The Sinner's Mercy Seat

Q: What does the Bible say about justification?

Justification is being declared not guilty and righteous before God through faith in Jesus Christ. Justification is a central doctrine in Reformed theology and is found throughout the Scriptures, primarily emphasized in Romans 3:24, which states that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This means that justification is not based on our works or merits but is entirely a gift of God’s grace granted through faith in Jesus Christ. It indicates that when we believe in Him, our sins are not only forgiven, but we are also counted righteous in the sight of God. As the preacher emphasizes, justification is not about being pardoned like a guilty offender; rather, it is a declaration of not guilty status because Christ bore our sins and fulfilled the law on our behalf. This concept is beautifully encapsulated in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where it tells us that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Q: How do we know Romans 3:23 is true?

Romans 3:23 affirms that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory, highlighting humanity's universal need for salvation. Romans 3:23 serves as a foundational truth in the understanding of humanity's fallen state: 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' This verse underlines the doctrine of total depravity, which asserts that every human being, by nature, has sinned and cannot attain the holiness required to stand before God. The reality of our sinfulness is evident throughout Scripture and is confirmed by the experience of life itself, as all have missed the divine standard set forth in the law. The preacher argues that the law reveals our sin, and being under God's law leaves us with no excuse but to recognize our guilt and need for a Savior. This universal fallen condition reinforces the necessity of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, making His righteousness available to those who believe. The truth found in Romans 3:23 is corroborated by numerous passages that testify to human sinfulness and the need for a Savior.

Q: Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

God's sovereignty is crucial for Christians because it assures us that He is in control and purposefully directing all things for His glory and our good. The sovereignty of God is a fundamental concept in Reformed theology, emphasizing that God is the ultimate authority and His plans are irreversible and perfect. Understanding God's sovereignty means recognizing that He is actively involved in all aspects of creation and that nothing happens outside of His divine will. This truth brings comfort to believers, as it assures us that God's purposes will come to fruition regardless of human actions or circumstances. The preacher points out that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility coexist; Spurgeon famously noted that he does not waste time reconciling friends, pointing out that it is God's sovereignty that establishes the framework in which human responsibility operates. Furthermore, passages like Romans 8:28 confidently affirm that 'all things work together for good to them that love God,' underlining the importance of trusting in God's sovereign plan for our lives, which ultimately leads to our sanctification and glorification in Him.

And he began his message with
this story. He said a fellow was called by his doctor
on the telephone. And the doctor said, Mr. Jones, he said, I've got bad
news for you. And then I've got very bad news
for you." And Mr. Jones said, well, what's the
bad news? He said, we've looked over those
tests and he said, you've just got 24 hours to live. Well, my
goodness, he said, what on earth could be the very bad news? He
said, I meant to call you yesterday. And then the preacher said, the
man who was scheduled to preach at this time is not here. That's
the bad news. And the very bad news is I'm
going to preach. Brother Scott could not be here
tonight. We're going to hold his place
on the program Thursday night. hoping that he'll be able to
be here. His mother in New Jersey is very, very seriously ill,
having a lot of difficulties, and Brother Scott just could
not be here. He has to be there. Now, if you
want to open your Bibles to Romans 1 again, in chapter 1 of the book of Romans, Paul paints an ugly, ugly picture. Ugly and gruesome. He exposes
the evil and unbelief of our Gentile ancestors. And it is
an ugly picture. He says, when they knew God,
when they had some revelation of God by the things that and
by conscience and so many other ways, when they saw his power
and glory, they did not believe. And they did not glorify him
as God, but they became vain and wicked and evil in their
imaginations. And they worshipped the creature,
snakes and birds and four-footed beasts. they worship the creature
rather than the Creator. And three times, beginning down
here in verse 24, it says, wherefore God also gave them up. You can look at some of the tribes
in these various countries and their practices, their their
ceremonies, their lives. You can look at this nation,
a so-called civilized nation, and you can see the fulfillment
of this. God has just let them go and given them up to uncleanness,
just dirty, rotten, filthy uncleanness through the lust of their own
hearts to dishonor their bodies. between themselves and things
between themselves and things that they do to themselves. I know this body and man was
created in the image of God, whatever that means. And I know that sin has marked
it enough without me marking it. And I see pictures of these tribes
with plates in their lips, and rings around their necks, and
doing different things to their bodies, and then I see people
right here in this country. We're ugly enough without marking
it up. With tattoos. That's right. That comes right under this.
Dishonoring their bodies. And God just gave them up. Go
ahead, cut it up, slice it up, mark it up, do what you want
to with it, and then I'll burn it up. God just gave them up. Just go
ahead. And then he says in verse 26, for this cause, they changed
the truth of God into lies, for this cause God gave them up,
turned them loose, took the Took the reins off of them. God never
has done that to you. He's still got a lasso on you,
thank God. He's still got a bridle on you.
God won't let me do this. Better give thanks. If he didn't
hold you in check and hold you in reign, you'd be in the penitentiary
tomorrow. But he gave them up to vile affections. You know what homosexuality is?
It's vile affections. For even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise
men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another. Men with men working that which
is unseemly, ungodly, vile, filthy, wretched. You can call it gay
or anything else you want to, it's filthy. And anybody that's
practicing it has been given up by God, right or damn. That's
the truth. And AIDS is a judgment of God
on this sort of thing. I said that in Australia and
a young man tackled me at the door and I just told him I don't
have time to talk to you. There's proof over there in our
country of it. Started with them and is propagated by them. God
gave them up. Gave them up. And then he says
another time, down here in verse 28, and even as they did not
like to retain God in their knowledge, they don't like, you know why
the people claim to be atheists? It's not that they don't believe
there's a God. They don't want there to be a
God. That's what it all is. That's
the sum and substance of it. No God for me. Because if there's
a God, then I'm checked. and obligated and responsible.
Somebody asked Spurgeon one time, how do you reconcile the sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man? He said, I don't waste
my time trying to reconcile friends. Because if God's not sovereign,
man doesn't have anybody to be responsible to. So God gave them
up. They didn't want to retain God
in their knowledge, and He gave them over, just turned them loose
To what? A reprobate mind. To do those
things which are not convenient. And they're filled with unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder,
deceit, debate, malignity, whispers, backbiting, haters of God. He
just goes on and on. And then he says, verse 32, Who,
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do it, but have pleasure in people
that do it. They don't condemn it, they rejoice
in it, and wallow in it, and hold it like a piece of candy
under their tongue. They like it. That's us now,
that's the Gentiles. God gave them up. God gave them
over. God gave them over. A reprobate
mind is a mind that thinks good's evil and evil's good, that thinks
bitter's sweet and sweet's bitter. He really believes it and likes
it that way. In chapter 2, Paul then comes
back. He's talked about these pagan,
heathen, wretched, filthy, God-hating Gentiles, but then he turns to
the religious Jew, to the fellow that's got the big Bible. And
the cross in his lapel. That's right. And the steeple
on top of the church. And he says in verse 2, Thou,
therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgeth. You say, oh, those wicked homosexuals.
Those wicked fornicators. Those wicked thieves. Those wicked
people. Those reprobate people. Wherein,
listen, thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For
thou that judgest," he says this twice, doeth the same things. Why not me? In here? In here? I never killed anybody,
not in here. I never stole anything, not in
here. I never did commit adultery, not
in here. Well, I never did take God's
name in vain. Not in here. Come on now. Read
on. He's talking to the religious
men. But we're sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them that commit such things. That may all go
to hell. Now, let's see if we believe
what David said a while ago, just before he closed. Or right
before when he sent us all to hell, we'd be just. Listen. Thinkest
thou this, old man? that judges them which do such
things, and doeth the same thing, thou shalt escape the judgment
of God. The judgment and wrath of God
is on the pagan Gentile and on the religious Jew too. Because
he says in the word of God several times, there is no difference. Look at chapter 3 now, verse
23. For all have sinned, verse 22 says, the last line, there
is no difference. The pagan Gentile's evil is open
and public. The religious Jew's evil was
inward and hidden under a cloak of ordinances and ceremonies
and laws. And therefore in chapter 2, the
last two verses, verse 28, he said he's not a Jew which is
one outwardly. A man's not a son of God or a
child of God or a member of true Israel just because he has a
building that goes by the name House of God, or a Bible under
his arm that says Holy Bible, or his name on a church roll
book, or he's been baptized. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
Circumcision It is not that which is outward in the flesh, he's
a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is out of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of man, but of God. In chapter 3, verse 1, what advantage
hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision?
Say a man is born over here to a pagan, heathen mother. in the heart of Africa, among
all of those human sacrifices and folks like that. He's lost,
he's a sinner, he's a son of Adam. What if a man's born over
here, like Saul of Tarsus, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of What advantage
does he have, then, if all have sinned, and all are wicked, and
all deserve hell, and all under the wrath of God, and they do
this in their heart, and they do this outwardly, what advantage
does this man have? Much every way. Much every way. Because under
this man over here, at least he has the outward means of redemption. He has the outward means of salvation. These people have no tabernacle.
He's got the tabernacle designed by God. These people have no
priest. He has a high priest that goes into the presence of
God. These people have no atonement. He has an atonement. He has all
of these things. But these things are worthless
to him if they're not believed and understood and revealed in
his heart. Because that's where the work's
done. It's not in the outward obedience
to the law. Salvation is a work in the heart.
So he says in verse 9, what then? Are we better than they? Are
we Jews better than these pagans? Are we religious folks better
than these folks? Is the preacher better than the
drunk? Is the mother better than the harlot? Is the father better
than the murderer? No, sir. Not in himself. In no
wise, in no wise. For we have both, we have before
proof, both religious and irreligious, both Jew and Gentile, that they
are all under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, none righteous, no, not one. The Lord looked, God
looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did do
good, and he found not one, there's not one man that doeth good and
sinneth not. Every imagination of the heart
is evil continually. Man in his best state is vanity. Verse 10, as it is written, there's
none righteous, no not one. Verse 11, there's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God, they're Old and young, male
and female, Jew and Gentile, every son and daughter of Adam,
they're all gone out of the way, they're all, they'll together
become unprofitable, there's none that do it good, no not
one. And then he describes us from
the top of our head to the sole of our feet. By nature, by birth,
by practice, by choice. He said our throats are like
open sepulchres, don't roll away the stone, it's stinking. It
takes two or three kinds of toothpaste and four or five kinds of mouthwash
to make our breath even presentable. Our throats are open saplicas.
That's the human nature. With their tongues they'd use
deceit. Brother David and I were talking
today about how difficult it is to control these tongues. How difficult, difficult. The poison of snakes is under
their lips. These tongues are generally the
instrument that delivers it. Their mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. I wish we were as fast to tell
something good on somebody as we are something bad. Somebody
said a rumor that's untrue will go around the world before truth
puts his shoes on. Swift! Swift to tell it. We hear some bad news, some evil
report, some idle gossip, run and grab the phone to report
it to our dearest friend. And she reports it to hers, and
he reports it to his, and first thing you know, the whole world
has heard it, but they've heard a sorry version of it usually.
Mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, feet swift to shed
blood, destruction and misery in their way, the way of peace.
They don't even know, there's no fear of God before their eyes.
They don't fear God. Cecil read tonight, if you call
him father, pass the time of your sojourning here in the fear
of the Lord. All in reverence before his holy
presence. There's no fear. The fear of
the Lord is synonymous with worship. And where there's no fear, there's
no worship. That's the reason an Armenian cannot worship God. That's right. You've got, the
only place a man will worship is at the throne of an absolute,
unconditional, immutable, infinitely sovereign God, who does what
he will, when he will, with whom he will, and answers to no man. You worship that. That's exactly right. No sir.
Now, now we know that what things the law says, what does the law
say? David told us. The law says love God with all
your heart, mind, soul and strength. That's what the law says. And
love your neighbor as yourself. That's what the law says. The
law says you shall not take God's name in vain. The law says you
shall not bow down to a graven image. I don't care. Somebody
said we don't have idols of gold, but we got idols of clay. This body is clay. Thou shalt
not take the name of God in me. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not covet. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not. It says to Jew and Gentile, what
does the law say? The law says walk before me It
doesn't say admire the law. It doesn't say attempt to keep
the law. It says do it. Do it. That's what the law says.
To whom does the law speak? It says it to everybody who's
under the law. Well, who's under the law? Well,
who's under the law of the city of Iceland? Everybody lives here. Well, who's under the law of
the state of Kentucky? Everybody lives here. Well, who's
under the law of the United States? Everybody lives here. Then who's
under the law of God? Everyone that writhes or wiggles.
That's it. We're under that perfect, absolute
law of God. It says it to everyone. And what's
the result of this charge? It says this. It says to everyone
who's under the law that every mouth may be stopped. You ever
preach? Stop. But I say, stop. Will I have it? Stop. Am I not
as bad as it? Stop. Let every mouth be stopped. No alibis, no excuses. Yeah,
but my mother and father mistreated me. Stop it. But I was brought
up in the ghetto. No, you made the ghetto. You
can take a man out of the slum, put him in a nice place, and
he'll turn it into a slum. You've got to get the slum out
of him. If you get the slum out of him, he'll turn the slum into
a bright and beautiful place. The problem is not where we live,
the problem is who lives there. That's right. Let every man out
be stopped. Let's just stop blaming anybody,
especially God. We are what we are by choice. That's exactly right. We do what
we do by choice. And this is the result of that
law. Stop your mouth and all the world become guilty. What
does that word guilty mean? Subject to the judgment of God. Guilty. That's right. Ye are they which justify yourselves,
he said. But God knows your height. And
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God. Now, let's come down. Old Brother
Scott said he's not here, but I can quote him. He said, if
you want to meet God, then you take your place at his feet in
the dust of repentance and lay your sword down and lay down
your shotgun and say, guilty. And maybe God will do something
for you. You don't have to. He's not obligated. And since this is the case, since
this is the case, pagan or Jew, Gentile or religious, it doesn't
matter, there is no difference, they're all guilty. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, by the works of religion, by the decisionism,
by walking the aisle, by joining the church, by preaching the
gospel, there shall no flesh be justified excepting declared
holy, made righteous in his sight. Now, we may be in the sight of
our mammas who think we can do no wrong. But in our own eyes, But no man
by any doings or deeds is going to be justified in the presence
of a holy God for by the law can't do but one thing to you
and that is strip you and humble you and kill you and slay you
and put you in the dust and shut my mouth and give me an understanding
of what I am. That's all. It can't save me,
it can't help me, it can't encourage me. All the law can do is kill
me. if I come to meet God's law as
it is, and as I am." Well, that's bad news, that's bad news. But
you can't, what did he say? What's God saying? You ain't
heard the good news until you heard the bad news. And when you hear the bad news
and the good news, you'll never hear any more bad news. But now, watch verse 21, but
right now, 1991, April the 1st, right now, the righteousness
of God, and David dealt effectively with that. Not his essential
holiness, he is essentially holy. One chief attribute of a living
God is his holiness. Everything about God is determined
by his holiness. His love is a holy love. His
son is his holy son. His spirit is his holy spirit. His temple is his holy temple.
His word is his holy word. Everything related to God is
determined by his holiness. And his people are a holy people. And he chose us that we should
be holy. that the righteousness, the essential
righteousness of God, we're not talking about here, we're talking
about that righteousness he provided, he purposed, promised, purchased,
and provided by obeying the precepts of his own law, being born under
his own law, and suffering execution under the penalty of that law,
which David just told us. And now that righteousness, without
the law, Without the law, as if, as far as I'm concerned,
as if there is no law, because I don't do it. I don't satisfy it. I don't magnify
it. I don't honor it. I don't obey
it. Never have, and will not ever, as long as I'm walking
on this earth. Never! I break the law every day. God's
law. You do too. But this righteousness of God
without the law does not mean that this righteousness is provided
without the law. It's provided by someone who
did keep the law. I didn't do it, he did it. It's
without the law as far as I'm concerned. Salvation didn't cost
me anything, but it cost him everything. And that salvation, that righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, it's revealed, it's put out in
the open. That's what David said, it was
promised by God, planned, purchased, promised by God, and then manifested. And it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets all the way back there. Jeremiah said, he's
the Lord our righteousness, that's his name. When he comes, you
recognize him, the Lord our righteousness. And John said, we touched him,
and handled him, and heard him. And that life was manifested,
and we bear witness of that life. The righteousness of God. Verse
22, it is even, it is even, think of it, miraculously, it is even
to bear righteousness of God Almighty Himself. Think about
that. In Christ, this is what David
preached, I'm as holy as God. I know a lot of folks, when you
say that, it shocks me to say it. It shocks you to hear it. But it's so. I can't comprehend
it, but it's so. With this spotless righteousness,
I'm as holy as his Son. In order for God to embrace me
and to accept me and to love me and to take me into glory,
I've got to be as holy as his Son. And if the change hasn't
occurred already, when's it going to take place? He said, when
you die, oh no, I'm going to lay this old body down, but me,
I'll be right on the hill. The me He created in Christ Jesus. The me, the new man in Christ
Jesus. The me, the child of God who
was born, who was not... God doesn't take this old nature
and make it over, patch it up. He gives you a new life. And that righteousness is not
by my faith nor faithfulness. It's by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. It's by the faith of Jesus Christ.
It's by the work and person of Jesus Christ. Who's it for? It's
under all. It's upon all that believe. It
don't make any difference because there's no difference. It doesn't matter who you are. Can
you believe on Christ? You don't know how ashamed I
am. You don't know how ashamed you are of me. You don't know how ashamed I
am. But I'm not ashamed of him. And said, he that liveth and
believeth on me will never be ashamed. Never. Never be put to shame. Never
be confounded. Who's it for? It's for, how can
he say it? He doesn't say unto the Jew and
the Gentile, he says unto all, and upon all that believe. If you can believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. There is no difference. All have
sinned, do sin. Old George Whitefield said a
man hadn't begun to repent until he repents of three things. He
repents of what he is, S-I-N, nature. He repents of what he's
done, S-I-N-S, action. He repents of his righteousness,
because he knows even that in the sight of God is filthy rags. And perhaps I'll tell you this,
this gets us in more trouble than the other two put together.
I believe that. I believe we've prayed some prayers
that are worse than some of the cussing we've done. I do, Joe,
I really do. I believe you'd be better cussed
sometimes than to dishonor God with a prayer that's half-hearted
and insincere and done for show. I really believe. I really believe. I believe you'd be better off
cussing. All religion is all right, preacher, just so you
go to church. I don't know. I just don't know.
I don't believe my sins will keep me from God, but I believe
my righteousness will. So I really believe that we sin
sometimes more in religion than we do in other things. We are ashamed of our thoughts
about the flesh. We ought to be ashamed of our
thoughts about God. You know, I hear people talk about, oh,
I used to be a drunk and that. I'd rather be a drunk than an
Armenian preacher. And you used to be an Armenian
preacher, and you're not repenting over that. I never hear anybody
say, oh, I used to preach Armenianism. I'm worse than a dog. That's right. That's dishonoring
to God, isn't it? It's what you're talking about.
A man who'll stand in public and lie on God, It'd be better
for millstones hanging around his neck than he's cast into
the sea. And a man that will offend one of his little ones
on purpose, it'd be better for him than a millstone tied around
his neck and he's cast into the sea. There's no difference. I wish we could see. But look
at verse 24, being justified, accepted, righteous, not guilty. You know what justified is? Just
flat, not guilty. There was a fellow in jail one
time for a crime he didn't commit. This is a true story. I read
in the paper years ago, he was in jail for a crime he didn't
commit. And they found out he didn't. They caught the guy that
did it. So they told him he was pardoned. He said, you know,
pardon me. He said, what do you mean? He said, you're not going
to pardon me. You're going to justify me. I'm not walking out
of this jail with a pardon. A pardon means I was guilty and
you forgave me. But I'm not guilty. And you're
going to announce to the whole world that I'm justified. Well,
that's what God did. He didn't just pardon us. That
means we're still guilty. He didn't parole us and put us
on good behavior to report to our parole officer, the pastor,
or the elders. He justified us! In Christ we
are not guilty. I'm not guilty. I didn't do it. See that man on that cross? He
did it. And he's paying for it. And when he pays for it, neither
one of us are guilty, because he rose without sin. That's right. Being justified, how? Well, you
better pay your tithes. Not for this you don't. Well,
you better come to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night
and Wednesday night now, freely. Freely. By His grace. And I tell you, grace that depends
on work or merit is not grace. If it's works, it's not grace.
If it's grace, it's not works. Thank God it's grace by faith
so it can be sure to folks like you and me. through the rediction
that's in Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus, whom God himself set forth. What does that word set forth
mean? Well, it means several things.
It means he foreordained him. It means he predestinated him.
It means he placed him in public view. It means, fourthly, he
exhibited him in a conspicuous manner. That's what it means,
set forth. He set him forth. Well, back before the foundation
of the world, when he determined to have a people in Christ, he
set him forth as the surety. We were chosen in him. He's the
center of the covenant. Christ be my first elect, God
said, and then he chose these people in their faith. He foreordained it. And then
he predestinated. He set him forth in predestination,
that is, he determined the words he'd say, and the works that
he'd do, and the death that he'd die, and the lard in your belly,
and every step Christ would take in this world. He said, I didn't
come to do my will, but his will, his predestinated will. The words
I speak are not my words, they're his words. The works that I do
are not my work, they're his work. All of this has been determined
before the world, every step, to Calvary and to glory. God set him forth. Thirdly, he
placed him in a public view. Back down in the Old Testament,
he put a serpent on a pole. He said, there he is. He struck
a rock with a staff and water came out. There he is. He erected
a tabernacle in the wilderness. There he is. He put a holy of
holies with a mercy seat. There he is. He sent a priest
into that Holy of Holies and said, there he goes. That priest
carried incense, which is the prayers of Christ in blood. There's
his blood. Everything in the Old Testament
sets forth Christ in a public view. Paul said in Hebrews, they
had the gospel preached to them, but not mixed with faith. They
had the gospel. Don't tell me they didn't have
the gospel. And then he exhibited him in a conspicuous manner.
A virgin was with child, and an angel came down and told that
virgin, that's the Son of God. And that angel went and told
that prospective father, that's the Son of God. And that angel
went out on the hillside and told those shepherds, that's
the Son of God down there. And God hung a stile over the
manor, that's pretty conspicuous, over the manger. And God spoke
from heaven one day and said, this is my beloved son. And God's
messenger, John the Baptist, said, that's the Lamb of God.
That's pretty conspicuous, isn't it? And then he went around healing
the blind and raising the dead. That's pretty conspicuous. And
then when he died, God took the sun off, wouldn't let it shine,
and God shook the world and raised the dead. This wasn't done in a coil, Paul
said. He set him forth. He set him
forth, way back yonder, in the Old Testament, and here on this
earth. And then he stood on a mountain
one day and God took him to glory while people stood there and
watched the clouds receive him up in their sight. And I tell
you, one of these days, and I don't know whether I'm a pre, post,
or pan Millennialist, but God's going to set him forth again.
And he's coming and ever I see him, Every tongue is going to
say his Lord and every knee is going to bow. He set him forth
to be a what? A mercy seat. What's a mercy
seat? Set him forth to be a propitiation. A propitiation is a mercy seat.
What's a mercy seat? It's a covering. Back yonder
in that tabernacle there was an ark. In that ark was that
broken law. That law we talked about a while
ago. What does the law say? What does the law say? You know
what it says. We busted it. And that law is
in that ark. But over that ark is a mercy
seat. You read about it in Exodus 25. This ought to be marked in
every Bible. Listen to it. Exodus 25. Let's look here at verse 21. Here is the first mention of
that mercy seat. Exodus 25, 21, or the description
of it. Verse 21, Exodus 25, And thou
shalt put the mercy seat above the ark. And in the ark, thou
shalt put the law, the testimony I give you. And there I'll meet
you. Where are you going to meet me,
God? At the mercy seat. Nowhere else. And there I'll
commune with you. I'll fellowship with you from
above the mercy seat. I'll tell you this, over that mercy seat that covered
that broken law, where they sprinkled the blood with the hyssop as
an atonement. The very Shekinah glory of God
was between the cherubim. That high priest came in there
to meet God, and God met a sinful people there over the blood on
the mercy seat. That's where he met them, and
communed with them, and fellowshiped with them, and nowhere else.
Not down at the River Jordan, and not down at the temple. the
mercy seat. And God has set forth Jesus Christ
to be our mercy seat. And he said, that's where I'll
meet you. We have a tabernacle, it's Christ. We have an altar,
it's Christ. We have a mercy seat, it's Christ. Listen, and
all this is to declare his holiness, his righteousness for the remission
of sins that have passed. That's Abraham's sin and Moses'
sin and Jacob's sin and Joseph's sin and all the sins of the Old
Testament that Christ paid for at Calvary. You see, the death
of Christ being decreed, determined, and purposed by God is done as
if it's already done. That's right. So Abraham looked
to Christ just like you look to Christ. And then he said in
verse 26, to declare, I say right now, his holiness, his righteousness,
that he might be just. And he is, and he will be. And
here's the problem that confronted Job. As I said a while ago, we're
justified, we're not guilty, we're holy. And Job asked this
question, how can that be? How can a man be just with God?
How can he be clean that's born of a woman? Behold the moon shineth,
but the stars are not clean in his sight. Certainly we're not
clean. He just described us in Romans 3. How can these things
be? Here's how they can be. If Jesus
Christ is my substitute and my righteousness because of who
he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now, then God
can look on him in my place and accept his offering and his righteousness
and obedience to his blood and justify me and still be God.
The debt's paid because I paid it in Christ. See that? So God
can be just. And justify now in closing, where's
your boasting? Where's this, I did this and
I did that? You didn't do anything. Even your faith's a gift of God,
even your repentance, God gave you that too. It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but
by the law of faith. There's no boasting in faith
except one day. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ. Here's Paul's conclusion from
these first three chapters. I come to this conclusion, knowing
what the Gentile is, knowing what the Jew is, knowing what
all men are, knowing who God is, knowing what Christ has done,
I come to this conclusion that a man, woman, boy or girl, is
not, is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Without
any contribution, he is justified by faith. Is he the God of the
Jews only? Is he not also the God of the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Now seeing is one God which
shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision
by faith. If we then make void the law
through faith, God forbid. Our Lord established it, honored
it, and I heard one of you men mention it on tape recently.
He magnified it. And God can be just and justify
you in this. That's good news, good news.

The Sinner's Mercy Seat

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know Romans 3:23 is true?

Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

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The Sinner's Mercy Seat

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know Romans 3:23 is true?

Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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