All right, tonight's message is called Balancing the Law and Grace. I'm going to read from Proverbs 11, verse 1. It says, Father God, Lord, I thank you for this day, God. Thank you for this evening. We can come together, Lord, to worship you, God. Thank you for the singing, Lord. And I thank you, God, for those that are here, Lord. We pray for those that are not here tonight, God, that you would just bless them, keep them safe, Lord, and pray that they would return quickly to us, God. And Father, I just pray that you would be with those that are listening tonight, God. Open their ears, Lord. Give me your spirit tonight to preach the message you would have me to preach, God. And I thank you for the opportunity, Lord. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. So, a false balance is abomination to the Lord. Do we know what a balance is? You guys seen a balance? It looks like, we call it a scale, but it's a balance. It's got two little trays, maybe they go up and down. It's a device for comparing the mass or weight of two different things. Do you kids know the difference between mass and weight? I have to work on the science stuff. Mass and weight are not the same thing, but they're very similar. But what does it mean to have a false balance? False, of course we know, means not true. It's not conformable to fact. Expressing what is contrary to that which exists is done, said, or thought. A false report communicates what is not done or said. A false accusation imputes to a person what he has not done or said. A false witness testifies what is not true. A false opinion is not according to truth or fact. The word is applicable to any subject, physical or moral. So a false balance does not give a true report. Proverbs 16, 11 says, A just weight and balance are the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are his work. And Proverbs 20, 23 says, Diver's weights are an abomination unto the Lord, and a false balance is not good. And Deuteronomy 25 says, thou shalt not have in thy bag divers' weights, a great and a small. So the idea behind a false balance is having false weights, divers' weights, a great and a small. Why would someone use divers' weights in a balance? It's to cheat somebody, to trick them into believing that they're getting more than they really are, or that they're selling less than they really are. If you were selling something by weight, you would place that product on one side of a balance and then place weights on the other side until the two sides balanced out. Then you would know the weight of the product. A dishonest merchant would use weights that were lighter than they were supposed to be in order to make the product appear heavier than it was, and thus charge more money for it. And the same principle applies to measures of volume, like a quart or a liter. The Hebrews had their ephah and their hen. The dictionary tells us that a hen was a Hebrew measure of capacity containing the sixth part of an ephah, or about five quarts, English measure. So that's some more fractions that we can talk about later. And Leviticus 19 says, just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just hen shall ye have. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. So a dishonest oil salesman might carry a measure that was slightly less than a full hen just in case he had an opportunity to cheat an old widow who wouldn't notice that her oil pitcher was a little light. We can see why God would not appreciate a false balance or unjust weights and measures. This is serious business. The regulation of weights and measures, the various states in the United States have their own government agencies that regulate weights and measures. And they're all coordinated with the Office of Weights and Measures at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to make sure that a pound in Missouri is the same thing as a pound in Washington. Usually devices that are used to measure things for trade, like the produce scales at the checkout in a grocery store, or the meter on the gas pump, are required to be periodically calibrated and inspected to ensure that they are within legal tolerances. But a balance is not just a device for comparing weights. It's also a symbol of judgment. A balance represents a process of presenting and testing claims and seeing whether they are true or not. In a courtroom, a jury will hear evidence and make a decision on a case based on what we call the weight of the evidence. In Job 31, Job says, if I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. The idea of a just balance is foundational to all of justice. We've all seen the image of Lady Justice with her eyes blindfolded, having a sword and a balance. The blindfold is representative of the impartiality of justice. and the balance of judgment, and the sword, you can guess what that is for. This personification of justice was added to the Roman pantheon as Justitia, the goddess of justice. Of course, we don't believe in any of the Roman gods or goddesses. They are all false idols. Our God of the Bible is the God of justice. But the idea of justice being blind is biblical. Justice should be applied evenly to everyone. Malachi 2, 9, it says, Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as ye have not kept my ways but have been partial in the law. Partial means to be biased to one party, inclined to favor one party in a cause or one side of a question more than the other, not indifferent. It is important to justice that a judge should not be partial. This partiality, the tendency to favor one person over another in a cause, is like having diverse weights. For justice to be true, it must not be swayed by the personal feelings of those administering it toward those being judged. The Bible also calls this having respective persons. We see in James chapter 2 this respective persons could be due to their financial situation. says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons? For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? In Proverbs 24, we read, In John 7, verse 24, the Lord said, Being partial or having respective persons in judgment of the law is not having a just balance. Ideally, a judge should always be impartial in the administration of justice. If a man is guilty of a crime that demands punishment, that punishment should not be lessened or negated because the man plays golf with the judge on the weekends. An honest judge should recuse himself from a case where his impartiality would be questionable. When it comes to the judgment of man, God is a perfect judge. He will not be swayed by your status or your good looks. You can't bribe him. You don't own anything that he wants. In 2 Chronicles 19, it says, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and do it. For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts. And if you," I'm sorry, in 1 Peter 1, it says, and if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. At the final judgment, the last day, our works that are placed on the balance will be the object of God's judgment, not our person. In Revelation 20 verse 11 we see, 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. 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. 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. death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. We know that no one is going to be able to escape the lake of fire on the basis of their own works. God's justice demands absolute perfection. Romans 3 verse 23 we read, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If all have sinned, then how does a person escape the lake of fire? How do you get your name in the book of life? Verse 24 says, "...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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 passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." A propitiation means the act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person. In theology, the atonement or atoning sacrifice offered to God to assuage His wrath and render Him propitious to sinners. Jesus Christ became the propitiation for our sins when He died on the cross. As a believer in Him, we are no longer receiving justice on the last day, we are receiving grace. It's as if when we stand before the judge and our case is read and all our filthy, worthless works are poured out into the balance, our Lord steps in and dumps our works out on the ground and lays his works on the scale. His perfect, sinless life and his death on the cross for no cause of his own, but that he was willing to die for the sins of the world. And he says, judge this one according to these works. Romans 6, 23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Is it just for God to allow our sins to be covered by Jesus' blood? In the law, the only way to purge the sins of the people was through animal sacrifices. These sacrifices, though, had to be offered continually because there was no actual power in those sacrifices to remove our sin from us. They were just a picture of the true sacrifice that was going to be our redemption. By becoming our sacrifice on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the law once and for all. I'm going to read from Hebrews 9 and 10. It says, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others, for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, Neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the witch will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where the remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Is God being partial? Does he only extend this gift to certain people? No. Jesus died for the sins of the world. All men and women are freely offered this gift of eternal life if they will only believe that he paid that price for them. God is not a respecter of persons. He chose Abraham to begin the line that would bring forth the Messiah, but he is not just the Messiah for the Jews. He is the Messiah for the whole world. Sadly, it is true that not everyone will accept this gift. God has already paid the price to redeem all men with his son, but they must choose to believe. God will not decide for them. If they choose rather to be judged according to their own works, God will allow that. That is just. their works will be placed on the balance, and their sin will far outweigh their righteousness. But if they would believe on Jesus, they would not be judged based on their own works, but rather they would be judged according to His, His sinless perfect life, and His eternal righteousness would swing the balance to eternal life for anyone who will receive it." Let's pray. Father God, Lord, we thank you so much, God, that we are not going to stand before you, God, and have to be judged on the basis of what we've done, Lord, because we believe on your son who died for us, God. We thank you so much for that gift, the free gift that you've given us of eternal life through simple faith, God. And we pray, Lord, you would help us to spread the light of your gospel, God, to those that need to hear it, Father. We know the world is full of sinners who are dying, God, every day. Lord, we just pray that you would Allow us to reach some folks in these last days, God, and help us, Lord, to seek your kingdom, God. We know that just getting saved, Lord, is just the beginning of our walk with you, Lord. And we pray, God, that you would help us to follow you, to enter into your kingdom, God, that we'd be accounted worthy on the Judgment Day, God, to stand. Lord, we ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus, amen.