Sermon #23                                                                                                                               Micah Series

      Title:                                 Wicked Balances

and Deceitful Weights

      Text:                                  Micah 6:11

      Subject:               God’s Justice in the Exercise of Grace

      Date:                                Tuesday Evening — March 20, 2012

      Tape:                                Micah #23

      Readings:           Allen Kibby and Rex Bartley

      Introduction:

“How can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean [that is] born of a woman?” (Job 25:4) — Find the answer to those two questions and you will understand the message of this Book. How can a holy, righteous, just, and true God forgive a guilty sinner, justify an ungodly man, make an unrighteous person righteous, and an unholy one holy? How can the Triune Jehovah be both “a just God and a Savior”?

I know this: — The Lord God himself says of himself in Exodus 34:6-7 that he is — “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation]” (Exodus 34:6-7).

Four Facts

Here are four facts revealed in the Word of God, facts that are stated with utter clarity, facts that cannot be gainsaid. Many try to deny them; but these four facts cannot be denied. Look at them with me in the Book of God.

1.    If you and I enter into heaven, we must be perfect, perfectly righteous, completely free from sin, perfectly holy. — We must “be perfect to be accepted” (Leviticus 22:21). — “The unclean shall not pass over” Zion’s Highway (Isaiah 35:8-10). — It is written, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27).

2.    The God of Glory cannot and will not simply pretend that a sinner is righteous and save him. — “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15).

(Exodus 23:7) “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.”

3.    God almighty cannot condemn a just man, slay a righteous man, or punish an innocent man. Holiness will not allow it. Justice will not permit it. — “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). — He will not “condemn the innocent blood” (Psalm 94:21). — The holy, just God will not “slay the righteous with the wicked” (Genesis 18:23-25). Abraham used that as his plea with God for Lot’s deliverance from Sodom.

4.    The only possible way for God to save sinners is if God himself, “the God of all grace,” finds a way in mercy and truth to make the sinner perfectly righteous and holy. — “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6).

Blessed be his holy name forever, God did find a way of mercy and truth to save our poor souls; and that way is the substitutionary, sin-atoning sacrifice of his own dear Son in our place at Calvary! — “Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). The Gospel of God is the revelation of his righteousness (Romans 3:21-31).

“21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace —— through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29 [Is he] the God of the Jews only? [is he] not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30 Seeing [it is] one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” (Romans 3:21-31)

Now, let’s look at our text — Micah 6:11. The title of my message is Wicked Balances and Deceitful Weights — Micah 6:11. —— Here, the Lord God asserts in unequivocal terms that he abhors all injustice. If he saves, he will be “a just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:21). If he damns, it will be upon the grounds of strict justice. He will never use a wicked balance or deceitful weights. He has named himself a God that will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7). — “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect [man], neither will he help the evil doers” (Job 8:20). — “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15).

Have you found my text? — Micah 6:11.

Proposition: Here the Lord God shows us his absolute, unbending justice in the exercise of his free, saving grace in Christ.

(Micah 6:11) “Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?”

Divisions: I want to show you from the Word of God that God never uses wicked balances and deceitful weights to make sinners pure by his grace.

1.    He did not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he punished his Son as our Substitute at Calvary.

2.    God does not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he makes sinners the righteousness of God in Christ.

3.    And he will not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he casts the wicked into hell at the last day.

Christ made Sin

First, I want you to see that the Lord God did not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he punished his Son as our Substitute at Calvary.

If we were to be redeemed Christ had to die in our stead. The Just must die for the unjust, the Righteous for the unrighteous, the Innocent for the guilty, the Holy for the unholy, the Sinless for the sinful. Because the Lord God is holy, just, and true, he could not and would not impute sin to his dear Son and punish him for our sins, except he make him to be sin for us who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). No court on earth can impute guilt where there is none, unless the court itself is corrupt and unjust. The court of heaven is neither corrupt nor unjust. In fact, as we read a few minutes ago, the Lord God specifically declares, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged” (Proverbs 16:6).

When the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree, he was made sin for us. When he was made sin for us, he became guilty as our Substitute, and our sins were imputed to him (Psalms 40:12; 69:5).

(Psalm 40:12) “For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.”

(Psalm 69:5) “O God, thou knowest my foolishness [guiltiness]; and my sins are not hid from thee.”

Then, the Lord God, the Triune Jehovah, cried, “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the Man that is my fellow: smite the shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7). When Christ died at Calvary, he died because he was found worthy of death. That is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture.

Water made Wine

Let me remind you of our Savior’s first miracle by which he began to manifest his glory as our Redeemer. You will find it in the 2^nd chapter of John’s Gospel (John 2:1-11).

Here we see the Lord Jesus performing his first miracle, turning water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. In performing this miracle, the Holy Spirit specifically tells us, in verse 11, that “Jesus manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.” —— I take those words to mean that our faith in Christ is created and sustained by the manifestation of his glory to us. Oh, may he be pleased to manifest forth his glory in this place again this hour, by the preaching of the Gospel, that we may believe on him!

(John 2:1-11) “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (2) And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. (3) And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. (4) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (5) His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (6) And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (7) Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (8) And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. (9) When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (10) And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (11) This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”

The water we are told (v. 9) was made wine . — Pictures of wine were not pasted on the water pots. The water was made wine. — The water was not made to look like wine. It was made wine. — The water was not made to taste like wine. It was made wine. — The water was not treated as though it were wine. It was made wine. But I am not here to talk to you about water or wine. I have come here to tell you how the God of all grace takes sinners like you and me and makes us saints, how God takes one who is altogether sinful, and nothing but sin, and makes him righteous by his grace.

We could never have obtained righteousness, we could never have been made the righteousness of God in Christ had not the Lord Jesus been made sin for us. Turn with me to 2^nd Corinthians 5:21.

I once heard a man say, with regard to Christ being made sin for us, “I see nothing mysterious about it. It is a legal matter.” I shook my head in disbelief. Is it possible for a person to see nothing mysterious, nothing wondrously mysterious about the Son of God being made sin for us?

The fact is the word translated “made” (— poieo poy-eh’-o) in 2^nd Corinthians 5:21 means precisely that — “mysteriously, wondrously made, made in a profoundly mysterious way that is beyond explanation.” Our Lord Jesus was wondrously, mysteriously, profoundly made, caused to be, sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

(2 Corinthians 5:17-21) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Traditionally, it is said that Christ was made sin by imputation. I have erroneously said that many, many times myself; but the Word of God never says that. There is never a place, not even one, in this Book where a legal or forensic term is used with reference to Christ being made sin. It is certainly true that our sins were imputed to our Savior. Had they not been imputed to him, he could never have suffered the wrath of God for our sins. But he was not made sin by imputation. — Our sins were justly imputed to him because he was made sin for us! Do you remember what I said to you about the water that was made wine? The same thing is true here.

·      The Book does not say our sins were pasted on him in a legal, ceremonial way. — The Book of God says, “He hath made him sin for us!”

·      The Book does not say he was treated as though he were sin. — The Book of God says, “He hath made him sin for us!”

·      The Book does not say he was accounted a transgressor. — The Book of God says, “He hath made him sin for us!”

·      And the Holy Spirit does not here say that he was made a sin-offering[1]. — The Book of God says, “He hath made him sin for us!”

Here he manifests forth his glory! The glory of the Triune Jehovah is manifest in the accomplishment of redemption in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Exodus 33 and 34                     Exodus 40

Isaiah 6                                                                           Ezekiel 1-11

Revelation 4-5

Our Savior had no sin of his own. He was born without original sin, being even from birth “that Holy One” (Luke 1:35). Throughout his life he “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), “and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). But on Calvary the holy Lord God “made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Just as in the incarnation “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), in substitution he who was made flesh “was made sin for us.”

·      I do not know how God could be made flesh and never cease to be God; but he was.

·      I do not know how God could die and yet never die; but he did (Acts 20:28).

·      And I do not know how Christ who knew no sin could be made sin and yet never have sinned; but he was.

These things are mysteries beyond the reach of human comprehension. But they are facts of Divine Revelation to which we bow with adoration. Hard as it is for many to realize, our God is “slightly” bigger than our puny brains! Mysteriously, profoundly, wondrously, in a way that defies explanation, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Darling of heaven, who knew no sin, did no sin, and could not sin, was made sin for us.

“Much we talk of Jesus’ blood,

But how little understood

Of His sufferings, so intense,

Angels have no perfect sense.

See the suffering Son of God,

Panting, groaning, sweating blood!

Boundless depths of love divine!

Jesus, what a love was Thine!

Though the wonders Thou hast done,

Are as yet so little known,

Here we fix and comfort take,

Jesus died for sinners’ sake.”

—Joseph Hart

This is the good wine of the Gospel. Truly, it makes glad the heart! When Christ was made sin for us, it was he and he alone who trod the wine-press of his Father’s wrath as our Substitute, when the Lord God bruised him and put him to grief. This is the wine that cheers both God and men.

·      When God’s justice took the full draught of it for the sins of the redeemed, the Lord God declared himself well pleased.

·      And when the poor sinner, by sovereign grace, is first made to drink of the blood of the Lamb, he feels constrained to cry…

“Hallelujah! I have found Him

Whom my soul so long has craved!

Jesus satisfies my longings,

Through His blood I now am saved.”

When our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made sin for us…

·      He was forsaken of God.

·      All the fury of God’s holy wrath and justice was poured out and spent, completely exhausted upon him at once!

·      He was slain.

·      Justice was satisfied.

·      Our sins were put away!

Now, by the grace of God, upon the grounds of justice completely satisfied, upon the grounds of sin put away by the blood of Christ, every sinner who believes on the Son of God is “made the righteousness of God in him!”

“My faith would lay her hand

On that dear head of Thine,

While like a penitent I stand,

And there confess my sin.”

                                                                                                                                                Isaac Watts

Justice could not punish an innocent man. Therefore Christ Jesus was made to be sin, that sin might be imputed to him, that he might be justly punished for our transgressions. By the just balance and honest weights of the court of heaven, the Son of God was justly executed upon Calvary’s cursed tree as the sinner’s Substitute. — Wondrous mercy! — Amazing grace! — Incomprehensible love!

To say, as many do, that God treated Christ as though he were a sinner, that he punished Christ for sin though he was not made sin, that he imputed guilt to his Son, though his Son was never made guilty, is to declare that the God of heaven “counts [us] pure with the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful weights.”

Sinners made Meet

Second, God does not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he makes sinners the righteousness of God in Christ.

Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was so completely made to be sin for us that he fully deserved to die under the furious wrath of the holy Lord God, so all God’s elect, all for whom Christ was made sin, all for whom he died at Calvary are made the very righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our great and righteous God accepts his elect, embraces us, and assures us of everlasting blessedness in heaven righteously and justly.

As all human beings were made sinners by Adam’s disobedience, so all God’s elect were made righteous before God by Christ’s obedience unto death (Romans 4:25-5:2).

(Romans 4:25) “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

(Romans 5:1-2) “Therefore being justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

God does not count us pure with a wicked balance and a bag of deceitful weights. He does not bend his law and compromise his justice to save his chosen. Rather, by the wondrous works of his grace in Christ, he makes his chosen righteous. By the obedience of his Son as our Representative we have fulfilled all righteousness. By the sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Substitute, justice has been satisfied for us, for we were crucified with him (Romans 5:19; Galatians 2:20).

In the new birth God the Holy Spirit makes every chosen, redeemed sinner a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have been made “partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Peter 14). That new man created in us is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), “created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That new man is not going to be righteous and worthy of heaven some day. He is right now born of God and “cannot sin because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9).

Because we have been made righteous by redemption and regeneration, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12). If I am in Christ and Christ is in me, I am really and truly righteous, so perfectly righteous in him that I am worthy of God’s approval, worthy of heavenly glory, worthy of eternal life! Yes, we who live in hope of eternal life have a good hope through grace, a confident “assurance of hope,” because we are worthy of heaven in our Savior!

“With His spotless garments on,

I am as holy as God’s Son!”

1 Corinthians 1:30

Now, look at 1 Corinthians 1:30 and see what the Lord God has made Christ to be to us and has made us in Christ in the sweet and blessed experience of his grace.

(1 Corinthians 1:26-29) “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (29) That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

(1 Corinthians 1:30-31) “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

Paul is talking about things we experience in Christ. He is talking about every believer’s blessed experience of grace. All true believers, all who are born again by the Spirit of God, are in Christ, vitally united to him by a living union of faith. As the branches are in the vine, drawing life from and are entirely dependent upon the vine, we are in Christ Jesus. We are in Christ, not by an act of our own free-will, but by the work of God’s free, sovereign, almighty grace. Meditate often, children of God, upon this glorious fact. —— What does it mean to be in Christ?

To be in Christ is to be blessed of God (Ephesians 1:3-6). In the everlasting covenant of grace, God blessed all his people with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the world began. All with which God can or will bless man, he has freely bestowed upon chosen sinners in Christ from eternity, in infinite fulness, and without measure. All who are in Christ have been blessed of God eternally with all spiritual blessings according to God’s electing love. In Christ, we are chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and accepted of God! —— But we knew nothing of this great blessedness until we came to be in Christ experimentally by God’s gift of faith, uniting us to our Savior.

To be in Christ is to be favored of God, the object of God’s favor and pleasure. With whom is God well pleased? Only Christ (Matthew 17:5). If we are in Christ and one with Christ, God is well pleased with us for Christ’s sake. He cannot be displeased with the body if he is well pleased with our Head. As the smile of the Father is on his Son unceasingly and justly, so it is upon us in him!

To be in Christ is to be complete (Colossians 2:10). In Christ Jesus we are complete, full, lacking nothing, perfect. He is all our Wisdom, all our Righteousness, all our Sanctification, and all our Redemption. All that God requires of us all who believe on the Son of God have in perfect fulness in him. Being complete in him, there is no lack, no need, and no room. The only way we can put anything else in is to push him out!

To be in Christ is to be free, freed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13); freed from the yoke of the law (Romans 10:4), and freed from all possibility of condemnation by the law (Romans 8:1). It is no more possible for a believer to be condemned by God than it is for Christ to be condemned again, for we are in him. Because we are in him, because God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us and will not impute sin to us (Romans 4:8) we can never be condemned. If the Lord God will not impute sin to us, he can never, for any reason, condemn us for sin. We are in Christ!

I repeat, when Paul tells us that Christ is made of God to us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption, he is telling us what transpires in the experience of grace, when we believe of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now hear me well — Our experience of grace does not make Christ our Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption; and our faith in Christ does not make him our Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. — But you will never know that Christ is your Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption until you trust him, until you believe on the Son of God.

That is what the Holy Spirit tells us, when he describes Abraham’s faith as an illustration of saving faith. When Abraham believed the record of God concerning his Son, the Lord Jesus, it was imputed to him (conscientiously) for righteousness (Romans 3:24-26; 4:3-11; 6:11). — Make a mental note: When you run across the words “reckon,” “account,” “counted,” “charge,” “conclude” and “impute” in the Scriptures, all those words are different translations of the same word ( — logizomai — log-id’-zom-ahee).

As our Lord Jesus was “numbered” with transgressors when he experienced being made sin for us, we are numbered with him when we experience being made the righteousness of God in him.

(Romans 3:24-26) “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

(Romans 4:3-11) “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. (4) Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (6) Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (7) Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (9) Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. (10) How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. (11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.”

(Romans 6:11) “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It is in this experience of grace, as the sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that all that Christ is is imputed to him consciously.

“The moment a sinner believes

And trusts in his crucified God,

His pardon at once he receives,

Redemption in full through His blood:

The faith that unites to the Lamb,

And brings such salvation as this,

Is more than a notion or name: —

The work of God’s Spirit it is:

A principle, active and young,

That lives under pressure and load;

That makes out of weakness more strong

And draws the soul upward to God.

It treads on the world and on hell;

It vanquishes death and despair;

And what is still stranger to tell, —

It overcomes heaven by prayer,

Permits a vile worm of the dust

With God to commune as a friend,

To hope His forgiveness as just,

And look for His love to the end!

It says to the mountains, Depart,

That stand betwixt God and the soul;

It binds up the broken in heart,

And makes wounded consciences whole;

Bids sins of a crimson-like dye

Be spotless as snow, and as white,

And makes such a sinner as I

As pure as an angel of light!”

Joseph Hart — (1712-1768)

To say, as many do, that God treats sinners as though they were righteous, but does not actually make sinners righteous by his grace, is to declare that the God of heaven “counts them pure with the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful weights.”

Everlasting Damnation

Third, the Lord God will not use wicked balances and deceitful weights when he casts the wicked into hell at the last day. — It is written, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). — “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20).

Be assured, O poor sinner, be assured, the Lord God will not count you pure with wicked balances and deceitful weights! He will judge you in the last day according to the record of heaven. You shall receive wages according to your works, when you stand before the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Everlasting hell will be your just portion forever!

(Revelation 20:11-15) “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Flee away to Christ! Trust the Son of God. He is the only refuge for your soul. — “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!” Trust Christ, and the righteousness of God is yours forever. He has made you the very righteousness of God, just as he was made sin for you! God will, with the true balance of his strict justice and the honest weights of his holy law, count you pure in that great day!

Amen.

Don Fortner

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