Turn to Revelation, Chapter 22. While you're turning there tonight,
I'll be preaching from 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7, verses 11 through
16. Last week we considered marriage
out of the first nine versions. And tonight we're going to consider
such cases. Such cases, and he deals with
some very difficult cases. Can you turn that down just a
bit, Richard? I feel like I'm... Just a bit. OK, thanks. So if you get an opportunity
to read that passage of Scripture this afternoon, verses 11 through
16 of 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Now, Revelation 22. I'd like to read verses 10 and
11. And he saith unto me. Seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time. Is at hand. He that is unjust. Let him be
unjust. Still. And he which is filthy. Let him be filthy. Still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. If you would die right now, How
you are right now is how you will spend eternity. If you are unjust right now,
you will spend eternity being unjust. If you are filthy now,
you will spend eternity being filthy. If you are righteous
right now, you will spend eternity being righteous. And if you are holy right now
and you would die, you will spend eternity being holy. Now, John says in the last phrase
of verse 10, the time is at hand. And he is speaking of judgment
and eternity when time will be no more. Do men die like beasts
and after that there is nothing? You know better than that. There is life after this life. After you die, eternity begins. The Lord spake in John 5, 29
of a resurrection of life. And a resurrection of damnation. We read in Hebrews chapter 9,
verse 27, it's appointed unto men once to die and after that,
After that death, the judgment, and after the final judgment,
you and I will spend eternity, eternity, in heaven or in hell. There is a place called hell. There are people, many people
in hell right now as I speak. I do not enjoy speaking of hell. As a matter of fact, it's with
reluctance that I speak of hell. But there is a place called hell. And if a man dies without Christ,
The first thing that he's going to learn is that there really
is a place called hell. Does somebody say prove it? I
can't. I can't prove there's a heaven
either. And I can't prove this book is the Word of God. And
I can't prove to you that God exists. And I can't prove to
you the devil exists. I can't prove any of these things. But you know what? I feel no
need to. I feel no need to at all. As a matter of fact, I know that
everybody in this room, if you could cut into their heart and
see what's really there, everybody in this room believes that God
is and that He will reward the righteous, and he will punish
the wicked. You believe that? I know some
people would say, I don't believe that, but if you could cut into
the heart and see what's really there. Everybody believes that. Deep down, everybody knows it
so. Now, hell. I wish I could speak
of hell the way I ought to. But hell is a place of punishment. There is no effort to reform
people in hell. Our text says, he that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. In hell, he will continue to
be unjust. He that is filthy, let him be
filthy still. Hell is the place where divine
justice is meted out. where divine vengeance is meted
out. It's the place of the punishments
of the wicked. The justice of God fuels the
fires of hell. Pure, impartial justice. That's what's going on in hell. Are the fires of hell literal?
You know, we read in the scripture of the fires of hell. Are the
fires of hell literal? You know, I don't know. If they
are, that's all right, isn't it? If they are, whatever God
does is right. But whether they are or not,
hell is still a place of torment. The rich man said, I am tormented
in this flame. Now, is that flame literal or
is it figurative? I don't know, but it doesn't
really matter because the torment of hell, our Lord experienced
it. And what was his worst torment?
Was it the physical pain on the cross? Or was it the pain of
being forsaken by his father? That's what the true torment
is. Now, who spoke of hell more than
anybody else? Does anybody know? Jesus Christ the Lord. spake
of hell more than anybody else. As a matter of fact, did you
know the Apostle Paul didn't even mention that word once in his
writings? I suppose he thought it almost too terrible to speak
of. But the Lord Jesus warned more
of hell than anybody else. Listen to this scripture from
Mark chapter 9. And if thy hand offend thee,
cut it off and cast it from thee. For it's better to enter into
life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire
that shall never be quenched, where the worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched." What an awful and scary description. Now these are not the words of
an angry fundamentalist preacher trying to scare people into some
kind of decision. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As far as that goes, when we talk about hell
or when the Bible talks about hell, did you know that the fear
of hell never brought one soul to true repentance? It's never
happened and it never will. You can be convinced of the horribleness
of this place called hell and be scared to death of that, but
it still doesn't create true repentance in one heart. Let
me show you that from the Scripture. Turn to Luke 16. Luke 16. And this is where that rich man.
Scripture says he's in hell and torment, and look what he asks
Abraham in verse 27. Then he said, I pray thee, therefore,
father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house, Lazarus.
For I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest
they also come into this place of torment. And Abraham saith
unto him, Well, they had Moses, and the prophets let them hear
them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went from
the dead, they'll repent. If somebody actually had been
in hell and came back to bear witness of that horrible place,
they'd repent then. And he said unto them, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded.
though one rose from the dead. So we see from that that the
fear of hell never produces true repentance. Now, there is a place
called hell. And, you know, one of the things
I thought about this, this is not an easy, easy thing to think
about. But I thought there will be people
while I'm talking about this that will be relatively indifferent.
Relatively indifferent, just going through the motions of
religion and so on. But one of these days, you're
going to find out that what you're hearing is the absolute most
important thing you could have ever heard. There is a place called hell
and there is a place called heaven. It's the reward of the righteous.
A place of indescribable bliss and joy and pleasure. where those
who are righteous and are holy will spend eternity perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. A place where there is no sorrow,
there is no pain, there is no suffering, nothing but pleasure,
and I mean pleasure of the highest order. Pleasure that you and
I really at this point don't know anything about. I can't
describe heaven. I know Christ is there. That's
enough for me. And I know I'll see his face, but as far as giving
a description of that place, I have no idea how to do that.
You know, I know this about heaven. A wicked man would be miserable
there. He'd be very unhappy there. You see, heaven's a holy place.
And an unholy man would be utterly miserable in heaven. Now, you and I, right now, as
I speak, are on the brink of eternity. Every one of us. You young people, you too. It
may be 50 years. You may have another 50 years.
It may be 50 minutes, but it's still the brink of eternity. I mean, this time, the time is
at hand. That's always true. The time
is at hand. The time is coming very close
where in your experience, time will be no more. Eternity will
begin. With that in mind, I think of
the words of our Lord, what should it profit a man if he should
gain the whole world and lose his soul? What would it profit? If you
had everything that this world considers desirable and good,
What if you lived all your days here healthy and wealthy and
happy? What if you made this world a
better place to live and helped your fellow man and did all kinds
of good things? And I'm not taking away from
that. That's important. But what if
you did all those things and you died and woke up in hell? What should it profit a man if
he should gain the whole world and lose his soul? And what will
a man give in exchange for his soul? Now, in our text, in Revelation
22, we have a description of who will be in hell and who will
be in heaven. And look what John says in verse
11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. How you die is how you will spend
eternity. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. And he that is holy, Let him be holy still. I had a preacher say to me recently,
I don't know anybody that's holy. Well, the Bible says here, he
that is holy, let him be holy still. Now in hell, if I go to hell,
I will go on being the way I am, filthy and unrighteous or unjust. In hell, I'll go on being that
way without any way of fulfilling or gratifying my sinful desires. I'll just go on being unjust.
I'll go on being filthy. And there'll be no way of gratifying
that unjustness and that filthiness. I'll continue to be unjust. I'll
continue to be guilty before God. I'll continue to be filthy
and evil. And that's why God's wrath will
be poured out upon me continually if I go to that awful place.
But those persons who will be in heaven, they're not unjust. They are righteous, even is righteous. Let him be righteous still. He
that is holy, let him go on, continue being holy. These die righteous and holy
and they will be raised to spend eternity righteous and holy in
that righteous and holy place. Would you not agree with me that
to neglect what we're talking about is sheer insanity. Now, let's consider these two
descriptions, one of the wicked, one of the righteous. One is
unjust. This is the person who will be
in that awful place called hell. Unjust. Guilty before God, having
done wrong. Breaking God's holy law. Filthy, moral defilement. And
this is a state of being. He that is filthy. It's not talking
about what you do. It's talking about what you are. It's a state
of being. Revelation 21.8 says, But the fearful and the unbelieving
and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And
then we read of those who are righteous and holy. He that is
righteous, let him be righteous still. Let him be justified is
what the word is. Let him be justified still. Let
him go on in that state. He that is holy, let him go on
being holy. And what this is a reference
to is this is what happens when God saves somebody. They're justified
and they're sanctified. These are two Bible words, and
this is what this is a reference to. If I'm going to be brought
into heaven, I'm going to have to be justified, and I'm going
to have to be sanctified. They are two different sides
of the same coin. A coin always has two sides,
doesn't it? You never have a one-sided coin. You never have a one-sided
sheet of paper. Wherever you have one side, you have the other.
Wherever God saves somebody, wherever somebody goes to heaven,
They will be justified, and they will be sanctified. Justification
means not guilty before the holy law of God. Not guilty. If I'm justified, that doesn't
mean simply that I'm forgiven and it's pardoned. It doesn't
mean that The blood has covered my sins, although the blood has
covered my sins, but it means more than that. It means I'm
not guilty. It means I don't have anything
to feel guilty about. It means I don't have anything
to worry about. I am justified. I'm just before God. He that
is righteous, he that's just before God, I have a perfect
standing before the holy law of God. Can't find any fault
in me. When God in His holiness looks my way, if I'm righteous,
He can find nothing to find fault with. That's what a righteous
person is. Righteous before the holy law
of God. He that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that's holy. It isn't simply
having a perfect standing before the law of God, but my character
is the same. It doesn't mean that at all.
It means I've got a holy nature. Holy nature fit for communion
with God. Fit for fellowship with God right
now. All I need for heaven, I've got
right now. And if I die that way, that's
the way I'm going to spend eternity. Holy and righteous. Justified, not guilty. I think of what our Lord said
about that poor republican. Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 18? Verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain. Which trusted in themselves. That they were righteous. And
despised others. Verse 10, Luke 18, verse 10,
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. I love the way the scripture
speaks. He'd never prayed to God. He thought he was, but he was
just praying to himself. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself. God, I thank thee. This fellow was a Calvinist.
He gave God the credit. He gave God the glory. So he
thought, God, I thank thee. I'm not thanking myself. I've
got better theology than that. I'm thanking thee. I thank thee
that I'm 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
he smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you. Oh, if the Lord tells
us something, He says, I tell you, this man, this man crying
out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, This man went down
to his house justified. Not merely forgiven. Not merely
pardoned. He went down to his house justified. Without guilt before God rather
than the other. Now if Christ said he was justified,
was he? Literally? Really? Actually? Or is this just a figure of speech? Beloved, it's most real. He went
down to his house altogether righteous, justified without
guilt before God, a perfect standing before God's holy law, no sin,
nothing to be condemned for, a righteous and holy nature,
absolutely pure. There's no sin in holiness. Holiness
doesn't even have the potential to sin. And this is what every
believer has. Everybody that's brought into
heaven, God says they're righteous. God says they're holy. And they're
going to continue being righteous and holy. Now, here's the big
question. How can somebody like me and
somebody like you actually be righteous and holy. I really don't have any problem
seeing how a man can be unjust and filthy. I don't have any
problem with that at all. I don't have to look any further
than myself to see that. I've got no problem with that
at all. But how can a man or woman like
me or you actually be righteous and holy before God to where
I really am righteous. I really am holy. Not just talking about it, but
a state of being. I'm trying to be honest. What I am in myself right now
is unjust and filthy. Now, that would describe me,
what I am in myself. And if you have the honesty to
face it, that would describe you. The Scripture says there
is none righteous. No, not one. Now, how can somebody
like me or you actually be righteous and holy before God? Now, the Word of God gives us
an answer to this question. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only man, and He is a man. There's one God and one mediator
between men and God, the man. Christ Jesus. He, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the only man to ever live who in himself is called
righteous and holy. You believe that? He's the only
man to ever keep God's holy law. So God's Holy Ten Commandments,
God's holy law, can look down upon him and say, I find no fault
in him. He's the only holy man to ever
live in this sense. He is righteous and holy. He was nailed to a cross and
He cried out while He was on that cross, My God, My God. At this time, He couldn't even
call Him Father. He wouldn't call Him Father.
He said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He was forsaken by God. God looked at him and he turned
his back. God said, I'll have nothing to
do with him. He felt nothing but the holy
wrath and justice of his father on the cross. Why? He never sinned. Why? Well, turn with me to 2
Corinthians chapter 5. For He, verse 21, you know where
I'm going with this. For He, God the Father, hath
made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now do you remember? What I'm
talking about now, it goes so far beyond me. I don't understand
it, but I believe it. You remember that description
of the unbeliever that's going to spend eternity in hell? He's
called unjust and he's called filthy. On Calvary's tree, when God forsook
the Lord Jesus Christ, He was made sin according to God's holy
word. He was made to be the thing itself.
You know what that means? That means it. That means that
because sin was charged to him, my sin literally became his.
And on the cross, he was actually made to be unjust before his
father and filthy before his father. Now, how did all that
happen? I don't know, but I know it's
so. That's what happened on the cross. He was made to be these
things before his Father. That's why I said, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? He deserved to be forsaken. My
sins literally, truly became his. Now, let me show you a couple
of scriptures on this. Would you turn with me to...
I'm going to show you one real familiar one, then I want to
show you one that's not as familiar. First, turn to Psalm 40. And this will set up Psalm 38. Now, we know these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as all the words of the Psalms are.
You know, I heard a preacher once say there's 22 Messianic
Psalms. No, no, that's dead wrong. There's 150 Messianic Psalms. Every single one of them refer
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the first application.
They're His words. Now, we know these are His words
from the cross. He said in verse 6 of Psalm 40, sacrifice and
offering thou didst not desire, mine ears is thou open, burnt
offerings and sin offering thou is not required. Then said I,
lo, I come in the volume of the book, it's written of me, I delight
to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now we know these are the words, the direct words of Jesus Christ
the Lord, don't we? This is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Look what
he says here in verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine iniquities. have taken hold upon me so that
I'm not able to look up there more than the hairs of my head.
Therefore, my heart fails me. That's the Lord speaking and
he speaks of mine. If we now look back at Psalm 38. This is,
I have no doubt that these are the words of the Lord from the
cross. In Psalm 38, he says, O Lord, rebuke me not in thy
wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure, for thine
arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presses me sore. There
is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there
any rest in my bones because of my sin, for mine iniquities
are gone over my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for
me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I'm
troubled. I'm bowed down greatly. I go
mourning all the day long for my loins are filled with a loathsome
disease. And there's no soundness in my
flesh. I'm feeble. I'm sore broken. I've roared
by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desires
before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. My heart
pants, my strength fails me, as for the light of mine eyes,
it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand
aloof from my sore. My kinsmen stand afar off. They
also that seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that
seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all
the day long. But I, as a dumb man, deaf man,
heard not. I was as a dumb man that opened
not his mouth, just like Isaiah 53 says. Thus I was as a man
that heareth not, in whose mouth are no reproofs. I have no doubt
that those are the words of the Lord from the cross. And look
how He describes my wounds. Stink and corrupt. My sin became
His. Now do you remember how we saw
that the unjust and the filthy will all go to hell? All that
hell is He suffered on the cross all that hell is. He drank the
dregs of God's wrath completely dry. He drank till there was
nothing left. He suffered all what hell is
on the cross. The sins of His people literally
became His and His righteousness, His holiness, literally and actually
becomes theirs. Now, how can that be? It's what
I want to close with. How can this be right? How can
it be right for Christ to take my sins, sins that He didn't
personally commit? He never sinned. Now, how can it be right for
Him to take my sins and make them His to where they're actually
His, even though He didn't personally commit them? And how can His
righteousness A righteousness that I had no hand in. How can
that actually become mine, where it's really mine? Not as if it
were mine, but it really is mine. How can that be right? I want
to give you four reasons. Now here's my first one. This
is how this can be right. Because God did it, and that
makes it right. have made Him to be sin. God did it. God doesn't do something
because it's right. It's right because He does it. The Lord has laid upon Him the
iniquity of us all. It's right because God did it. You find any satisfaction with
that? I sure do. I find complete. If God did it,
It's fine with me. Do I understand it all? Of course
not. Do I believe it? Every bit of it. Here's my second
reason. How could this be right for my
sins to become Christ's and for His righteousness to become mine? How in the world can that be
right? Well, it's right secondly because
Christ chose voluntarily to take on my sins. He wasn't forced
to do this. He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. No man takes my life from me.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to pick it up. This
commandment have I received of my Father. What He did, He did
voluntarily. My Lord chose to take my sin
to Himself. He chose to do it. And He chose
to give me His glorious righteousness. Now that's the second reason
why it's right. It's right because He did this voluntarily. Now here's the third reason that
it's right. It's right because of His relationship
with His people. That's why it's right. Now, if
Lynn goes out and incurs a debt. Let's say she goes into debt.
Say she runs up three or four different credit cards, $10,000
each one, up to the limit. Who's responsible for those credit
cards? I am. She's my wife. I'm responsible for her debts. I really am responsible for her
debts. Christ Jesus is my husband. He's my husband, and he is responsible
for my debts. It's only right that he would
be responsible. You know, it's only right that
I'm responsible for Lynn's debts. She's my wife. And I don't mind
either. I tell you what, I don't mind.
Whatever she's responsible for, I'll take full responsibility.
She's my wife. I'm her husband. You think of
this thing of being united to Christ. We're one. We're one. That means for me
to be one, that doesn't mean real close, that means I'm one
with Him. That means that all that I am, He was made to be. He became one with me. He is
one with me, always has been one with me, so all that I am,
if He's going to be one with me, all that I am, He was made
to be. But not only was all that I am,
He was made to be, all that He is, I'm made to be. Therefore, it was right for Him
to take on my debts. And it was right for Him to give
me His righteousness. It's right. It's the right thing
to do. So here's three reasons. Why is it the right thing for
my sin to be placed on Christ and His righteousness to actually
become mine? Well, because God did it. Because
He did this voluntarily. Thirdly, because of my relationship
with Him. He's my husband. I'm united to Him. And here's
the fourth reason. It's right because this is how
God saves. Would you turn with me to Romans chapter 5? Verse
18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. Now, do you hear what
that says? It says when Adam sinned, you and I personally
were condemned. Does it say anything less than
that? When Adam sinned, you and I personally were condemned. We were made sinners by that
one man's act of disobedience. Now that's, I was condemned for
a sin that I personally had nothing to do with. Now, I realize that
our flesh objects to that. Our flesh says, how can that
be fair? How can it be fair for me to be held responsible for
what somebody else did that I didn't have anything to do with? Well,
I understand that objection. But hey, God does it that way. And as far as that goes, you
say it's not fair. Well, let's forget Adam. How
have you stood on your own? It wouldn't be any benefit to you
at all if you weren't condemned for Adam's sin and you just had
to stand on your own. But the fact of the matter is, this is
where you're going to find some hope. If you can be condemned because
of somebody else's sin, you can also be saved because of somebody
else's righteousness. This is good news. This isn't
bad news. This is good news. Matter of fact, this is the only
hope you've got. It's the only hope I've got, being saved by
what somebody else did. This is the way God saves. We're
condemned by what somebody else did. We're saved by what Somebody
else did. Let's look at these verses again.
Verses 18 and 19. Romans 5. Therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment, condemnation came upon all men to condemnation,
even so in the precise same manner by the righteousness of one,
the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, The free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. Now, obviously, that's
not a reference to all men, with that exception, because not everybody's
saved. Are the people in hell justified? Well, you know they're
not. This is talking about those who
he died for. All he saves. The free gift came
upon all men to justification of life. For by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. That's how God saves. Now how
can I know if I am one of these righteous and holy ones? I see
I'm going to have to be righteous and holy to be brought in heaven.
How can I know if I personally am one of these righteous and
holy people described who will go on being righteous and who
will go on being holy even in eternity. How can I know if I'm
one of them? Let me ask you this very simple
question. Do you believe that who Jesus Christ is and what
he did is all that is needed to make you righteous and holy? Do you believe that? Do you trust who He is and what
He did? Are you relying upon who He is
and what He did as all that's needed to make you right now
righteous and holy before God, and you'll spend eternity being
righteous and holy. Are you relying upon who He is
and what He did? Beloved, if you are, you right
now are righteous and holy before God, and you will spend eternity
being righteous still. and holy still.