a perfect, sinless human body. And here's
one who walked among men who never sinned. Never had a thought
of sin, never committed sin. And listen to man's natural assessment
of Christ by looking at him after the flesh. Look at verse 1 of
Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
That dry ground was Judea. He hath no form nor comeliness. That comeliness is beauty. He
hath no form nor beauty. And when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. You know, people talk about seeing
visions now of Christ and some of the craziest things you'd
ever see today, especially. Well, when they saw Him walking
in the flesh on this earth during that 33 and a half years that
He walked on this earth, here's what it says, there's no beauty
that we should desire Him. Verse 3, He's despised and rejected
of men. That's man's assessment. That's
the natural man's assessment of Jesus Christ. A man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from Him. Don't want to be around Him.
Hide from Him. he was despised and we esteemed him not there
it is Saul of Tarsus when he when he
walked this earth he hated the Lord Jesus Christ and everything
about him his assessment of Christ before he was converted was a
malefactor you know what that is? a criminal That's what they
said of Christ when they hung him on the cross. When we hung
him on the cross, he's a malefactor, he's a criminal. This person
who knew no sin and did no sin, we judged him to be a malefactor. Crucified between two thieves.
You know, to be crucified back then, the Jews looked upon that
as a curse. Anybody who was crucified was
cursed. That's their assessment. Well, think about it. We don't
know Christ after... How do we know Him? You know
how we know Him? We know Him by the Spirit of
God through the Word of God. What does this book say concerning
who He is and what He did? It's not a vision. It's not a
dream. It's not what men say. It's not what we naturally think.
We say with Paul, we're the circumcision which worship God in spirit and
rejoice in Christ. We have confidence in Christ
Jesus. Where's your confidence? Where's
your hope? You say, well, I saw the Shroud
of Turin. I say, big deal. And I don't even blush to say
it. They can research it till they're blue in the face and
it doesn't mean a thing. I think it's a big hoax anyway.
But if they could prove it, it doesn't mean a thing. Where is
your hope? Where is your confidence? You
say, well, I made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Again, big deal. I was baptized in the Jordan.
Doesn't matter a thing. Where is your confidence? Where
is your hope? Where is your assurance? Where
is your faith? It's in the Christ of this book
as revealed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, look at Galatians
6, and I'll hurry. Listen to this. Portia and Brother
Stan read. Verse 14, listen to it. But God
forbid that I should glory, that's to boast, to have confidence
in save except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the person
and finished work of Christ according to what this book says by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world now here's
what he's saying here because I have confidence in Christ alone
for all forgiveness for all righteousness for all eternal life and glory
the world's assessment of me is cursed but my assessment of
the world is cursed For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation, new creature."
You see, that's the issue. No matter whether you're a Jew
or a Gentile, black, white, male, female, American, or whoever. You see, it doesn't avail you
anything. It doesn't mean anything as far as your relationship with
God, as far as your salvation, as far as your righteousness.
Here it is, verse 16. And as many as walk according
to this rule, that is, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross, peace be on them. That's my assessment of them,
Paul said. They're at peace with God. If you have Christ, you're
at peace with God. Mercy. God's been merciful unto
you. and upon the Israel of God. That's
the spiritual Israel. That's the church. That's those
in Christ. What Paul said. That's the judgment. That's the judgment. Now the
world doesn't know it. And all the world, with all of
their religion, when this is preached, their assessment of
that will be nothing. That means nothing to me. But
what is your hope? That's the gospel judgment, you
see. What is your... Who is your hope? Who is your
peace? Who is your assurance? Who is
your righteousness? Anything but Christ? Just like
Noah's ark. Anywhere but the ark? Condemnation. That's the judgment. Alright.
Let's sing as our closing hymn. Hymn number... Hymn number 378. Stand up for Jesus.