Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Job, chapter 25. I'm not going to take the time
this morning, I never do, to recognize visitors in the congregation. I know you know that we're glad
to have you. But I do want to recognize one
gentleman who's here this morning who has driven Quite a distance
to be with us from Kingston, Ohio. A faithful listener to
our television program for some months now, and we've been writing
back and forth, and a faithful and generous supporter of our
television ministry. Brother John Howsam is over here
in his little cart. Love Christ, he was a veteran
of 12 years in the Air Force, and has multiple cirrhosis now,
and he's a gallant soldier, and we're glad to have you here.
Hope God will bless you, John, in the service this morning.
Look at Job chapter 25, and let's read this short chapter. I'm speaking on the subject,
in search of justification. In search of justification. This
just could be. the most important message you'll
ever hear. It could be. I didn't say it
would be preached better than any message you ever heard. I
didn't say it would be the greatest message you ever heard. I said
it would, perhaps it could be the most important message you
ever heard. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was on
his way to church one morning, a 16-year-old lad, under conviction
of sin and trouble, knew not Christ, came from a religious
family and background. His grandfather was a minister.
Parents were devout believers, but he didn't know God. Snowing
heavily, he couldn't make it to his own church, so he just
stopped in this little primitive Methodist chapel. And there were
just a handful of people there. The pastor couldn't make it that
morning, the snow was so deep. One of the men of the church
got up to speak. An uneducated man, a very plain-spoken
man, a country fellow, but he knew God and he knew the Word
of God. And he read Isaiah 45, 22, "...Look unto me, and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. And he lifted up Christ that morning, and in his
faltering way he presented to that congregation the Savior
of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he exhorted people not to
look to their doctrine, not to look to the law, not to look
to morality, but to look to Christ. And that morning Spurgeon said,
God just opened, opened the window and let me see Christ. And God
met me that morning and spoke peace to my heart. And Charles
Spurgeon became one of the greatest preachers of God's grace, founder
of the pastor's college, a man who gave a home to thousands
and thousands of orphans, a man whose sermons are read to this
day in nearly every language. That was the most important sermon
he ever heard. It wasn't preached by G. Campbell Morgan or George Whitefield
or John Knox. preached by a simple man, but
he presented a powerful gospel. I wish God would give us ears
to hear, not the eloquent words of men, but to hear him speak
through his word. And this just might be, I don't
know. But in Job 25, then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and he said,
Dominion and fear with God. he maketh peace in his high places,
is any number of his armies, and upon whom doth not his light
arise, how then can man be justified with God? For how could he be
clean that's born of a woman? Now, I know all the fast-talking
preachers today have an answer for that. It's either by being
baptized or joining their church or changing your doctrine or
some other way. But this man, Bildad, and also
Job, over in chapter 9, verse 2, how, how? These were righteous,
godly men. These were God-fearing men. These were intelligent Bible
students, I'm sure, and they kept asking this question, how
can man be just with God? How could he be clean? holy,
pure in the sight of God, who's born a natural birth of the seed
of man. Behold, verse 5, even to the
moon it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in God's sight,
how much less man that is a wiggling maggot, a worm, the son of man
which is a worm. Is not this the question of all
questions? How can this man, with all of
his evil imaginations, all of his evil thoughts, all of his
pride and covetousness, all of his flesh, how can he be clean
in God's sight? You got the answer to that? How
can I be justified with God? I need the answer to that. Question
is not how can I be religious, or how can I make you think I'm
religious, but how can I impress you with my piety? That's not
too hard. All I've got to do is get me
a big cross and wear it around my neck, you know, and buy me
a great big Good Samaritan Bible with a lot of fancy pictures
in it, you know, and come to church on Sunday and talk religious. Stay away from the picture show,
you know, and you'll think I'm real godly. Because, you see,
you look on the outward countenance. You could appear beautiful under
me, and that's not too hard. That's not too difficult. But
here's the question. How can I be just with God? I may impress you with my piety
and go to hell and hear God say I never knew you. I may impress
you with all of my praise the Lord and hallelujah and thank
God and all of these words, but God looks on the heart. God judges
men by their hearts, not by their words and not by their outward
religious uniforms and practices. And I'm concerned. I want to
be justified with God. I want to be clean in the sight
of God. to be justified is to be, Webster
says, free from guilt and blame. That's a tall order, isn't it?
And that's what he's asking. That's the question. How can
man be free from guilt and blame? It says in the Scripture that
he shall present us holy and unblameable in God's sight. That's
what I want. Jude 24 says he shall present
us without blame, without spot, without stain in His presence. To be justified is to have peace
with God. Therefore, being justified, we
have peace with God. That's what I want, peace. I
want the battle to be over, the enmity to be put away. peace
with God. To be justified is to be free
from all charges. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. If
I'm justified, no one can lay anything to my charge. There's
plenty that could be laid if anyone could lay it. I'm not
saying I'm without guilt. humanly speaking. But no one
can lay anything to my charge in God's sight, in God's presence,
if I'm justified. To be justified is to have eternal
life. Whom he justifies, he glorifies. So, brother, I tell you, I am
interested in this subject. If any preacher gets up and talks
about how can man be justified with God, he's got my attention.
And I hope I've got yours, because if you're interested in this
subject, you're in a select company, not many people are. They're
satisfied with the outward forms of religion. They're satisfied
to hear some preacher say, peace, peace, when there is no peace,
and they know it in their hearts, there's no peace. David said,
O God, according to thy lovingkindness, blot out my transgression. Wash
me from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sins. Make the bones which thou hast
broken to rejoice. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Cast me not away from thy presence. The publican cried in Luke 18,
13, God be reconciled to me, a sinner. Paul in Romans 7, 24 said, O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? If there's a man who can bring
an answer to this plea right here, cleanse me from my sin,
be reconciled to me, a sinner, deliver me from this body, the
body of this death. If anybody can bring me an answer
to that question, It can truly be said of him, how beautiful,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things, and bring glad
tidings of good things. Four things I want to point out
to you that I know, I can tell you this for certain, I'm not
speculating I know how man is not justified. Now we're faced
with this question, how can I be clean in God's sight? How can man be just with God? Well, I know how he can't be
justified. I know how he can't. First of
all, he can't be justified by religious words, claims, decisions,
and professions. Now turn to Job 9. Let me show
you that. Job chapter 9. I'm going to be
very simple in this message because Paul talked about Satan beguiling
us from the simplicity of Christ. You see, salvation is not complicated,
it's by faith. It's not complicated. In Job
chapter 9 verse 20, Job says, If I justify myself, if I justify
myself, my own shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, if
I say in words I'm without sin, I'm clean, I'm saved, I'm holy,
I'm sanctified, it'll prove me perverse. Saying it doesn't make
it so. Not so. Saying it doesn't make
it so. I want you to look at another
scripture. Turn to Luke 16 and listen to what our Lord says
here. And this is so important. I wish you'd turn to this. Everybody
with a Bible, turn over here and put an X or a circle, an
X by this or a circle around it, and go back and look at it
pretty often. It's a powerful verse. It's Luke
16, 15. And Christ said to them, you
are they. which justify yourselves before
men. But God knows your heart. And
that which is highly esteemed among men, religiously speaking,
is an abomination in the sight of God. You think about that.
Isn't that frightening? Today's religion, today's outward
organized, highly organized religious entertainment, which is highly
esteemed among men, all the accomplishments, the buildings, the organizations,
the large numbers, an abomination to God, highly esteemed among
men. We seek to justify ourselves. He says over in 1 John 1, if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have
not sinned, we make God a liar. If we say You don't justify yourself
by what you say. He says, God knows your hearts. God knows your hearts. God knows your hearts. And that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. God knows your hearts. Man's not justified by words.
And then I know this, secondly. I know he's not justified by
law. Now, you can preach the Ten Commandments all you want
to, but you're not going to justify any man, and no man's going to
be justified by your preaching of and by your enforcing of the
Ten Commandments. Turn to Galatians chapter 3,
and let me show you that. Galatians 3, verse 10, and the
law of God has not been repealed. There's no question about that.
The law of God is still just always where it was. The law
of God has not been repealed. It has not been cast into the
garbage can. Thou shalt have no other God
before me. Thou shalt not make of thee an engraving image. Thou
shalt not bow down before them. Thou shalt not take God's name
in vain. Those things, thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt
not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet. Yes, sir. Honor thy mother and
thy father. But the law can't save. All the
law can do is show me my sin. All that the law can do is reveal
unto me my iniquity, my failures. Galatians 3 verse 10 says this,
So then, for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse, for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. The law doesn't command partial obedience, but perfect
obedience. This is the thing, you that would
be saved by the law, don't you hear the law? The law of God
does not require me, command me to be pretty good, it commands
me to be perfect. The law of God says to offend
in one point, one jot, one tipple, is to be guilty of the whole
law of God. He says in verse 11, Galatians
3, that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God.
It is evident, for the just shall live by faith. What the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty
before God. We're guilty. No man is justified
by the law. You can go out and get people
to quit committing these outward acts of transgression against
the moral law of God, and they still won't be justified? They
still won't be clean? Because the thought of foolishness
is seen. I may be in a straitjacket. I
may be in a padded sail. I may be sitting on a bunk by
myself with nothing but religious literature about me and a Bible
in my lap. But my thoughts, my flesh, my
imagination, my self, that's where the sin, that's the root
of sin, that's the source of sin. That's what defiles a man. Christ said it's not that which
goeth into the mouth, it's that which comes out of the heart.
These are the things, that's where I need a work of grace
in my heart. And the law can't do that. All the law can do is
show me my sin. I'm not justified by the law. And turn to Titus chapter 3.
I cannot be justified by works, by good deeds, by alms, by works
of charity. In Titus chapter 3 verse 5, Titus
3 verse 5, listen to this. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, works of goodness, works of charity, but according
to his mercy he saved us. by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Here's the question. How can man be just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? That's the question. And the
answer comes back, well, not by words. To justify myself,
my own mouth would damn me. If I said I'm perfect and clean
and holy, well, I'd be a liar. I'd be perverse. And the law
can't do it. You come with the law and I straighten
up my outward life, but I can't straighten up my heart. I'm still
unclean in God's sight. And I might serve my neighbor.
I might get a job preaching or teaching a Bible class or giving
to the poor or giving to the church or sending missionaries
to the foreign shores. Listen, when the Pharisee stood
in the temple and he said, God, I thank you I'm not like other
men. He wasn't like other men. There's no question about that.
He says, I'm not an extortioner, I'm not an adulterer, and outwardly
he wasn't. He said, I fast twice a week,
and he did. He said, I give alms to the poor,
and he did. But Christ said he went home
not justified. But here was a publican, and
Christ couldn't have chosen a greater contrast, a greater extreme than
a Pharisee and a publican. The Pharisee was the, in the
eyes of the Jews, the most religious man, the most moral man of that
day, and the publican was the most despised man. A publican
was a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman government. They
hated him. They were thieves, they were,
they collected more taxes than the people were supposed to pay
and they kept them themselves, a publican. And Christ said those
two went to the temple to pray. And the Pharisee prayed with
himself, God I thank you, I'm not, I'm not an adulterer, I'm
not an extortioner, I fast, I pray, I give alms, and he was telling
the truth. He did those things. And here the publican would not
so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast and
cried, God, I'm a sinner. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me on the mercy seat. Be reconciled to me, a sinner.
God, be merciful. And Christ said he went home
justified. That's what the Lord said. That was hard for those Jews
to swallow. That was hard for them to do.
Good. Might it be to say anything else, they could have taken it.
a publican justified clean? And their religious leaders,
their religious leaders unclean? You know now why they crucified
him. It wasn't what he did, it was what he said that made them. But Isaiah said this, now you
listen to this in Isaiah 64 verse 6. Now this is This is convicting,
but this is so important. Isaiah 64 says, he says, but
we all are as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf
in our iniquity, like the wind taking us away. Now, you go and
play in church and play in past and play in religion. and impressing
people with your holiness, but God looks on your heart. And
God says your righteousnesses are filthy rags in my sight.
So here comes the question, how can I be clean? And I can't do
it by my words or by the law or by my works, but I know who
can do it. I know who justifies. This is
the second point. I know who justifies. I can't
do it, the church can't do it, the preacher can't do it, but
I know who can. You turn to Romans 8, Romans
8, verse 33. I'll tell you who it is that
justifies the center. In Romans chapter 8, verse 33. Who can lay anything, Romans
8, 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. That's who does it. That's the
author of justification. That's the source of justification.
Here I lay in my sin and guilt and filth and uncleanness and
unholiness. How can I? God's going to have
to do it. If I'm justified, God's going
to have to do it. He's going to have to lift the
beggar from the dunghill and sit him among princes. He's going
to have to do it. I'm powerless. I would pray but
cannot, I would repent but cannot, I would be clean but am not."
Look at verse 29 or verse 30, "...who moreover whom he did
predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them who justified
he also justified." No one but God would have purposed to justify
the ungodly. No one but God would have purposed
to justify sinners. We hate our enemies, God loves
His. We seek vengeance, God bestows
mercy. We reward the good and punish
the evil, God forgives the sinner. Saul of Tarsus, you reckon we'd
have made him our chosen vessel? God did. God committed His love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. God's the only one who would have purposed to justify sinners,
and God's the only one who can justify sinners. You know why?
It's impossible. Now listen to this. If Cecil
has offended John, I can't forgive Cecil. John's got to. The transgression's
against him. I can't do it. He's got to forgive
him. The business has got to be settled
between those two. You can't forgive for me. I must, then the pardon must
come from the offended one. You see what I'm saying? We've
sinned against God, therefore God's the only one who can pardon.
No priest can put his hands on me and say your sins are forgiven.
God has to do that. I didn't sin against that priest,
I sinned against God. You see what I'm saying? Only
God can justify sinners. Only God can forgive sinners
because against thee and thee only have I sinned. And if God
justifies me, no one can condemn me. If the judge of this earth acquits
me, who can condemn me? If the highest court in the universe
pronounces me just and holy, who's going to question that?
Are you? Is Satan? is an angel. Behold,
I stand in that great day, who ought to my charge can lay, while
by my God forgiven I am from sin's awful curse and blame." A man cannot be justified by
his words, by the law, or by his works. He can be justified
by God. God is God can justify. God Almighty can justify the
ungodly. He can. It says whom he predestinated,
them he called whom he called, he justified. It's God that justifies. Now, I want to call your attention
to these words to give you, you say, but not me. That's all right. You talk to the more religious
people or the more spiritual people or those, but not, now
wait a minute. Turn to Romans 4 verse 5. Romans 4 verse 5. I want you to get this. This
may shock you, but I want you to listen to it. In Romans 4,
5, "...but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly." The ungodly. That's who God justifies. Now, I don't imagine there's
anybody here that can't at least get in there, can you? The ungodly? Christ died for the ungodly.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Come let us
reason together, though your sins be a scarlet. O preacher,
if you knew my past, who cares? God justifies the ungodly. Christ
died for sinners of whom I am speaking. Christ came to seek
and to save the lost. If God justifies anyone, it'll
have to be the ungodly, won't it? All that sin and come short
of the glory of God, none good, no not want. If you are a physician,
to whom would you minister? What to the sick. One day our
Lord was eating with publicans and harlots and sinners and these
religious Pharisees were standing over watching him eat with those
people and talk with those people and minister to those people
and they said to the disciples, why does your master Eat with
folks like that. And the Lord knew their thoughts
and he turned to them and he said, the well don't need a doctor,
but they that are sick. Go learn what that means. I am
come not to call the righteous or those that think themselves
righteous or are thought to be righteous or claim to be righteous
or seek to be righteous. I am come to call sinners to
repentance. Christ justifies the ungodly. All right. Come ye centered,
poor and needy, weak and wounded by the fall. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Don't let conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need in him. If you're sick, call
the doctor. It doesn't matter how sick you
are. And if he's a good doctor, He's a good doctor. It won't
matter how sick you are. If the physician comes and knocks
on the door, and you go to the door, and he says, I'm the doctor,
and you say, well, now, my uncle is really bad off. Well, I better
not fool with him. I'm going to find me somebody
that ain't so bad off. Oh, no. The great physician,
where sin abounded, his grace much more abounded. The blacker
the sin, the more glory for the healing. The greater the sin,
the farther a sinner's fallen, the greater glory to him who
lifts him, right? He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. I wish we could understand that.
Religion seems to be moving in the wrong direction today. They're
going the wrong way. It's in the hands of the wrong
people. It's just like it was in the days of Christ, religions
in the hands of that old proud Pharisee sitting up there on
his uppermost seat in the synagogue and Christ is down here ministering
to the publican and harlot and the sinner and the guilty and
the folks at his feet. who wash his feet with their
tears of repentance, and dry them with the hair of their heads,
and anoint his feet with the oil of gladness. And some fella finds out he's
a sinner and he's ashamed to go to church, and all them good
people down there, well, let's get all these good people out
of here and get some sinners in here. The sooner we do that,
the better off we are. Folks just amaze me. They go
around cussing and swearing and a preacher walks up and the sugar
wouldn't melt in their mouth. Who are they trying to fool?
That preacher's got no power to save or power to damn or power
to do anything else. God looks on the hard. It's just wrong. It's all messed
up. I don't know who messed it up
or when it got messed up, but it's messed up. The Lord saves
sinners. The Lord welcomes sinners. The
Lord delights to show mercy. And the more we read our Bibles
this week, and the more we pray, and the more good deeds we do,
and the gooder we are all week, the more we feel close to God
on Sunday, you know. We've worked our way clear up
to the top. We're up here on the top of the
ladder. Lord, here I am. I've done a good job this week.
I feel real religious. You pat me on the head now, and
I say I've been a good boy, and reward me. And we get down in
the dumps, down in the valley, and we're filled with doubts
and fears and loneliness and sin and our imaginations are
so evil, and we feel like we're away from God. I think sometimes
when you feel the furthest from God, you're the closest to God.
And sometimes when you feel the closest to God, you're the furthest. Now you think about that. That's
so. I don't know how to explain that,
but that's so. I'm not, Barney said, not in the explaining business.
I'm in the preaching business. I just know when I get all decked
out in my self-righteous garments, you know, and feel like I'm all
fixed up to meet God, God ain't there. He's not there. He doesn't do business with fools.
But when I feel so guilty and shame and sinful and Shame to
myself. I just feel the sweetest presence
of his love. He puts his arm around me and
says, my son, my mercy is greater than all your sin. My grace is
sufficient. You work that out. I don't know
how to do it. But here's the question. How can a man, how can this man
be clean? I can try it with my words and
law and my works and my efforts and my piety and religious paraphernalia,
and I can't make it. But God, God can do it. God can
justify me. And God will justify the ungodly. Now the question is briefly,
how? Now there are two serious and
solemn things to be considered here, and this is why the how
comes. Two serious things. Listen to me. We're faced with
two things. How can a man be clean that's unclean? How can
a man be righteous that's unrighteous? How can a man be holy that's
unholy? That's the problem. Here's the second problem. How
can God be just and clear made? How can God be righteous and
pardon the unrighteous? How can God, sitting on a throne
of judgment and righteousness and holiness, set a criminal
free and not violate his attribute of holiness. That's what Job's
trying to handle. That's what he's trying to deal
with. How can man be justified with God? How can the guilty
be set free? How can the unclean be made clean?
How can the unholy be holy? How can the unrighteous be righteous?
And how can God, who said, I will in no wise or by no means clear
the guilty, how can he do it? Turn to Romans 3 and I'll show
you. I'll give you the answer to that, and you won't find the
answer in this pool, or in the elements of this table, or walking
down this aisle shaking my hand, or quitting your drinking and
cursing and carousing. I'll tell you where you'll find
the answer, Romans 3, if you want the answer. Look at verse
19, I'll give you this briefly. It's plain, you don't have to
Be deceived. Now we know, verse 19 of Romans
3, that what things are of the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that's every human being, is under God's law,
that every mouth may be stopped, shut our mouths, quit alibi and
excusing, bragging, filled with pride, and all the world may
become guilty before God. We're guilty. Let's settle that
issue. Secondly, therefore, since we're guilty, unclean, by the
deeds of the law, There shall no flesh be justified, made holy,
righteous, clean in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin, not the cleansing of it, not the atoning of it, but
the knowledge of it. But now, now here's the good
news, the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, without
the law, that is without my obedience to it, without my perfect obedience
or submission to it, because I can't make it. The law requires
perfection, and I can't produce it. But there is a righteousness
of God without the law that is revealed, that is manifested,
and it was witnessed by the prophets, by the law and the prophets,
by Moses and Jeremiah and Isaiah, and all those fellows talked
about this righteousness. It's not yours, it's God's. It's
God's righteousness. It's not your holiness, it's
His holiness. It's not your obedience, it's
His obedience. the righteousness of God, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe."
In other words, Christ came down here as a human being, in human
flesh, as my representative, and he did for me in the flesh
what I couldn't do. He met this law in every jot
and tell. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law, but to fulfill it. I didn't come to take the edge
off the law, to whittle it down, to make it smaller so you could
keep it. I came to fulfill it. And he was under the law of the
home, the nation, the moral law, the ceremonial law, the Jewish
law. He obeyed everything. He was circumcised eight days.
Why? To fulfill the Jewish ceremonial
law. He was born under that law. His
mother and father took him to the temple at certain times to
fulfill that law. And he fulfilled it and put it
away. He fulfilled the moral law. He
fulfilled the Ten Commandments. Our God said, this is my Son
in whom I am well pleased. By the disobedience of Adam,
I sinned. By the obedience of Christ, I
was made righteous. And God imputed or charged or
reckoned to me that which Christ did. Christ came down here and
took my place. They're just two atoms. The first
atom is of the earth, earthy, made of the dirt. The second
atom is the Lord from heaven. And we born the image of the
first atom, and in the first atom we sinned, we fell, we rebelled,
we died. God saw all men in Adam, as in
Adam we died. In Christ we're made alive. You
see that representation, imputation. God looked at Adam and saw the
whole human race. He looked at Christ, And so his
chosen race, all for whom Christ suffered, are made clean. There's no difference. Look at
verse 22, the last line. There's no difference. Jew or
Gentile, white or black, rich or poor, there's no difference.
All come the same way for all have sinned, and all come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely. Nothing to pay, nothing
to bring, nothing to give, nothing to do. by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Now, there's a redemption price.
Now, God's law says that I must obey it. Well, Christ did just
that, and I have a perfect standing. But wait a minute. God's justice,
God's justice says I've got to die. The soul that sinneth shall
die. God said, Adam, when you sin, you die. You die. And death comes as a result of
sin. God's justice demands death for
sin. Well, God can't kill me and give
me life at the same time, so he's going to have to send Christ
down to do that too. Christ not only obeyed the law
and gave me a holy righteousness, but Christ Jesus, under the sword
of God's justice, died. He died. You see that? He died
for our sins. He died in our stead and God's
justice was satisfied. And now God can be just and justify
me. God can be holy and accept me. God can be righteous and redeem
me because the price has been paid. The law has been honored
and justice has been satisfied. Now look at verse 25 and 26,
same chapter. Whom God has set forth, ordained,
to be a propitiation, that's a mercy seat, an atonement of
sacrifice through faith in his blood to declare God's righteousness
for the remission of sins of the past. You know whose sins
those are? Old Testament people. Old Testament people. You see,
they lived before Christ died. But through the forbearance of
God, through the long suffering of God, the blood of Christ atoned
for them too. You see, in the purpose of God,
he was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
all sins of all his people were future. But when Christ died
1900 years ago, he not only took our sins and our guilt and our
punishment, but also the sins of Abraham and Moses and David. Because, see, they looked to
Christ coming, we look back to Christ. And they showed their
faith in Christ by bringing the sacrifices. Those were types
of Christ. That blood on those Jewish altars
didn't put anybody's sins away. It says that. Sins are not forgiven
by animal blood. Animal blood cannot put away
human spiritual sin. But those sacrifices were pictures
and types and shadows pointing to Christ. And these men, just
like Abel, Cain brought us fruits and vegetables, things he had
made, his own works. Abel brought the blood. And Abel
showed his faith in God, faith in propitiation, faith in the
blood-shedding, faith in the sacrifice, faith in the atonement. Look at the next line, verse
26. To declare, Christ came to declare, I say, at this time
God's righteousness, that God might be just and justify. and the justifier of him which
believeth in Christ." You see, God can't just justify us who
believe in Christ without the sacrifice of Christ, without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission, no forgiveness.
Now then, here's the question. How can man be justified in God's
sight? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Just one way. And that's for a holy God in
his grace and mercy and love to send a substitute down here
to take my place. One who can satisfy and honor
the law for me. He was numbered with the transgressors.
One who can bear in his body my sins and satisfy God's justice. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. You see that? And with His holy
garments on, we are as spotless as God's own Son in God's sight. I have no sin. You have no sin
who believe in Christ. In God's sight, we're holy, unblameable,
unreprovable. And that's what counts. So don't go about this common
religion to impress anybody with your... Avoid the appearance
of evil and be kind and gracious as Christ has been to you. Walk
a life and a path of holiness and set a good example But this
thing of salvation and worship, that's doing business with God.
That's where I'm interested in doing business with God. I want
to be right in God's sight. I want people to like me and
love me, and I know you do. I want them to say, well, he's
a man that's honest and truthful. But that won't get him. I want
to be clean in God's sight.