The title of this message is
Known by Judgment, Part 1. We're going to be looking at
Psalm 9 if you want to go ahead and be turning there. I'm not
going to look at it right off the bat here, but that's what
we'll be looking at in a moment. One of the clearest declarations
that God has made of Himself in the Scriptures is found in
Isaiah 45, verse 20 and 22 through 22. He says, assemble yourselves
and come. Draw near together, you that
are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye and bring them near.
Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I
am God, and there is none else." A just God and a Savior, that's
the clearest declaration of God given, one of the clearest in
the Scriptures. And our subject today is, how
is that God, a just God and Savior, how is He made known? How is
He identified? How is He distinguished from
all the would-be gods of men's imaginations? Men can acknowledge
that God is the Creator, even that He created all things, that
even that He created all things out of nothing. Men can ponder
over the heavens and marvel at the marvelous works of God. And
we should marvel at Him. God Himself says His glory is
in the heavens. Listen to Psalm 19 and verse
1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. Creation is no doubt
a marvel. There's great wisdom and power
and faithfulness displayed in the heavens, but it's a limited
knowledge of God. We can't know the God of creation
by the things created. We can't know Him. He's determined
that those who know Him will know Him elsewhere, not in creation. Also, men can marvel over the
control that God displays in the providence of this world.
He reigns and rules in this world's events, governs everything, the
most minute. And men can believe that God
is in control. They can believe that He's governing
all events and situations by the Word of His power. They can
insist that God is in control of the most minute detail, even
to the dust rolling up from the rear of your vehicle. And guess
what? He is. He is the God of providence. God had a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar
declare his control of providence. In Daniel 4 and verse 35, he
said, "...and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing."
And God doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? God is the God of providence. But again, just as we can't know
the God of creation by the things created, we can't know the God
of providence by the things he controls and the things he governs.
If you and I would know God, and that's what we want to talk
about today, known by judgment, If we would know a just God and
Savior, the God that He declares Himself to be, we have to go
to God's own revelation of Himself. We have to go to His Word. And
God says He is known. He says He's identified. He says
He is distinguished by His judgment. That's where he distinguishes
himself from any who might pretend or claim to be God. If you turn
into your Bibles to Psalm 9, let's go down to verse 11 and
we'll read on down to the end of the chapter. Psalm 9 beginning
in verse 11. Sing praises to the Lord which
dwelleth in Zion. Zion is the church. Declare among
the people his doings. When he maketh inquisition for
blood, he remembereth them. He forgetteth not the cry of
the humble. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Consider
my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me. Thou that
liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may show forth
all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will
rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in
the pit that they made. In the net which they hid is
their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment
which he executed. The wicked is snared by the work
of his own hands. Hegatian. Selah. The wicked shall
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation
of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not
man prevail. Let the heathen be judged in
thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may
know themselves to be but men. Selah. That verse 13 has its
first application in the person of Christ. Have mercy upon me,
O Lord. Consider my trouble, which I
suffer of them that hate me. Thou that liftest me up from
the gates of death, that I may show all Thy praise in the church,
the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in Thy salvation. But
it says there in verse 16, the Lord is known by the judgment
which He executes. That last word, selah there,
after that verse, means pause. Just take a minute. Consider
what you just read there. Think about the Lord. That Lord,
capital L-O-R-D, that means Jehovah, our Savior, or Jehovah who saves. So he's talking about salvation
here. He's talking about God's judgments in salvation. And think
about the Lord being known by that judgment which He executes.
and think about how those judgments make him known. Now, this consideration
we're looking at here today is the, by far, by far the most
important consideration you and I will ever make. We'll consider
a lot of important things in life. when to get married, where
to live, when to retire, how to spend our money. We'll make
a lot of important considerations in life, but this consideration
right here, this is by far the most important. How God is known
by the judgment he executes. That's the most important thing
we'll ever consider. And I won't say that God only
executes judgment these three ways that we're going to talk
about today. But for this message, let's consider these three ways
that God does execute judgment and consider how these ways make
Him known. In other words, these three ways
are what reveal God to be the just God and Savior He is. These
three judgments are what distinguishes the true and living God from
idols. And as I already said, and as
we'll see, these judgments concern God showing mercy to sinners
who, in themselves, don't deserve mercy, and in themselves can't
obtain mercy, but who find that mercy in the doing and dying
of Christ alone. Now, what I've done in this message
is outline these three judgments which God executes and by which
He's made known. I don't have time to give too
many details on each point, I plan to do that maybe later on, Lord
willing, but today we're just going to look at this outline.
Three points. First, God is made known by the
judgment He executes against sin, by the judgment He executes
against sinners. God has been clear from the beginning.
He told Adam, in the day you eat thereof, Adam, don't eat
of that tree. In the day you do, you shall
surely die. No sin, no sinner will go unpunished. God will not clear guilty sinners
of the just punishment they deserve. He will not clear anyone of the
just punishment that His eternal justice demands of every soul
that sins. Listen to two verses in Ezekiel
that tell us that plainly. Behold, all souls are mine, as
the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine.
The soul that sinneth, that soul shall die. And in Ezekiel 34,
7, God will by no means clear the guilty. Every sinning soul
must die. And that death is eternal. The
wages of sin is death. Eternal death because the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Every
soul that remains charged with sin, every soul that remains
legally guilty must suffer the eternal separation from God that
His eternal justice demands. Now we can see the reality of
this truth in the death of Christ on the cross. when we're given
eyes to see it. That's what we want to talk about
here. Turn to John chapter 12 with me, if you will. John 12
and verse 31. We're looking at God being made
known by the judgment which He executes. And He talks about,
Christ talks about that judgment here in John chapter 12. In this
context, Christ announced the judgment that His Father would
execute. Not against the world in general,
but the judgment he would execute against his elect people. Look
at John 12 and verse 31 now. Now is the judgment of this world.
This is Christ speaking here. John recorded his words. Now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying
what death he should die. There, that is, at the cross,
because that's what He's talking about. There at the cross, God
exercised His eternal judgment against sin. But it wasn't judgment,
as I said, on the world in general or on humanity in general. At
the cross, God poured out His wrath on His Son. Who is the
Son? Christ is the substitute and
sin-bearer of His chosen people. On that cross, God poured out
on Christ the just punishment that His chosen people deserve.
There, God poured out on Christ the just punishment His chosen
people would justly receive except for Christ being their substitute
on that cross. The world about to be judged
is the world of the elect. The prince of this world in those
verses there, Satan, would be cast out. That is, he would be
deprived of his strength, of his control over God's elect
in each successive generation. God's elect are the all, that
means in italics, the all, is the elect of God who would be
drawn to Christ in each successive generation. And all this would
take place, it says, because of the death of Christ. This
he said signifying what death. Now what death is Christ speaking
of here? Well, obviously He's speaking
of His impending death on the cross to save His people and
to establish that righteousness prophesied of Him. Christ had
to be lifted up in judgment. He had to bear the punishment
that His people deserved. He had to bring in everlasting
righteousness. He's the only one that could. So, obviously, he's talking about
his cross death. But it's when Christ is lifted
up, in other words, when his death is rightly declared in
the gospel, that's when sinners can understand that the judgment
for those represented by Christ has already taken place. God's
justice has already been satisfied for those Christ died for. And
when Christ's effectual death is preached in the gospel, and
the Holy Spirit lifts it up, In other words, makes it effectual
in the mind, affections, and will of a sinner. That's when
the prince of this world, Satan, is cast out. That's when Satan's
control, that bondage that he holds us all in by nature, that's
when that control is broken. And that's when sinners are drawn
to Christ. So we can see in this passage,
he's talking about the judgment of the elect of God and how in
time when Satan is brought, he's cast out by the death of Christ
legally, but he has to be cast out of each of us in time in
each successive generation. There at the cross, having imputed
to Christ the sins of His sheep, God poured out His eternal wrath
on Christ. He poured out on Christ the just
punishment His sheep deserve. God's elect have already been
judged. They have already been justly
punished for their sins. No punishment. No eternal punishment. No punishment. No punishment
can befall the elect of God. Their punishment ended when Christ
said it is finished and surrendered himself in death. Nothing can
be nor is anything needed to be done by these sinners to make
Christ's death effectual to them. It's already effectual. How effectual? Well, listen to some verses.
Romans 8 and verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Isaiah 43 and verse 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. How effectual is the death of
Christ? Jeremiah 31 and 34. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Psalm 103.12,
as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us. That's how effective Christ's
death was for those he represented. God punishes and He will not
clear the guilty. He's already executed His judgment
against the sins of His sheep and against them. He has already
punished His elect with all the punishment they deserve. He has
already punished them with all the punishment His justice demands.
And they will not, indeed they cannot, ever be punished further. A sinner Christ died for is free
from eternal death. He's free from eternal punishment.
He won't enter into that second death. For him, God's judgment
against sin was settled there at the cross, and it will never
be brought up again in the court of God's justice. The only sinners
who need to fear the eternal wrath or eternal punishment of
God are those who reject the effectual death of Christ for
every sinner he was given. That's the only ones that need
to fear. God is known, first of all, by the judgment He executes
against sin. He is known first by the judgment
He has already executed on His elect in Christ at the cross. Now, this is the judgment Christ
is speaking of in this context. And I know you think I've said
a lot about this judgment, but there's a lot more to be said
about this judgment. And I told you this was part
one, and in a future message I plan to deal with it in a little
more detail even than I've done today. But today I just want
to go on to two further judgments that God executes by which He's
made known. The second way God is made known
by the judgment He executes is in the justification of ungodly
sinners. Now let me just say this at the
start of this point. As we already heard in Isaiah,
God is just. He's a just God. But He's also
a Savior. That's how He distinguishes Himself
from idols. But He's first a just God. He's just when He justifies ungodly
sinners. His justice is in full agreement
with the justification of the ungodly. Who are the ungodly? They are those who by nature
don't know the God of the Scriptures. They are those who by nature
don't know a just God and Savior. They are all of us by nature.
The ungodly don't know God, they don't follow God, they don't
worship God. The ungodly are those who by
nature are in league with Satan. That's what Paul told us in Ephesians
2 verse 1. We walked in league with Satan. They're those following Satan's
lie, thou shalt not surely die. But we think by nature that the
reason we won't die is because of something we've done. And
that's not the truth at all. That's far from the truth. Which
means that the ungodly don't believe that God must and will
punish every sin. Every sinner will be punished
with the eternal death that sinner deserves and God's justice demands,
either in the person of Christ or in their own person for all
eternity. So God justifies the ungodly. Well, I just described the ungodly.
They don't know God. They don't follow God. They don't
worship God. And yet, God's word declares the justification of
such sinners as this. Listen to Romans 4 verses 4 and
5. Now to him that worketh is the
reward. Now this is a passage talking about the justification
of Abraham before God, his eternal justification. Now to him that
worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." Like I said, this is speaking
of Abraham's legal, eternal justification before God. And in this context,
Abraham is a type of all the elect of God. God's justice agrees
with the justification of such sinners as the ungodly. God's justice agrees with God's
seeing and declaring them not guilty, but righteous in his
sight. And the question of the scriptures
is this. How is that right? How can that
possibly be true? How can God be just and be doing
right to a sinner like that? How can he declare him righteous,
who by nature and by practice deserves nothing but his eternal
wrath and judgment? That's the question of the scriptures.
By nature, none of us considers the question, none of us knew
the question, much less do we know the scriptural answer to
it. The sinners God justifies are justified freely, without
any cause in them, without them measuring up to any requirement,
without them fulfilling any condition. Romans 3 and verse 24 says, being
justified freely. That's without any cause in the
sinner. being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. As Abraham was, these sinners
are justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Romans
4 and verse 6, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Until you thoroughly understand the first point of this outline,
until you thoroughly understand how God has already executed
His eternal judgment against sin in Christ at the cross, until
then, any notion of God justifying a sinner, any notion of God declaring
a sinner not guilty but righteous in His sight, any idea of God
pardoning sin, any thought of God forgiving iniquity, any understanding
you have of salvation, You know what it is? Before you come to
that understanding of God dealing with sin justly? It's a myth. It's an imagination of man's
heart. It's the product of a deceitful
and desperately wicked heart, which we all have by nature.
Why is that true? It's because without the shedding
of blood, that is, without Christ's blood, without His death effectually
punishing sin, without that, Without your understanding of
that, any notion of remission of sin is just a myth to you,
it's just an imagination. Because without that, there's
no pardon, no forgiveness. In justification, God executes
His eternal judgment for ungodly sinners. That justification is
not on the basis of anything found in those sinners. but it's
on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed to those sinners by which
they're justified, and that exclusively. This is the only way God is just
to declare sinners not guilty, but righteous in His sight. Until
you've considered God's judgment, His justice in the justification
of ungodly sinners, you've never considered the justification
of the Scriptures. First, God is known by the judgment
He executes against sin. Second, God is known by the judgment
He executes in the justification of ungodly sinners. And thirdly,
God is known by the judgment He executes in salvation. That is, the judgment He executes
in those sinners whom He's already justified. those sinners He saves. God executes His judgment in
the hearts, that is the minds, the affections and will of those
He saves. Now this would be those whose
thinking is changed by the gospel. They don't just come to the gospel
and hear it, or even embrace it. They rejoice in Christ. They rejoice in the Christ of
the Scriptures. Their thinking is changed by the Gospel. They're
delivered to this form of doctrine and therefore the Savior this
doctrine declares, this Gospel declares. They are those the
Holy Spirit convinces of sin and righteousness and judgment.
They are those that are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Like we saw earlier, these are those in whom the prince of this
world is cast out. They are those who are drawn
to Christ, convinced that the only way God can show them mercy
and bless them eternally is based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ alone. And just like Abraham did, they
rejoice in the day of Christ. Having told His listeners that
the Good Shepherd give us His life for the sheep, Christ tells
them that His sheep are those in each generation who know Him
and follow Him. Listen to John 10 and verse 27.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father. The sheep are
those who hear the voice of the shepherd and follow him. Having
told his listeners that he is the bread of life which came
down from heaven, and that every sinner who believes in him would
never hunger and never thirst, Christ tells them that every
sinner whose salvation the Father has entrusted to him will in
time in each generation come to Him. John 6, 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up
at the last day." And then John 6 and verse 44, No man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me.
The regenerate sinner is the sinner who knows that God judged
His people in Christ at the cross and settled the matter of judgment
on behalf of all those in Him in the court of God's justice.
He's the sinner who knows that God justifies the ungodly based
on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. What then does
the regenerate sinner do? He comes to Christ. He leaves
the false refuge he was in and he comes to the only refuge that
will be saved in that day of final judgment. He comes to the
Savior whose obedience unto death has settled the issue of God's
eternal judgment. He comes to the Savior who has
already borne the wrath of God to its completion for those he
was given. He comes to the God who justifies
the ungodly based on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone.
He comes by the Spirit who settles the matter of judgment in those
to whom He sent. God is known by the judgment
He executes. First, by the judgment He executes
against sin. Second, by the judgment He executes
in the justification of ungodly sinners. And third, He's known
by the judgment He executes in salvation, in those sinners He
justified. Now, that's an outline by which
God says He is made known. The Lord Jehovah who saves is
made known. And obviously, one message has
not given us time to go into a whole lot of details here,
but like I said, Lord willing, I plan to come back later and
supply those details. Till then. Thank you.