The evidence has been heard. All in the courtroom of God's
strict justice stand in silence to hear the verdict read. Then
comes the one word that the accused dreaded most to hear. Guilty. Guilty. We find the defendant The law
of God has charged you and I. God's holy justice has arrested
us. God will by no means clear the
guilty, Exodus 34, 7. And guilty is what we are. The
law in Leviticus chapter 4 verse 13 says so. We've all sinned
against the commandments of the Lord concerning things which
should not be done and are guilty. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith that saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth How many mouths? Every mouth. Your mouth, my mouth,
every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become what?
Guilty before God. Guilty. The law of God pronounces
all of us guilty. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James 2.10. Now the word guilty
means to be at fault. We're all at fault. It means
to be blameable. It means to be responsible. It
means to be answerable. It means to be accountable. It
means to be liable. It means to be condemnable for
sin. And all of us are. Romans 3.23,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 5.12, wherefore as by
one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men and all women, for that all have
sinned. And to one whom God has revealed
their sin and their guilt, How precious is the word faultless? Faultless. Turn with me to the
little New Testament book of Jude. Only one chapter, verse 24. I know you could quote the verse.
I like to look at it in my Bible. I like for folks to look at it
in their Bible. Jude, right before Revelation,
only one chapter, verse 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless. before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory
and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen. So be it, amen. Now the word
of God says that you and I must be perfect. to be accepted. You know, that's a word we don't
really know much about. You know, when a child is born
and we see that little baby, you know, after they first come
forth of the womb and they're cleaned up and all that, we say,
oh, he's just perfect. Just perfect. No. No. Maybe to us, but not to God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The word Faultless means perfect. Perfect. The word faultless means
to be flawless, without flaw, without blemish. No offering
to God will be accepted that is not without blemish. Did you
know that the book of Leviticus states that 36 times? 36 times
in the law of God that you and I must be without blemish. That word faultless means to
be innocent. Means to be innocent. Job said,
I'm afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou will not hold
me innocent. Why? Because we're guilty. Guilty. The word faultless means to be
sinless to those self-righteous men who caught that woman in
the act of adultery. The Lord Jesus said, He that
is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. How many stones flew that day?
Not a one. Not a one. Did any of them cast
a stone at her? No, not a one, because they were
all guilty. Now, I don't know what the Lord
stooped and wrote in the sand. There's been a lot of speculation. I personally wouldn't doubt if
he didn't begin to write their names. in the sand, saying, you,
Tom, and you, Fred, and you, Joe, or whatever your name, you're
guilty. You're going to throw a stone
at her when you yourself are guilty? No stones flew that day. And I understand that every believer
who's been made aware of their sin, those to whom God has revealed
who and what you are, your nature, your unbelief, fickleness. Aren't
we fickle people? So fickle. Your changeability,
your lack of loyalty to the Lord who loved you and gave himself
for you, has at one time or another doubted our faith in Christ and
our salvation. And there's one reason that all
of us, for one reason alone, as to why we continue to do so,
we look to ourself instead of to Christ. We do. We begin to look within, and
we see the imperfection, and we see the sin, and we feel the
guilt, and we begin to doubt our salvation. But there's nothing within us
that would commend us to God, and if we're honest with ourselves,
there's nothing within us that would give us any comfort, any
rest, any peace or assurance. Isn't that what Paul says? He
said, in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. When we're honest
with ourselves and when we look within, we don't see a good thing. We find only sin, we find only
death, we find despair. And it causes us to doubt our
salvation. And it also causes the true child
of God, great pain and despair. It's kind of like that fella
that went to the doctor and he said, doc, I'm in great pain,
especially when I do this. And the doc said, well, don't
do that. And that's a cute little saying, I know. But that's what
we do to ourselves. We look within instead of looking
to Christ. To those who are looking within
themselves to find some assurance of salvation, I can help you. Don't do that. Don't do it. Every child of God must look
to the Lord Jesus Christ and to Him alone. After all, our
salvation is Not a collaborative effort between us and God. What
are we gonna look within to add to the equation? God doesn't
make salvation possible and then make it certain by something
that we do. No, sir, we can do nothing. Within
us dwells no good thing. There's nothing for us to add,
to contribute. I've said this before, too. It
would be like me going to that museum over in Paris where the
Mona Lisa is and pulling out some crayons and walking up to
that famous masterpiece of the Mona Lisa and try to add something
to it. No different. And it wouldn't
only be criminal to do so, it would deface its value. it would
immediately become less valuable. And it's the exact same thing
for us to attempt to add some work of value to Christ's work,
the masterpiece that it was. So, don't do that. Don't do that. Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation
in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved. You'll never find any
peace, you'll never find any comfort, you'll never find any
rest, any assurance in doing that. So don't do it. Don't do
it. No salvation in any other. Any
other. Only one can save. No other name
is given for us to call upon. We're shut up to one and one
only, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's our message. That's
what we preach. And it doesn't matter if it's
Todd, doesn't matter if it's Gabe, Donnie, me, or any other
gospel preacher. It's the same message. Christ
and Him crucified. I must have the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him, Christ, give all the
prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sins. That's what I need. I need my sin to be put away.
And yes, it says whosoever, whosoever believes is whosoever wills,
and whosoever will is whosoever God wills. That's not hard to
figure out. People get all, how can you believe
in election and believe whosoever will? Very easily. Matthew 121,
you know the verse, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall, he shall save his people from
their what? Their sins. The father loveth
the son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth
on the son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. about it on him,
John chapter 3, 35 through 36. And the Lord himself tells us
this. He said, I am the way. There
is no other way. He said, I am the truth. There
is no other truth. I am the life. There is no other
life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by me. So simple, so simple, so simple. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He's the
sure foundation. He's the solid rock. On Christ
we must stand. Are you standing on Christ tonight?
Oh, it's my encouragement to you to stand on him, to cling
to him. He's the only means of salvation. No other foundation. No other. But there's one God and one mediator
between God and man. That should be of interest to
you. The man, Christ Jesus. As you've been so It's been revealed in this meeting
that Christ is that one mediator. He's the only one that can help
us. Scriptures are so plain and simple.
John said, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal
life, and this life is where? In His Son. It's in His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
wife, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." That's not
hard to understand, is it? If I have Christ, I've got life.
If I don't have Christ, I don't have life. So, are we going to
be stony ground hearers? Well, I'm going to tell you,
if we look within, we will. Or will we continue in the faith?
If we look to Christ alone, we'll continue. Do we have root or
are we gonna wilt with the hot sun of persecution comes? Is
the seed sown deep into my heart or is it sown among the thorns?
Time tells, time tells. Will the cares and the riches
and the vanities of this life, and there are plenty of them,
will they cause me to depart from Christ? Not if he keeps
me from falling. And that's the only hope that
I won't fall is if he keeps me. Will I endure to the end and
be saved? Will I fight a good fight? Will I finish the course?
Will I keep the faith? Will there be a crown of God's
righteousness laid up for me? Or will I forsake the Lord like
Demas did? Having loved this present world,
which master do I serve? The Lord Jesus or the things
of this world? You can't serve both. Where do I find my confidence?
Where do I find my comfort? Where do I find my peace? Where
do I find my assurance that I'm saved? Only in him that is able
to keep me from falling. Only by trusting in the one that
can present me faultless. Oh, I love that word, faultless,
faultless. Why is it so hard for us to learn? It's not what I do that saves
me, but what Christ did for me that does. Now listen to me,
this is the beauty of the gospel. Some will claim that this statement
gives men and women a license to sin, as I said last night.
Men and women already have that license, I guess. We don't have
any problem doing it, but here is where my peace and my comfort,
this is what I want. The Lord told his servants, he
said, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. That's what preachers
are endeavoring to do, to comfort you and to comfort ourselves.
We're not extinct from the issue of sin. We're all in the same
boat. If I can't be saved by what I
don't do, I can't be saved by what I don't do because I will
every time do what I shouldn't. Is that you? Does that sound
familiar? And that's why the Word of God
declares the salvations of the Lord as we said last night. That
means that I can only be saved by what Christ has done for me. So if I can't be saved by something
that I do, then I can't be lost by something I do. And I love
that. That doesn't make me want to
go out and sin so that grace may abound. That causes me to
fall on my knees and say, Lord, don't let me bring any dishonor
to you who loved me and gave yourself for me. Don't let me
bring shame to your glorious name. He hath made Him, Christ God,
hath made Him Christ to be sin for us. Christ who knew no sin
was made sin. That, and this is the reason
that He was made sin, that we might be made what? The righteousness
of God in Him. Now, that's talking about the
righteousness of God. It's talking about perfect righteousness.
A faultless righteousness. I'm saved and made perfect only
by the perfect work of righteousness that Christ accomplished and
finished for me by taking my sin upon himself and putting
it away. God takes my sin and throws it
behind him and he never looks back. Our problem is we follow behind
him and pick it up ourselves. Throw it back there and leave.
Forget those things which are behind you and press on. Press
on. Think about what Christ has done
for you. That's where your assurance will be found. That's where your
comfort is. I'm saved and made perfect by his perfect work. That's why every child of God
looks unto Christ, who is able to keep them from falling and
present them faultless. Boy, it's got a good ring to
it, doesn't it? faultless in his presence. For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might, what? Bring us to God. How are we going
to get to God? Only one way. The just one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, dying for the unjust, like you and me,
that he might bring us to God. You know, I know that, I remember
that little poem, I can't remember how it goes, but footsteps in
the sand or whatever, you know, and there were two sets of footprints
and they just, listen, there's never been two sets of footprints
in the sand. Just forget that fairytale garbage. There's only been one set of
footsteps and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. I think about the
good shepherd. He went out, he left the 99 and
went out and found that one sheep that was lost. And how did he
get him back home? Did he follow behind him and
say, come on, go on, you gotta go, let's go home. No, he picked
him up and put him on his shoulders. He carried him all the way home.
That's my great shepherd. Turn with me to Romans 10, if
you would, please. The Apostle Paul here speaking
of Israel and his desire for them to be saved, Paul talks
about Israel's zeal of God not being according to knowledge.
There's a lot of folks today that's got a lot of zeal for
God, but it's not according to knowledge. Matter of fact, it's
according to ignorance. It says here in verse three,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish what? Their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. What
is it to be ignorant of God's righteousness? It's to go about
to establish your own. It's to look to yourself and
not to Christ. It's not to submit to the righteousness
of God. That righteousness of God being
the perfect righteousness that God has provided in Christ for
His people. We see that clearly in verse
4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. All the ceremonies
of the law, all the law's ordinances, all the sacrifices that the law
demanded, all these things were but shadows of good things to
come. They were just pictures. Pictures of Christ and what He
had come to do for His people. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. There's no righteousness apart
from Him. Every type looked to Christ. Every offering pictured
Him. Works religionists never believe
this, but the law of God was not given for us to keep in order
to be saved. And you tell that to a lost person, the law was given to show us
our inability to keep it. The law was given to show us
our need of Christ. He was the only one who could
keep the law for us. Christ was fulfilling the end
of the law for our righteousness. Our righteousness could not come
any other way but by Him. It's the righteousness of God
in Him. Jesus Christ fulfilled God's
holy law. Jesus Christ satisfied God's
holy justice. The law was simply our schoolmaster. The law was our teacher. It gave
us instruction and direction until Christ came. What was the
purpose of the law? What was the purpose of the schoolmaster?
To bring us to Christ. Have you come to Christ? Christ
put an end to the law because it was weak and unprofitable
to us. And it was weak through the flesh, it says. That's our
flesh. unpowerful about the law of God,
the lack of power, the lack of abilities in us. That's why the
law wasn't effectual. We can't keep it. None can keep
it. None can keep it perfectly. The
law condemns us all. The law cannot save us because
we can't keep it. And we're ignorant if we think
we can. That doesn't offend the believer.
We know we're ignorant. But God has made unto us in Christ
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
There's no other righteousness that'll be accepted. We can't
establish our own, and if we endeavor to do so, if we try
to establish our own righteousness, then we don't submit to God's
righteousness. You can't do both. Who is God's
righteousness? Do you notice how I asked that
question, not what? Who is God's righteousness? The Lord Jesus
Christ, who is able to present us faultless, faultless. Look at verse 5, for Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things, the things that the law demands, shall live by
them. Now what does that mean? Well,
just exactly what it says. The man, the woman, the sinner
who keeps the law in all its respects, blameless, faultless,
shall have life. And if you and I could keep God's
law and keep it all perfectly, we could save ourselves. But
we can't. That's why Christ came. But when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law that we might receive the adoption of sons and daughters. My, my, that's the best news
I ever heard. And this is why Paul elsewhere
shows us that none can keep the law perfectly as God demands.
The righteousness of God demands perfect obedience to the law
by the sinner. Who among us can claim that we
never sin? Look down at verse 12. For there's
no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whoever
trusts in his righteousness, not their own, but his righteousness
alone, they're the ones that's gonna be saved. Calling on the name of the Lord
is looking alone to Christ as God's only righteousness. Now
I want you to turn back with me to Jude. Who do we look to? Christ, who is able. Able to
do what? Anything and everything. He can
do anything and he can do everything. Our God is in the heavens and
what does it say? He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Whatsoever he pleased in heaven
and earth and the seas and even in hell. That did he. Boy, I like those three words.
That did he. He didn't try to do it. He didn't
want to do it. He did it. That did he. We definitely
see in our text the Lord most certainly can keep us from falling
and he must certainly can present us faultless. What's the subject
matter of this little epistle? Verse three tells us pretty well.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints. You see, the subject matter here
is salvation. That's the issue. That's our
problem, sin. And you know, A firefighter saves
people from fire and a lifeguard saves people from water, but
the Lord Jesus Christ saves people from sin. And that's something
we all need saving from. It's about salvation, only one
way to be saved, only one author of salvation. And you said it
was needful that I write to you. It was needful that I should
exhort you. Why? That you should earnestly contend
for the faith, faith in Christ. This is talking about trusting
and believing that Christ took your sin and gave you his righteousness
and he made you what? Faultless. Oh, listen, this beloved
of God's a matter of fact. You and I are prone to wonder.
You know it and I know it. We're prone to leave the God
that we love. How can you leave a God that you love? I don't
know, but many have professed to know Him and to love Him and
they've done just that. That's just how messed up we
are by nature. Some fall into temptation and
then into total apostasy. I've seen it happen so many times.
Adam in a state of innocence failed. He could not keep himself
from falling. Look at verse six, and the angels,
which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
they couldn't keep themselves from falling. How much less can
you and I, imperfect, sinful men and women, keep ourselves
from falling? There's only one that can keep
us from falling. And he that has all power in heaven and in
earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the only one that can. Sound
like a broken record, don't it? That's what preachers are, broken
records. We're broken and we just keep
proclaiming the same thing. He made me fall. He made me fall. He made me fall. Oh my, our Lord said in Matthew
28, 18, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And
in John 3, 35, the Lord said the father loveth the son and
hath given all things unto his hand. With Christ being the only
one who can keep us from falling. That's the beauty of this gospel.
That's why he is salvation. Salvation's in a person. Salvation
is in Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. He's the
only one that can keep us. He's the only one that can present
us faultless, and we must make it our life's business to look
to Him and trust Him alone. Now, this is the most important
thing in all the world. Nothing more important than this.
This is our message. This is the gospel. It's a simple
message. It's a simple gospel. Look to
Jesus Christ and live. Look to Christ and live. How
are we kept from falling? How are we presented faultless?
By the power of God through faith unto salvation, 1 Peter 1.5.
Don't miss the blessing of that word presents. What a wonderful,
glorious word that is. The Lord Jesus Christ presents
us faultless. That word presents means appointed. having predestinated us, appointed
us before time ever was unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1.11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated, appointed, presented before the foundation
of the world according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things. How many things? All things after
the counsel of his. on will. We have been appointed
to be faultless. It means to be brought. That
word present means to be brought. For Christ hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
We quoted that a moment ago. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. Spirit, we've been brought to
be faultless. To present also means to be established
by a covenant. David's dying words were, God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
insure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. And that's
every believer's hope. God made a covenant with me.
And I hope he has you, but I'm interested, I'm gonna be selfish
on this one, okay? I want him to present me faultless. And I want him to present you
faultless too. He's my covenant with God. Jesus Christ is my
covenant. I was chosen in him, I was brought
in him, I'm redeemed in him. He presents me to himself before
the presence of his glory. Now listen to this, with exceeding
joy. Oh my, it pleased the Lord to
make you his people. Isn't that amazing? When you
know who and what you are, when you've gotten a good whiff of
yourself, you'll think that's amazing. With exceeding joy,
the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save,
he will rejoice over thee with joy. Over me? Yes, over me and over you. He'll rest in his love. He's
not resting in my love. My love's fickle. My love's not
worth talking about. He'll rest in his love, and he'll
joy over thee with singing. I love what Gabe said today.
He's looking forward to hearing the Lord singing, and so am I,
because he's gonna be singing with joy over me. and over all
His people. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
3, verse 13, to the end, He, Christ, may establish your hearts
unblameable. What does that mean? Paul is
in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now in closing, I want you to
turn with me to 1 John 3 and look at verse 2. John here writes in verse 2, Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. But we shall see him as he is.
How is he? Faultless. Look at verse three,
and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth even as
he, Christ, is pure. You know, when we see him, we're
gonna be just like him. God gave us to Christ and he's
gonna conform us to his perfect image. And you know, we say often
in preaching, you know, when God looks at me, He sees His
Son, that's the beauty of substitution. You know why He does? Because
I am just like Him. He's made me just like Him. Now
don't go looking within. Don't go looking within your
own self, your own heart. You'll get disappointed. You'll
start doubting everything. But keep looking to Him who's
faultless. And he's conformed you to be just like him. Do I
understand that? No. But I believe it with all
my heart, Dwayne. I do. Help thou my unbelief. Pure means faultless. When he
shall come with trumpet sound, I thought about that as Richard
was playing a moment ago. Oh, may I then in him be found. dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Let's fast forward
back to that day of judgment. All stand in silence before the
throne to hear the verdict. There stands for the people of
God a mediator, an advocate, a representative, and he's the
one who reads the verdict What's the verdict that this great advocate
reads? Faultless, not guilty. Father, I died for them, and
they're faultless. They're just like me. I've conformed
them to be just like me. And just like me, they are faultless. May God be pleased to make it
so for his glory, for our good, and for Christ's sake. Amen.