This church, we took on a building
project a while back, needed some bathrooms upstairs. A lot
of our folks are getting older, having difficulty getting down
the steps. And this church was kind and
gracious and sent a very generous gift to help us with that. And
we have them completed and we're using them and we're enjoying
them. At my age, you enjoy having a bathrobe, especially close
by. Thank you for having me. The evidence has been heard.
All in the courtroom 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 guilty. The law of God has charged you
and I. God's holy justice has arrested
us. And we stand in the court of
God's holy justice and God will by no means clear the guilty. And guilty is what we are. The
law in Leviticus chapter four, verse 13 says, 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 may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. 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. You know, I've heard men
in the past say silly things like, well, I'm good on eight
out of the 10 commandments. No. No, I've never kept a commandment
of God, much less perfectly. And that's what God requires.
It has to be perfect to be accepted. We have to keep God's law perfectly. If we offend in one point, we're
guilty of the whole law. Now the word guilty, it's exactly
what you think it means. It means to be at fault. It means
to be blamable and responsible. It means to be, answerable and
accountable. It means to be liable and condemnable
for sin. And all of us are, every single
one of us, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. How many of us? All of us, all
of us. Wherefore is it by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. To one whom God has revealed
their sin and their guilt, how precious is the word faultless? That's been a word on my mind
for a few weeks now. And it's only used twice in the
scripture, but it takes many other forms, as we'll see. But
if you would turn with me to the little New Testament book
of Jude, only one chapter, 25 verses. I want you to look at
Jude verse 24, that'll be my text. Jude. Verse 24. Now unto him. That is able to
keep you from falling and look at this. And to present you thoughtless. 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 ever. Amen. Now the word of God, as
I already mentioned, says very plainly in Leviticus chapter
22, verse 21, that you and I must be perfect to be accepted. In order for God to accept you
and I, we've got to be perfect, not just good. And that's a dilemma
in and of itself, isn't it? Because there's none good. No,
not one. There's none that do it good.
There's none righteous. But we have to be perfect to
be accepted. And the word faultless means
perfect. The word faultless means to be
flawless. It means to be without blemish.
And friends, no offering to God will be accepted that's not without
blemish. You know, we're told that, I
counted them, 36 times in the book of Leviticus, the book of
the law alone, 36 times. It's got to be without blemish. Anything that we offer God without
blemish, it's got to be perfect. The word faultless means to be
innocent. Job said, I'm afraid of all my
sorrows. I know that thou will not hold
me innocent. Why will God not hold us innocent?
Because we're not. We're all guilty as we've already
seen. The word faultless means to be
sinless. We're full of sin. Sin is what
we are. We can do nothing but sin. We
cannot not sin. To those who accused that woman
caught in the very act of adultery, the Lord said, he that is without
sin among you, let him cast the first stone. There was no stone
stone that day. And these were the religious
men of the day, the Pharisees, and none of them throw any stones. Every believer who's been made
aware of their sin, their nature, their sin nature, their unbelief,
fickleness, oh, we're so fickle. Changeability, lack of loyalty. Has at one time or another doubted
their faith in Christ and their salvation. I have. There's one reason that all of
us have, and some continue to do, doubt our salvation, doubt
our faithfulness, our faith in Christ, and it's because we look
inward to self and not to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we look
within to ourselves to find something that would commend us to God,
we have every reason to doubt. You know why? Because there's
nothing within. There's nothing within any of
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. Paul said very simply, in our
flesh dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. Within us we find
only sin and death and despair and it causes us to doubt our
being saved. It causes us great pain and despair. You know, it's kind of like I
heard this years ago. It's kind of like the fellow
that went to the doctor and he said, Doc, I'm in great pain
when I do this. And the doctor said, I can help
you with that. He said, don't do that. That's cute and all,
but 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 Christ and to Him alone. Our salvation is not a collaborative
effort between us and God. You know, there's a lot of folks
that think that. You know, I've heard men say
silly things like, you know, me and God got a good thing going,
we're gonna work this out together. No, sir, no collaborative effort
between us and God. God doesn't make salvation possible. How many times have you heard
that? God doesn't make salvation possible and then it's dependent
upon me to make it certain by something that I myself do. It'd be like me going to the
famous museum in Paris, France and taking out a set of crayons
and try to add some color to the famous masterpiece of the
Mona Lisa. It would not only be criminal
to do that, they'd throw me in jail if I did that, you know?
You'd see me walking up to the Mona Lisa with crayons. They'd
throw me in jail for that. And not only would they do that,
but it would deface its value. And it's the exact same thing
for us to attempt to add some work of ours to the perfect masterpiece
of what God has done for us. 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,
any rest, any comfort, any assurance in doing that, so don't do it. Let's look to Christ, let's look
to His perfect work. Let's rest in what He's done
for us. God's accepted it and we're accepted
in Him. Why do we wanna try to add something
to that and mess it up, deface it? No salvation in any other, only
one can save. No other name given for us to
call upon. To Him, Christ. Give all the prophets witness.
All the Old Testament prophets pointed to Him. Moses wrote to
me, the Lord said. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
they were all written and pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because He's the only one that
can save us. He's the only one that can do
for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Why Jesus? Why Joshua? For he shall save
his people from their sin. He's the only one that can. 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 abideth on him. Isn't that simple? And you know,
people say things like, you know, I don't understand the Bible.
It's simple. The message is simple. You cannot
save yourself. You cannot do a work of righteousness
that God will accept. Only Christ can. Look to Him. That's not a hard message. He
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Is there anyone here that doesn't
understand that? No, it's simple. The Lord himself
said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and no
man, no woman, no sinner, nobody cometh to the Father but by me. It's not that men don't understand
that, men hate that. No, I wanna have a part in it.
What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? You
can't do anything. but rest in he that's done it
for him. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. There's
but one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's only one man that can
stand before me and plead my case and my cause to God. The
one mediator that we have, the man Christ Jesus, All the scriptures
are so plain. God said, and this is the record
that God had given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. Where is this life? It's in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son hath not life. So, will we be stony ground here? Well, if we look within, we will.
Or will we continue in the faith? Well, if you look to Christ alone,
you will. Do we have root, or will we wilt under the hot sun
of persecution? You know, a lot of folks do. Is the seed, the word of God,
sown deep into our hearts, or is it sown among the thorn? Will
the cares and the riches and the vanities of this life cause
me to depart from Christ? Not if He keeps me from falling.
He's able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless,
perfect, innocent. Isn't that good news? It's the
gospel. It is good news for sinners.
Will I endure to the end and be saved? Will I have hope that
I will, because having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end? 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, like
Demas, forsake The Lord having loved this present, even evil
world. If I look within, there's a good
chance that I'll love this world. But if I look to Christ, where
do I find any confidence? Where I find my comfort? Where
do you find yours? Where do we find any peace? Where
do we find any assurance that we're saved? Only in Him that
is able to keep us from falling. Only by trusting in the one who
can present me faultless. Why is that so hard for us to
learn? You know, it's not what I do
that saves me. but what Christ did for me that
does. Now, do you really believe that? Do we really believe that?
Now, listen to me, this is the beauty of the gospel. Some will
claim that this statement that I'm about to make gives men and
women a license to sin. Let me tell you something, men
and women already sin without a license. And here's where my peace, my
comfort, my rest and assurance come from. I cannot be saved
by what I do because every single thing that I do is mixed with
sin. It's gotta be perfect to be accepted. So that rules my
doing out. Sin is what I am, therefore everything
I do is sin. I cannot be saved by what I don't
do. People say, well, don't do this
and don't do that. Touch not, taste not. Well, I
can't be saved by what I don't do because I will every time
do what I shouldn't do. That's what Paul said. I don't
do what I should do. I do what I shouldn't do. And
what was his summation? The same as every believer. Oh,
wretched man that I am. Who gonna deliver me from the
body of this death? There's only one who can. I thank God through Jesus Christ. He answered the question. And
that's why the word of God declares it salvations of the Lord. I
say this all the time. I love to say it. You know what
follows that in the scripture? Jonah 2, nine, salvations of
the Lord. You know what follows that? A
period, a dot, meaning end of subject. Nothing to add to it. Salvation is of the Lord. Just
put your hand over your mouth. Salvation's of the Lord. But,
no, no, dot, period. Salvation's of the Lord. So if I cannot be saved by something
that I do, then I cannot be lost by something that I do. And the
merit of my righteousness has nothing to do with me. And that's
what makes it so wonderful. It doesn't have anything to do
with me. I'll mess it up every time. My righteousness is what? Filthy rags. Filthy rags. Big leaf righteousness. Won't
hold up. Won't hold up. And that's what God says in His
Word. For He, God, hath made Him, Christ, to be sin for us.
Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin that. We look over those little words
like that. That simply means this is the
reason that we might be made the righteousness of God and
healed. Boy, that's the greatest transaction
for a sinner that's ever been made. He took all my sin, all
the sin of God's people throughout all time upon himself, paid for
that sin, and then said, here's my perfect righteousness. It's
yours. Take it. It's yours. Boy, that's good news. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Don't leave those two words out.
My righteousness is in Him. It's His righteousness, He gave
it to me. I'm made His perfect 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. You know why when God looks at
you right now, child of God, he sees no sin? Because you don't
have it. You don't have it. He put it
away. He really did. That's why every child of God
looks unto Christ who is able to keep them from falling and
presents them faultless. What a word. faultless in His
presence. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
right into His very presence. My salvation depends completely
on whether or not Christ provided for me what I could not provide
for myself. And that being His perfect righteousness. And I mean to be redundant because
we need to get a hold of this and we need to rest in this.
If Christ provides it for me, then I'm saved. And if He doesn't,
then I'm not. He that hath the Son has His
righteousness and He has life. And he that has not the Son doesn't
have His righteousness and He's lost. Simple, it's plain, it's true. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. We'll come back to Jude, but I want you to see this. Romans
chapter 10, if you turn there with me, look at verse three.
Now here, as you know, Paul is speaking of Israel and his desire
for them to be saved. He talks about Israel's zeal
for God and it not being according to knowledge. Matter of fact,
that's what he says here in verse three. Talking about Israel,
he said, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. You know,
people get offended at that word, ignorant. You shouldn't. It just
means you don't know. Just, I'm ignorant. I don't know
how airplanes fly. I'm ignorant of that. I bet I
know they fly. And I get on a plane and put
my trust in the fact that they do, but I don't understand it. I mean, nothing to be offended
by. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. And going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. So what is it to be ignorant
of God's righteousness? Well, first and foremost, it's
to go about to establish your own. The first sign that you
don't know anything about God's righteousness is if you try to
establish your own. If you look to yourself and not
to Christ, it's not to submit to the righteousness of God.
And that's the perfect righteousness that God has provided in Christ
for His people. We're not talking about man's
righteousness here. That won't, as we said, won't
get done. We're talking about a perfect righteousness. We're
talking about His righteousness. That's the righteousness we need.
That's the righteousness I want. That's the righteousness I must
have to be saved. The perfect righteousness that
God gives. We see that clearly in verse
four, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believe in. All the ceremonies of the law,
all the law's ordinances, all the sacrifices that the law demanded,
all those things were but shadows of good things to come. They
were all pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He would
come to do for His people. Christ is the end of the law
FOR righteousness. There's no righteousness apart
from Christ. Every type in the Old Testament
looked to Him, pointed to Him. Noah's Ark, well, that's Christ. Those that climb in the Ark,
they're safe from God's wrath. Picture after picture after picture,
the bread that fell from heaven, the water from a rock, that's
all Christ. Christ is that rock. Don't you love the types of the
Old Testament? We see Christ in them. They all
pointed to him. Every offering pictured him.
Lamb after lamb, bull after bull. Cannot take away one sin. They
pointed to the one who can. Works religionists will never
believe this, but the law of God was never given for us to
keep in order to be saved. 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, and Christ will fulfill Him, the law, and
He's the end of the law for our righteousness. Our righteousness
could not come any other way but by Him. Do we really believe
that? I mean, quit trying to establish
your own. and look to Him who has a perfect
righteousness and has given it to you. He fulfilled God's holy
law, He satisfied God's holy justice, and I'm in Him, and
therefore I'm accepted in Him, the Beloved. Isn't that what
the Bible teaches us? The law was simply our schoolmaster. What does a schoolmaster do?
Instructs us and directs us and teaches us. And that's what the
law did until Christ came. What was the purpose of the law?
What was the purpose of our schoolmaster? To bring us to Christ. To bring us. We gotta be brought. We gotta be brought. Christ put
an end to the law because it was weak and it was unprofitable
to us because of the flesh, it says. That's something about
our flesh. We couldn't keep it. None can keep it perfectly. The
law condemns all of us. The law cannot save us because
we cannot keep it. No fault with the law. The law
is perfect. We're imperfect. And we're ignorant
if we think we can. Ignorant of God's righteousness. 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,
we do not submit to Christ who is God's righteousness. Look at verse 5. It says, Now
what does that mean? Well, just exactly what it says.
The man, the woman, the sinner who keeps the law in all respects
is blameless. Faultless shall have life." Now
listen, if you and I could keep the Law of God and keep it perfectly,
we could save ourselves, but we can't. 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. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons
and daughters. And this is why Paul elsewhere
shows us that no one can keep the law perfectly as God demands. The righteousness of God demands
perfect obedience to the law by the sinner. And who among
us can claim that we've never sinned? Well, we call God a liar
if we do. Look down at verse 12. It says, for there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all. They call upon Him, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We better call. We better call,
no other way to 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, and I'll finish up. Who do we look to? Christ, who
is able. Able to do what? Keep us from
falling. He's able to do anything and
everything. Lord, I know you can do anything. Lord, I know
you can do everything. Our God's in the heavens and
He's done what? Whatsoever He's pleased. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased in heaven, earth, in the seas, and even in hell,
the scripture says, THAT DID HE. Jason and I were talking before
the services, you know, a lot of folks claim to believe in
sovereign grace. Well, first of all, there is
no other grace but sovereign grace. And, but then people will
tell on themselves and say things like, you know, God's sovereign,
but he, he had a backup plan. You know, God, a sovereign God
didn't need a backup plan. If your God had a backup plan,
he's not sovereign. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. That's a sovereign God. Our God,
where's your God, David? My God's in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever. He's done anything, everything
that he pleased. Okay, back to Jude 1. He most
certainly can keep us from calling, falling, excuse me. And he most
certainly can present us faultless. But what's the subject matter
of this little epistle? Well, verse three tells us, he
said, 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, now look at this,
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints. The subject matter here is salvation
and it's called common simply because there's only one salvation. It's common to every believer
throughout all the ages. Nothing common about it like
we think common, you know, sub par, you know. No, it's just
common in the fact that it's the only salvation there is.
Only one way to be saved, only one author of salvation. Jude
said it was needful that I write you. It was needful that I should
exhort you. Why? That you should earnestly
contend for the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who's able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless. Trusting
and believing that He took your sin, gave you His perfect righteousness,
making you what? Faultless. This beloved of God's a matter
of fact, you and I are prone to wander. We're prone to leave the God
we love. How can you leave a God that you love? Well, I don't
know, but I do know that many have professed to and done so.
I sure don't want to be one of them. So what I do, I earnestly
contend for this faith. Tell me about Christ again. What
are you preaching on, Jason? Preaching on Christ. Same message
I always preach from a different text. Preaching on Christ. I want you to contend for faith
in Him, trust in Him, believe in Him, lean on Him. We're liable to falling. Some
fall into temptation and then on into total apostasy. I've
seen it. Oh. Adam, in a state of innocence,
failed. He could not keep himself from
falling. Look up at verse six here. It
says, and the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, they could not keep themselves from falling. Now, how much less can an imperfect,
sinful men and women keep themselves from falling? Adam couldn't. He was innocent. The angels couldn't. How can I? You see, there's only
one who can keep us from bawling. You know who it is. You know
who it is. He that has all power in heaven
and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. All power is his as God. He said so himself. He said,
all power is given to me in heaven and in earth. The father loved
the son and had given all things unto his hand. With Christ being
the only one who can keep us from falling, with Christ being
the only one who can present us faultless, we must make it
our life's business, friends, to look to Him and trust Him,
contend for the faith in Him. That's why you're here this morning.
I hope it is. Tell me more about Christ. Tell
me more about my hope. Tell me more about how I can
be saved. Don't tell me I need to do something.
Boy, there ain't no good news in that. There ain't no comfort
in that. This is our message. This is
the gospel. Look to Jesus 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. He presents us
faultless. What a wonderful, glorious word
that is. The Lord Jesus presents us faultless. Get a concordance. Look up some
of these words. Presents means to be appointed. It really does. having predestinated
us, appointed us before time unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1.5. In whom we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated, appointed before
the foundation of the world according to the purpose of Him that worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. We've been appointed
to be faultless. It means to be brought. For Christ
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. We read
that already, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death
in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. To present means
to be established by a covenant. David's dying words were, God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered, and all things
ensure. And then he said this, this is
all my salvation. What's all my salvation? The
covenant that God made with a wretch like me. This is where every elect child
of God is brought. Christ is all my salvation and
he's all my desire. And if He's not all your salvation
and if He's not all your desire, He's yet to save you. He's my covenant with God. I
was chosen in Him. I was brought to Him. I was brought
in Him and I'm redeemed in Him. Salvation's of the Lord. What
follows that? A period. HE PRESENTS ME TO HIMSELF
BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY. NOW LISTEN TO THIS, WITH EXCEEDING
JOY. IT PLEASED THE LORD TO MAKE YOU
HIS PEOPLE. DOESN'T THAT BLOW YOUR MIND?
NOT ONLY DID HE MAKE ME HIS, IT PLEASED HIM TO DO SO. WITH
EXCEEDING JOY. NOT JUST WITH JOY. Joy overflowing,
exceeding joy, more than joy. That is amazing. Listen to this, Zephaniah 317. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will enjoy over thee with singing. God is singing over his people. and his redemption to him. Isn't
that amazing? Boy, I'd like to hear that. That's
a music CD I'd like to hear. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
3, verse 13, to the end, he, Christ, may establish, establish,
present your hearts unblameable. What does that mean? Flawless. faultless, and holiness before
God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
closing, I said that a while ago, didn't I? Oh, well. Preachers
lie. We shouldn't. But look at 1 John
3. What a way to close this. First John chapter three, verse
two. John here writes, 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, now look at this,
we shall be like him. for we shall see him as he is.
We're being conformed to the very image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And one day, very soon, well,
in the eyes of God, we are right now, but one day when we see
him, when he comes, and we see him, we'll see him as he is,
and we're gonna be just like him. Blameless, faultless, perfect,
holy, unreprovable, unblameable in his sight. Verse 3 says, And every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth, even as he Christ is pure. When we see Him, we'll be just
like Him. How will we be when we see Him? Faultless. Faultless. Faultless. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, but less to stand before the throne. Let's fast forward to the day
of judgment. All stand in silence before the
throne to hear the verdict. an advocate, a representative,
and he's the one who reads the verdict. What is it? What's the verdict? Flawless. Flawless. Father, I died for them.