Happy birthday to Mr. Jesse Salute, who's the teenager of all legends. Happy birthday to you. Thank you.

A member of the Grant family, Carol Matthews, stage four colon cancer. That's a bad shape. So a member of William and Mary. And also Tyler's uncle, Jeff Armatich, is in clinical care. Intensive care. Intensive care. I see you. I see you.

And they're trying to get rain on us. What do you call it? Assisted living. Assisted living rather than sick. I was hoping to go back to the hospital, but it's not happening. Continue to remember rain and prayers.

She's taking a break from school because of the concussion. All people who have concussions can get jobs at the casino, so she got a job. You're making 21 bucks an hour, so if you need somebody to borrow money from. Right now, he left this week. I got that determined about this week. Oh, yeah, that's right. He's playing in that Mark Monsters pool time. Maybe tell me if something's wrong. Yeah, it's awesome to be on the live stream.

My baby sister about bled to death Saturday. They gave her a couple of blood transfusions and sent her home. But we don't know. Is it terminal bleeding? Her liver turned cirrhosis. She had a fatty liver, never drunk a drink or anything. So the sericea, the little one, caused small vessels into the stomach, ruptured, and she just about drained out. Is she okay? No. She got sick. She's been in a fight in Parkinson's, or I think that's what it was, for a year or so. She lost her job at the casino, but she didn't work. And when she lost her job, she lost her insurance. And so they wanted to get her out of the hospital as quick as possible. Sure. What's her name? Theresa. Theresa? Theresa. Okay. Remember her prayers also.

She's been able to help these folks. Randy's sleeping better. The nurses were able to calm him down, but his situation hadn't changed as far as he's on the last legs. He's got a tremendous will and character, and he's an awful frenetic fellow. He'll die when it's time. We know that. The Lord has appointed his days. He cannot pass that. Until then, he'll probably find a tooth and nail. That's the kind of character he is. So remember these folks in your prayer.

We'll begin our worship service with the song of grace. Heaven knows him number 10. I will arise. of these sinners poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus brings thanks to Oh, I'll give You love and bow I'll be thirsty, come and welcome God's three bows He'll glorify To believe and to repent of every grace that we do now! Come ye weary, weary laden! And by the fall, if you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Let not conscience make you linger, The fitness we fondly dream, All the fitness we require, If you feel your need are here. Such we are by God's election, Through Him, Jesus Christ, we're lead! By eternal destination, solemn grace we now receive! I will arise and go to Jesus He will embrace me in His arms In the arms of my dear Savior Oh, there are two paths

After scripture reading and prayer, we'll sing the number 272. Have your bowels filled with the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, chapter 22. He said, seal not the sayings of the prophet, these beautiful times at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, most gracious Lord, merciful Lord, kind-hearted and tender-hearted toward your children, remembering the Father that they are and does. Help us, Lord, to always find in your Word what we really are and who we owe it all to for our salvation. Help us, Lord, to look to Christ in everything.

We pray for those who are sick. These new ones have been added to the prayer list. We ask, Lord, in each case that you might be pleased to comfort and strengthen those. We pray you would heal them and bring them back to a good measure of health. That thou knowest every case, your will be done.

Help us this day as we gather here to hear the word of God to worship you, to sing praises unto your name from a heart of thanksgiving. For we know that you have done everything that you have required of us that we could not do, and accomplished our salvation and our redemption. That you, by your grace and by your mercy, have made your son to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We stand before you accepted, not because of anything we did, but because of the glorious, wonderful work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Help us to remember this day and every day. The cross of Jesus Christ has satisfied your justice honored your law and redeemed us by paying our sin debt.

We thank you, Father. Wish we could do it with all our heart, but we know we're still sinners. We know that everything we do, no matter what degree it is, whether it's with good intentions or even if it's a good thing, that it's still yet taken with us, with our sin, We know this principle dwells in us, this principle of sin. When we would do good, evil is present with us. Help us to rely wholly and completely upon Jesus Christ, for really, we have nothing to offer him. But he has finished it, and we thank you for it.

Help us now to worship you, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

And number 272, Hope is built on lovingness and Jesus' love and righteousness. I know you dare not trust the sweetest praise, but I wholly lean on Jesus' name. Christ the solid rock, like sand on all other ground is sinking sand... on other ground is sinking sand... Darkness bears its lovely face... I rest on His unchanging grace...

? Every high and stormy hill ?
? I ain't a rose with him availed ?
? All right, so solid rock I stand ?
? All other ground is a single stand ?
? All other ground is a single stand ?
? He took his covenant ?
support me in the coming flood clean all around my smokeless way be these all I hope and say on Christ a solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking He shall come with trumpets sound, O may I live in Him be found, Gracious in His righteousness alone, Onwards to stand before the throne!

On Christ the solid rock that stands, Let us pray. Father, again we approach in the name of Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift that you have given to all your children. And we know that all we have, we have in him that is eternal, of value worthwhile and everlasting. Help us now to appreciate what you've done for us. Return them to do that which you've given us for the preaching of the gospel here and other places. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

? ? ? ?

so so so your attention back to Revelation chapter 22. Scott Richardson used to have a favorite saying after he finished preaching, after he made a particular point, he would raise his hand and say, that's all they are to it. That's kind of what this verse says here in Scripture. The Lord says concerning those that perish and those that live eternally in the presence of Jesus Christ, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. That's not going to change. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still.

The Lord is speaking of things, some things that never change once time ends. That's what he's talking about. The time is at hand. This is the end of time. Time was given to humanity so we'd be able to understand some things, set some schedules and such, so we'd know when to go to sleep at night and when to wake up in the morning. Time is a tool. It is not eternity. It is a little section of eternity. It had a beginning and it will have an end. And at the end of time, when time is no more, whoever is unjust will remain so. Whoever is filthy will remain so. Whoever is righteous will remain so, and whoever is holy will remain so.

But it seems when it comes to the concept of the end of time and death, and especially what follows death, I believe that's what people fear. People don't really fear death. It's that unknown that waits on the other side of death. For men intrinsically know that there's going to be a reckoning and an accounting when life is done.

I've been by many dying men and women, held their hands as they drew their last breath, wept with them, prayed with them. And I've never heard one say, I wish I'd have had a better car. I wish I had a bigger house. I've never heard anybody say, I wish I had more money. Because dying people, that's why we should rehearse our death every day. Dying people know how to live. Only, in fact, it's a little too late to learn. But dying people draw everything down to those things that are important.

But nowadays especially, people have been inundated with the preaching of the lie that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and they feel comfortable in that. They find it easy to speak of the departed in terms of eternal bliss, no matter how they lived or what they believed in this world. Listen to people. Listen to people. Listened to him talking and then all of a sudden a loved one dies. That person could have been a total profligate. Could have died in a sewer dead and drunk. Could have died in a whorehouse in the arms of a harlot. But he'll be up there watching over us, they say. Nobody tells people he'll be down there and call from hell for us not to come to this place as the man in hell called to Abraham.

This book reveals that many will not be going to heaven, and that many will not be there, but rather will be cast into a lake of fire. We saw that in our last message, Revelation 21, 17, death and hell, and all those judged out of the books will be cast into a lake of fire. I know, because this applies to me also, that people want their loved ones to be at peace after they die. We want that. Everyone does. Generally speaking, the human character is a hopeful character. We tend to hold on to hope with great tenacity. On a natural level, this is not an uncommon trait. I'd rather be around hopeful people than around those who live under a dark cloud of dismay and anguish dissatisfaction all their lives, I'd rather rear-bound people got some hope in their life.

More often than not, natural hope is more of a coping mechanism. Falls more into the category of wishful thinking. A true hope, a spiritual hope, is a grounded hope. A grounded hope, one that is based on God-given faith and revelation. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for. The substance of things not seen. Spiritual hope has nothing to do with wishful thinking. Spiritual hope is confidence and assurance in one place. And that's in Jesus Christ.

My assurance is not anything I do or don't do. I never look at myself for assurance because I really am. I'm always disappointed when I do. But I'm never disappointed when I look at Him who absolutely accomplished my salvation by His blood in His bed. My assurance sits at the right hand of the Father, exalted on high.

The believer knows what God says, and what God says is absolute and so, and however God says a thing, that's the way it is. Some put great stock in deathbed confessions or professions, holding that a person, even if he is a prophet and all his life, has a chance at his dying moment of making things right with God. I pray for everyone who's dying, that they might, that God might, in His grace, in their last moments of life, if they know not Him, that they might come in the labor force in the eleventh hour rather than the first hour and be paid the same price according to the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that prayer. But that doesn't mean it happens.

Death-death confessions sometimes do take place. But it's nothing about people having a chance at salvation. Salvation is not by chance. According to scripture, it's on purpose. It's on purpose. And secondly, men have no capability of making things right with God. Religion, generally speaking, has opted for the idea of extreme unction, what they call it, when they call it a priest or a preacher, to the bed of the dying, to pray for the dying, in hope that men of the cloth may carry some weight in the matters of eternity.

I can also not tell you how many times I've sat going and been called into the house of a dying or the bedside of a dying person that people think I'm going to have some influence. I usually tell them I can't do him no good. I could have done him any good when he wasn't dying. I can't do him any good now that he's dying. His only hope is the Lord Jesus Christ has done something for him. That's the only hope. The only hope.

Those who hold deathbed confessions or extreme unction generally employs the The story of the thief on the cross is an example of one who in the throes of demise calls out for mercy and was heard, and that very day was in Christ, with Christ in paradise. And we as a believer should never be guilty of discounting the possibility. We should never take some kind of sinister pleasure and trounce it on someone else's hope, or it may be unfounded. There is this account of the thief in Scripture. But remember, it's the only account of a man making a deathbed confession. And his confession was nothing to do with him saying, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord said, thou shalt be this day with me in paradise. There's only one account.

What does that make me to understand? If there is one, if there is one, Men ought not despair. But if there's only one, men should not presume that when the time comes that's what happened for him.

Our text is a clear statement that there is no alteration of the eternal state. When time is done, it's over. There comes a day when the prophecy is sealed. when all possibility of change is gone forever. And from that moment and for all eternity, what is will always be. There is no limbo, no purgatory, where money and prayers and good deeds can purchase a pardon for the eternal damned. The prophecy is sealed and no change will ever be forthcoming.

The wise author of Ecclesiastes said, when a tree falls in the wood, that's where it lays. That's where it lays. Whatever your standing before God is when you die, it will be the exact same standing forever. Forever.

Our symbol of Lady Justice is a woman with scales in her hand and a blindfold over her eyes. We call our system of laws blind justice in our natural realm. And we know that this is a desire and an ideal more than a reality. Justice in our world is contingent upon one's financial state. Mitigating circumstances often govern the application of it. In our world, though, we would like to think differently. The poor do not get the same justice as those who can afford a brilliant legal representation or find a crooked judge.

In the court of God, however, things are different. At the heavenly bar of justice, there is true and unflinching blind justice. At that bar, no legal chicanery or extenuating circumstances will be allowed in evidence, and there is no possibility of appeal. This is the verdict, plain and simple. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. Their justice will be fast, it will be fair, and it will be forever. The guilty are punished and the innocent are vindicated.

The angel that speaks here in this particular vision is not the angel of mercy. but is rather the angel of intractable, exacting justice. This angel of justice speaks of men and women in four ways. Very simply, very plainly. We don't have to get out a theological dictionary. We don't have to call a preacher. All we got to do is read and understand some very plain words Each of these four categories is a state of being. That means what they are, they are. And that's not going to change.

Justice before God is not about what you did or did not do. It is not about intentions, whether good or bad. It is not about what you want or do not want. Justice addresses what you are. Justice does not address sins. It addresses sin. It does not address corrupt actions. It addresses corruption. It does not address righteous actions or holy deed. It addresses righteousness and holiness. Those things are a state of being. It's not about doing something. It's about being something.

justice speaks and the first words are utter are he that is unjust let him be unjust still the unjust will stand as such and that they will be forever the unjust are who they are the unjustified That means Christ has not justified them. His blood was not shed for them. His grace was not bestowed upon them. They are not justified. Remember, one cannot be condemned if God is justified. No charge can be elected against, no charge can be charged against him if God has justified him, if Christ has died for him.

To be justified before God, that's a legal term. That's a legal term. It means that according to law and justice, there is no place anywhere in your existence that God accounts you as a sinner. We know we are. We feel it in our bones. We know it in our struggle in our life. It goes on in our hearts and minds. But God, because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I will remember their sins no more. Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies it. It means you have a clean record before God if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ. A clean record. There is no record. Justified means just as if I never sinned.

But if you're unjust, it means nothing has been done for you in that category. If you are without Christ when the day comes, you will remain so forever. You're unjust and therefore rightly condemned to the eternal place fitting your state, fitting what you are. You cannot defend yourself nor you'll be accounted that privilege. Unjust is what you are and what you shall be.

In the parable, of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke chapter 18. The Pharisee went on to say what a great fellow he was. He prayed thus with himself, that I'm not like the other men. I tithe twice a week. I do this and I do that. He said, I'm not like the other men. I'm a good man. And then the Publican wouldn't even lift his eyes. He smote upon his breast and cried, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. And our Lord finished that little scenario, that parable with these words. The publican went down to his house justified, rather than the other. That's how that Pharisee who lauded and applauded his own self, he ended up being the other. And he was not justified. He was not justified.

The state of being Referred to as unjust means that you will be justly condemned in yourself for what you are. No one will stand for you or with you. There will be no advocate to plead your cause. You are unjust and that's all there is to it. Scripture declares that over and over again. You are justly condemned for what you are. You are a sinner by birth. We hold sin in Adam. All have sinned. After the similitude of Adam's transgression, all have sinned. You have transgressed every law of God. You have rejected the gospel that has been preached throughout all the earth. You have turned your back on the day of grace. Why have you done so? You have done so because of what you are.

We are born into this world, born into this world, speaking lines as soon as we come forth from the womb. We are born in this world with a heart that considers God our enemy. The carmine is enmity against God is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. We come into this world impotent, powerless. We are all servants forever of someone, something. Sin has reigned over us. That means we're a servant of sin. He who committed sin is a servant of sin, Christ said. Satan, the prince of the power of the air, rules us. Everyone that don't know Christ is demon possessed. He said to the most religious men that ever walked upon the face of the earth, the men that believed in Jehovah God, the men that talked about Elohim, the men that knew about creation, the men that wrote the book, that read the books that were written, inspired from Genesis to Malachi, he said to you fellas, your father, your sire, the one that birthed you is the devil. He didn't say that to the drunk and the harlot. They were hanging around and he was blessing their spore old souls. But to the most religious, he said, your father is the devil. He's the father of lies and he's a murderer and you're just like him. You're just like him.

Demon possession is not some Hollywood craziness. Demon possession, it boils down to simply this. Unbelief. Unbelief. The cause you are what you are. If God doesn't do something for you in your career toward hell, this will be said of you. You're unjust. And let him that's been just be unjust still. And he says, he that is filthy, let him be filthy still.

No one likes to think of themselves as filthy. People would rather think of themselves as unjustified rather than think of themselves as filthy. The word declares an unkemptness. The word intimates a foul stench. And all this is true of the filthy ones according to Psalm 14, God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men and saw that they were altogether become Stinky. Filthy. Stinky. We stink. I don't like to be around people that stink. That's why I occasionally bathe.

You have lived in your filth and you will die and remain in your filth. You are called a maggot on a dunghill. You say, well, that must stink. Not if you've lived there a long time. It just smells like home. You know, it's true. One time, when I ran the butcher shop, we painted the interior of the butcher shop, and we used an oil-based paint. We didn't use fans to clear it out, and I got all goofy. You know, most of us did. Bleeding the fumes. But I smelled that paint. for days. Like I was right in that room. Why? Because I'd been there so long. Painting the walls. You don't want a maggot here long enough, a dung here long enough. You're gonna smell like dung, but you ain't gonna smell it. You just smell like home.

You're filthy, he said. Let him that's filthy be filthy still. Your best deeds are filth. Your best deeds Isaiah the prophet, who saw the Lord high and lifted up, saw himself as an unclean man, full of leprosy, said this about his righteousnesses. He said, all our righteousnesses, Isaiah 64, 4, are filthy rags. Ladies will pardon me, that word is minstreless rags. Which means two things. One, if a woman goes through menses, it means there's no life in that womb. Because if there's a life in the womb, her menses would stop and she'd be feeding a baby. It also means you're condemned and cursed, because when a woman was in menses under the law, she had to be put outside the camp. Anything she touched had to be cleaned of her. And there had to be an atonement made before she could come back in the camp.

This is our righteousnesses. Our righteousnesses are condemned. And there's no life in them. And there's no hope outside of the tunnel being made for us. For our righteousnesses, not our bad things, our righteousnesses, our consciences are filthy. They're seared with a hot iron. They're cauterized. You're accounted in Scripture as a pig returning to its wallow, as a dog consuming its own vomit in 1 Peter. You may have salt to bathe in the fountain of religious works and free will, and though you wash your hands in snow water and they be never so white, Scripture says God plunges you

No one can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one. God doesn't bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing. He makes a whole new creature. Because what you're born with and what you are ain't fit for nothing. A new creature must come. God must be the creator. Death will not change you. Death will not remove your filth. Our eternity will only exacerbate your filth and your lust. You will cry like the man in Luke 16. Oh, for a drink of water, a drop of water to put on my thirsty tongue. Go tell my brethren not to come to this horrible, horrible place. He cried. And Abraham said, we have Moses. He warned about these things. He said, Nay, but O Lord, if somebody rose from the dead, they'd listen to him. He said, No, they won't listen even if somebody rose from the dead, which is proved daily in the preaching of the gospel. These are the words. But there's some good words here too, some happy words, some joyous words.

He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And we already learned that all our righteousness are filled with records. Must be talking about another righteousness. Must be talking about somebody else's righteousness. Some righteousness that's been accounted for us, though we didn't actually perform it.

The Declaration does not concern what you have done or what you have not done. There is not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not, saith the Scripture. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that doeth good. There is none that seeketh after God. There is none that understandeth. We've all gone away from God.

Righteousness is a state of being. It's not righteous, it's righteousness. It's a state of being. It's not personal righteousness, because if you know anything about yourself, you don't have any of that to start with. It is imputed righteousness. Righteousness charged to our account. How does that happen? How can I stand as poor old filthy sinner Tim James, how can I stand before a thrice holy God and be accepted in his presence? I must be righteous. I must be righteousness. Must be that essential thing. I have to stand before God. How can I do that? Somebody's got to stand for me. Somebody who stood in my place and room 2,000 years ago on Calvary's tree. I must be in him. And he in me.

But the Lord said that's how it was. Paul said, after saying that there's nothing in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now who did God call into His kingdom? The finest and the best? The smartest and the wisest? The most holy? Who did God call into His kingdom? It says in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26, when you see your calling brethren Now in the first chapter it calls them saints. See you're calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh. So God didn't call many wise men. Not many mighty. He didn't call no strong men. Not many noble, those of a high societal standing. He didn't call many of them. They aren't called.

What has God chosen for this? To show the glory of His grace. God has chosen the foolish things, the stupid things of the world. Why'd He do that? To confound the wise, to confuse the wise people. Wise people will look at whom God's chosen. He chose that nobody, that nothing, that vile and filthy creature. He chose that. The wise men say, I don't understand. I don't understand. Only grace can understand that. Because grace is unmerited favor. God's showing favor to someone who can never deserve it. Can never deserve it.

And he shows the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. The strong man looks at the weaklings that God has chosen. He says, how in the world, why in the world did he do that? For the glory of his grace. And the base things, the common things. I think it was Abraham Lincoln said the Lord made many common people, but don't call them that. Nobody wants to be called common. The base things of the world are things that are despised, things that are hated. That's who God has chosen. Yea, and things which are not, nothings, to bring to naught things that are, to bring to nothing things that are. Why? So no flesh. to glory in His presence. But, oh I'm thankful for that three little three letter conjunction found so many times, but God, but God, but of God, of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is all that does. What's my righteousness? It's Jesus Christ. Amen. My righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are righteous because God, Christ is your righteousness.

Jeremiah 23 says, By the name by which he shall be called is the Lord our righteousness. And then in Jeremiah 33, 19, it says, in the name by which she, the church, shall be called, is the Lord our righteousness. This is not personal merit. It is a state of being righteous before a holy God. Paul said, I don't frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by the law, Christ was dead and vain. If you think righteousness comes by your works, you make Christ an empty thing. He is dead.

Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says, In Christ dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What does that mean? Jesus Christ is God. He's the God we know. He's the God we can speak to. He's the God that hears us. He is, according to Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All of those things dwells in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, or in His body. And then it says, and you, believers, are complete in Him. Complete in Him. If you are in Christ, you are righteous.

your righteousness, and if this is how you die, then you will remain so forever. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. Justice demands that the righteous receive the reward of righteous. What is the reward? Let him be righteous still, ever in Christ. He is our only righteousness. Then he says, he that is holy, let him be holy still. If you stand before this bar in the state of holiness, you will be in that state for all eternity. To be holy is to be sanctified. That word sanctification and holiness is the same word. There are several meanings applied to that.

Sanctify means to set apart. So if you're holy before God, you're set apart for God. You're God's. You belong to Him. You're bought with a price. You're not your own. Sanctified means to regard as holy. That means when God looks at His children, He says, there's a holy vessel. One of my holy vessels set apart for my use and my glory. It also means to actually account as holy. and say they're really holy. They're really holy.

Now, when I was growing up, holy men are a whole different thing. A lady lived across the way, I used to play ball with her son. He was in a holy man's church. She always wore black. Black bonnet, black dress, black hose, and black shoes. Always wore black. She thought that was holy. She did. That was that church she went to. That's what they thought was holy. All the women wore the same kind of dress. Now the men, they wore flashy clothes. I've said this before. The men looked like used car salesmen. The women looked like used cars. But that was holy. It was holy.

If you didn't drink. I can remember when I was in the Baptist church many years ago, preachers say, don't drink. which lips that touch mine, the wine will never touch mine. Don't drink a beer. If you drink one beer, you're one-tenth drunk, they would say. It takes 10 beers to make you drunk. Don't smoke them cigarettes. I turned back and said, that's some bad stuff. Don't you, don't smoke, don't go to the movie show. We had this thing when we was a kid called mixed bathing. And what that meant was you don't go to the swimming pool with girls. They call it bathing. When I first heard it, I thought, no, ain't no woman getting in my bathtub. Mixed bathing, that was a sin. If you didn't go to the Reynolds Park swimming pool and swim with women, you was holy. The way you dressed, the way you combed your hair, the way you cut your hair, the way you cut your hair, these things made you holy. That's Oscar Mara Bologna. Ain't no truth in it at all.

Holiness is sanctification. To be sanctified by God, set apart by God, regarded as holy, accounted as holy for His use. And what is our sanctification? The same thing as our righteousness we just read. He has made Him to be in us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He that is holy, let him be holy still. What is it to be holy? It ain't about your life. It ain't about your life. It's about Christ. It's about Christ.

Is there a difference between righteousness and holiness? Yes, righteousness is a legal standing. a state of guiltlessness before the law of God. The law alone can declare you righteous, and that only because the law has been satisfied concerning your guilt, because in Christ the just penalty for your guilt has already been paid. Holiness is a personal standing, personal standing before God. It is not personally attained, but it is a personal standing. It speaks to likeness and fellowship. and oneness with God. The Lord said, be ye holy. Be ye holy, for I am holy.

Now some people will say, well your sanctification is progressive. You get more holy. Does God get more holy? Of course not. Be ye holy, because that's what I am. I'm holy. If He don't get holier, I can't either. I'm as holy as God himself or I'm in trouble. With Christ's holy garment on, the poet said, with Christ's holy garment on, I'm as holy as God's dear son.

Christ, our sanctification, our holiness affords us the privilege of a familial relationship with God Almighty, access into the grace wherein we stand. We cry, Abba, Father, Papa, Papa. I have a Father. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. The blood of Christ gives us the joy and fellowship of the Father and the Son.

Here's the truth. How you die is how you'll live forever. Even if it's unjust, let it be unjust still. Even if it's filthy, let it be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still.

Father, bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.