I've turned to Romans chapter
two. Romans chapter two. I want to
read just one verse. When I read this verse, there
is a phrase in this verse. I mentioned it last week. And
I want to deal with that phrase, and then I want to deal with
the subject that that phrase talks about. Verse four of Romans
two, and we will be on the subject that this phrase talks about
probably for a few weeks. I wanna try to cover that subject.
Let me just read the verse. Or despiseth thou the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Now my phrase
I have this morning is, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance. That's the phrase. Now, my title,
or we might say, and my subject would be, God's goodness leadeth
to repentance. I've shortened it down just for
title sake, but here's what Paul actually wrote. Not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. He's asking a
question of you, and of me, and of course of these people who
he's writing to. Do you not know this? Do you not know this? But how often have we known something
and so quickly forget it? Now that's not to say that the
thought is not in our brain wrinkles, however, those things are stored
there in the brain. I'm not a neuroscientist. If I was, I would be making a
whole lot more money in what I do. It's not that. It's not that we simply forget
it. It's something like an old age and we begin to become forgetful.
We don't really pay attention to God's truth all the time. But I am also here to say that
there are some people that do not know that the goodness of
God is what leads to repentance. And there are those, and God,
I don't wanna try to take us away from this verse. Remember
what I preached, was it last Sunday? When you read passages
like this, don't try to say, well, that can't be me because
this sounds so condemnatory. You best take your place in the
dust in truth, and in fact, be honest. But there are some who
do despise the riches of God's goodness and his forbearance
and his long-suffering. Why? But he goes on to say, not
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
Now, I made this statement last week. I didn't say much about
it. And I do not say this to criticize. It is just an observation
of fact. I noticed a few eyebrows raise.
Now I'm not saying that was unbelief, but I'm not saying it wasn't
either. I'm just stating a fact. Listen, repentance is worked
in a soul by God. Now no eyebrows raised there.
Everyone here, there might have been some eyebrows raised from
people that were watching from the live stream side or something,
but nobody raised their eyebrows there. Repentance is worked in
a soul by God. But then I said not by wrath.
not by difficult circumstances, but by God's goodness. But by
God's goodness. Now, I want to clarify, I am
not saying that when God's goodness leads someone to repentance that
they are not going to be in any difficult circumstances. It will
be to the contrary. When God's goodness leads someone
to repentance, they will be in deep trouble and affliction. There might be even physical
things that happen to them. You understand what I'm saying?
But what I'm saying is those difficult circumstances, whether
they be of a natural ilk, and I'm just separating this for
our mind, a natural ilk, a physical phenomenon that God brings upon
you, or whether it's some spiritual turmoil down inside in your heart
and mind, Those, these things accompany God's people when God
leads them by his goodness to repentance. These things are
not what leads them to repentance. It is the goodness of God that
leads thee to repentance. And I have forgotten that. I
think I mentioned this last week, at least not at length, but you
hear of someone you care about, and where they have made a profession
of faith and maybe seem to have fallen away from it, or maybe
they've made no profession of faith at all, and you begin to
see trouble happen. They get in a tight spot, and
you know a lot of that tight spot's because of their evil
choices, poor choices. And you think, oh God, use that,
use that to turn them around, but that's not going to happen.
Now God, oh God, if he would do this, if God, oh God used
those circumstances, and I'm using this kind of in an illustrative
metaphorical way, to set them down and shut them up. But that's
not going to lead them to repentance. Now the subject I want to deal
with, if I have time, I don't wanna rush through this this
morning. The subject I want to deal with is repentance, and
we'll deal with it for a few, at least a couple messages. But
the phrase is, it is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance.
Now think about this. Paul does not write, it is the
goodness of God that offers repentance. It is not even, it is not even,
it is the goodness of God that commands you to repent. Though
certainly we know God now commands all men everywhere to repent,
but that's not what Paul's talking about here. And granted, again,
it's in the form of a question. It's a rebuke. Do you not know?
Do you not know that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
You see, we often, because of either bad training in the past
when we were in false religion, or just because of our natural
depravity, we often think of when God, when a bad circumstance
comes upon an individual, then and I will put it like most people
think of, then God's trying to teach them something. Well, let
me tell you something. The Almighty King, the Sovereign
of Heaven and Earth has never tried to do anything. He's never tried to do anything,
but another thing, our mind thinks, well, then God is punishing them.
No, it may be just they're sowing what they're reaping, because
if God was truly punishing them, they'd go to hell. But that's
the truth, it is not just physical death, the punishment of sin,
it is that as well, but then to spiritually die in eternity,
separated from all that is good. All that is good. You see because,
Men like to think, well, if things are going well, and you got a
good job, and you got a good spouse, and your children are
halfway decent, you know, and things are going well, and you
got a nice home to live in, then God's blessing you. That may
or may not be the case. Because all, and, Didn't even
think of the preacher's name now, our beloved brother. But
anyway, Bruce Crabtree sat here behind this podium one time.
All God's got to do to let him go to hell is just leave him
to self, leave him to himself, and bless him with a good job,
and a good wife, and good children, and a nice house, and just leave
him right there, and he goes through all of his life. Evidently,
things ain't too bad, because God ain't whooping me now. and
he takes his last breath and he closes his eyes in death and
he wakes them up, his eyes then are opened up, inhale. Inhale. But let us never, it's not, not
having bad circumstances. It's not having bad circumstances
that prove that God's trying to do anything. Because it is
true, man that is born as woman is a few days and what? full
of trouble. Saved or lost. Converted or not
converted. Regenerate or unregenerate. Elect
or reprobate. All men suffer trouble. And God's
not trying to teach us a lesson. As I said, our God doesn't try
to do anything. But let's think about this. Look
at it. Look at what the words actually indicate. It's the goodness
of God that leadeth. Let me start with the second
word, the goodness of God that leadeth. In other words, it brings. It drives, it induces thee to
repentance. Go look at it, I'm not making
that up, go get your Strong's Concordance, look up that word,
leadeth, just that word in that passage. Now other places lead
can mean a little different things, but in this passage it means
it brings. Now when you lead your dog, does
that mean you just go out there in front of it, run away from
it for a bit, and then holler for that dog to come to you if
it wants to? That's not leading a dog, is it? When you lead a
dog, you put that dog on a leash. And you put that collar around
that's hooked to that leash around that dog's neck and you make
sure that dog goes with you. That's the implication. It's
like putting the ox under the yoke and forcing the reins or
a long time ago they would walk beside the ox and have a prod,
prodded along. It's the goodness of God that
brings you to repentance, do you see it? It's the goodness
of God that drives you to repentance. But we ought to think of those
things as connected to tough things, right? But no, this is
the goodness of God, do you see it? Now tough things will be
there when God opens your eyes. or maybe I should say gives you
eyes and ears and a heart to see and hear and perceive, and
you begin to realize what you really are, you will be inside
inner turmoil. It will be a tribulation, a trouble,
a trying circumstance, but it will be God's goodness that is
to lead you to, or bring you to, or to drive you to, or to
induce you to repentance. and you'll be glad to repent.
You understand what I'm saying? I mean, it's one thing to do
something to get out from under a trouble, right? Right? If that's the only way God led
us to repentance, then when the trouble quit, the repentance
would fade away, you see? That's just one thought about
it. So that's why, because God's truth is the truth. That's why
Paul is forced to write it this way. It's the goodness of God
that brings you to repentance, drives you to repentance, induces
you to repentance. But then notice it is the goodness
of God. Of course, I've already kind
of mentioned it, but in connection with the word leadeth. But when
men think, including myself, I don't always think the right
thoughts. I don't know, I don't know. And
when I'm smiling, it's just to cover up my shame. It's the goodness of God. We
usually think of God's goodness as, well, I got a good job. My
bills are being paid, and although it's a struggle, somehow, everything
always works out, right? Ever been there? I've always
been there. When you don't know where the
next bill's going to be paid from and bills pile on top of
that, but somehow, Somehow, God Almighty works it out, right? The bills get paid, even if you
have to go borrow some old money and take on another debt, but
at least you get the creditor's noose off around your neck. And that's what we like to think
about God's goodness, right? When God's blessing me, giving
me things, and that's where the flesh really sees God's goodness. If God's giving me what I want
and makes me happy and makes me comfortable, then God must
be being good to me, right? But that's not, we already mentioned,
that's not necessarily true. Don't you think Herod was quite
a comfortable man? Don't you think he didn't have
any of the worries that most of the people he ruled over had?
And yet God smote him with worms and killed him. Did he not? Because
he did not give God the glory. Now this word goodness, what
does it mean? It's primary, we might say the
first meaning of it and everything else about this goodness is equal
to that, it doesn't contradict, it means moral excellence. And
you can go to your concordance, go to Strong's, et cetera. Moral
excellence. And moral is a good word. It's
a good word. There is morality and there is
immorality. The scriptural equivalent would
be righteousness and unrighteousness. The only problem I have with
not the word morality, the word's fine, is men's use and practice
of morality. because you and I know, you and
I know that there are things today that are considered completely
moral that 50, 60 years ago, it was immoral. And even if you
did it, you kept it in the closet, you kept it in a home. You understand
what I'm saying? The problem's not with the word
moral, the problem is with man's sense of morality. But be that
as it may, it means this moral excellence. But then I read a
little further. And I read, you know, a lot of Greek words are
two or three words put together, you know what I'm saying? And
I read some of that otherness, but also it means this, to furnish
or to provide what is needed. to furnish or provide what is
needed. And all of a sudden, I started
to see a little bit about what it means that the goodness of
God leads thee to repentance. Think about it. Think about it.
It is what God Almighty in free sovereign grace provides to me
that leads me or drives me or induces me to repentance. Do you see that? It actually
furnishes or provides what is needed. And that's usually we
say, well, you help out somebody. If somebody's in need, you provide
the need. Somebody says, well, it's a good
thing. And amongst men, it is a good thing. And even under
God, it's a good thing, but it's not gonna gain you any merit
before God. Now, you hear what I'm saying?
Men ought to be good toward one another and provide one another's
needs. James says, you say you've got faith, you see a brother
in need, you don't just go up and give him a few of these and
say, God bless you. If you've got something in your pocket
that'll help that man out or something that you'll have, give
that man, give that brother what he needs. Well, that's true goodness. You see it? That's true goodness.
Now, I want you to turn, and if you have a Bible, I want you
to turn to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. And I didn't
see this till yesterday. And I said, thank you God for
giving me this. Well I certainly wasn't looking for it, but I
just knew something was missing. I was then going to give you
a few examples of the goodness of God leading thee to repentance,
and then start into what is repentance. And then this, now I knew this,
but I'd forgot it. You know what I mean? I'd forgot
it. Now you got Exodus chapter 33. And let's look at, let me
see where my notes, verse 17, let's start there. Now remember,
Moses feels under the gun. He knows he's got a job to do.
He knows he's got rebellion in here, and he knows these people
he's leading have got rebellion in them. And he's wanting to
know, oh God, don't you send us up here if you don't go with
us. You know, have I found grace in your sight? And look what
it says, verse 17. And the Lord said unto Moses, I can tell now
I'm not gonna get to actual repentance yet. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast
found grace in my sight. Now can you imagine having God
tell you that? If only God would tell me that.
He has. This is his word no less than
when he spoke physically to Moses. You see, this is his word. But our minds, oh, we just think
it'd be so much better if it sounded forth from heaven. No,
this is a more sure word, prophecy. Now look, for thou hast found
grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. And I remember one preacher saying,
Moses didn't take a breath for God to change his mind, show
me. Now, he would just bend that for effect. Show me then. Isn't
that what he says? Show me thy glory. Now look,
that's what he's asked. The question is show me thy glory.
And he said, now who's the he there? That's the Lord, that's
God. And he said, I will make my goodness
pass before thee. Is that what he said? Mm-mm,
it's only a part of what he said. You can't leave out that one
three-letter word because if you do, you'll think of goodness
in the wrong way. You're trying to divide up goodness
and maybe this is, that, no, look. And he said, I will make
all my goodness pass before they, all? How can that be? Try to, sit down and try to start
using words to describe God's goodness. Right? I'm reminded,
I'll give you this illustration. I'm reminded of seeing a movie
and somebody was going through a wormhole. You know what they
call wormholes? I don't know. The only wormholes I know are
two. It's one that the night crawler crawls out of and that's
the house that I live in because there's four worms that live
there in that hole. But anyway, this person was passing
through this wormhole and was just seeing all these other galaxies
fly by. So as Moses stood there, why
did he say, did God begin to show him this great Great canopy
of all of God's goodness? No. But he was going to see what? All of God's goodness. Because
God had just promised he was gonna show it to him, right?
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee
and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. Now
this is my opinion. I cannot prove this by scripture. Dogmatically. But I know this. Moses, Moses seen Christ day,
Joe. What you wrote to me got me to
thinking about Moses. Moses, he was glad. Moses was
speaking with the Redeemer. But look at it. I just wonder,
did he tell him his name? Did he? I don't know. I don't
know. But he told him the name of the
Lord, whatever it was, right? And look, I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. In other words, Moses, you didn't earn this. And it's
not even really been given to you just because you asked it
of me. Because one of the prophets said,
I was found to them that asked not after me, didn't seek after
me. Right, it's God's sovereign, God's sovereign. Look, and he
said, thou canst not see my, what? Face? A face? The Lord's face? How is it that anyone could ever
see the face of God? Only in the person of Jesus Christ. But even here, God's telling
Moses, you're not gonna get to see the face. You see it? Thou shalt see my, and he said,
thou canst not see my face, for thou shalt no man see me and
live. Now notice how he said that.
He didn't say no man can see my face and live, because if
you've seen Christ, even by faith, you have seen the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Because the face reveals, not
literally see it, the face reveals who you are. I remember Henry
Mayhem one time giving the illustration. When we take pictures, what do
we take pictures of? At least here. Do you ever just
take a picture of your hands? Oh, there's Walter, look at that.
Look at that, there's Walter. Huh? There's Walter's hand. That's
Walter, yeah. Or maybe it's my foot. Take a
picture of that foot hanging up on the wall. There's Walter,
no. But you see this, right? If you know Walter, you look
at that picture and you see this, what do you see? That's Walter.
Okay, that's the illustration. For there shall no man see me
and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Now who do you think the rock
was there? I mean, there was a rock that followed these people,
a rock that followed them. They didn't keep coming back
to the rock, the rock followed them. And Paul tells us clearly
that rock was Christ. Look, thou shalt stand upon a
rock. and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by. Now
what are you telling me? I'm gonna show you all by goodness. Look, and my glory passeth by
that I will put thee in the cleft of the rock, that little hiding
place, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. So the same God that he's talking
to is the one that's gonna stick his hand out, not let him see
his face yet, but look, and I will take away my hand and thou shalt
see my back parts. He sees his shoulders, his back,
his rump, and his legs, maybe his heels, Mesa. But he got to
say, when you read that, what do you think of? A human being,
do you not? God is spirit. I mean, he is
pure glory, pure light. This can only be a pre-fleshly
appearance of God Almighty before Christ was actually incarnate
in the flesh through the Virgin Mary. Now then, how could you
see all of God's goodness at one time and still not even see
the face and still be called all of God's goodness? If you
see Jesus Christ, you've seen all the goodness of God. Let
me give you two examples. Two examples, the Gadarene Demontiac,
he had some troubles, did he not? I mean, this man was so
possessed with demons that he wouldn't wear clothes, they tried
to bind him, he'd break them. and he was living in the graves,
in tombs, not a graveyard like we think of it. He'd evidently
move a rock out of the way, dead bodies, he'd go up in there and
sleep, go up in there and stay. Was he seeking the Lord? He's
a crazy man, infested with demon possession. And yes, he ran to
Christ, but he couldn't run to Christ until Christ had first
come to him. He didn't take off to go find
Jesus, Jesus came to him. Jesus is the goodness of God. And let me tell you something,
Jesus cast out the devils. And then they found him what?
Seated at the feet of Jesus. Clothed, and then he's right
there. You see, his troubles didn't
make him repent. They bind him up, it didn't make
him better. I figure he just went crazy. You're probably out there hearing
him howling in the middle of the night. Made you fear if you
wanted to go put a few flowers on the kinfolk's grave, don't
you think, with that fool running around demon infested? But the
goodness of God came and led him to repentance. Look at Saul
of Tarsus. Look at Saul of Tarsus. He was
on his way to have Christians put in jail. And the pricks were
eating at him, and eating at him, right? Because even Christ
himself has said, it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks. But it lets me know he was. That wasn't leading him
to repentance, was it? When did he repent? When the
goodness of God came along. Huh? You see what I'm saying?
That's all I'm trying. You see, preacher, it's that
simple. It's more simple than I've even stated it, and yet
it's that profound. Oh, you'll see all my glory,
and all I got to see was the back parts. Well, let me tell
you something. If you see anything of the truth
of the personal work of Christ, you've seen all God's glory,
because he is all God's glory wrapped up in one person. In
one person. Now that lets me know that the
preaching of the person and work of Christ is quite, it's a blessing
to hear, is it not? And I remember what Tim James
one time said. When I first heard it, I thought
I knew everything. He said, God saves me every time
I hear the gospel. I'm starting to understand what
he's talking about. I'm starting to understand what
he's talking about. Oh, Heavenly Father. Thank you that your goodness
does lead us to repentance. And Father, we thank you for
him who is your goodness. Oh, Lord, we're so forgetful. So forgetful. Thank you, God,
for your free reigning grace. In Christ's name, amen.