Brother Ronnie Trabant has some
of these music tapes available, special music, by our gifted
people here at 13th Street Baptist Church. And I was driving the
other night, late, between Sillicog, Alabama and Knoxville, and I
was listening to one of those tapes, and Sonia sang that, My
Faith Looks Up To Thee. And I tell you, So we're on a
cloud, and I thought, I've got to hear that again this Sunday
night. If you're interested in those
tapes, see them. They're just wonderful music. Let's turn to Luke 7. Luke chapter
7. I'm going to look at several
verses tonight because I have a message that could be entitled
something for everybody. or a message, it could be entitled
what I am calling it, Sinners Justify God. Sinners justify
God. Sinners accept the Lord's condemnation
of them and the Lord's assessment of them, the Lord's judgment
against them. They accept it. Sinners say what
Paul had on the bulletin board that Mr. Rowe talked about, let
God be true and every man a liar, including me. I accept God's
counsel against me, God's purpose for me, God's place for me. I
accept it. I accept it quietly without murmuring
or finding fault. Now look at Luke 7, 29, and all
the people that heard him and the publicans justified God. Justified God. Priest, what does
that mean? Well, hold that place and turn
back to Psalm 51. providential that John read that
scripture because I intended to refer to it. Psalm 51. Now here's a man that has fallen
into great sin and grave consequences, grave consequences. The wrath
and judgment of God and Nathan the prophet has come to him and
brought God's message of condemnation and David bowed under it submitted
to it, accepted it, and justified God. Listen to what he said in
verse four. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned. I've sinned against God. That's
what he's saying. Is that too hard to say? We've
got to say it. I've sinned against God. He that
hideth his sin, recovereth his sin, shall not prosper. But whoso
confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy. These things
I write unto you, that ye sin not. But if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, which is Jesus Christ the righteous.
And if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive
us. But not if we don't confess them. We've got to accept God's
condemnation. Read on as David said, against
thee, verse 4, against thee only have I sinned. I've done this
evil in your sight, that you might be justified when you speak. What's God speaking? He's speaking
in judgment, speaking in condemnation. God, you're just. Whatever you
say, thou art the man. True. You're guilty. True. You
deserve death. True. True. Everything's true. That's what the Canaanite woman
said when Christ said, It's not right to give children bread
to dogs. She said, True. Is that too hard to say? That's
all He requires. All the fitness He requires is
to feel your need of Him. Is that too hard to say? True.
It's not right to give children bread to dogs. True. That's true. Thou art the man. That's true.
You're a fit candidate for hell. That's true. You're the chief
of sinners. That's true, too. You're not
worthy of God's grace. That's true. Is that too hard
to say? That's what David's saying here, that you might be just
when you speak, and I'll clear you when you judge me. clear
God. Now turn back to the text, Luke
7. That's exactly what this is saying. These people came, what
was the baptism of John? Baptism of repentance. I'm a
sinner before God. I'm a helpless, hopeless sinner.
I'm a dead sinner, buried, baptized, put beneath the water, risen
to walk in newness of life, baptized of John, justifying God. All right, look at the next line.
The religious folks, the Pharisees, and the Lawmakers, they rejected
the counsel of God against them. Against themselves. And they
wouldn't come to John's baptism. They wouldn't be baptized in
John. Now here's what was setting forth, and when I read that scripture,
and looked at it, I wrote this down. No man's going to be saved
till he's lost. That's just it. No man is going
to be effectually eternally saved by the grace of God till he's
lost, plum lost, absolutely lost, totally lost, lost without hope
of recovery within himself or from anyone else, lost. Without
help, without hope, without God, lost. No man's going to be saved
till he's lost. And acknowledges that he's lost.
Acknowledges that he's lost. I heard the story one time about
the little boy that was playing in the backyard. And just a little fella, four
or five or something like that, they lived on the edge of the
woods. His mother got busy in the house, and he was playing
out in the yard. He got to chasing butterflies and things like that,
and kept getting closer to the woods, and finally went into
the woods and followed a beautiful butterfly into the woods. Kept
flying, he kept following her. And that's why he got wearier
following the butterfly, and he thought, well, I'll go back
to the house. And he said, the house is this way. Now, he's
lost. He's lost in the woods. But he doesn't know it. He doesn't
know it. He said, I'll go home. And so
he starts that way, and he keeps walking. And through his own
efforts, he gets a little more lost, a little deeper in the
woods. But he's not lost. And then he
stops, and he says, well, home's not this way. I ought to be there
by now. So I'll go this way. And so he starts walking that
way. And he goes farther and farther. But he's not lost yet. He's got two other ways to try.
So he said, well, home surely must be, that's not that way.
That way, I'll go this way. And he kept walking, getting
deeper and deeper. Well, home must be that way to start. And
after a while, he sat down on a rock and started crying, big
tears streaming down. He's lost. Hopelessly, helplessly
lost. And he sits down on a rock and
he cries. And he says, Daddy, oh, Daddy,
He lost, he's given up, throwing up his hands. And then he hears
a voice crying, Billy, where are you? I'm here, I'm lost. And that's when he's found. And
this is what I'm saying. I'm saying that sinners are not
going to be found to the lost. And they sit down and shut up
and give up and submit to God. Now that's when you'll be found
of him. As long as you're looking and
trying and endeavoring, that's what you're talking about at
dinner, Paul. It's a rest. It's ceasing from your labors
and your strivings and your trying to please God. You see, faith
is not a work. It's a trust, isn't it? Faith is not a means to secure
something. Faith is believing God. Faith
is resting, trusting, submitting to God. Believing that what you
need, He does. And all you need, he has, and
all you need is found in him. Faith is to rest in Christ. It's not to strive, it's to rest.
Abraham believed God. God said, get out of your father's
house, and he left. He didn't know where he was going.
He believed God, though. He just believed God. And all he said,
God told him. Abraham just believed God. He
believed God was able. And it wasn't believing in God,
it was believing God. He wasn't faith in his faith,
he believed God. You see, we're in the hands of a loving, gracious,
heavenly Father. And you can trust Him. And you
don't have to meet certain rules and regulations to merit the
goodness and kindness and mercy of God. You don't, I think a
lot of people with this faith, I got the idea now, I've got
the, God's holding this thing out there and I've got to drum
up faith. I can't have a doubt. I got to
drum up faith. I got to drum up this condition. I got to drum up this attitude. I got to drum up this faith. If I can believe hard enough
and strong enough, God will come to my rescue. Oh, I think we're
all wrong. I think we're all wrong. I think
we're all wrong. I think we ever come to the place
that we recognize that that our loving Heavenly Father cares
for us. He flat loves us, Richard. He
loves us. He gave His Son to die for us.
What else can He do? He emptied heaven of its greatest
glory and sent Him down here to the cesspool of sin to die
for our sins. He loves us. He loves us. In everything in our lives, He
ordains for our good. He said, if one of your children,
if your little girl asks for bread, are you going to give
her a stone? If she asks me, you going to hand her a serpent?
Well, if you being evil know how to give good things to your
baby, think how much more your Heavenly Father will give good
things to them that ask Him, because they believe Him. I don't want for a minute my
children or grandchildren to try to bribe me. That's not the
question. I want them to love me. I want
them to love me. They don't have to meet any conditions.
They're my children. I love them. And if they'll just
believe me. And that's the heavenly Father
loves us. The Lord Jesus died for us. He
loves us. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he laid down his life for his friends. He loves us. He said, I have loved you with
everlasting love, with cords of love have I drawn you. With
an infinite, indescribable love I have for you. Trust me. Trust
me. Trust me. You don't have to meet
conditions. You don't have to follow a law
or a set of rules and regulations to merit God's affection and
God's kindness. Just trust Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. I'll tell you this.
I'll tell you this. Sometimes at your weakest, at
your weakest, you're the strongest. When you don't feel you merit
anything, but just love Him and trust Him, He delights to show
mercy. He flat delights to. No man is
going to be saved until he is plumb lost. Plumb lost. Without hope, without help. And
no man is going to be clothed until he is naked. Now, we are
going to have to get rid of this self-righteousness. We are going
to have to be stripped. We are going to have this none
good, no not one. Now, that's not just words, that's truth.
Our righteousness is a filthy rag. Now, don't come bragging
about how much you pray, and how much you read the Bible,
and how much you give, and how good you live, and how honest
you are, and how straightforward, and all these things. Don't come
before God with that kind of attitude. We've got to be stripped
of every leaf, of every leaf of our fig leaf apron. Got to
be stripped of it. Paul said, I'm less than the
leaf of all the saints. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle. I'm the chief of sinners. I mean that now. I mean that
now. We're not going to be clothed
with His garment of holiness and righteousness as long as
we've got one thread of our own self-righteousness and human
glory. He's not going to do it. And
this is not supposition, this is truth. My glory I'll not give
to another, God said. My glory I'll not give to another.
But is that too hard? Is that too hard to give up rags
for His glory? Is that too hard to give up nothing?
You're cold, and that won't keep you warm. Throw it aside. Stand
before Him. All things are naked and open
unto Him with whom we have to do. Lay it aside. Lay it aside. Lord, here I am. Wash me in your
blood and clothe me in your holiness, because I've got none of my own.
The best deed I ever did is worthy of your condemnation. The best
gift I've ever given is worthy of your judgment. And the best
sermon I ever preached wouldn't be fit to be preached in hell
if it wasn't for Christ. That's right. That ain't too
hard, though. If we just knew how holy God
is, we'd be obscene then. If we just knew. And no man's
going to be healed until he's broken. He's bound to have a
broken heart. No man's going to be accepted
until he justifies God. Now, let's get into the text
here, verse 19. Now, God says something to four
people here. That's why I said this sermon
is something for everybody. We have four people. Now let
me give you, read verse 19. John the Baptist called unto
him two of his disciples. And he sent them to Jesus, saying,
Now art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? What's going on here? Hey, what's
going on here? This is John the Baptist. This
is the fellow that had the unusual birth. He was born when his mother
and father were very old. His father was struck dumb for
almost nine months, so they named him John. He was filled with
the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He was named by the angel
of God, John. It's an unusual birth. This man
here, this wavering prophet, and that's what he is, he's a
wavering prophet. Undecided. You mean even John
had that problem? Even John. You say, brother man,
when I'm wavering and doubting and fearing and not sure and
don't have that full assurance, are there many like me? Even
John. Even John. He not only had unusual
birth, he had unusual revelations. The Lord identified the Messiah
to him. The Lord God said to him, said,
Upon whom you see the Spirit of God descending in the form
of a dove, that's the Lamb of God. And John was able to point
to Christ and say, Behold the Lamb of God. And he had an unusual
ministry. He baptized the Lord Jesus Christ. He ministered to Pharisees and
priests and soldiers and Levites, and even King Herod went out
to him. But John was in jail here. Thirty-one
years old. That's a short ministry. And
the queens upset with him. Herodias. And he's in jail. And he's alone. And he's deserted. And he's in trouble. And he's
weary. And they're going to cut his
head off. And things haven't gone like he figured that they
would. And he wavered. That's exactly,
that's the picture I get here, Jeff. I get a picture of a man
whom God called, whom God blessed, whom God sent. But here he is
in deep, dire circumstances and trouble. And he called two of
his disciples and he said, uh, go down there. This isn't the
way I had it figured. This is not the way I had it
figured. This is not the way I thought
it would end up. Go down there and ask Jesus of Nazareth if
he is the Messiah, or do we look for another? So when the disciples
came down there, and they said, verse 20, look at it, when the
men would come, they said, John the Baptist sent us to thee,
saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
It doesn't say the Lord even honored the question. and say he even answered the
question right there. It just said he went on about
his business. And in that same hour, he cured
many of their infirmities and their plagues and their evil
spirits. And unto many that were blind, he gave sight. He hadn't
even answered these men evidently. But he went on about his ministry.
He, the Lord God hath anointed me to give sight to the blind. make the lame to walk and the
dead to live. And he did those things, and
then he turned to these inquiring disciples and said, go your way
and tell John what you've seen and what you've heard, how that
the lame see, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor
the gospel is preached. And tell John this, and tell
John this, blessed is he that is not offended in me, in whatever
I do, in wherever I put him, in whatever I will for him, in
whatever circumstances he is, in whatever embarrassment he
is called on to bear, in whatever trouble he is called on, tell
him that the man is blessed who is not offended at what God does,
though he doesn't understand it. Though he doesn't understand
it. And so they came back to John,
and I'm sure that, just paraphrasing now, John's standing there at
his prison cell, these fellas come in, he says, uh, does he
know I'm here? They said, yeah, he knows you're
here. Uh, you think he's going to get
me out? No, I don't think so. But he knows the queen is upset?
I'm sure he knows that. He knows she's threatened my
life? I'm sure he knows that. He's not going to do anything
about it. I don't think so. What did he say? He didn't say
anything, John. Not really. But I'll tell you
this, John. He's doing what he came to do. He's doing what he came to do.
Didn't Isaiah the prophet say that when the Messiah comes,
the blinded see, and the lame would walk, and the deaf would
hear, and the dead would be raised? Well, John, that's what he's
doing. He's doing what He came to do.
And He said, tell you. He said, tell you. And this is
what I'm telling me and telling you. And I need this. I need
this so badly. That where you are, and what
you're doing, and the circumstances with which you're surrounded,
that whatever God's will for you is, don't be offended. Don't be offended. Don't find
fault with it. Justify God. Justify God. See that? Justify God. Justify
God. I was talking to Don McKinney
on the phone a little while ago. He called me from Lake Charles
about 5.30, and he said while I was down in Louisiana, he wished
I'd come on down and preach a couple of days for him in Lake Charles. And we got to talking about something
that happened to him many years ago. Don is about 60. Well, not
this on camera. I'll not tell Don's age, you
know. He might know. But he's in his 60s. Let's put
it that way. Well, anyway, back when he was 50 years of age,
50 years of age, Don was pastor of a church of God in Lake Charles.
He'd been pastor there for 25 years, at least. Assembly of
God. And he'd started this church
from just a handful of people. And like most Armenian churches
and fundamentalist and free will churches and things like that,
with a little personality and music and all, it grew fast. And it got to be a pretty good-sized
congregation. And they had already drawn plans,
which I had seen pictures of a million-dollar plant they were
going to build. This was back 15 years ago. And
Don was 50 years of age. And God taught him the gospel
of grace. the gospel of sovereign grace,
he and his brother. And so Don, with enthusiasm and joy, took
that message into the pulpit of that assembly of God's church.
God is sovereign, man is depraved, God elected a people, Christ
died for them, the Holy Spirit calls them, they will persevere,
Christ is Lord. And he preached it. And you know
what happened, Dan? Oh, you know what happened. Oh,
my goodness, there was a riot. There was a riot. He was fired. He'd been past their twenty-five.
They fired him. They fired him. They ran him. They put him out on the streets,
he and his wife. And they had about twelve or
fifteen people that believed what he preached. So he rented. This was a man that had been
successful. Had a big following. Television broadcast way back
then even. Had a big church in the works
and planting a new million dollar plant. The land already bought.
owned his home, everything furnished just on top of the heap, and
here he is now on the bottom. And he rented a little old building.
I preached down there. You go up a long flight of stairs,
downtown in Lake Charles, and they're meeting on the second
floor. They were meeting on the second floor, and it was a kind of a,
kind of a, not a very attractive building, old metal chairs and
a rickety lectern. And Don said one Sunday morning,
they'd been trying to meet, you know, for several weeks. One
Sunday morning, He got all the hymn books and his Bible and
started for church by himself, and wife was coming later. He
had to get there early to get the heat on, you know, and all
this sort of thing. And he got to the church, and
he said, I started up the stairs. Those old rickety back stairs
leading up to that thing. Here I was, fifty years old,
starting all over from scratch with nothing. And he said, I
walked up those stairs, and I was kind of tired, and I just stopped
and leaned back against the wall. looked at those books and said
tears came in my eyes and I said, Lord, what am I doing here? What am I doing here? That's
where John fell. And there may be somebody right
here tonight who's thinking the same thing. What am I doing where
I am? Well, let me tell you this. He
knows where you are. And he's still doing what he
came to do. Justify. Don't murmur. Don't fan folk.
Justify. God, you're right. You're right. Isn't that right, Charlie? You're
right. He can't make a mistake. He's too good to do wrong and
too wise to make a mistake. He's not wrong. He's right. I'm
wrong. I'm wrong. But he's right. Now, that's where
we've got to come. That's the first step. He's wrong,
and I'm right. He's right, and I'm wrong. Totally
wrong. Justify God. All right, here's the next one.
Let's look, if you will, quickly down here at verse 24. Now, when these messengers of
John were departed, now, he's got something to say to the people.
He's already said something to his prophet, his wavering prophet.
Did we get the message? I did, I hope some of you did.
Justify God. Verse 24, when the messengers
of John were departed, he began to speak to the people concerning
John the Baptist. He said, what did you go out
in the wilderness to see? A reed shaking with the wind? People?
Let me ask you a question. This is what our Lord is asking.
When you go to hear what we call a man of God, And I'm not particularly
fond of that term. Here, Tom, there was a man sent
from God. So whoever the man, however weak
the vessel, he is the man God sent. So he's a man from God. But when you go to hear, what
do you go to hear, he said? When you went to hear, John,
what did you go to hear? What did you go to see? What did you
expect? A reed shaken with the wind? What is a reed? A reed is a holler
thing. It's holler. ifty, and it's so
frail, and whichever way the wind blows and the way it leans,
it leans that way. If the wind is stronger that
way, Jerry, it leans that way. He said, that's not what you
went to see, was it? God's preachers aren't that way. God's preachers don't yield to
these forces and influences and powers. God's preachers are not
leaning reeds that are driven with the wind. They stand. They
stand. They stand. Too many preachers
in this day. And I know it, and you know it.
They tickle their ears, and they like their ears tickled, and
they're influenced in what they say by the effect it will have
upon their supporters. What did you go to hear in verse
25? What did you go out to see? A man's clothed in soft raiment?
A little Lord Fauntleroy? Is that what you would say? A
panty waist? A fashion plate? A fella trying to keep up with
the times? I always get provoked when I go in a clothing store
and I ask for something, they say, they're not wearing that
now. And I want to say to the clerk, they ain't going to wear
it, I'm going to wear it. I'm not buying it for they, I'm buying
it for them. Hell, they aren't wearing that. Now he said, He said, did you
go out to see something like that, that's interested in these
things? Worldly-minded, passion-minded,
social-minded, politically-minded? He said, behold, they which are
gorgeously appareled and live delicately, they're in the king's
courts. Men who are out for themselves
are not God's prophets. That is not. Men who are out
for themselves. They're just not God's prophets.
God's prophets are married to the gospel, sold out to the gospel,
obsessed with the gospel, and live of the gospel. That's right. And God's never neglected one
of them yet. Not a one of them. Never will. Verse 26, what do
you go out to see? What do you go out to see? A
prophet? A preacher? I'll tell you a whole lot more
than just a preacher. John's a whole lot more than
just a preacher. This is what I, and you say you're
arrogant. No, I'm not arrogant at all.
I'm just trying, I'm a preacher, but if I'm God's servant, I'm
a whole lot more than just a preacher. Is that right? And you are too,
if we're God's servant. We're a whole lot more than just
a preacher. He said this, this is He of whom it's written. I'll
send my messenger before my face. Before God comes to you in grace,
He'll send you a messenger. Before God visits you in mercy,
He'll send you a messenger to prepare His way before Him. I'll
send my messenger. I'll send my messenger. And I'll
tell you this, I don't know how many there are or where they
are, but where they are or who they are particularly, But I
do know this, God's got some messengers. They're not reeds
driven with the wind, they're not panty waist, they're not
covetous men, they're not greedy, they're not out for themselves,
and they're more than just preachers. They don't just have a profession.
They're prophets. They're messengers. They're men
who are delivering a message. They're men on a mission with
a message. God has stopped them here and handed them a message.
And they're on their way with a message. Wouldn't it be something
to interrupt one of God's messengers and say, what you got there?
Let me read it. Oh, forgive it to me. Give me that message.
This is God's message. Well, I want God's message. Oh,
you've hired you a preacher. This is God's message. This is God's message. I got
God's message. You want to hear God's message? I'll give you
God's message. No, he didn't tell you this.
He's going to say something down here. Let me show you something.
Look down here. I read that 29 and 30, but down here at verse
31. So, verse 29, And the people that heard John, they heard John,
they heard God's messenger, publican, they justified God. They said,
Oh, John was right. He said, You're a generation
of vipers. They said, You're right. He said, Word to you. They said, You're right. They
justified God. But the Pharisees didn't. Lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. The message John
delivered. He's fanatical. He's radical.
Listen to what they said about him. Verse 31, And the Lord said,
When to shall I liken the men of this generation? What are
they like? What are these listeners, these people that John preached
to? What are they like? What are they like today? I'll tell you
what they're like. It's the Master speaking now. They're like children
sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another and saying,
We've piped unto you. We've played a happy song. We
played a joyful song. We've blown the trumpet and the
cornets and we piped to you, but you didn't dance. You just
kept sitting there. You just sat there. You didn't
move. So we tried another angle. We
mourned and we played a funeral dirge and we played a funeral
song. We played a sad song. But he said, you didn't cry.
We couldn't get to you anyway. We came with a happy song and
you didn't laugh. We came with a trumpet, and you didn't dance.
We came with a sad song, and you didn't mourn. We came with
a funeral dirge, and you didn't weep." What's he talking about? Verse 33, John the Baptist came,
neither eating nor drinking wine. John the Baptist came, a stern,
serious, solemn declarer of judgment. of God visiting with his heavy
hand upon his day, John came, having no part in your weddings
and your suppers and your fellowship and your gatherings, he just
came out in the wilderness as a voice, crying, prepare the
way of the Lord. And you said, he's got a devil,
he's some kind of nut, he's a radical. You're not going to listen to
him. And the Son of Man has come, and he came eating drinking. He went to a wedding, performed
a miracle, ate with sinners, sat at the table, talked with
them, fisted with them. What did you say about him? He's
a winebibber. Ain't nothing to him. He's a
gluttonous man. You won't hear the solemn men
and you won't hear the sweet ones. You won't hear the declarers
of judgment, you won't hear the proclaimers of peace. You won't hear the fella that
doesn't drink, and you won't hear the fella that does. You won't hear the fella that
lives out there in a cave, and you won't hear the one that lives
next door. But, wisdom. A man who has some wisdom and
understanding, wisdom is justified of her children. The man who's
sitting here tonight who's got some of God's wisdom and understanding,
whoever preaches, be it me or John, me or Charlie, or Don Fortner,
whoever the servant is, whatever his eccentricities, whatever
his personality, whatever his message, whatever his subject,
whatever his style, it's the Word that God that speaks. It's the Word that condemns us
and judges us and exalts God and reveals Christ And the fellow
with wisdom, the child of wisdom, justifies God. And the other
fellow finds something wrong. See, he finds something that
he doesn't like. He finds something that, well,
I'm not going out there. They don't have this. I'm not
going out there. They don't have that. I'm not
going out there. This fellow did this. Wisdom is justified over children.
God's people see God's wisdom in God's gospel and in God's
way of doing things, and they justify God. Well, I don't have time to give
the other two. I'm going to let you read the other two examples.
There was a woman. The Lord dealt with His preacher,
dealt with the people. Then He dealt with a prostitute.
But I'll tell you briefly how He dealt with her. She came justifying
God and fell at His feet. weeping, she bathed his feet
with tears. And she did something that takes
a great deal of humility and a great deal of contrition and
a great deal of submission. She kissed his feet. And then she took all of her
possessions that were wrapped up in one alabaster box of costly
ointment and just broke it. and let it run down over his
feet. Not over his head, over his feet. Wasn't that where she
had known him, his feet? And our Lord said to her in verse
50, look here, He said, Woman, your faith has saved you. Go
in peace. Go in peace. Now I could go on
and on with that, I've got so much on that, but I've got to
get to one more fellow our Lord dealt with. And he was a Pharisee,
and you got all these verses referring to him. And our Lord
dealt with him in his wickedness, his self-righteousness, so harshly. He said, I came in your house,
and He said, you didn't think enough of me to have my feet
washed, and you didn't think enough of me to give me a kiss
of greeting. You didn't think enough of me to anoint my head.
And this woman hath anointed my feet. And he said to this wicked Pharisee,
to whom much is forgiven, they'll love much. I read something one
time about this. It said, talking
about people who don't see themselves as sinners and don't justify
God, there's no sin like having no sin. Do you understand what
that's saying? There is no sin like having no
sin. That's the greatest depth of
depravity. There's no devil like no devil. That's the devil at his slickest
operation. When you're not even aware of
his... There is no creature so needy
as the man who has no need. None. And this, this Pharisee
didn't have a need. He was a satisfied and successful,
powerful, influential man. And just didn't have a need.
But here was a woman, quite the opposite, on the far end of the
spectrum from him. And the Lord Jesus Christ saved
her soul. Now you think about it. Can you
come there? Can you justify, God, that this as old as I am, and as high
as I've climbed, and as much as I know, and as much as I do,
can you just shuck it off? Can you just say, let it all
be done, that I may win Christ? Is that too hard? But that's
what that woman did. She just came, and all of her
dignity, and all of it just down at his feet, in the dirt, weeping,
wiping his feet with a hair of her head, and kissing him. Boy, you come there, I guarantee
you grace. Because I know there's grace
had to bring you there. You wouldn't be there if it wasn't
for God's grace. God hates a proud look. He gives
grace to the humble. Can we find a little humility
in here? Justify God. I'll close with
this. The publican in the temple smote
upon his breast and cried, God, be merciful. Not be just, be
merciful. To me, the sinner. And our Lord said he went home
justified. Our Father, thank you for your
word. Thank you for this glorious good
news. What good news? We can enter in. Cheap old sinners. We can enter in. I can enter
in. I can have that for which Christ came, and that which He
purchased, and I want it. And as sinners, we lie low at
Thy feet, and we justify Thee, and we say with David, in Thy
loving kindness and tender mercies, have mercy upon me. Through Christ
our Lord we pray. Amen.