Tonight our text is found in
Proverbs chapter five. Proverbs chapter five. All of mankind are born with
an incurable disease. It's called sin. All of mankind. Most men and women don't understand
the depravity that we are, that we, with our sin, how depraved
we truly are. The Lord has to show a man or
a woman what they are. And that's where we saw repent,
when he told them repent, repent and be baptized. Well, the repentance
is a changed mind, and the Lord has to show us that. The Lord
shows us, not only do we have a disease, but we're lepers from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. There's no cleanliness
about us at all. Sin is what we are. Sin is what
we do. Sin is what we think. Sin is
ever around us, in us, and will be to the day we die. It will
be to the day we die. We can do nothing but sin. We
are utterly corrupt. But our nature cannot and will
not teach us how to fix it. Our nature will not and cannot
teach us how to fix our sin problem. Our nature says that you can
fix it, but it lies because we can't. Only the Lord Jesus Christ
can put away sin. If you hear somebody talking
about living good and doing different things as part of their salvation,
they haven't been shown that they're a sinner. See, when you've
been made to realize that you're a sinner, you see that it's utter
sinful that we are, not partially. We're not three quarters bad
and a quarter good. We're not 99% bad and 1% good. No, it's worse than that. We're
100% bad. We're 100% rotten to the core. This is what the Lord says about
us. Contrary to the lie our nature will tell us that we can fix
it, that we're not that bad, it's not true. Not true, we can't
fix it and we are that bad. We know why that is. Scripture
tells us we have a deceitful heart, a desperately wicked,
deceitful heart. Above all things, it says above
all things. The Lord says all, you gotta ask the question, well
what's above all? Nothing. It means it's the worst thing,
isn't it? That's what he said. We need a new heart. We need
a new heart. Now, when we hear this information,
when we hear, if you hear a gospel message go forth, and somebody
that may have never heard it before, somebody that may be listening
that has never heard their sin problem, they think, well, there's
things I can do to clean up my life. I can live more morally. I can have more, what is that? Reformation. I can get reformed. I can fix it. I can do this and
I can do that. But you know what that's called?
Iniquity. Iniquity. So the moment that
we think we can do something to fix our sin problem, not only
are we calling God a liar at that point, but then we start
trying to do that. We're just committing the thing God hates.
He says, Psalm 55, he hates all workers of iniquity. So we're
completely depraved. We are unable to fix it. And
anything we try to do to fix it is iniquity. Unless God interjects unless
God imposes his will unless God interrupts us in our tracks stops
us where we are just like he did Saul knocked him off of his
high horse. Unless he does that, we'll continue
our lives thinking the way our nature thinks. We need a new
nature. We don't need this nature to
be fixed or made a little better. We don't need moral reformation. We need to have a new heart,
a new nature, one that looks to God as all of our righteousness. We must be saved. He doesn't just save us from
our will or against our will. Of course he does. If he didn't
break our will, then we would never come to him. That's the
whole point. People get mad when you tell about that. They don't
have a will that's stronger than God's. Well, that's the truth
though, isn't it? His will's ultimate. And he acts out of his nature
as well. He's holy. He can't acquit sin. But we have to be saved. We don't
need to just be saved against our will. We need to be saved
from our will, from our nature. We need to be saved from our
nature. That's it. That's it. We're bound to a sinful
nature. Thank God he doesn't just save
us against our will. He gives a new will. He gives
you a new will. Otherwise we wouldn't be saved.
God must save us from our sin. God must save us from our iniquity.
God must save us from our will. God must save us from our nature.
God must save us or we won't be saved. He's got to do it all.
Now before I keep going, let's read this text. Proverbs 5, 21.
We're going to read the rest of the chapter. This is what
I've titled the message, The Ways of Man. For the ways of
man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his
goings. His own iniquities shall take
the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his
sins. He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly
he shall go astray. The scripture tells us this.
Dealing with the way of man, there is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. There's
a way that seems right to the flesh, there's a way that seems
logical, there's a way that seems proper, there's a way that seems
like the right thing to do, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. Men believe that they can get
to God Their way, their way can't be done. You have to come to
Christ. He is the way, isn't he? Christ
said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No
man come to the Father but by me, but by me. He is the way. The only way to eternal life. Do you know why? Because he is
eternal life. He is eternal life. Gotta have
him. Now here in this text it's a
cause and effect. Understand the cause is not iniquities
taking us as it says here. His own iniquity shall take the
wicked himself and he shall be holding with the cords of his
sins. The cause is not that the iniquities have taken us or that
the sins are holding us with cords. That's not the cause,
that's the effect. That's the effect. The cause
is in verse 23. He shall die without instruction. There's the cause. If the Lord
does not instruct me, and if the Lord does not instruct you,
then the effect is his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself
and he shall be holding with the cords of his sins. That is
the effect. And what a sad soul that this
is, that has this effect upon them for not receiving instruction
of the Lord. The Lord just left them to themselves. Left them to themselves. It'll always result in eternal
separation from God. Sin cannot go unpunished. The
way of man is not the way of the Lord. He said, you thought
that I was altogether one like as you are. You thought I was
like you. He said, but I'm not like you.
He said, my ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher
than your thought. His thoughts are past finding
out. His ways are past finding out. He says, I'm not like you
in any way. He's God. He's God. The ways of men cannot fix the
sin problem that we have. No amount of moral living can
change it. Attending church faithfully can't
change it. Giving, tithing regularly can't
change it. There's nothing we can do in
the flesh in order to remove one stain of our sin off of us,
not one. Matter of fact, if we try, we're
adding to it, aren't we? It's iniquity, we're putting
more on it. We can change our behavior, we
can treat others kind, but it still won't change. Don't take
away one sin. Our heart being deceitful, Solomon
knew this. In another part of Proverbs,
he says, all the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but
the Lord weigheth, weigheth the spirits. he weighs and the balance. Men believe that they're clean.
Men believe that they're good. Men believe that they're wise.
Men believe that they know this and they know that. And even
in the Lord's time upon the earth with the Pharisees, they always
believed that they were better than him, that they knew more
than him, that they were the ones that the people should be
following and not him. Why? They loved the praise of
man more than the praise of God. They thought that they were good
enough. They thought that they were good enough. All the ways
of man are clean in his own eyes. Notice verse 21, the ways of
man are before the eyes of the Lord. The ways of man are before
the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. You
know what that word ponder means? Way. He weighs his goings. He weighs his doings. Men look
at God as if there's gonna be a scale one day that's gonna
put all my good on one side and all my bad on the other. I mean,
you've probably heard something like this before. And if the
good outweighs the bad, you're good to go. but there's none
good, that's the problem. If he gets a scale out, there's
no need for a scale, there's zero goodness about us, zero
goodness in me. So getting a scale out, it wouldn't
be, it's useless. Remember, Belshazzar, whenever
he was throwing a feast, after he had gotten his grandfather's
gold and silver cups that came from the temple in Jerusalem,
Children of Israel were in captivity at this time. And he said, I
can be God. I can be God. I'll drink out
of the same cups that the priests drink out of. I can be my own
God. Well, you know what the Lord
did that night? The finger of the Lord came what wrote upon
the wall. And they couldn't interpret it. So they called for Daniel.
Daniel came and told him. And you've got to think about
the pressure that Daniel and some of these other men prophesied
what they felt. I mean, they had to tell what
God wrote. I'm about to look at this king
and tell him he's going to die tonight. You know, he, he, uh,
there's a couple of places where, uh, the man would prophesy and
the king would say, no, you're going to tell me something else
or I'm going to kill you. You know, that, that was the attitude mentality. I
don't know how his response was necessarily, obviously didn't
Lord didn't give him repentance, but you know what that writing
said on the wall, you've been weighed in the balance and been
found wanting. You've been weighed in the, why?
Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the ways of man, and
he weighs his goings. He weighs man. And if we don't
weigh, we don't measure up, that's the way to put it, if we don't
measure up to God's standard, we have no hope of having eternal
life. Well, what is God's standard?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the standard of God. And unless I
am as perfect as he is, unless I am as righteous as he is, unless
I'm as holy as he is, I have no hope of eternal life. I have
no hope of eternal life. All we have is iniquity and sin. Either we are bound, he says
in verse 22, and that he shall be holding
with cords of his sin. Either we are bound to our nature
with the cords of sin, or God has broken those cords. God put away that sin. That's
the only hope I have. That's the only hope we have.
Lord says, My thoughts are higher than yours. My ways are higher
than yours. Whenever you stand before him,
if you have stand before the Lord thinking that you're going
to get a free pass because of good deeds that you have done
or you have not done, he's going to say unto you, depart from
me that work iniquity. I never knew you. And they'll
argue on that day. They'll say, but Lord, I've done
this and I've done this, cast out demons. I've done all these
wonderful miracles. I've done all these humanitarian
efforts. I've, Todd, I've, like the, like the Pharisee that prayed,
it'll be the same spill. That's exactly what will happen.
He'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. That's the
saddest words that a man or a woman will ever hear. See, we can't fool God. He's
just, and he's holy, and he's sovereign. He's omnipotent, and
he's omniscient. He knows everything all the time,
and he's everywhere all the time. That's God. Jeremiah said, I,
the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doings. Thank God there is a remedy. There is a remedy. And his name
is Jesus Christ, the righteous, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist
saw him coming and said, behold, the Lamb of God that does what?
Takes away the sin of the world. Takes away the sin. Sin was taken
away. Sin was put away. Before time
ever began, God made a covenant of grace,
covenant of grace, not a covenant of good works that you have to
perform and he'll hold up his end if you hold up yours. It
was a covenant completely absent of you and I in every single
way, because if we were part of it, we would have messed it
up. He made a covenant with himself, God, the Father, God, the Son,
and God, the Holy Spirit. made a covenant. And in that
covenant, it said that God would elect a people, not based upon
their shape, their size, how ugly they are, how pretty they
are, it didn't matter. Their color, none of that mattered.
God chose to love because he's God, and he did it for his glory. He did it for his glory, for
his own will and purpose. He chose a people in that covenant. And the son agreed to redeem
those people by shedding his precious blood on the cross of
Calvary. He knew he would have to die. He knew that he would
have to be made sin. He knew that he was gonna have
to take our sin and nail them to his cross or they would be
no other way. We would still be in this condition
that we heard of for the first few minutes, utterly sinful. Everything we try to do to fix
it makes it worse. He said, the only way they're
gonna be saved is if I do all the saving. All of it, not part
of it, all of it. He's gonna have to do it all.
The Holy Spirit agreed to regenerate those that the Father elected
and the Son redeemed at the appointed time. He comes and says, live. And we awake out of our slumber,
out of our death that we're in. And he gives us a new nature
instantaneously. Gives us faith to believe God,
gives us repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus
Christ. That was the covenant that was made. That's the solution. And that's the only solution.
That's the gospel. And there's no other gospel besides
this one. No other gospel. Christ was successful in his
redemption. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
resurrected from the dead because of our justification. He was
raised because of our justification. Father was well pleased with
his son and said, as we heard during the call to worship, he
said to his son, sit thou here at my right hand. And when the
Lord had purged our sin, he sat down. By himself, he sat down. Jesus Christ bore every single
sin that you will ever commit willingly, accidentally, intentionally,
subconsciously, on purpose, not on purpose, every single one. He says they're gone. They're
gone. He bore the sin, the iniquity,
the curse, the shame, the guilt. He became our substitute. He said, behold, I am a worm
and no man. Psalm 22, David was saying that
prophetically as Christ being on the cross. He said, I'm a
worm and no man. What does that mean? He became
the worm that we are in order to save a bunch of worms from
the hell that they deserve. Somebody said, why do you love
this church? Why do you love this gospel so
much? I said, well, it's the only hope I got. It's the best
news I ever heard. First I heard it, I was angry
because I thought I was good enough. When I found out I wasn't
good enough because the Lord gave me repentance, I realized I'm
going to have to find something good enough. And guess what?
The gospel's good enough. Lord Jesus Christ is more than
good enough. He didn't try to do something.
He actually and successfully saved his people from their sin. That's the only way God could
be just and the justifier. If he acquitted the sin of the
guilty without sacrifice, without blood, without, he would be an
unjust God. And secondly, if for whoever
the Lord Jesus Christ died, If they were to receive any amount
of wrath whatsoever, any amount of justice whatsoever, it would
be unjust because justice can only be served one time. And it was on the cross of Calvary
when it was served. Do you know what that means? We'll never
have to endure the wrath of God. Just like Noah's ship that was
beat down by the rain, Noah was inside of it and the Lord made
a promise that I'm never gonna flood the earth again. There
won't be a need for that anymore. He gave him a promise, didn't
he? I'll never flood the earth. We'll
never have to endure the wrath of God because our substitute
did for his people. We don't seek God by the ways
of man. We seek God his way, his way. What is his way? Jesus Christ
is the way. Jesus Christ is his way. No man
comes to the Father but by him. The way of man says do. God's
way says it is finished. The way of man says do this or
do that. The way of God says it is finished.
The way of man says sacrifice. Sacrifice more, taste not, touch
not, handle not as we heard Sunday. What does the Lord say? The Lord
says, hear my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, hear
you him. This is my beloved son. This is the one I'm satisfied
with. Not your sacrifice, his sacrifice. Not my sacrifice,
his sacrifice. Our sacrifice would be in vain
and it would be iniquity. But oh, his sacrifice accomplished. accomplished the full pardon,
the full guarantee of eternal life for his people, insomuch
it's complete oneness and unity with him, perfection and righteousness
with him, in him. God said, when I see the travail
of Christ's soul, that's what I'll be satisfied with, that
sacrifice, not your sacrifice, not mine. God's way says, when
I see the blood, I will pass by you, not your works, not your
choices, not the good things you do or you think you do, not
the moral living that we do, not the kindness that we show
others, and we should be kind. I'm not saying go out here and
be hateful. That's not my message. I'm simply
saying it's not doing anybody an ounce of good when it comes
to pertaining salvation. Not any good whatsoever. He's
not looking for that. He's looking for the blood of
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If he doesn't see that, we have
no hope of eternal life. What about our efforts and what
about our dedication? Does that not matter? If the
Lord saves us, the Lord calls us, we're gonna be dedicated.
You're gonna have a need. That's one sure thing about a
believer is a believer believes and a believer has to hear. That
woman went and told everybody, come see a man that showed me
all things ever I did. Is this not the Christ? Everybody
that the Lord healed wanted to follow him, didn't they? Can
I follow you? No, I want you to go into the
country. And it saddened him. He was grieved because he couldn't
go with the Lord. He wanted to go with him. When
the Lord saves us, when he shows us the truth, we'll have a need. We'll be devoted, but not out
of works, not out of adding to salvation, not out of obligation
even. No, we do it out of love. Why? Because he first loved us. That's
the believer's motivation is love. Why do we do anything for
each other? Why do we desire to worship him? We love him.
He saved us when we were dead dog sinners in the worst condition
possible. He saved us. He said, I loved
you with everlasting love. Never had a beginning, never
had an end. When we were yet without strength, Christ in due
time died for the ungodly, for the ungodly. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood. We're
gonna sing that in just a minute. If your justification is not
in the finished work of Christ, you have not been justified.
I have not been justified. If our sanctification is outside
of the finished work of Christ, I've not been sanctified. You've
not been sanctified. If my hope is not completely
in God's salvation, I have no salvation. But look what he says in our
text again. For the ways of man are before
the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all of his going. He
weighs all of his goings. His own iniquity shall take the
wicked himself, and he shall be holding with the cords of
his sins. He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness
of his folly he shall go astray. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
on Calvary's tree, he was weighed in our place, in the place of
his people. And because he was made to be
guilty of what you and I, all of our trespasses, all of our
iniquities, all of our sin, if he wasn't guilty and the Lord
killed him, it'd have been unjust. But the sacrifice that took place
was because the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. The
Lord drew the sword of justice, the sword of justice and he pierced
the heart of his son and justice was satisfied and it was sheathed
again. Either we are seeking after the Lord man's way or we're
seeking him God's way. Either we're believing him our
way or we're believing God's way. Either we were weighed at
Calvary in Christ when he was judged of his father, or we're
going to be found wanting on judgment day. That means that
the scale is not even. This is like we talked about
the good and the bad. The scale is not even. There's wanting.
Need more. I don't have any more. Only thing
I can put on it is iniquity. Either we are held by our sin
or we are upheld by His hand. I love that, don't you? Either
you're held by, either we're held with the cords of our sin
that's got us locked up, we can't do anything to fix it, or we've
been upheld by the glorious hand of our Savior. Either we are
seeking God by the way of man, bearing our own iniquity, or
we've been taught of Him, the truth. that Jesus Christ is Lord
and he's the only way. He's the only truth. There's
only life in him. Those who are not taught of God
are not his and he does not love them. But if God has made Christ
unto you, all of your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and resemption, rest assured and know he loves you. He loves
you. Can you think about The magnitude
of that statement, we throw that word around a lot, love. But
if God, the God of this universe, the only God there is, the Alpha,
the Omnipotent Alpha and Omega, the Everlasting Father, loves
me, loves you, that's amazing, isn't it? Lord, he loves me with
an everlasting love. It can't be changed. I can't
mess it up. I didn't earn it and I can't mess it up. He loves
you, loves his people. That's why God's people seek
God his way. That's why God's people seek
God his way, not the way of the flesh. Everyone else is a prisoner
of their sin and they'll die without instruction. This is
the end of the ways of all men that are not in Christ, that
are not in Christ. Christ is life. And for his people. To his people, he is their life.
Our life is hid with Christ with in God. In Christ. Thank God he calls us to seek
him his way his way. Thank God he is the way. Let's
pray. Father, we thank you for the.
Truth of your scripture, the comfort to the heart. of sinners. Lord, we ask that you would take
it and bless it to our understanding for your glory. In Christ's name,
amen. Let's sing that number two