I've wanted to preach from this
passage of scripture for many years. And while I was loafing
last week on vacation, this passage of scripture just seemed to take
hold upon my mind. So I believe I'm going to attempt
to preach from it this morning. I've entitled this message a
false balance. And just wait. A false balance. is abomination,
is loathsome, is disgusting, is revolting to the Lord, but
a just weight is His delight. Now, what is a false weight? Well, it's what is used to swindle
somebody. It's what is used to rip somebody
off. Let's say I want to go to the
store to buy some coffee. That's what I like the best.
I love coffee. And in those days, food was not
prepackaged. There would be scales or balances
and You would have a balance and on one side of the balance
you might have an 8 ounce weight or a 16 ounce weight and you
pour the coffee in the other side of the balance and when
you had the 8 ounces or 16 ounces or whatever it is you wanted
to buy, it would even out. If I put on the balance a weight
that actually only weighed 14 ounces and The consumer comes with his coffee
and puts their coffee on the scales and it ends up balancing
out. And I sell them 14 ounces of
coffee. When I tried to appear to sell
them 16 ounces, I had what's called a false balance. It was a way to rip the consumer
off. Now, this can certainly be used
to represent all corrupt business practices, and there are a lot
of them, and this is an abomination to the Lord. He is disgusted
by it, and He is revolted by it. He loathes, God loathes anything
less than perfectly upright dealings. And ultimately, nobody will get
by with anything. You know, that's comforting to
know that, isn't it? Nobody's going to get by with a thing.
You know, the Lord always pays His debts. He said, vengeance
is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. You see, the Lord has a book
in which every sin is recorded. And I mean the sin of every man. Cheating, stealing, lying, cutting
corners, gouging prices, it doesn't matter what it is, the Lord has
a book and he keeps record of all of that and nobody's going
to get by with a thing. Now you've seen that statue.
In a court of law where there's a woman standing that's blindfolded
and she's holding scales of justice that shows in true justice, there's
no respect of persons, there's no favoritism, perfect justice,
where there's one with whom that is utterly true. That is the
Lord God. There truly is no respect of
persons with Him. He is a God of absolute, complete,
impartial justice. A false weight, unjust dealings,
is an abomination to the Lord. He's disgusted by it. He hates
it. But a just weight, a perfect
weight, is his delight. Now, this passage of scripture
is not an obscure passage of scripture. Turn with me to Proverbs
chapter 16. Verse 11. Adjust weight and balance are
the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are
his work. Look in Proverbs chapter 20. Verse 10. Diverse weights, differing weights
that are used to deceive and diverse measures, both of them
alike are an abomination to the Lord. Look in verse 23 of the
same chapter. Diverse weights. are an abomination
under the Lord and a false balance is not good. Would you turn with
me to the book of Leviticus in God's law? I want you to see
how an issue is made of this. Leviticus chapter 19. Verse 35. It said to the children
of Israel. Leviticus 19, verse 35, You shall
do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteors, in weight or in measure,
just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just end shall
ye have. I am the Lord your God, which
brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe
all my statutes and all my judgments and do them. I am the Lord. Look in Deuteronomy, chapter
25. beginning in verse 13. Thou shalt not have in thy bag
diverse weights, a great and a small. Deuteronomy 25, 13,
verse 14. Thou shalt not have in thy house
diverse measures, a great and a small, but thou shalt have
a perfect And just wait, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have,
that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee. For all that do such things,
and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord
thy God." This is what he says regarding the use of these unjust
weights. As a matter of fact, in Revelation
chapter 6, do you remember in Revelation chapter 5 where the
Lord is the one who is worthy to open the seals of the book?
In chapter 6, when the seals of the book are opened and the
four horses come out, one of the horses that represent who
the Lord is in His gospel, the black horse has a man sitting
on it holding just balances. So you see that this is not some
obscure passage. This is a great principle in
the scripture. A false weight is an abomination
to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. The Lord delights
in fairness. He delights in honest business
practices. And I have no doubt that the
Lord will honor honest business practices and his judgment is
against all dishonesty. That all being said, that is not even the tip of the iceberg
concerning the full meaning of this passage of Scripture. This
verse, as much as any other verse in the Bible, tells us who the
Lord really is and what He is really like. You see, the Lord
God is a person with a personality. And we talk about people's personalities,
personalities, what they're really made of. God himself has a personality
and a personality is made of what someone loves and what they
hate. Isn't it true that what a man
is or what a woman is can really be determined by what they love
and what they hate? That's who the person is. And
in this passage of Scripture, we find out who the Lord is.
We find out what He loves. A just way is His delight. I
mean, it's His delight. And a false way is an abomination
to Him. It's loathsome to Him. It's disgusting
to Him. He hates it. I think of what is said of our
Lord in Hebrews chapter 1, Thou hast loved righteousness. hated iniquity. That's who He
is. He has loved righteousness and
He has hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The Lord finds a false weight,
an abomination, loathsome and disgusting. And listen to this.
Please listen very carefully. It's not the weight itself that
the Lord finds loathsome and disgusting, but the person who
made the weight. That's who he finds loathsome
and disgusting. You have heard the Lord loves
the sinner, but he hates his sin. Where's that in the Bible? The fact of the matter is, you
will not find that in the Bible. You cannot separate the sinner
and the sin. It's not the sin he hates, although
he doesn't hate it, but it's the one who did it. That's what
makes it sinful. Thou hatest, the Scripture says in Psalm 5,
thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Just recently, I heard someone
who's an unbeliever say, well, I know the Lord loves me. And
I thought, how do you know? How do you know? What makes you
think that? The Scripture says he hates all workers of iniquity. Not just the works of iniquity,
but the one who does the work. But the Lord is said to delight
in, to find pleasure in, a just weight. Now what is this false
balance that the Lord hates? That he finds an abomination? Well, it's the opposite of a
just weight. It does not give the true weight
and the true worth of something. It's used to make something appear
to be more than it really is, isn't it? Isn't that what a just
weight is? It's used to make something appear
to be more valuable than it really is. I go back to that opening
illustration of the scales. You would use a false weight
to put the 14 ounces as opposed to 16 ounces. Well, it appears
to be 16 ounces, but it's not. It's of less value, and a false
weight is given to make something appear to be more valuable than
it actually is. A just weight gives the true
worth. and the true value of something. Now, every one of us have been
guilty of using false balances. Did you know that? You've been
guilty of this. I've been guilty of this. We
may not even have been aware of it, but it's true nonetheless.
We've all been guilty of using false balances, and the scriptures
give so many examples of this thing of using a false balance.
I know what came to my mind first when I thought of a false balance.
I thought of Cain bringing that sacrifice to God that God rejected. Now, he didn't know God would
reject it. But he was using a false balance. He didn't see the true
worth of his sacrifice that he brought that he thought was good.
He didn't see that in reality it was worthless. He used a false
balance in bringing this sacrifice to God. I thought of Esau. Do you remember how Esau sold
his birthright for a bolus suit? Now, he said, this birthright,
what goods are going to do me if I'm starving to death? I need
something to eat. And this is how he valued God's
birthright, the place of God's blessing. He thought it wasn't
worth anything more than a bowl of soup, and he sold it. He was
using a corrupt set of scales, wasn't he? He was using a false
balance. When a man chooses the pleasures
of sin over obedience to God, he is using a false balance. Somehow the balance he's using
has told him that the pleasures of sin are greater value than
obedience to God. When a man trusts his own righteousness
over Christ's righteousness, he's using a false balance, isn't
he? He's using a corrupt balance. Because if he had a true balance,
he would see there is absolutely no value in his own righteousness. When someone is more afraid of
what men think about them than they are what God thinks about
them. They're using a false balance,
aren't they? I think of that passage of Scripture where it
said concerning the Pharisees that they, although they believe
they didn't confess Christ because they love the praises of men
more than the praises of God. That's a false balance, isn't
it? To prefer man's praise to God's praise? You remember when
the Lord said, how can you believe which receive honor one from
another and you don't seek that honor which comes from God only?
There's another example of using a false balance. Now, let me
show you the ultimate false balance that men have used. Would you
turn with me to the book of Zechariah? It's the next to the last book
in the Old Testament. You find Matthew, go back to
Malachi and then Zechariah. Here's the ultimate false balance. Chapter 11, verse 12, And I said unto them, If you
think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they
weighed for my price. Thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, cast
it into the potter, a goodly price that I was prized at of
them. And you know that this is a reference
to what the Lord was sold for. Thirty pieces of silver. And
this is what every natural man, this is what I've been guilty
of, and this is what you have been guilty of. What value do
you put on the Lord Jesus Christ? And we put him on a balance,
a corrupt balance, and we came up with thirty pieces of silver. The Son of God! Thirty pieces
of silver. Can't you see how false balances
have destroyed our hearts and made us blind, loving the things
which we ought to hate? and hating the things which we
ought to love. Now, the biggest false balance
is a false gospel. Let me repeat that. The biggest
false balance is a false gospel. We think we'll come out all right,
but those balances will not be used on judgment day. Not the
balances of a false gospel. The only balance that will be
used on Judgment Day is a perfect balance. A perfect and a just
weight will be used. And all who believe a false gospel
will hear the same words that Belshazzar heard in Daniel chapter
5. You remember that passage of
Scripture where he and his buddies are having a party? And all of
a sudden he says, let's bring out, this is in Babylon, and
Israel's being carried into captivity. And they had taken all the vessels
of the temple. And him and his buddies are having
a big party, and they said, let's bring out the vessels of the
Lord and drink out of them. And they take wine and pour them
in the vessels of the Lord and start drinking. And they're having
a good time. And all of a sudden, a hand appears. And there's writing
going on on the wall. And the Scripture says His knees
and loins were shaking as this took place. He was so scared.
And you know what it said? It said, Thou art weighed in
the balances and found wanting. lacking. Every one of us are
going to be weighed in the balances. Now, a false balance, a false
gospel, you can take that this has so many applications, is
an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. Now, this is such strong language.
A just weight is His delight. God has said to delight in this
just weight. Now, everybody wants to be treated
fairly, don't they? Don't you hate it when you're treated unfairly?
And you want to be given the same treatment that everybody
else gets? You don't like to be singled
out? You know, even Job made this statement. He said, let
me be weighed in an even balance. And all of us want to be treated
fairly. Well, God's scales measure and
weigh very accurately. 1 Samuel 2, verse 3 says, The
Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. He weighs my actions. He weighs
my attitudes. He weighs the thoughts that come
through my heart. And His scales are always right. All the ways of a man are clean
in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. And His
scales are always perfectly accurate. Now, I want to read you a couple
of scriptures that give us some idea of his scales. Now, listen
to this. It says in Isaiah chapter 40,
verse 15, that he counts the nations at the nation. That's
a big number of people in it. God counts the nations as the
small dust of the scales on the balance. The nations. God counts them as that dust
that is so insignificant, you don't even bother to knock it
off the balance. You know what that tells me?
It tells me that you and I are not anywhere near as important
as we think we are. The small dust of the scales
of the balance. Psalm 62, verse 9. David said, surely men of low
degree, the nobodies of this world, the ones who are not somebodies,
the ones who we weigh as nobodies. You know what David says? They are vanity. Men of low degree
are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. Well, the ones we
think are somebody, you know what God says they are? They're
a lie. And he says, to be weighed together
in the balances, they're altogether lighter than vanity. That's God's
scale. God's got a scale that weighs
very accurately. How true it is that God is no
respecter of persons, complete, impartial, Absolute justice is
always meted out. Now, that is our God. He delights
in a just way. How many times do we read in
the Scriptures that God is no respecter of persons? Now, in
the society we live in, one thing I remember, I remember going
to my nephew's graduation, Andy, blazer, not what year did you
graduate? 98. Andy graduated, and I guess
Brad graduated. I remember I went to that graduation,
and I remember that guy got up, and he was the only guy that
ever gave an honest graduation thing that I'd ever heard. He
said, now listen. He said, it doesn't matter where you go to
school. It matters who you know. It doesn't matter what your education
is. What you need to do is make contacts now, because that's
what's going to help you. It matters who you know. It's
respect of persons, and that's the way this world operates,
isn't it? It's who you know. That's the way our society works. That's the way every society
works. It's not right, but it's who you know. You scratch my
back, I'll scratch yours. That's the way this society works.
It's not right. I'm not in any way advocating
that or saying go ahead and get into it. No, but that's the way
this society works. But that's not the way God works.
He is absolutely no respecter of person. He is absolutely just. And you know when that was seen
most clearly? How that God is no respecter of persons? The
cross. Who's on that cross? The Son
of God. We're not talking about some
man who's altogether vanity. We're talking about the Son of
God. The God-man, He's the one on
that cross. What's He doing? He's dying. He's dying. Why would He die? The wages of sin. Sin was charged to the Son of
God. The sins of His people were imputed
to Him. And on the cross, He was made
sin. He knew no mercy. He knew no
pity from His Father. God is no respecter of persons. And even when sin is found on
His Son, what does God do? He kills Him. That's how bad sin is. You know,
the only way you and I can understand the true What sin is, is by looking
at the cross. We don't understand it by looking
within our hearts or looking at society. The only way we can
really understand what sin is, is when we see it's patterned
to the Son of God, His Father kills Him. That's how evil sin
is. Don't think of sin lightly. There's
no such thing as a little sin. Sin is such that one sin is enough
to cause the Father to turn His back on His Son. God is no respecter
of persons. He's absolutely and completely
just. A just weight is God's delight That's strong language, isn't
it? A just weight, a perfect weight is His delight. Now, what
is this just weight? God's got a weight. He's got
balances. There's a just weight on one
side of the scale. And you and I are going to be
put on the other side of the scale and see how we even out. What is this just weight that
the Scripture speaks of? There's only one answer to that
question. The just weight is nobody less than the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that just weight that I'm
going to be placed on the balance. Him on one side, me on the other.
And if there's not a perfect evenness, if I don't come out
just perfect, what's the Scripture say God's going to do with me?
He's going to cast me away. You see, God's just. God's not
going to sweep sin under the carpet. All sin must be punished. God's got to just wait. Now,
this thing of being put on the scales beside Christ, I'm going
to have to have a perfect evenness. It's going to have to be perfect.
You put me on there and I'm going to have to come out totally even,
just like the Lord Jesus Christ, or I will not be accepted. Now,
that's just the facts of the matter. And it's going to have
to be like this. I'm going to have to be like
Christ on the outside and on the inside, on the inside and
on the outside. It's going to be through and
through. Now, I could take a brick of gold and put it on one
side of the scale. And I could take a brick of manure.
that was the exact same size as the gold. And I could cover
it with gold. It would be one of those gold-plated
things. So you couldn't, if you saw the two, you couldn't see
the difference. A brick of pure gold and a brick
of manure. Now, if I put the brick of pure
gold on the balance and then I put the brick of manure on
the balance, would there be an evenness? Not at all. You see, that brick of manure
would be much lighter. It may have looked alright. I
can't have a righteousness that's on the outside, but inside I'm
still manure. Can't do it. When I'm put on
the scales of God's justice and God's balance, I'm going to have
to have a perfect evenness with the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect
through and through. How can that be? How can that be? So where Todd
Nybert, talking about me right now, is set on those scales,
and I come out perfectly even with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way that can
be. union with Christ. That means if there's union with Christ,
I'm one with Him. As He is. 1 John 4, verse 17. Here's how we have boldness on
the Day of Judgment when we're put on the scales. Go ahead and
turn with me there. 1 John 4, verse 17. Do you have boldness to step
on the scales? Boldness. Confidence. Look at verse 17. Herein is our
love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment
when we are measured, when we are weighed, and our true worth
is seen. Because as He is, As He is. How is He? How is He? Is He perfectly righteous? Is He righteous on the inside
as well as on the outside? Is He altogether pure? Does He measure up to God's requirements? Does He? As He is. So are we in this world. You put me on the scale. If I
belong to Him, that means His righteousness really is mine. I'm not a brick of manure, gold-plated. I might feel like one, but that's
not what I am. I'm not a brick of manure, gold-plated. I am, through Christ, in the
very eyes of God's holiness, pure and holy and lovely through
and through. And you take every believer and
put them on the scales, and you know the way it's going to come
out? A perfect evenness with Jesus Christ. Every believer will be weighed
in the balances and found perfect through and through. A false
balance is an abomination to the Lord, and a just weight is
His delight. I want to give you a true story. There was a judge in a town of
Wales who was known, respected, and loved by the townspeople
for his justice, for his fairness, for his uprightness, for his
honest dealings. And he'd served that town for
many years in that capacity and was well loved by the citizens
of that town. And this judge had a son who
was absolutely no good. He was not at all like his father.
And this young man committed a murder. And he was caught. And he was guilty of this crime. Now the people love this judge
so much that they just could not let his son be prosecuted. They said, we can't let that
happen. This man's been so good to us. He's been such a wonderful
judge, we can't let his son be killed. So they refused to let
his son be prosecuted for that crime that he committed. One morning, very early, the
bell in the town square began to ring. And when that took place,
everybody knew that the whole town was being called. to hear
something they needed to hear. Early in the morning the town
bell rang and the whole town went to the town square. And
you know what they saw? They saw that young man hanging
by the neck, dead. And his father stood beside him
and with tears in his eyes he said, Nobody is above the law. Was that man just? That man was just. But did you know that there is
one who is above the law? You know who that is? The lawgiver. He is above the law. And the lawgiver placed himself
under God's holy law. Just wait! is His delight. And on Calvary's tree, because
the sins of His people were imputed to Him and became His, He never
sinned in His person. He knew no sin. But the sins
of His people actually and literally became His. And remember, a just
way is God's delight. At that time, as He hung on the
cross, all that sin is, He became. And I don't understand
that. I'm mystified by it. To me, that
is the most incomprehensible thing, but I believe it. He was
made to be sin. And God showed... He's no respecter
of persons. When sin is found on His Son,
killed him. But there's something utterly
unique about his death. This death was like no other
death. There's something utterly unique
regarding his death. You see, he satisfied the justice
of his father, and that's why God raised him from the dead.
Everybody he died for, just as their sin was imputed, To Him,
His righteousness is imputed to them, and He actually satisfied
the demands of God's justice. The reason hell lasts forever
is because no sinner can ever satisfy the demands of God's
justice. Sin is an infinite evil. It takes an infinite person to
satisfy this infinite justice. And Christ Jesus drank of God's
wrath, and that wrath did not consume Him. He consumed. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now all of these
people from whom He died are placed on the just balance, God's
scales of perfect justice, and they come out perfect. And what a blessed thing
this is to know that this fellow talking to you right now, this
nobody, nobody from nowhere, is going to be placed upon the
scales of God's perfect justice. And there's going to be a perfect
evenness. You know why? One with Christ. one with Christ. Amen.