SPEAKER_00 1:14

I had a particular passage on my mind of late. I'm going to turn to it again. I tried to speak on this even just last week at over at Houston Primitive, and I I will pray that the Lord is still in this matter, uh, since it is what's on my mind. But if not, we'll pray the Lord gives wisdom to move on or to step down. In Luke chapter 10, there's an account here of um it incorporates something we're very familiar with, I trust we're familiar with, and that is the uh the good Samaritan. We've if you've ever heard that phrase before, uh that is that is a phrase that if you had used that phrase in the day of time of Christ, that would have been fighting words among the Jewish nation. Because they did not consider the Samaritans good at all. In fact, they were they were considered a their mere existence was an affront to Israel because they they were near cousins as far as lineage goes, uh that but they were Jews by up to a point. They were Israelites up to a point, but uh they were separate, a separate people. Uh and uh there's some history in that, and I don't want to get into all that history because my focus is not on the Samaritan himself, the Samaritan nation, but to use the phrase good Samaritan would be a contradiction in terms in the mind and in the thought of the Jewish nation at this time. And so I want us to think about that as we move forward in this. But it starts, the scene starts with a particular lawyer. In fact, it says a certain lawyer. And I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and go on record here. I believe when the scripture says that something was a certain lawyer, a certain man, a certain this or that, that there's someone that's in mind. In other words, I don't think it's talking about just a generic person. In other words, we could have said, well, any old lawyer. This is there's a lawyer that said this. This wasn't made up, and this isn't a made-up account. Neither, by the way, do I believe the account of the good Samaritan is a made-up account. Because there are two certain people that's also indicated in that. But here is a certain lawyer. Take that for what it's worth, and it may be worth knowing. But a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him. This is chapter 10, verse 25. Now, there are this has happened to the Lord several times in various occasions. There's another account very much like this, but it's not the same circumstances, it's a different account, in which there was a rich young ruler who came to the Lord asking a very similar question. Now, I believe if we look at the context of those two cases, not only are the is the person very different, but the circumstances are also different as to why they even asked. And we can see from the dialogue there were two very different conclusions that arose that came from those two accounts. In the manner, and we'll just briefly touch on the rich young ruler. Uh, when the rich young ruler asks, good master, and the Lord asks, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. The the Lord's the the rich young ruler asks, What must I do to have eternal life? And there's a very similar discussion there, and the Lord points out that you know, keep all the law from your youth up, or keep all the law, and you shall have life. And that's true. We also know that we are incapable of keeping the law by nature, and that also is true. But what the Lord is pointing out is all you have to do is be righteous and you are righteous. Now, he also uh the scripture also teaches how we become righteous. And that I believe plays into this account here. But with the rich young ruler, the Lord pointed out also the the rich young ruler asked this question what lack what lack I yet? There was something in him that told him that there was something still, there was something nagging at him that told him he wasn't all the way there. Now that that little nagging uh message that he was getting is that he was still a sinner by nature and a sinner by practice as far as his humanity was concerned. So how could he be right with God? So he came asking, I believe, genuinely seeking, asking the Lord, how do I know? How can I be certain that I have eternal life? And the Lord told him, and then he says, Yet what lack I yet? And then the Lord told that rich young ruler, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And that man went away sorrowful, knowing that he had many riches and that he liked the riches. That's the problem. He didn't go away sorrowful on that account because he had too much work to do. He wasn't saying, Boy, but I have so much, I don't know if I can get rid of it all before I die. That was not why he was sorrowful. He was sorrowful because he enjoyed the riches. And so he had, he, there was something now put in front of him. He had to get rid of a God that he had before him in order to worship the true God. Now, we I believe the Lord loved that man. In fact, the scripture very plainly said the Lord loved him. And uh the disciples were confused about that situation. Said, then how could who how can anyone enter in the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord, Thomas says, this is impossible for man, but it's not impossible with God. Now, I want to leave that setting. I just want to remind ourselves of that situation because here's a different circumstance. Here's a lawyer who, by the way, what does a lawyer do? They practice law. Now, this lawyer practiced biblical law. He was not a lawyer of civilian law. He was not a Roman lawyer, he was not a magistrate of some court, he was a biblical scholar lawyer. In other words, he was one who was supposed to know the law of God inside and out. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him. In other words, he's trying the Lord. He's not asking this question to learn, he is asking this question to attack. And we know lawyers can be very good at that. A trial lawyer, that's that's their mode. They're not asking questions to get to truth all of the time. They're asking questions sometimes in order to reveal somebody else's problem. And that's what this man is trying to do with the Lord. He's tempting the Lord, he's trying him. Saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, I believe there's a he probably asked this question in this way in order to trap the Lord. But there is a simple answer to this question that the Lord could simply have answered with, and that is nothing. There is nothing you can do to inherit anything. Because it's not up to you to obtain the inheritance. The inheritance is arranged for you. It is not arranged by you, it is arranged on your behalf. It is either by birthright or by adoption. You had no role in either arrangement as far as the legal work goes of adoption or the natural work of being born. You are and you are set up for inheritance by someone else. And so there's nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. It has to be by birthright or by adoption. And that is so there's nothing this man could have done. And there's nothing that anyone can do. And yet the Lord, I believe, knowing the man's heart, and also, of course, teaching us, sets up an answer to this question. He says, What is written in the law? How readest thou? Because what is this man? He's a lawyer. And he's supposed to know the law inside and out. And do you know what? He gives a good answer. And the answer is not fundamentally, how do you go from a state of not having eternal life to having eternal life? His answer is actually, how do you know you have eternal life? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. And do you know what? The Lord Himself says, Thou hast answered right. That's right. Here, not how you get it, but here's how you know you have it. Here's how you know you have the inheritance of eternal life. Love God completely and love everybody else. That shows that you have eternal life. Now, does that mean is that how you inherit it? Not exactly, but that's how you know you're going, that you not only have the inheritance of eternal life for the future, but that also demonstrates how you have eternal life right now. You realize when you have the love of God in you, or as John would say, we love him because he first loved us, when you have the love of God that is the compelling force in you, that drives you to do what you do, that drives you to seek the the love and intention of God, that drives you to seek to please him, and drives you to uh to render your sacrifices not only to him, but for on behalf of others that are in need, that have no way to help you, that have no uh no no that are they that they themselves are not set up in order to uh set you better up in life, but that you are willing to serve your neighbor and to love your neighbor, to to seek their need above your own, that demonstrates the the life and the love of God in you. And so that that is that is uh the the answer of Christ. Thou hast rightly said, This do, and thou shalt live. And that's that is really the the demonstration. That is the example of uh uh going to John 3:16. Uh you know, uh boy, I should know that one by heart by now, the entire world should know that by I'm completely blanked on it. Uh for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but hath everlasting life. That the belief is the demonstration of the life. And therefore, if you believe, you know you have life. Well, here the Lord is saying, the law says, if you show love, you know that you have life. Therefore, all you gotta do is do it, and you know that you have it. However, there was a problem. And this man saw the immediate problem. You see, this man, in examining himself very briefly, he was a lawyer. He knew what the law said. And as soon as he tempted the Lord and trying to test him out, he himself was tried in this very moment. And then he realized something. Because he realized there was something in him that could be held against him. Because all of a sudden, he had to have the answer to this question. Who is my neighbor? Because what does the law say? The law says, love thy neighbor as thyself. All of a sudden, he I I don't I cannot pretend to tell you what went through his mind, but I can tell you probably what would go through my mind. If all of a sudden I realize, oh, I might think that I have the love of God covered. I might think I put God first in everything. I might think, like the Apostle Paul thought at one time, that he fulfilled the law to a jot and to a tidal. I might think that. But then when I'm confronted with, oh, there's a lot of people I just don't like. There are people I just can't stand. I'm never going to be found serving that guy. And as soon as I'm confronted with that, all of a sudden, the law of God hits home. You might think you love God with all your whole soul, all your mind, all your strength. But when it comes to showing it, by serving someone that you hate, because what was the love of God? God did not love those that loved him, he loved those that hated him. That's the love of God. And all of a sudden we have to show that to our neighbor. So what does he say? And he said, um, but he, and this this is the phrase that's been on my mind. He, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? What he wanted, what he wanted was justification that, oh, you know what? There's some people you're just allowed to step on. There's some people that you can just ignore their well-being. There's some people, really, that you know, you're justified in just dismissing them. That's the that's the answer he wants because he's willing to justify himself. Why is he willing to justify himself? Well, uh I want to circle back to that phrase in very in a couple of different uh uh aspects in just a minute, but you are willing to justify yourself when you realize there is a need to be either made just or be seen as just. Now, the word justification has three fundamental forms. There's one in which you are unjust, and then you are made just. That is one form of justification. When we read uh for whom he did for know, them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he would be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom he uh predestinated, them he also called, whom he called them, he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified in the person of Christ, in the person of Jesus Christ, we are moved from a state of being seen as unjust to being seen as just. Now that that was a that that justification by the blood of Christ is a legal work. It is stamped in the blood of Christ, so that you were guilty by sin. His blood pays the price. Now you are seen as sinless before the eyes of God, that his righteousness is imputed unto you. Now that that act of justification is a legal work, but there is also two other aspects of justification that that kind of pairs up with that, or at least can, in some circumstance, mask that. There is not just the work of being made just, there's also the work of being seen as just, or the work of being declared as just. Now, there's a whole lot of people that want to be seen as just. They want to be seen as right. They want to be seen as, you were you were right, I was wrong. How many people want to hear that from everybody that they know? You're right, I was wrong. We want to be justified. Now, does that actually make us right? Maybe not, but we want it to be known. We want it to be known that I was right and everybody else was wrong. And that's that's a problem that this person has right here because I like to be right. And if I have to prove it, I will do, I will go to the ends of the word to prove I was right in this circumstance. And that's what this man's problem is, is that he realized that there was some, maybe at least one group of people, probably why the Lord Himself chose this next account, but at least one group of people, if not several, that this lawyer felt justified in having no love toward them. And so he knowing that, willing to justify himself, willing to make it make it apparent that he wants it to come out of the Lord's lips, who do I have the right to not treat as a neighbor? To not love? Who's my neighbor? Because surely, Lord, there's somebody that I'm I'm able to not love. And Jesus answering, you know, I want, like I said, I want to get back to verse 29. But he says, Jesus answering said, a certain man. By the way, this doesn't say it's a parable. He says, a certain man. I think this is an actual account. He says, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Doesn't say who his name was, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now that's this is going to be the only scriptural time you have the right to say that somebody's half dead. And that's not because they're literally part dead and part alive. It's because they're dying. They are injured. Now, from a pure perspective, you're either alive or dead. You're not, for example, spiritually speaking, you're not half dead and half alive. You're not, you're not halfway to God, and someone's got to get you all the way there. That is not how it works in biology or in spiritual matters. Uh, but this talking about half-dead means that they literally left him still breathing, but it would not be that much longer before he stopped breathing. That's what that phrase is talking about. And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way. Does anyone here know what the role of a priest is? Scripture defines it as he's the one that offers up on the behalf of others. In other words, the priest's job is for the sake of others. You might as well put someone like a nurse or a doctor or a first responder here is that a priest, their job is to think about what another person's need is and to offer up before God in that. So whose mindset should a priest's mind be on? Somebody else, not their own. But what happens here? And by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. I don't know if he knew the person. I don't know if he just simply didn't want to be bothered that day. How many times have we been in that situation where I've just got too much? I know that, I know, I know, I should do this. I just can't be bothered with it today. So he just walks away as far as he can so he can't see it on the other side. And likewise a Levite, who by the way is someone who by birth is in their role is in the service of the temple or the tabernacle. He says, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him. At least we have scriptural record, he at least checked in on him. But what does it say here? He looked on them and passed by on the other side. Two that their roles in service. A priest and a Levite, their roles, their their their birthright in the case of a Levite, is to serve. And yet they both ignore them completely, more ignore this man completely. But a certain Samaritan. Now, here where we get the phrase the good Samaritan, and the good part comes in what he does next. And this is crafted by the Lord. I believe this is an account, but the Lord is using this in order to not not be antagonistic. But he picks a person that would be anathema to an Israelite. If you remember going back to the count in John chapter 5, or maybe it's 3. If we go back to the count of the Samaritan woman, by the well, she's shocked that an Israelite is even talking to her. Because they, Jews, have no dealings with the Samaritans. So here the Lord is saying, here is a Samaritan. But now, here is the great twist, so to speak. This Samaritan is not the one that needs a neighbor. The Samaritan is the one that's being the good neighbor. So he's using the Samaritan in two ways. One, as the example of one that every Jew wants to have nothing to do with, but also as the one that is the example to follow. So here is, he's setting it up in a way that this, in order for this lawyer to actually concede his point, he has to say, Oh, so I have to be like a Samaritan in this case. And a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. Now, by circumstance, we presume, maybe it's presuming too much, that this man that fell among thieves was a Jew. In which case we find this compassion truly remarkable, because here's a Samaritan having compassion on someone who would have no compassion on him. And that is the love of God. Having compassion, even when the scripture says, love your enemies. Your enemies are usually defined by those that have no really care for you, that they're apt to get you. And yet, here is an example of one is showing compassion. Now, even if this man is not a Jew, here is even if the man that that was left half dead is not Jew by nature, here is a Samaritan showing compassion on someone who he has no no uh no burden placed on him to help. In other words, he's not a priest, he's not a Levi, but he has compassion. There is his compelling force, the love of God in him, moving him to show love and compassion to someone who cannot help him, who cannot do anything for him. In fact, he's gonna have to go out of his way in order to help this man. Uh let's read on. A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, uh, had compassion on him, verse 34, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Uh, he addressed his immediate need. He poured in oil and wine to make sure it doesn't get any worse, to uh, to dress the wounds, and set him on his own beast. So now what happens from this point forward? The man is being held up by the beast of burden that was the Samaritans, and the Samaritan is going to walk from this point forward. So he not only just he not only addresses the man's need, he displaces himself. He puts himself out of out of uh out of uh, he makes it worse on him, he makes it harder on him, and brought him to an in and took care of him. So not he's he's used up his resources, he's put himself out of situation and made the the the made it easier on the man that was uh that was beaten up, brought him to an inn, so he brought him to a place of refuge, took care of him there, and then spent his own additional money and resources. On the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, gave them to the host, and said to him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Now, how many of us would would maybe go that first step? Address the wounds. Let's make sure this man at least stops dying. That's good, right? That that's that is good. I mean, that that was a good thing to do. He he went, he dressed his wounds and poured oil and wine. And then, okay, now the rest is on your own. Leave. He says, no, this man, this is not where the needs of this man stops. This man is going to still get worse if I leave him here. Let me get him somewhere safe. So that he takes on the extra burden of carrying the man to the end. Carries the man to the end. How many of us would also say, okay, now that's where my responsibility ends? That's where I could cut the cord here. He's on his own. He and the innkeeper, the innkeeper could take care of it from here, and then go on. Still would have been a good deed to this man. That would have been better off. And yet the man says, Not enough. I will take care of him here, and then I will charge the innkeeper with his care on my behalf, and I will cover the cost. But he also doesn't say, well, here's two pence worth of money. As soon as that runs out, you're done. I'm done. That surely will get this man back on his feet. But he also says, you know what? Whatever it takes to get this man better, you spend, and when I'm back through, I you hold that to my account. He takes account of every aspect of getting this man back to where he needs to be. Now the scripture says that we ought to uphold one another. That we ought to so that uh by fulfilling the law of God, we serve one another, we we we actually uphold, uh bear up one another's burdens. The scripture, I mean that that's what the apostle says. Bear ye up one another, one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ, which is, by the way, love. But there is also the fact that you have to be, you have to do so with discernment. The scripture also says to not to not get yourself in such a situation where you're caught up in it. In other words, this man, there was not a situation where the Samaritan was going to actually injure himself and get up in the same situation that this man was. The thieves were gone and so on. However, there are occasions where we have brothers and sisters in the church, families, loved ones, friends, where their situation is such that you could get caught up in the same situation in trying to help them. The apostle Paul is clear on that. He says, Don't don't get in, don't get caught up in their sin by trying to help them out of their sin. So there's some discernment there. Now, the reason I wanted to say that is this man, this Samaritan, did what he could do. But he also did everything that he could do. In other words, if he didn't have a beast of burden, he could not have carried the man any further. But he did what he could do with what he had. Using what the Lord has given you, that's what he's expected from us. In other words, he doesn't expect us to try to raise a million dollars that we don't have in order to do everything that that is physically and humanly possible. But what the Lord has blessed you with, that's the measure to which our responsibility goes. And this man had means by which he could go to this point. Uh he couldn't, he couldn't, in other words, he couldn't uh take him to the best doctor in Jerusalem. That's not what his resources were capable of doing. But he did what he could do to the extent of the blessings that the Lord had given him. And no more. That was not that was not the point. The point was not how could this good this Samaritan end up destroying the rest of his life in order to save this one man? The point is that this Samaritan had love and compassion to do what he could do, and he did it. He went the measure of what he could do, he went the second mile, so to speak, not just the first. He could go that second mile, and so he went the second mile to take care of this one. Now, that's all I want to say about that that that uh that thought and that that concern. But there is discernment in this, and what in taking uh measure of what you can do and going that that level. And what you can't do, you must honor that as well. So he says, uh on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pants and gave them to the host and said to him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Now, I be uh there's a beautiful aspect and picture of the love and mercy of Christ in this as well. And I don't want to dismiss that because there is the in showing the love of God in us, we see the fullness or we see a portion of the picture of the love of God toward us. Now, Christ, uh, he could go the full distance and do all that was necessary. How far could Christ go? Christ could go to death and back again. We can't do that. But he did and did it to the uttermost. He literally had God's day, uh, had the Father lay to his charge everything that was necessary to redeem us, to make us just, to make us whole, to make us complete. And it was all charged to his account, and he did take that, take on that. Uh, but let not the no let not that phrase, I think it's died down a lot now, but back uh maybe a decade or more or more ago, there was the whole phrase, what what would Jesus do? Well, the answer the question is not what would Jesus do. The question is always, what would Jesus have you to do? Because we are not Jesus. We can't go to the same level that he did. Verse, nor did we have the nor could we do the work that he came to do. Verse 2036, which now of these thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves. So the question is not, who do you get to decide is your neighbor? The question is, who are you a neighbor to? In other words, the love thy neighbor as thyself, the relationship of neighbor to neighbor, it is not, okay, who do I get to cut off as being my neighbor? It's who are you being the neighbor, making them your neighbor, making them the one that you're helping. Because this man that was in the ditch, he had no idea who this Samaritan was, never saw him before that day. He he would he did not, he wasn't even in a condition to ask for help. And yet this neighbor made this this Samaritan made this man his neighbor. So he says, it is not. Thinkest thou who thinkest thou was neighbor, or let me back that phrase up to the complete sentence. Which now of these three, the the the the uh the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, thinkest thou was neighbor to him that fell among thieves? And he said, I it's dangerous to read into what's left out. That's a dangerous thing. But there's part of me that just notices that the answer of this man, the way he answers, he didn't say the Samaritan. He said he that showed mercy on him. He was right. That's still the right one. And he got that answer, it was the correct answer. But I find that very similar to the the the account or the the the uh the circumstance of the um the prodigal son. That when the prodigal son returned, his older brother didn't even call him brother. In talking to the father about the fact that they were throwing a feast for the returned son, he said, thy son, not my brother. What how what words you choose to say the correct thing can also be very revealing. He was at he was correct, the one that showed mercy, but he I I note, I note at least that he avoided the word Samaritan. He did, he didn't go that far. But he was right. The one that showed compassion was the one that was being the good neighbor. And Jesus said to him, now what was that? What was the context of all of this? How do I, or what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Basically, the Lord is saying, if you want to know if you have eternal, if you want to know that you have eternal life dwelling in you, how about you show love to those you despise? There you go. Go and do likewise. I'm gonna back up to verse 29, or 39, no, uh 29. Willing to justify yourself. One, I'm gonna start with that last part. Willing to justify himself. See, that's part of the problem. Is that he wasn't worried about anybody else. He wasn't saying how can we be justified? It's how can I, the most important person in the whole world, how can I be justified? Because it didn't start in American culture that you looked out for number one. That has been going back all the way to where Adam blamed God for giving Eve to him in the transgression. All the way to the beginning, we look out for number one, willing to justify himself. Now I want to turn this phrase around. What is the problem, willing to justify yourself? There's not a problem in wanting to be right. In other words, to be righteous, to be just, to be holy. That's not the problem. The problem is the aspect of the actual justification. In other words, there's three, uh at least three things I want to just touch on in the few minutes remaining. Is one, he was willing to justify himself, but not anyone else. That's the what's one problem that was mindful in him. So, what what is the correct mindset? Willing to justify others. You see, that was what Christ came to do. Christ did not come in order to make himself holy and righteous. He's already holy and righteous. That was not needed for Christ. Christ came to redeem, Christ came to make whole, Christ came to fix a problem, Christ came to save those that were given to him. That's why he came. He came in order to justify others. At no point was it ever a problem for Christ to be right with God the Father. That is the way it was for eternity past. Uh, that was the contradiction of sinners against Christ on the cross, is that he would bear the burden and the affliction and the and the uh and the guilt of sin before God the Father when he had never had uh even the thought or the intent of sin in his heart. He was willing to justify others. There is where compassion and love and mercy is. Now, what about that middle word? Willing to justify himself. That's where, you know what? Let me go to let me go to the first word first and then close with that justification. Willing to justify himself. Now, we're all willing. We're all willing to justify ourselves. However, in the Spirit of God, this is this is kind of where I started to mention that it's not wrong to want to be right. The problem is when you actually think that you are. That's where the problem is. Is where you really think you're all that. The apostle Paul describes it this way. I'm gonna summarize the latter half of Romans 7 very quickly. I'm not gonna go and take its time to read it. It basically said once I was perfect, in my own eyes. When the law revived, or when the law came, when righteous, when I, I'll put it in my own words, when I saw righteousness with a capital R with my own eyes, sin revived. Did he just become a sinner at that moment? No. He realized when he saw holiness for what he was, when he saw Christ, when he saw the Lord with his own eyes, things were different. He was perfect in his own eyes once. From that moment forward, he was unwilling to justify himself. Why? Because he was a sinner. And now he knew it. But who was he willing to justify at that point? You see, remember when I said there are three aspects of justification? There's actually being made righteous, but there's also being shown that you're righteous, and then declaring that you're righteous. You see, there's nothing we can do to make God righteous. He's already righteous. But do you know there are things we do to show and declare it? There, there, in fact, there's a scripture to talk about uh that the those that listened to John and baptized, it says that they justified God. Did they make God just? No. But did they show that what God did was right and appropriate? And they declared it, not with just their voices and saying it, but they showed it by honoring God in obedience and submitting to the baptism of John. They justified God. Well, if we're unwilling to justify ourselves, we ought to be willing to justify God. That's what baptism, by the way, is. It is the demonstration, it is the declaration of the knowledge and the admission that though I was dead, I am alive in Christ, but not by my own hands, not by my own works, but because he died and rose again. I am alive in him. You see, the the the blessing of the gospel of Christ and the blessing of the truth is that we don't have to justify ourselves. Not because there's not need for it, but because it's done, but because it's already complete in the mind and the purpose of God and in the work of Jesus Christ. That's what justification by faith is, by the way. When you read about justification by faith, it's not you all of a sudden going from dead and trespasses in sin, and then you believe God, and all of a sudden then you're you're now right with God. Justification by faith is you were made right with God, you receive faith, you declare that you believe God, and you are shown or justified and declared to be righteous uh by the faith of God in you, and by the way you you show uh you declare. You declare and show in that the justification of Christ as well. You justify God in you by showing the love and the compassion and the faith of God in you, declaring you to be born of God. So the blessing, the more blessed state in that is not only to be willing to justify others, and not only that, but also willing to, not willing or unwilling to justify himself or yourself. But now there's the third part, the justification itself. And I already started to mention it. To justify is to declare, to show or to make, to actually make righteous. When we admit we are sinners by nature and sinners by practice, we are willing to condemn ourselves. Have we ever you we all know, and I believe every child of God has this experience of grace, where, like the Apostle Paul, when sin revived, and I died. Not only then at that point are you unwilling to say, well, God, you're wrong and I'm right, at that point you're actually willing to say, well, God, you're right and I'm wrong. But you're also at that point to the, you're also brought to the point that you know there's nothing you can actually do about it. You see, the scripture is very clear. Our righteousnesses, he didn't just say our righteousness, our righteousnesses, in other words, everything that we think we do right, all of it is as filthy rags. You probably heard that example, that scripture, you've you've heard it mentioned before. But you cannot clean something with something that's already dirty. The very fact that the lips of our tongue are lying lips. We come forth from the womb liars. The very tongue that we want to praise God with, how many times have we told falsehoods or or or or uh or even sometimes even worse, false praise to someone to gain favor? The very words of our mouth are tainted such that we cannot go to God as we would and say to him the things that we would say, and there and they be appropriate or pleasant in his eyes. Our deeds, our hands uh are stained uh with the darkness of sin, we cannot touch anything and it be holy once we touch it. So if that be the situation and that be true, it puts us in that mindset that when we are confronted by the holiness of God, that we are even willing to condemn ourselves in the side of the in the in before the very sight of God, that we are willing to condemn ourselves, that we are willing to say, I am a sinner and I am worthy to be condemned, that if God today were still come to me and say, Depart from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you. The words that would have to come out of my mouth is that you are right in saying that. You are just and holy to put me away forever. And yet, here is the blessedness of that mindset is that you cannot come to that mindset. You cannot, you cannot be unwilling to justify yourself, and you cannot be willing to condemn yourself, and you cannot be willing to justify others except the eternal life of God is already in you, because you have to have the mind of God to come to those conclusions, you have to have the mind and the purpose of God in you because by nature, what are we? We are unwilling to condemn anyone. We're the complete opposite by nature. In fact, we we come up with a I'm gonna say, there is no right or wrong. There is no, everything is just right or wrong in my own eyes. I am not willing to condemn anybody by nature, except those that cross my path, and then I'm willing to condemn everybody. But the mind and the love of God in you is what gives you that mindset to understand your position before God and to know that your actual justification has to come from God. And that's that's the blessedness of the truth of God is that when you see that you cannot do anything, and that you cannot, that you cannot uh come up with an argument to fight it, and that God is right, and that you would see those around you and say that He would that you would rather see them redeemed than even yourself. As the Apostle Paul put it, I would account myself accursed for their sake. If that's the mind that's in you, guess what? Thou shalt live. Why? Because that's already eternal life in you. That's already the mind of God in you. That is already the justification of God in you. That is made known. And that's why, by the way, we can readily love one another, love God with all, not only love God, but show mercy in the state of mercy, is when we are unwilling to justify ourselves and willing to justify others, and unwilling or willing to see condemnation fall on ourselves, that is exactly the mindset of Christ on the cross. He was unwilling to leave that cross. He was unwilling to basically uh, as uh as he says in the garden uh or with his disciples, I could call 10,000 legions of angels to deliver me. But he wasn't going to do that. He was willing to be condemned for our sin, for our justification. How much let me put it this way, how pleasant is it when we get to that mindset, when we realize that when we walk as closely as we can in the in the image and in the mind of Christ, one, it does give us confidence, it does give us consolation, it does give us the the the knowledge that we are alive in him. But guess what he gets to see more in us? I don't know about you. I you know there are there are people here that do not have children. There are people here that have had children from youth up. There comes a time when you raise children, you start to see yourself in your children. Maybe they look like the spitting image of mother or father, but more commonly is where you see their mannerisms, their behaviors. Sometimes it's not always pleasant. Sometimes you say, boy, I can't stand my I can't stand seeing this because it's exactly like me. I was hoping that they would be better. I'm not saying that in general, but I am saying that you see you see yourself in them. You realize that is exactly what God has called you to do is so is for you to show Christ in you the hope of glory. And guess what? God gets to see more and more each time. He gets to see his son, he gets to see his nature, he gets to see himself, the mirror of himself, which that's not a vainglorious thing, because there is no better thing for him to see than to see himself in you. And guess what? It's also the best thing for us. I've said it before, it amazes me how God crafts things so that just doing what we're supposed to do, lo and behold, is actually the best thing for us, as well as the obeying the commandments of God. They're not grievous. The commandments of God are not grievous, they're hard, but they're not grievous. Why are they hard? Because we are unjust by nature. There are people that we would rather not be a neighbor to. That's nature. But guess what? When you show forth his nature and not yours, guess what you're showing? The eternal life of Christ in you. And that's what sh that's the that's that should be all the proof you need, but there's even more that the scripture says. I'll call I I'll close with that. That's not bad. First, all we're gonna say is send the right hand.