I'm not looking for catchy titles
for sermons, but I do have a title that I think belongs to this
message. When I prepared the message,
this title fit the message. And I think it'll be an interesting
message. I think this question that I'm asking is going to be
beneficial to all of us, to me and to you. But here's the title,
here's the question. What is the greatest riddle of
all ages? The greatest riddle. all ages. Now, I'm going to be using Job
25. If you want to follow in your Bibles, you turn to the
25th chapter of Job. I'll be reading verses 4 through
6 of Job 25. Now, here's the message on the
greatest riddle. What is the greatest riddle of
all ages? Isaiah wrote, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord
high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. And the seraphims
cried one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." My
friends, this fact is established from Genesis to Revelation. God
is infinitely, unchangeably, everlastingly holy. God is holy. Even Moses could not look on
God and live. In order to see the goodness,
the glory of God, Moses, Moses himself, had to be hid in the
cleft of the rock. God is in his holy temple that
all the earth keeps silent before him. What I'm trying to establish
is what I believe the Word of God establishes, that God is
infinitely, immutably holy. Holy. All right. We know from
the scriptures and from experience, not only from God's word but
from our own hearts, we know what man is by birth and by practice
and by nature. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none good, no not one. There's none that understandeth,
no not one. None, you see all those statements,
none, no not one, none, no not one, none righteous, none good,
Non-profitable, no, not one. God said he looked down from
heaven to see if there was one righteous man. And he found that
they were all gone out of the way. They were all together become
unprofitable. He saw that every imagination
of man's heart was evil continually. And he said this, man at his
best state, at his best state, and none of us have ever attained
our best state yet. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. And even our righteousnesses
are a filthy rag. Now think about that. Think of
the distance between absolute, immutable, infinite holiness
and absolute sin and guilt. He said our sin is so double-dyed
and so deep in the stain that just as an Ethiopian can't change
the color of his skin and a leper cannot change his spots, neither
can we do good. We can't do any good. In our
flesh dwelleth no good thing. God is an eternal spirit, and
we are dying flesh. God is light, and we love darkness. God is life, and we are death.
God is truth, and all men are liars. That's what Scripture
says. God is good, and in the flesh no man can please God.
So my friends, here's the question. Here's the question of questions.
Here is the greatest riddle of all ages, right here in Job 25,
4 through 6, and it's often asked in the Scripture. Here, listen
to it. How then, this being true, God's infinite, immutable, immaculate,
eternal holiness, man's depth of depravity and degradation
and sin, how, how then can man be just with God? You see, that's
the question, that's the riddle. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold to the moon. Look at the
moon. It shineth not. The stars are
not clean in God's sight. That's what he says here. The
stars are not pure in God's sight. How much less, how much less
is man that is a worm? And the word there is maggot.
It's a terrible word, but that's what it is. In Job 15, verse
14 through 16, listen to this. What is man? Here's that same
riddle. We just keep on asking it in
God's Word. Because all of these prophets
knew about sin and about God's holiness. All of these prophets,
like Isaiah, they'd seen the Lord, consequently they'd seen
themselves. Job said, I've seen the Lord,
I hate myself. Daniel said, I've seen the Lord,
my comeliness melted into corruption. These men had seen the Lord.
These were not jack-legged preachers. These men had seen the Lord.
Now listen to Job again. What is man that he should be
clean? And he that's born of woman, that he should be righteous?
Behold, God puts no trust in his saints. The heavens are not
clean in God's sight. How much more abominable... Now listen, this is some language
here. This is shaking, shattering. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like he drinks water? Here's
the greatest riddle of all time, all ages. How can man be just
with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? How can he be righteous who drinks
iniquity like the water? Now, in order to be clean, in
order to be just before God, what's got to take place? To
be accepted of God, what has to take place? To be in fellowship
with a holy God, what has to happen to this man? Well, first
of all, he's got to have spiritual life restored. He's death. He's
got to become life. Our Lord said, you must be born
again. I know a lot of folks are making
fun of that today, and a lot of preachers are making light
of it, liberal preachers, but it's still true. Except the man
be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He's got
to have life restored. He's got to have a perfect righteousness
before God's law. Not pretty good, not better than
Joe's, or Floyd's, or Bill's, but as good as God's righteousness
before the law. He's got to have that. Thirdly,
he must have paid the penalty for justice, having broken God's
law. We have broken God's law in defending
one point to be guilty of the whole law. So having broken God's
law, we've got to have, not only before the law, A righteousness,
but we've got to have before justice a clean, clear bill. Justified. Justified. Without
guilt. Pardoned. Sin forgiven. And then he must, watch this
now, he must honestly, actually hate what he now loves by nature
and love what he now hates by nature. You talk about difficult. Nicodemus cried, how can these
things be? That was his response to this
question. How can man be clean that's born of a woman? How can
man be just with God? How can man's life be restored?
He said, how can these things be? Job said, how can man be
just? Bildad said, how can man be clean? And Paul wrote, how can God be
just and justify the ungodliness? This is the riddle of all ages.
And I'll tell you this, my friend. If you find the answer to this
riddle, you'll have learned the gospel. That's so. You will have
learned the gospel. If you find the answer to this
riddle, you will have found salvation. If you find the answer. Thirdly,
if you find the answer to this riddle, you will have understood
the mystery of godliness. That's where it is. It's all
right here. Right here. Now, men have come up with all
sorts of answers to this burning, burning question of all questions.
Men have come up with all types of answers to this riddle. Some
fellow turns to the sacrifice and to the ceremonies, and Israel
was bad about that. Their table became a stumbling
block and a snare. And the ceremonies, they thought
they found life in the ceremonies and the sacrifices. And some
people turn to the ceremonies of religion, knowing that they're
not just, knowing that they're not justified, knowing that they're
not clean. Trying to find the answer to
this great mystery, this question of question, how can I be clean
before God? How can I be justified before
God? How can I be accepted of God?
Well, I'll turn to baptism. I'll turn to the sacraments.
I'll turn to the tithe. I'll turn to the church membership.
I'll turn to some kind of ceremony. All the time, God's Word plainly
says in Hebrews 10.4, it's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats can take away sin. It's not possible that all
the ceremonies put together, performed by all of the Jews
of all ages, could put away one sin. It's not possible. And yet
men go on trying, knowing it's not possible. Our Lord said,
with men it's impossible. The disciples said, well, who
can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible. Impossible. You say, are you going to stop
there? No, sir, we're going to go on. People have tried to find
the answer to this riddle. Some have turned to Sinai's law.
They couldn't find salvation in the ceremony, so they turned
to the law. And all the time, God's saying in Galatians 2,
verse 16, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Yours, mine, or anybody else's.
Jew or Gentile, bond or free, rich or poor, male or female,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. Men can't keep the law. The law
can't save. It wasn't given to save. All
the law can do is shut your mouth and pronounce you guilty before
God. That's all it can do. All the law can do is pronounce
you guilty and condemn you. The law can't save you or cleanse
you or wash you or justify you. It can only damn you. By the
law is the knowledge of sin. It wasn't given for any other
purpose. Some have turned to religious works. Well, we'll
work. We'll visit and we'll teach Sunday
school and we'll sing in the choir and we'll visit the sick
and we'll go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday
night to all the meetings. We'll win souls. We'll get into
the work. And all the time God is saying, not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy hath he saved us.
Not by works of righteousness which we've done. And our Lord
Jesus Christ said, they'll cry to me in the day of judgment.
Lord, we've preached in your name. We cast out devils in your
name, we've done many wonderful works in your name, and I shall
declare unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. And then some turn to their religious
heritage. My father was a preacher. I've
heard young people say this. Are you saved? Are you a Christian?
Do you know God? My dad is a preacher. Well, there
are preachers' sons and daughters who don't know God. There are
preachers who don't know God. Many, many of them. They don't
even know the Gospel, let alone God. Well, my father and mother
were Baptists, and we've been a Baptist clear back to our great-great-great-grandfather. Well, my friend, he's not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. That's what Scripture keeps saying.
He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. He's not a Christian,
who's one outwardly. He's a Christian whose heart
has been circumcised, whose heart has been rent into, and whose
soul has been brought into a vital union with Jesus Christ. Yes,
men look everywhere for the answer to this riddle, and they don't
find it. They look for security in every place. Lucifer, he found
no security in angelic circles. Think about this now. If you're
looking for security in the church, or in the ceremonies, or the
law, or the ordinances, or your profession, or your easy believism,
or your decision, I warn you, Lucifer, the son of the morning,
found no security even in angelic circles. Adam found no security
in Paradise Garden. Now think about that. Israel
found no security in a God-given Levitical covenant. Joab found
no security, though he held to the horns of the altar in the
holy place. Now think about that. Judas found
no security, though he was an apostle, one of the twelve. Simon Magus found no security
in the water. Peter said, your heart's not
right with God. Ananias and Sapphira found no
security in their gifts. Demas found no security in the
companionship of the most powerful preacher who ever lived, the
Apostle Paul. And how in the world do you hope
to find any security in any of these false claims? How can man
be just with God? How can sin be put away? How
can he be clean that's born of a woman? I'm telling you, if
you don't know the answer to those questions, you ought to
find them out. You must know. You must know. It's essential that you know.
I'll give it to you. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. Listen
to this. Memorize it for as much as you
know. You are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver
and gold from your vain conversation from your evil nature, received
by tradition or birth from your father, but by the precious blood
of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's
how men are clean in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to 1 John 1, 7. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Listen to Ephesians
1.7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His
grace. Listen to Hebrews 9.22, and without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. How can he that's born of woman
be clean, clean enough for God's fellowship? Only in the blood
of Christ. How can a man be justified with
God when even the moon shineth not, the stars are not pure in
his sight, and he puts no trust in his saint? The abominable,
filthy man who drinks iniquity like water, how can he be clean,
holy, righteous, justified in the very presence of the living
God? Only in the blood of Christ. not in the altar, not in the
ceremony, not in the baptismal pool, not in the sacrifices,
not in the law, not in any way but in the blood of the Son of
God that was shed for us on the cross of Calvary. Now, I want
to give you, if you have a pencil and paper and want to jot these
notes down, I want to give you six things about the blood of
Christ. I think this is important. And I'll back this up with Scripture.
Here are six things about the blood of the Son of God. The
first one is this. The blood of Christ is the blood
of atonement. Now, I've never found any better
definition for the word atonement than the one I'm about to give
you. The definition is right in the word. I think this is
good. It's simple. I need simple things. Maybe you
do too. Atonement is at-one-ment, to make the two one, to bring
them together again. And that's what the blood of
Christ does. It is the blood that maketh atonement. We are
one with God now. Peace, forgiveness, pardon, mercy. We're one with God. We were divided. We were separated. Your sins
have separated you from your God. But Christ has brought us
together again. He restoreth my soul. It's the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Atonement. Now in Jesus
Christ, listen to this. Now in Jesus Christ, we who were
at one time far off, and I wish I could describe how far off
we were. I wish it were possible for you
to realize how far away from God we were by birth and nature.
But we who were far off are made nigh. How near! Near, so near to God. Nearer
I cannot be in the person of his Son. I'm as near as he. I'm seated in Christ on the right
hand of God. That's how near. That's how near. Isn't that fabulous? Isn't that
a blessing? That's how near. When I see the
blood, God said, I'll pass over you. Justice is now satisfied.
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. God's satisfied.
His justice is satisfied. The holy law is now honored.
God can now be both just and justified. Both righteous and
forgiver. For the price is paid. The debt
is paid. The debt is satisfied. Oh, how
sweet. The songwriter put it this way.
Oh, how sweet. to view the flowing of His sin-atoning
blood with divine assurance, knowing that He made my peace
with God. I get so upset when I hear people
talk about making their peace with God. I didn't do that. Christ did that. His blood is
atoning blood. With His blood, we have an atonement
at one with God, only in the blood of Christ. When God passed
through the land of Egypt at midnight, everywhere he saw the
blood, he passed over. Where there was no blood, judgment
fell. That's how clear-cut it is. And
then secondly, now, the blood of Christ is cleansing blood.
Cleansing. I like this so much because I
feel my sins are ever before me. Aren't yours? Don't you feel
your sin, the guilt of them, the filth of them, the evil of
them? Don't you? Well, listen to this
verse, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth, cleanseth. That's present tense, cleanseth.
Not just has cleansed or will cleanse, but cleanseth, cleanseth.
And Isaiah said, though your sins be as scarlet, though they
be red like crimson, though they be double dyed, they shall be
white as snow, white as snow. How double dyed are our sins.
And in the book of Revelation it said, It talks about those
in heaven and it says, who are these? And where did they come
from? And he said, you know, these
are they that have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. White. Think about it. White
as God sees it. Unto him who loved us and washed
us, washed us from all our sins. David said, purge me and I shall
be clean. Have you been to Jesus for the
cleansing power? Are you washed? in the blood
of the Lamb? Are you fully trusted in His
blood this hour? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? His blood is cleansing blood. That's what it says. The blood
of Christ cleanseth. I'm clean in God's sight by the
blood of Christ. Thirdly, His blood is redeeming
blood. Ephesians 1.7 says, In whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin. Now,
redemption many times is spoken of in the same vein or with the
same meaning as pardon, to be pardoned. But really, I believe,
and many others believe this, that it has a stronger meaning,
not only to be pardoned, because men be pardoned and be left alone,
but it's to be set free. from sin's curse. It's to be
set free from sin's captivity. It's to be bought and owned by
the Lord himself. It's to become his. I'm not only
set free from sin, but I'm moved into God's house. I've become
a member of God's family. I'm one of the sons of God who
sits daily at his table. I believe it's possible for you
to forgive a man and pardon a man and go your way and he go his
way. But I thank God he didn't pardon me and let me go my way.
He bought me. He said, you're not your own. You're bought with
a price. You're mine. That's what Hosea said to his
wife. You're mine. I bought you. I redeemed you.
I paid the price. And our Lord Jesus Christ, we're
his in a two-fold way. He created us, and somebody says
he recreated us, and he purchased us. He purchased us. That's a
three-fold way. All right, fourthly. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has interceding power. Listen to
this verse, Hebrews 10, 19. Having boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Somebody said, where even the
great high priest could only go once a year. Through the blood
of Christ, I can go every day. You think about that. Back down
in the Old Testament, when that tabernacle stood in the wilderness,
And out here was the holy place, separated by the veil from the
holy of holies. And in that holy of holies, the
presence of God, the Shekinah glory over the mercy seat, wherein
they kept the law of Moses, broken tables of law, and Aaron's rod
that budded, and the cup of manna, once a year, no more than once
a year, in the awful, awesome, holy presence of God, that great
high priest of old, Aaron, one of the sons of Levi, would take
the blood atonement and slip under the veil and go there while
the incense was burning and the smoke was filling that place
right into the presence of God himself. And he put that blood
on the mercy seat. And then he'd back away once
a year in the presence of God. Here was a man, once a year,
a man, the high priest, in the presence of God, representing
all his people. Well, let me tell you something,
another man, the God man, the God-man, the man of whom all
these sons of Aaron and Levi were types, pictures, another
man, one great high priest, a priest after the order of Melchizedek,
having neither beginning nor ending of days, having neither
mother or father, with an eternal priesthood, one day sacrificed
himself, not a lamb, himself the Lamb of God, and took not
the blood of an animal, but his own blood, not into the holy
place made with hands, but into heaven itself. into the presence
of a holy God. And there on the mercy seat of
glory, He put His blood as a propitiation and sacrifice for the sin of
every believer, and He perfected us forever. And when He died,
that old veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom,
and God laid it apart, and He says, Come ye sinners, poor and
needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience
make you linger. nor a fitness fondly dreamed,
all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him."
Come on. Where, preacher? Right into the presence of God,
right before the throne of grace. I couldn't do that. No, you can't,
but Christ can. He can take you, you see. In
him, by his blood, it has interceding power. It opens for us into the
presence of God a new and living way, not by the sacrifice of
an animal, not once a year represented by the great high priest, but
every hour of every day, I can call him my father by the blood
of Christ. Now let me tell you something,
you foxhole religionists, without the blood of Christ, you needn't
holler, God have mercy, because God's mercy is in Christ. I'm
telling you the truth. I'm trying to be honest with
you. Just as that high priest of old didn't dare go into the
Holy of Holies without the blood, you better not dare come into
the presence of God without the sacrifice of his Son, the blood
of the Lamb. I tell you that. There's no prayer
without Christ. I don't care what any man says.
I don't care whether he's Jew or Gentile, Baptist or Catholic.
You can't come to God except by Christ. No man cometh to the
Father, he said, but by me. The blood maketh atonement, and
the blood gives us access into the presence of God. And then
the blood of Christ is sanctifying blood. Listen to Hebrews 13,
12. Wherefore Jesus, that he might sanctify his people with
his own blood, suffered without the gate, he set us apart by
his sacrifice, he cleansed us and declared us to be holy by
his sacrifice, and by his sacrifice he makes us holy. We are sanctified
in Christ by his blood. And then last of all, the blood
of Christ unites all believers into one body. Ephesians 2.16,
talking about Jew and Gentile, he hath reconciled both, Jew
and Gentile, to God by his cross, by his blood. Wherever you find
a believer, it doesn't matter whether he's a Jew or a Gentile,
whether he's black or white, old or young, wherever you find
a believer, you'll find that believer resting in the blood
of the Son of God. You'll find him trusting in the
death of the Son of God. You'll find him believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ.