Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ, our Lord. If you
would, let's turn to Job 25, if you want to follow along. Job 25. Job chapter 25, and I'm gonna read it, but I'm gonna
have to get to Job 25, not Psalms. I thought I had this marked. Now I can't find Job. Job 25. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and
said, Dominion and fear are with him. He maketh peace in his high
places. Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom doth not his light
arise? How then can man be justified
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and
it shineth not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that is a worm,
and the son of man, which is a worm. We know from scriptures that
God's ways are high above our ways, and his thoughts are high
above our thoughts. Here is the height of our ways
and our thoughts. We read it here in this passage,
what man is. It says we are a worm. The first
word for worm in this passage means maggot, and that is as
cause and sign of decay. If you've ever been around a
dead carcass, and it's not just dead carcasses, but anything
that involves waste or deadness, but you will find maggots. They
multiply fast on death. You even find maggots on dung
piles. And that's where we are by nature
is on a dung pile. Scripture says so. Maggots feed
off of death. They are bred in death. This
is the picture we get from this. This is what we are before a
thrice holy God. Man who is a maggot because of
death just breeds other maggots. The second word for worm here
means a crimson grub or a red maggot. We are worms polluted
in our own blood, but I will have more on this crimson grub
later. I know men and women do not like
to be called maggots, but this is what scripture calls us. We
go no higher than this as we are born in Adam. Little wiggling
worms feeding on death. Now this is Bildad speaking,
and what is said here is absolutely true, because it was inspired
of God the Holy Spirit. But just as way of another witness,
this is also what God says directly himself. Isaiah 41, 13 and 14. For I the Lord thy God will hold
thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not. I will help thee. Fear not thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Now this is certainly
God talking to his people. His people are the only ones
who will ever know this. The rest think they are on top
of the world, and they think they are doing service to God,
if they are thinking of God at all. But most of this religious
world think they are doing service to God, even while they are wriggling
on a dung heap. The word used worm in Isaiah
41, 14 is the same word used the second time in Job 25, a
red maggot. There is no doubt that as we
are born in Adam, we are all born red maggots. Knowing what
we are, that is worms or maggots that feed off of death, the question
arises and is one that is asked in our passage. How then can
man be justified by God? How can man be clean before God? Death is a stench in God's nostrils. He is life itself, so how can
we be just and clean before God since we feed off of death? So
are we just, are we clean? I wanna talk a little more about
this. Isaiah 64, six we read, but we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. There are some who like to think
they do something that is good before God, something that is
righteous before him. But righteousness comes from
life, and we are dead in trespasses and in sin. We have broken God's
law. God says to do this, or God says
don't do this, and we have disobeyed his holy law. The scripture says
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We
have missed the mark. God's law has a bullseye, if
you will, that center red spot. We at best hit the outer ring.
But God's law demands perfection. It demands we hit the bullseye
all the time. We always miss the mark. Colossians
2.13 we read, and you, being dead in your sins and uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses. Now I know this passage is talking
to those who have been quickened from their deadness, but it is
obvious they were dead. Now if anyone that is listening
or who will listen to this later, if you do not think you are dead
in trespasses and in sin, I have nothing for you. This is not
a message for you. Christ tells us that they that
are whole need not a physician. I'm talking to anyone today who
has need of that great physician. I'm talking to those fellow human
beings who have a need that only one can feel. No one else can
feel it. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. So if you are not a sinner, if
all you have are righteousnesses, then Christ did not come to save
you. You will stand in your own righteousness. God tells us they
are filthy rags before Him. So you go right ahead and see
if you can fool God into thinking that those rags are righteousness
before Him. Those filthy rags of a red maggot
are a proof of God. Just see if you can convince
God of that. Here are what maggots confess
when God visits them and they begin to see just how corrupt
they are in Psalm 51, one through five. Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. We come into this world shapen
in iniquity. We are vessels fitted to destruction,
it puts it in Romans 9. When it says here in sin did
my mother conceive me, it is not saying that my mother was
sinning while conceiving me, although that is true. It is
saying one maggot bred another maggot. Death comes from death. We can try to fight this all
we want, but this is just the fact of the matter that we are
all born worms. We are born feeding off of death.
How then are we to be just and clean before God? If we are wicked,
and we are, how can God justify us? It gets much worse than this,
that I've already told you that we're worms. Proverbs 17, 15
says this. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. If the wicked is justified, God
says it is an abomination to him. We are wicked, so how is
it that God can justify us? The other side is true as well.
He that condemneth the just is an abomination in God's sight.
So what is it that justifies us or makes us clean before God?
There has to be something or we have no hope. Does the law
make us clean, just or clean before God in some way? Did God
give us his law so that we might receive life or that is righteousness? What does scripture tell us in
answer to this question? Romans 3 20. Therefore by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. The law lets us know about sin. It tells us we have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. It tells us we have missed the
mark. Does the law ever stop doing
this? Does there come a time when God
enables us to keep his law in righteousness and in life? Is the flesh righteous? Then
the law will in no way and at any time bring about righteousness
because the law was of the flesh. How sure am I of the law not
being in any way a righteousness of man, born of Adam, a righteousness
toward God? Only as sure as what God tells
us in his word, Galatians 3.11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. So the law shows us sin, it shuts
our mouth before God. So how can we be made righteous
and clean before God? This is where we must say as
scripture says, with man, it is impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. How he did this is where we find
the love of God and the mercy of God. We see it in substitution
and propitiation. one taking the place of another.
We see it in a kinsman redeemer. But this is not a pretend kind
of thing. God says it is an abomination
to justify the wicked or to condemn the just. God's not going to
just pretend someone is just when they are guilty. And he
is not going to pretend someone is guilty when they are just.
If one is to be condemned, they must be guilty, that is wicked.
If one is to be justified, they must be just. That is righteous. God who is full of mercy was
made. He was made several things in
being a substitute for fallen, sinful man. So what all was he
made? Galatians 4.4 we read. But when
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law. Other scripture says, in
Hebrews 2.9 it says, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for
every man. He was made this for the suffering
of death. Death for a specific purpose
and in a specific way. He was made a curse. Made something
that was totally foreign to him. He was made what we are, a curse. A curse means exposed to the
vengeance of God. Jesus Christ was made a curse
for his people. He was then exposed to the vengeance
of God in our state. If God did this for us, we will
never know the vengeance of God. Are we beginning to see just
how high his thoughts are and how high his ways are? He was
made sin. Why was he made sin? Because
he knew no sin. This is God manifest in the flesh
who did not know sin. He had to be made sin for it
was not a part of who he is. For this, he also had to be made
a man because it is man who has offended him. He could not have
been made an angel and been able to satisfy the sin debt created
by man. He had to be made a man and he
had to be made a curse and sin for us. The very thing I am is
what Jesus Christ was made. What have we heard before from
Habakkuk 3? Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech
and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath
remember mercy. God's wrath was brought to another
so that I might know mercy. God brought wrath on his only
begotten son that we might be made the righteousness, that
is justification, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. If you have the mindset that
you can live a debaucherous life and just sow to this flesh all
you want and that God has to show mercy to you, you do not
know God. Go ahead and make your excuses.
God gave His only begotten Son and Him being made the very thing
I am, which is what offends the holy sovereign God. But for this
very purpose was this done, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. All this while we were spitting
in his face for doing this very thing. God tells us in his word,
he saves those that are of a broken heart. Those who are grieved
for the sin against God they have committed, against him and
him alone. They see what it took to save
their soul, and when they see Jesus Christ and His cross work,
it grieves them. He saveth such that are of a
contrite spirit, a spirit which is not proud to think God owes
them anything. It is a spirit that is crushed,
crushed into submission to Him. God sends His gospel to these,
and it tears them down, seeing what He had to do to save their
soul. Psalm 34, 18 we read, the Lord is nigh unto them that are
of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. If you have no grief over your
sin and you continue to live in it and actually relish in
it, you do not know God. So how are we ever to be justified
and clean before God? Isaiah 45, 25 reads, in the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Jesus Christ was made a little
lower than the angels. He was made a man. He was made
under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law.
God Almighty will bring you to that place where you will cry
out to him for mercy. And if you would, let's turn
over to Luke 18, very familiar passage, Luke 18. Luke 18, I want to read verses
9 through 14. Luke 18, verse 9. And he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Be merciful to me, the sinner. This is one of those whom God
saves, and that is one of a broken heart and one of a contrite spirit. This one cries out to take my
place, oh God. Be favorable to me, the sinner. I need someone to take my place
because if one does not do this, who is worthy to do this, then
I'm a goner. There's one who stood in the
place of the sinners. There is one who stood in the
place of his elect. He loves his people and we see
that love manifested in who he is and what he did. He took their
place. Him being the almighty, infinite
God became what they are in every way, yet without sin, but had
to be made sin in their stead because a price had to be paid.
The price was death under sin. I don't know how this could be
done, but it was done and it is my only hope. We are worms,
and Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, and He
did. He did this by becoming what
they are. And if you would, turn with me
to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Psalm 22, and I want to read
the first six verses. Listen at Jesus Christ. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season in them
not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I am a worm and no man, a
reproach of men and despised of the people. But I am a worm and no man, a
reproach of men and despised of the people. We are what scripture says we
are, worms, red maggots. We are in a state where we cannot
justify ourselves. We need someone to stand in the
gap, someone to be the substitute for us, a kinsman redeemer. This God has done himself, taking
on the punishment, the payment, the wages that we owe. He took
on our flesh and was made sin, thereby paying the debt we owe,
justifying us through his blood. Acts 13, 39 we read, and by him
all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Romans 3.24 says,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. We have been redeemed from the
curse of the law by what Jesus Christ did on that tree. He paid
the debt of sin I owe in my stead as my substitute, as my propitiation. This He did as the perfect sacrifice,
that sacrifice which was without blemish. This offering was accepted
by God the Father as satisfaction before Him for all those given
to Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world. Because
of this, he then raising from the dead, justifying us to justification
of life. Romans 4, 23 through 25. Now
it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Now turn over to Mark 10 real
quick. This will be the last time I'll have you turn today,
Mark 10. Mark 10 verses 20 through 27. Verse 20, Mark 10, And he answered
and said unto him, Master, all these I have observed from my
youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor. And thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow
me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he
had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about,
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and
saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out
of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God
all things are possible. How are we to be just before
God, seeing that we are but red maggots? With men it is impossible,
but with God all things are possible, and that through Jesus Christ
our Lord. If you are holding to anything
other than just Jesus Christ the Lord, you're holding too
much. Romans 3.26 says, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God has told us in
his word what we are. If you in pride hold to anything
you do as worthy acceptance before God, then you will die in your
sins. We are told, and it is in the
whole of the book, this whole book is given to us as the record
God gave of his son. It is he who has justified us
to himself. It is he who has made us clean
every wit before him. By his death, paying the wages
which I owed, which you owe if you're in him, and then raising
to life again, and us in him. We now sit with Christ at the
right hand of the Father. This is how we can be justified
before him. This is how God can be just and
justify the wicked. Because of him and the glorious
work of his hands, which he has justified his people before him. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you
for once again allowing us together here together to hear words of
your son, dear Lord. Be with those, dear Lord, who
are ailing. Comfort them in your way, dear
Lord. Apply these words by your spirit
to our hearts, dear Lord, that we may grow thereby. All these
things we ask in Christ's name, amen.