When with the ransomed in glory
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love, relentless love to me. Would you turn back to Genesis
18? I want to thank everyone for their efforts in Vacation
Bible School this week. It's a lot of work, but the Lord
blessed it. I thought we had a great week
together, and I wanted to thank you all who participated in the
hard work that you gave toward this. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Righteous and the Wicked. the righteous and the wicked. And I hope you'll give me your
careful attention. I believe that this will be as
clear a gospel message as I know how to preach. And I pray that
the Lord blesses it for our good and for his glory. Everyone without exception that
has ever been born and has the power of reasoning knows intuitively
that God is. An atheist is not someone who
does not believe in God, an atheist is one who does not want there
to be a God, and their belief comes from that. Everyone knows intuitively that
God is, and that God is all-powerful. Creation says that. Why is there something and not
nothing? Because of God. And God is all-powerful. He creates from nothing. Only an all-powerful God can
do that. And everyone, I don't care what
religion they're from, everyone knows intuitively Not only that
God is, that God is all powerful, but that he will reward the righteous
and he will punish the wicked. We all know that intuitively. All of humanity, and that includes
you and I, All of humanity, every man to ever live, every woman
to ever live, all of humanity is in one of these two groups,
the righteous or the wicked. And this is in God's eyes. He, the living God, The judge
of all the earth, the creator, sees. And how he sees is how
it is. And he sees some as righteous. And if he sees you as righteous,
you're righteous. He sees things as they are, unlike
us. We don't see things how they
are. We see things how they appear to be to us in our limited capacities but he sees
things as they are. And he sees some as righteous
and he sees some as wicked. The righteous and the wicked. The Lord sees not as man seeth.
Man looks on the outward appearance. The Lord looketh on the heart. And he sees some as righteous
And if he sees you as righteous, it's because you are in fact
righteous. And if he sees you as wicked,
it is because you are in fact wicked. Now, some definition
of terms. Righteous means you've never
sinned. You've never broken God's law. That's what God means by righteous.
You stand before the holy law of God as one who has never sinned. You've kept every commandment. Wicked means all you've done
is sin. That's it. You've not kept one
commandment one time. Now that's the definition of
the terms righteous and wicked. You stand before God as one who
has never sinned, if you're righteous. If you're wicked, you stand before
God as one who has never done anything but sin. You've not
kept one commandment one time, and if you believe you have,
all you demonstrate is an utter ignorance of what God's commandments
are. Righteous and Wicked, righteous,
or wicked. Now, ironically, all of the righteous believe
themselves to be wicked. How does that fit with you? All
of the righteous without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
exception, believe themselves to be righteous. Or at least
they have the potential to be righteous. If everything is right. All the righteous believe themselves
to be wicked. All the wicked believe themselves
to be righteous or at least have the potential to be righteous.
Now Romans chapter 3 verse 10 says there's none righteous. No, not one. If that's the case, how can God
who cannot be fooled, who sees things as they really are, unlike
you and I, He sees things as they really are. How can he look
at someone who in themselves are unrighteous and say, he's
righteous, she's righteous, and it be real? How can he see someone as righteous? In Genesis chapter 17, you're
there in Genesis chapter 18, look at verse 15. And God said unto Abraham, As
for Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarah, but
Sarah shall her name be. Somebody once said she was called
Her name was changed because now the breath of life, that's
what the H, the Hebrew, stands for. Life is going to come from
her. She's no longer going to be barren.
She's going to bear children, life. Verse 16, and I will bless
her and give her, give thee a son also of her. Yea, and I will
bless her and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall
be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face
and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him
that's a hundred years old? And shall Sarah that's 90 years
old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O
that Ishmael might live before thee. And God said, Sarah, thy
wife shall bear thee a son indeed. And thou shalt call his name
Isaac. See, it's all foretold. And I will establish my covenant
with him. For an everlasting covenant with
his seed after him, you see the Christ is going to come through
her seed. As for Ishmael, I've heard thee
behold, I blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply
him exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget
and I'll make him a great nation, but my covenant will I establish
with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at the set time
in the next year and he left off talking with him and God
went up from Abraham. Now the birth of Isaac was foretold.
You'll remember that he and Sarah had previously tried to help
God out. You remember the story in Genesis chapter 16? Sarah said, it's not working.
I know God promised it, but we need to do our part. God can't
act until we first do our part. So here's Hagar. My slave, my
Egyptian slave, you go into her and we'll have a child through
her. We're gonna do our part and thus God's promise can be
brought to pass. And Paul calls this in Galatians
chapter four, Mount Sinai. Law is you must do something
before God's promise can take place. That is law, salvation
by works. Chapter 18, verse one, and the
Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in
the tent door in the heat of the day. I like to, we got a
lot of hot weather right now, and I'm sure it's hotter there.
And there he sits at the tent door in the heat of the day,
and the Lord appears to him. Now the only way me and you are
gonna see the Lord is if he appears to us and makes himself known. And he comes to Abraham at this
time. And he lift up his eyes and looked
and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw, he ran to meet
them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. He
knew who these men were, he knew one was the Lord. And the other
two were angels who appeared as men. This was a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he did not become
flesh until he was born of the Virgin Mary, but this is a pre-incarnate
appearance. And he appears to Abraham. Look what Abraham said, and he
said, My Lord, you knew he was, didn't you? My Lord, If now I
have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from
thy servant. Now, if you ever see, and if
I ever see, who the Lord is, Abraham did. He knew who he was.
Look at the way he bowed himself to the ground, calling him Lord.
What's the one thing Abraham was concerned about having? Favor. Grace, same word, usually translated
grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now if you and I ever see who
he is, this is going to be our greatest concern, that he would
give us his grace, the grace of God. And let me remind you,
The grace of God is not what most people call the grace of
God. I'm talking about the grace of God as it's revealed in scripture.
I was watching TV and there was a rock and roll person and he
was talking about how he overcame certain addictions and he said,
and he's thought of other people with these addictions, he said,
there go I but for the grace of God. And it's a good thing
to say, I suppose, but that's not what the Bible means by grace.
Everybody says, there go I, but for the grace of God, I'm giving
God the credit of helping me out. When we talk of biblical
grace, the grace that Abraham's wanting to have, the only way
it can be defined is by the attributes of God. The grace of God is eternal
grace. It never had a beginning. It's
righteous grace. It's altogether righteous. It's
sovereign grace. He gives it to whom He will.
It's independent grace. There's nothing you need to do
in order to earn it from Him. It's utterly independent, the
grace of God. It's immutable grace. It's all-powerful
grace. It's saving grace. By grace are
you saved. Now, what does Abraham want?
Oh, if I found grace in your sight. That's what Moses asked
for. Oh, that I might find grace in
your sight. My Lord, if now I found grace
in thy sight, pass not away. You want his presence. You don't
want him to leave you. Pass not away. I pray thee from thy servant. He's so thankful to be able to
entertain this glorious guest. Let a little water, I pray you,
be fetched to him. wash your feet and rest yourselves under
the tree. And I'll fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you your
hearts. After that, you shall pass out. For therefore, are
you come to your servant? And they said, so do as thou
said. And Abraham hastened to the tent and to Sarah and said,
make ready quickly three measures of fine meal. Knead it and make
cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran into the herd
and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young
man. And he hastened to dress it. He took butter and milk and
the calf which he had dressed and set it before them. And he
stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. Don't you love
picturing this? There Abraham is just watching them eat. These
glorious guests, the Lord Jesus and these two angels he brought
with him. He didn't know what they were
doing there, but he was just glad they were there. And he
stood and watched them eat. Verse nine. And they said unto
him, where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, behold, in the tent.
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to
the time of life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall
have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door, which was behind it. Now Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age and ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. She was no longer able to bear
children. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord being old also? It is not going to happen. And
the Lord said unto Abram, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall
I of a surety bear a child which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? And this is a statement regarding
his omnipotence. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is he unable to cause Sarah to give birth to a child? Now, God's all powerful. Now
you can count on this. God is not going to act contrary
to any of his attributes. He's not going to do something
that's contrary to who he is. God's utterly predictable in
that sense. I've heard people say, and it
makes me cringe when people say this, I don't want to put God
in a box. You can't do that. We're not worried about that.
But God is going to act totally according to who he is. Now,
what he is able to do, there's no limitations to it. He can't
act contrary to his attributes. He can't sin. He can't lie. But
there's nothing he's unable to do. Is anything too hard for
the Lord? At the time appointed, I'll return
unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have
a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not, for she was afraid. That is a demonstration of how
easily we all lie, even in the presence of the Lord who sees
all things and knows all things. She said, I didn't lie. And he said, Nay, but thou didst
life. And the men rose up from thence,
these two angels, and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went
with him to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall
I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? seeing that Abraham shall surely
become a great mighty nation and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him. For I know him that he will command
his children and his household after him and they shall keep
the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Abraham was the friend of God.
Isn't that amazing? That's true of every believer.
You're his friend. He's your friend. He's your Lord.
He's your God. He's your master. He's your friend. And the Lord
said with regard to this man, Abraham, am I going to hide what
I'm going to do? from him, saying, I know him. He's going to command
his children to come after him, to keep the way of justice and
judgment, that the Lord may bring to pass everything he has spoken
concerning him. Now, is the Lord talking about
Abraham's excellent parenting skills? It almost sounds that way. I
know him. He's going to command his children. to do justice and
judgment to keep the way of the Lord. Is he talking about Abraham's
excellent parental skills? Now before I go on, here's what
a parent is supposed to do. There's supposed to be a moral
authority with their children to command them to do what's
right with consequences if they don't. Now that is what a parent
is called upon to do, to command their children to do what's right
with the consequences that will come if they disobey their parents. Is that what is being spoken
of here? No. That's good stuff. This is what
parents are supposed to do, but that's not what's spoken of here.
His children, the children of Abraham, are the children of
faith. Now, a parent can command his
children, and that child might go back. This never happens. Everybody that obeys the command
of the gospel, all God's people do. Every one of his children,
they're gonna keep the way of judgment and justice. Now, what
is the way of judgment and justice? Jesus Christ is the way of judgment
and justice. He said, I am the way. He's the
way God can be just and justify the ungodly. I am the truth. He is the truth of how God can
be just and justify the ungodly. I am the life. His life is the
way God can be just and justify the ungodly. He is the way of
judgment and justice. God is altogether righteous. He is the way. Verse 19, I know him that he
will command his children, the true children of Abraham and
his household after him. And they shall keep the way of
the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon
Abraham that which he has spoken of him. And the Lord said, now
speaking to Abraham. And the Lord said, because the
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin
is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they've done
altogether according to the cry of it which has come to me. And if not, I will know. Now, the first mention of Sodom
and Gomorrah is found in Genesis chapter 13 when Lot looked at
the well-watered plain. And the scripture says the men
of Sodom and Gomorrah were sinners exceedingly before the Lord. And if you read Genesis chapter
19, you find out why he destroyed them. Now, if we said the main
sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was sexual perversion, I wouldn't
say that's wrong, but it's more than that. Turn with me to Ezekiel
36 for a moment. Ezekiel. I'm sorry, Ezekiel 16. I knew
I got that wrong. Ezekiel 16. I have, you're going to have
to give me just a second to find out where the scripture I'm wanting
to quote is. Verse 48. As I live, saith the Lord God,
Sodom thy sister hath not done she nor her daughter as thou
hast done thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom. Look what he says. He doesn't mention the perversions
that were going on. He says pride. Now they were indeed guilty of
grotesque sexual perversions. But what does the prophet mention?
Pride. Taking credit where credit is
not due. Fullness of bread. Not hungering
and thirsting after righteousness. I'm okay. I'm satisfied. I'm full. I'm okay. And idleness. You know the word means peace
and quiet. Abundance of idleness, like the
church at Laodicea. Rich, increased with goods and
have need of nothing. Now God tells us this is what
the sin of Sodom was. Now I would not discount what
he said about the sexual perversions, but this is God's description. Neither did she strengthen the
hand of the poor and needy, and they were haughty and committed
abominations before me. Therefore, I took them away as
I saw good." Now, thus is the description of Sodom that God
said, I'm going to go look and destroy it. Now, Abraham had
one catch. Lot was there. He loved Lot. I guess he viewed Lot as his
son. I know it was his nephew, but
he didn't have any sons of his own. And he loved Lot. He'd known
Lot all of his life. Remember Lot left to go with
him? You remember when he went to
rescue Lot when he got in trouble? And he was thinking, if the Lord's
going to destroy Sodom, Lot's there. I don't want that to happen. I've read different things that
Abraham, we're going to go in where he says, what if there's
50 righteous, 40 righteous, and so on. They talked about Abraham
interceding for the lost, trying to make sure. No, he wanted a
lot to be saved. And that's what is going on at
this time. His nephew Lot, he was dear to
him. So let's go on reading verse
20. And the Lord said to Abraham,
because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because
their sin is very grievous, I'll go down now and see whether they've
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is coming
to me, and if not, I'll know. And the men turned their faces
from the ends and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet
before the Lord, and Abraham drew near and said, wilt thou
also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Per adventure, there'd be 50
righteous within the city. Now I've heard, I've read everything
I could about how big the cities of the plain are. I've read anywhere
from 5,000 to 500,000. So everybody's given guesses, obviously. I don't
know how many people were there. It might have been 500,000. It
might have only been 5,000. But look what he says with regard
to this city. Verse 23, And Abraham drew near
and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Will thou also
destroy and not spare the place for 50 righteous that are therein?
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked. That
be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? You see, Abraham knew the character
of God and he knew this. The judge of the earth shall
do right. And let me remind you, He doesn't
do something because it's right. It's right because He does it. He doesn't have a law over His
head. Whatever He does is right, and
it's right because He does it. And this is what Abraham appeals
to. What if there's 50 righteous
people there? Are you going to destroy and slay them too, like
you would everybody else? You're not going to treat them
the same way. They're different. The righteous and the wicked,
they're different. You're not gonna treat them the same. You're
the judge of all the earth, you'll do right. Verse 26, and the Lord
said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I'll spare
all the place for their sakes. Abraham answered and said, behold,
now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which in dust
and ashes, perventure there shall be like five of the 50 righteous.
Without destroy all the city for the lack of five, And he
said, if I find there 40 and five, I'll not destroy it. And
he spake unto him yet again and said, perventure, there should
be 40 found there. And he said, I'll not do it for
40 sake. And he said to him, oh, let not the Lord be angry.
And I'll speak perventure, there should be 30 found there. He
said, I'll not do it if I find 30. And he said, behold, now
I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord perventure, there should
be 20 found there. He said, I'll not destroy it
for 20 sake. And he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and
I'll speak yet, but this once, peradventure, ten shall be found
there. And he said, I'll not destroy
it for ten's sake. And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had
left communion with Abraham, and Abraham returned into his
place. Now, I guess Abraham thought, surely there'll be ten people
there, and Lot will be saved. Maybe there's 10 in his family.
Surely there's 10 there in that big place that are righteous,
and you know what took place as you read Genesis chapter 19. Back to verse 25. That be far from thee to do after
this matter, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the
righteous should be as the wicked, That be far from thee shall not
the judge of all the earth do right. Abraham says, I know you. And if you know the Lord the
way Abraham did, you know the same thing Abraham did. Shall
not the judge of all the earth do right. The righteous and the
wicked will have two different ends. You will never treat them
the same. That is far from thee. And you can write this down.
The judge of the earth will give everybody exactly what they deserve. How's that make you feel? The judge of the earth who always
does right, will give everybody exactly what they deserve. God is no respecter of persons. All will be given what they deserve. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 20. Verse one, for the kingdom of heaven is
like, that ought to catch our attention. The Lord's going to tell us what
the kingdom of heaven's like. The kingdom of heaven is like unto
a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour, nine in the morning, and
saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said unto
them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right will
I give you. Have you ever noticed that? He
said, what is right, that is exactly what you will receive. And they went their way, again
he went out about the sixth. Noon, night, three, he did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he
went out and found others standing idle, and he saith unto them,
Why stand ye here idle all the day? They said unto him, Because
no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also
into the vineyard. And what are they going to get?
whatsoever is right. Whatsoever is just, fair, equitable,
you're going to receive exactly what you deserve. You're going to get what is right. Now go on reading, verse 8. So
when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard said unto his
steward, call the labors and give them their hire, beginning
from the last unto the first. And when they that came that
were hired about the eleventh hour, and it only worked one
hour, they received every man a penny. They got what was right. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more. And they likewise
received every man a penny. Everyone was given exactly what
is right. And when they'd received, they
murmured against the good man of the house saying, these that
have wrought but one hour, Thou hast made them equal unto us,
which have borne the burden in the heat of the day. This is
not fair. This is not right. And I guarantee
you, if you were in the same circumstance, you'd say the same
thing. Somebody worked 12 hours in the heat of the day, and he
gives that person who worked only one hour the same thing
and calls it right? That is not fair. Yet is, he
gives what is right. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me
for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy way. I will give
unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me
to do what I will with my own? Is thine I evil, because I am
good? So the first shall be last, The
last should be first, the first last for many be called, but
few chosen. Now turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I'd like you to look at this
with me. Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Verse 10. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, the one who will do right, that
everyone may receive the things done in his body according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now, do you hear that? Here's what you're gonna receive.
Here's what I'm gonna receive. The things done in the body. Could that be terrifying? I know
what it doesn't mean. This is not talking about some
kind of judgment where believers will be rewarded for their good
deeds and their efforts here on earth and some will get a
lower reward in heaven. Matthew chapter 20 says that's
not the case. The one hour workers were given
the same thing as the 12 hour workers. This says you're going
to receive what was done in your body. Now here's the mystery of the gospel. If
Christ is my representative, what he did in his body is what
I have done in my body. Matthew 3, 15, thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. What the Lord did in His body,
perfect obedience, perfect righteousness, I've done in my body because
what He did is my righteousness. Turn to Luke 18. the righteous and the wicked.
Now remember, I've already said that all of humanity is divided
into two camps, the righteous and the wicked. And remember, all the righteous
believe themselves to be wicked and all of the wicked believe
themselves to be righteous. Now, Luke 18 speaks of that so
powerfully. Verse 9, Luke 18, and he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. and despised others. It was a righteousness that men
come up with by comparing myself with somebody else. I'm righteous. At least I'm more righteous than
he is. I might not be perfect, but I'm more righteous than she
is. I mean, look at what she... That's... You know, if you have
a righteousness by comparison, it's called self-righteousness. Any righteousness that comes
from self is self-righteousness, that thing which God hates, self-righteousness. Now let's go on reading verse
2. Two men, two representative men, the man that represents
the righteous, the man that represents the wicked. Two men went up into
the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. They
couldn't be more polarized. The one a proud Pharisee, a religious
man, the other a publican, someone who worked for the Roman government
that would gouge his fellow Jews of money, overcharging them for
tax, and he was completely protected. by the government in doing that. If you'd see this guy ripping
you off of your money and you couldn't do a thing about it
knowing he was protected by the Roman government, you'd hate
him. Here are these two men, a Pharisee and a Republican. Verse 11, now here is the wicked
who believed himself to be righteous. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He thought he was praying to
God, but he wasn't. He just thought he was. He was praying with himself. God, I thank Thee. I give You the credit for this. I'm not giving myself the credit,
I'm giving you the credit for this. 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. Now what is he thanking God for? What he did and did not do. That was his ground of assurance.
What I do and what I don't do. I'm giving God the credit. This
guy was Calvinist, he wasn't an Arminian. I'm giving God the
credit. But my hope is seen in what I
do and refrain from doing. How I deal with things. Verse 13, and the publican, now
here's the righteous who believes himself to be wicked in clear
language. And the publican standing afar
off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast. That's where his heart was. He
knew that's his problem. I've got a bad heart. I've got
an evil heart. I can't make my iniquity belches
out from it. I've got a bad heart. That's
my problem. He beat upon his breast. Savior, God be merciful to me,
a sinner. That word merciful is propitious. God be propitious to me, the
sinner, the worst man to ever live. The only way that I can
be saved is if you're propitious to me. Propitiation, that's such
an important word. It's translated as merciful,
but it means be a sin-removing sacrifice for me. The only way
I can be saved is by you doing something about my sin, removing
it, being the propitiation for my sin. That's the only hope
I have. Verse 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, absolutely righteous, one who
has never sinned, rather than the other. He went
down to his house in his sins, condemned by God. But this man
went down to his house. Now, if I said forgiven, that'd
be right, wouldn't it? Or shown mercy. Or given grace. That would all be right. But
that's not the word the Lord used. This man went down to his
house justified. Standing before God without guilt. And look what he says. For everyone
that exalts himself shall be abased. And he that humbles himself
shall be exalted." Now, here's what this means. You exalt yourself
if you pray with The Pharisee, Lord, I thank you that I'm not
like other men. And he talked about what he did and
he didn't do. Now, if you believe, if I believe
salvation is dependent upon my works to any measure, to any
degree, I'm exalting myself. I'm saying I'm the difference.
I'm the difference. True, God helped me, God's grace
helped me, but I'm the difference. That's called self-exaltation. And what is the end of self-exaltation? You can be abased. The Lord knows
how to abase those who exalt themselves. And this man, in
all of his pride, was sent to hell. That's a sobering thought. But the man who humbled himself,
that's the man who looked to Christ only because he didn't
have anywhere else to look. He was a sinner. He had nothing
else to plead. He was a sinner. The only hope
he had was the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ. What Christ accomplished.
He knew that. God, be propitious. Remove my sin by the sacrifice
of your Son. I can't do anything about it.
I can't make it go away. God, be propitious to me, the
sinner. That man went down to his house
justified. To him that worketh not. Do you understand that you can't
be saved by anything you do? Somebody says, I do. Listen to
the scripture. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. You believe that
Christ actually made a way for God to be just and justify somebody
ungodly like you and make it to where you're altogether righteous.
The mystery of the gospel, his faith is counted for righteousness. Do you trust Jesus Christ only? And you are sure of this, you
can't be saved by your works. It's gotta be his work for you.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of the grace of thy son. And Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that everybody in this room, for Christ's sake, by your grace,
would be like the publican crying, God, be propitious to me, the
sinner. Lord, oh, that we might be righteous
before you because of what Christ did in our behalf. Bless this
message for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.