We welcome you all out today.
It's good to be in the house of the Lord, to hear the message
of grace again. We heard it already this morning,
and I trust we'll hear it one more time right here. But it's
really a privilege that I know we take for granted sometimes,
but it's a blessed privilege to be where the gospel is preached.
Well, as you can see, I'm continuing on in my little series called
The Righteousness of God. And I told y'all last time, I'll
probably tell you every time, don't get caught up in the series.
This is basically if somebody wants to order these four or
five messages that are coming through this series, they'll
know what they need to order. So all that's for. The subtitle
of the message today is Knowing the Unknown God. So that's what
I'm going to be talking about primarily. And let me remind
you, I'm going to tell you like Bill told you, if you sat under
the gospel all these years or sat for very long, then you know
the answer to the question of how God is just to justify the
ungodly. Well, in this series of messages,
I'm talking about the righteousness of God, one particular statement
from the scriptures and different things that relate to that. And
so you probably know what the righteousness of God is, but
I'm going to tell you again just in case you forgot. The righteousness
of God is all that Christ has done. His incarnation, His obedience,
suffering and death, His putting away sin, His bringing in that
everlasting righteousness, all that Christ has done. that makes
it right, makes it just for God to justify an ungodly sinner.
That's what the righteousness of God is. You can say that other
ways. There are other ways you can
make that statement, but that's just the way I like to make it.
So that's what we're looking at. And today we're going to
look at the righteousness of God, the most important single
piece of information that sinners need to know and understand,
because the righteousness of God is the only thing that identifies
and declares to sinners the unknown God. Look with me at Acts chapter
17 and verse 22 and 23. This is Paul talking to these
Gentiles here on Mars Hill. He said, Then Paul stood in the
midst of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed
by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription
to the unknown God. Whom therefore you ignorantly
worship, Him declare I unto you." Now, he's talking to obvious
idolaters here. They've got different monuments
out here with inscriptions to different gods, and they're just
covering all their bases. And so what they did to cover
all their bases was make this monument to the unknown god. He's telling these philosophers,
I'm going to declare to you this unknown God, this God you don't
know by nature. That's the God I'm going to declare
to you. And he's already declared Him to them, in a sense, because,
you see, he had preached the gospel in town, and these guys
gathered out on Mars Hill to talk about different things,
things of what they called importance. Philosophers, they talked about
things that had never people had never heard of, and stuff
like that. So they had heard him preach, and they wanted him
to come out and declare more of what he had been preaching
to them. So that's one of the reasons that they had him out
there, because they'd already heard some things he said. Look on
in Acts 17 at verse 24 and 28. Now, he's telling these people
this is obviously and admittedly the God you do not know. Although
this God is the God who keeps all of us. Look at verse 24 now. of men, for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord,
if perhaps they might feel after him, and find him, though he
be not far from every one of us. or in Him we live and move
and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said,
for we are also His offspring." You see, even though we don't
know God by nature and they didn't know this God by nature, He's
still the one who's keeping us. He's the one giving us breath.
He gives us success. He heals our infirmities. He's
the one in control of this world, although none of us by nature
know Him. And our ignorance of the God
who's keeping us is evident. Look on in Acts, verse 29. Our ignorance of the God who
is keeping us, who's taking care of us, is evident. Forasmuch
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is likened to gold, or silver, or stone, graven
by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent."
Now he's talking to Gentiles here. He's talking about those
that God has left alone. You see that little word I underlined
there, God winked at? The times of this ignorance,
God winked at. That doesn't mean that God treated
this time lightly. It doesn't mean it didn't matter
to God. It simply means that God didn't address their ignorance
of Him at this time. He didn't confront the idolatry
of these Gentiles. He just left them alone. He left
them to their own devices. He left them in their ignorance.
He left them in their idolatry. Under the Old Covenant, God taught
Israel in picture and type. He taught them of Christ. They
saw daily Christ, a blood sacrifice, which pictured and typified the
work of Christ. To these Gentiles, to these nations,
He just left them alone. He didn't give them a schoolmaster.
He didn't give them the law. He didn't give them any prophets.
He didn't give them any pictures and types. He just left them
in their ignorance up to this time, He says. He's talking to
the Gentiles here on Mars Hill, but I want you to understand
that these times of ignorance right here, these are common
to all of us without exceptions. Now, we don't know it, so there's
no way we could acknowledge it, but until God brings us to the
Gospel, until He teaches us about the righteousness of God revealed
in the Gospel, He is to all of us, all of us without exception,
the unknown God, until He brings us to the Gospel. Now, the idea
of not knowing God, the idea that God is foreign to all of
us by nature, the idea that He's unknown to us, it's unthinkable,
you know? It's unthinkable outside the
Gospel realm here. It's never even crossed the minds
of us. How many of you thought in your
former religion that you were worshiping an idol. Nobody. Nobody
would do that. If you thought you were worshiping
an idol, you'd quit. You'd go find the true and living
God and worship Him. Every religious sinner thinks
they know God. Every religious sinner thinks
they worship God, but that thinking of ours by nature is contrary
to the scriptures. I want you to look at some scriptures
that plainly show us that our natural thinking on this issue
is not in accordance with God's testimony. Look at Ephesians
chapter 2 and verses 1 through 3. Paul writes, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Now
Paul's writing this to regenerated, converted sinners. He's describing
their conversation before the spirits work in them. He said,
you were dead. It says up there, it says you
won't. It says we all, including himself,
we all had our conversation in times past and were by nature
the children of wrath. He's talking to sinners who before
their conversion, worshiped a God of their imagination, sought
relief in a savior who just made salvation a possibility. Now
you be the judge of yourself, put yourself in that scripture
and be the judge. Does that sound like sinners
who know and are worshiping the true and living God? It doesn't
sound like it to me. And it's not written that way. Look further on in that same
context in Ephesians 2 and verses 11 and 12. He's still writing
to these Gentiles. He said, wherefore remember that
you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. He's
simply talking about the Jews were the circumcision in the
flesh and they call the Gentiles the uncircumcision. That's how
they identified the Gentiles. They were their uncircumcision.
The Jews were the circumcision. Verse 12, that at that time,
You are without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in this world. You see, I highlighted
there, at that time, and back up there further, in time past.
You see, there was a time in the life of these Gentiles, and
in mine and your life, that we were without Christ, without
any knowledge of Him, without knowing who He was or what He
had done, that we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
We weren't under any gospel preaching. We weren't under any message
that taught us about a just God and Savior. And we had no hope
at that time and were without God in this world. Now it's easy
for us to look at this passage of scripture and say those Gentiles
were some ignorant and obvious idolaters. Now that's pretty
obvious that he's describing that kind of person here. But
remember back to Ephesians 2 that we just read, Paul had already
said, among whom we all had our conversation. And we're all by
nature the children of wrath. We walked among those who didn't
know God, and we were among those who didn't know God. He's addressing
all of us by nature here. God's indictment against all
fallen humanity, whether it be Jews, whether it be Gentiles,
whether it be His elect, all without exception, His indictment
against fallen humanity, we see in Romans 3 verses It's actually
verses 10 through 18, but I'm just going to read three of these
verses just to remind you what it says. We've seen these verses
a lot. He says in verse 10, "...as it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God." You see, he's telling us
here that by nature none of us have the righteousness we need
to stand before God and Him to declare us righteous. We don't
have it based on anything we've done or based on anything God's
enabled us to do. None understands the just God
and Savior revealed in the Scriptures. None are seeking after that God.
Look on at the bottom line of that indictment, Romans 3.18,
there is no fear of God before our eyes. We have no reverential
respect for the God of redemption. We neither know nor are we concerned
about the most important issue in the Scriptures. And that's
how God is just, to justify an ungodly sin. We don't know that
and we're not concerned about it before God brings us to the
Gospel. These passages are all describing
all of us by nature. We're spiritually dead. All of
us are spiritually dead. Born that way. None of us know
God. None of us are worshiping God.
None are seeking after God. None of us understand God's way
of salvation by Christ alone. All are ignorant of the one thing
sinners need to understand. We're ignorant of the righteousness
of God. And the God of the Scriptures
is unknown to us at this time, at this time in our lives. Let
me share one more context in Isaiah that had an impact on
my thinking early on when God brought me to the Gospel and
sat me down right out there on a pew and I was listening to
Bill preach. He preached a lot from Isaiah and I loved it. Look
at Isaiah 45 and verse 20. He said, "...assemble yourselves
and come. Draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations."
He's talking about the church there, because ultimately they
are the ones who will escape, be the escaped of the nation.
He says, they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their
graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. Now, I never
carved an idol out of a piece of wood or a piece of stone.
I never had a graven image that I bowed down to and worshipped.
But when God brought me to the gospel, I began to understand
something about the God who was being preached. I understood
that the God I'm hearing from this pulpit, that's not the God
I worshipped when I was in my former religion. It's a different
God, definitely a different God. In other words, I learned under
the gospel that I had indeed prayed unto a God who could not
save me. You see, if you've imagined a
God who saved you, who accepted you, who blessed you based on
anything, anything at all, your faith, your repentance, your
good works, if you think a God blessed you based on anything
but the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, you
too have prayed unto a God who could not save you. And we've
all done that by nature. It's in this context, this Isaiah
context, that God not only tells us that we've prayed to a God
who couldn't save, but He tells us who to look to. He declares
unto us the one thing, the one thing in all the scriptures that
identifies God and distinguishes Him from the idols of this world.
God's not distinguished in creation. A lot of His attributes are revealed
in creation. His power, His wisdom, His faithfulness. And He's not distinguished in
providence. He's the God in control of everything that goes on in
this world. But He's not distinguished there.
He's chosen salvation to distinguish Himself from the idols of this
world. And that's where He's distinguished,
in salvation by Christ alone. Look at Isaiah chapter 45 and
verse 21 and 22. 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. You see how God distinguishes
Himself right here in Isaiah 45? There's one thing that distinguishes
God from the idols of this world. He is a God who justifies the
ungodly. That's how He distinguishes Himself,
in salvation. Not in creation, not in providence,
but in salvation. The God who's just to justify
ungodly sinners on the basis of Christ's righteousness alone,
that's the God that's always set before sinners in the gospel.
But until God brings us to the gospel, until then, He's the
God who's unknown to us by nature. That's what Paul wrote to the
Corinthian church. Look at 1 Corinthians 1 and verse
18. He writes here, For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God. The gospel is always
being delivered to two groups of sinners. Two different kinds
of sinners. There are those who are perishing
and there are those who are being saved. That's what that verse
tells us. That's an ongoing verb tense
there. They're perishing and they're
being saved. The gospel is, and it remains,
foolishness to the ones who are perishing. This message, this
message of true grace, this message of salvation conditioned on Christ
alone. It remains foolishness to the ones who are perishing,
but it becomes the power of God to the other group of sinners.
It becomes the power of God unto salvation to the group who's
being saved. And it's your response, my response
to the gospel that tells me which group I'm in. Am I in those that
are perishing? Have I rejected the gospel? Or
have I embraced the gospel? Have I embraced this just God
and Savior? Have I embraced this Christ who
by Himself put away sin and brought in the righteousness by which
God justifies ungodly sinners? Have I rejected Him or have I
embraced Him? That'll tell us which group we're
in. Look on in this context of 1 Corinthians 19 through 20.
He said, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The wisdom of this world concerning
salvation, the best they can come up with is God will if you
will. He'll save you if you do whatever. And the world in all its religious
wisdom Never does, it cannot bring a sinner face-to-face with
the God of the Scriptures. It can't bring a sinner face-to-face
with the just God and Savior. It doesn't know Him. It can't
bring them face-to-face with Him. The world's wisdom is God
will save you if... You accept Jesus as your Savior. You walk this aisle. You get
serious about religion. You straighten up your life.
And you keep doing these things that prove yourself to be saved.
That's the religion of the world. That's God will if you will.
But any message that fails to reveal the righteousness of God,
what Christ has done that makes it right for God to justify an
ungodly sinner, any message that fails to reveal the righteousness
of God, it's not the gospel. It's not declaring to sinners
the God of the scriptures, and it's not able to bring sinners
to salvation. It can't do it. God's wisdom
is that he has saved a multitude of his choosing based on Christ's
work alone, all efforts of sinners excluded. The gospel alone confronts
sinners with the God of this world's religion versus the true
and living God, the God who justifies the ungodly based on Christ's
righteousness. God is the true and living God.
He is a just God and Savior, but God is only identified. He's
only distinguished. We only learn of Him when God
sits us down under the Gospel wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed. That's the only place we'll learn
of the God of the Scriptures. Under my former religion, just
like those I worshipped with, I thought I knew God. I was zealous. I was a zealous... I was a zealous
religionist. I wasn't just playing games.
I was serious about what I was doing. I was sincere and dedicated. I was a deacon. I was a Sunday
school teacher. I was... I was a... interested in religion and wanting
to be the best I could. And I thought I worshipped God.
I thought I was trusting Christ alone for salvation. But I was
really trusting my faith in Christ and not His death alone. I came
to know that truth, not under my former religion, but under
the gospel. I knew nothing of the God who
declares sinners righteous on the basis of Christ's imputed
righteousness alone. You see, at that time I was an
ungodly sinner in this world. I was just like Ephesians 2 and
verse 12, without hope and without God in this world. I was like
Isaiah when God converted him. You remember what he said? I'm
a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. But I was ungodly, but that's
who God sends the gospel to, to ungodly sinners, zealous religionists
who don't know God, who don't know a just God and a Savior. Initially, the gospel is delivered
to ungodly sinners. Ungodly means destitute of reverential
awe towards God. It means the same thing as Romans
1.18. No fear of God before their eyes. It means you don't have any concern
or regard for how God can be just when He shows mercy to an
ungodly sinner. That's what ungodly means. Ungodly,
of course, it covers the unconcerned and the lawless and perverse
of this world. They're most certainly ungodly,
there's no question about that. But until we take the definition
of ungodly to include the sincere, dedicated religionist who has
no regard for God's redemptive glory, no regard for how God
can be just and justify, we haven't grasped the surface on what ungodly
really means according to the scriptures. It covers the dedicated religionists
who, just like me in my former religion, was praying to a God
who couldn't save me. I was ungodly at that time. And
being ungodly is far from a good thing. The ungodly are headed
for eternal misery. In Psalm 1 in verse 6, it says
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. They won't stand
with the righteous in the judgment. They're going to be in another
place. The way of the ungodly will perish. That's the language
of the scriptures. But thankfully, God shows mercy
to the ungodly. That mercy reaches all the way
back to eternity, where God justified the ungodly. Look at Romans 4
and verse 5. It says here of Abraham, speaking
of Abraham, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
This is spoken of Abraham, as I said. The verse before that
says, "...but to him that works is a reward, not reckoned of
grace, but of death. But to him that worketh not,
but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Abraham believed that God had justified him in
eternity based on the righteousness Christ would bring in When he
came, this is before he came, but Abraham believed that God
had already justified him, had already declared him righteous
in his sight, imputed Christ's righteousness to him based on
the work Christ would accomplish at the cross. Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, Christ said, and he saw it, and he was glad about
it. So God showed mercy to the ungodly by justifying the ungodly. God shows mercy toward the ungodly,
and it's seen at the cross where Christ died for the ungodly.
Look at Romans 5 and verse 6. It says, For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. He died the just for the unjust. And God's mercy to the ungodly
is seen in time when the Holy Spirit regenerates. That is,
He imparts life to the ungodly. Look at John 1, verses 11 through
13. And let me just stop right here
before we read that. There's an article in your bulletin
today by a man named McGinnis that we, you see him printed
quite often. It's partly about this verse
right here. Be sure to read that article.
Look at John 1.11 here now. It says, "...Christ came unto
his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name." Which were born. Born because
of their walking in the aisle, because of their dedication to
God. Born not of blood, not because
of your heritage or anything in you. nor of the will of the
flesh, not because you did something, you made that decision, you determined
that. not by the will of man, not because
somebody else determined it, but born of God. That's the Spirit
of God giving life to a spiritually dead sinner based on nothing
found in the sinner, based entirely on the imputed righteousness
of Christ. Regeneration is the work of the Spirit in sinners,
and regeneration is where the God who is previously unknown
to us, the God we don't know by nature, where He is made known.
This is when the ungodly are delivered from their ungodliness.
In other words, regeneration is where the minds of those who
have no regard for the redemptive glory of God are changed to see
that's the most important thing. The most important thing is to
understand and to realize how God is just to justify sinners
based on Christ's work and that alone. That's where God shines
the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ in the heart of a sinner. The elect are ungodly, in other
words, without God, not knowing God, not worshiping God, until
the Spirit gives them life. and faith in the God who justifies
the ungodly based on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone.
You see, it's something outside ourselves, something outside
our obedience that must make it right for God to keep us,
to eternally bless us, to save us. And it's something that must
make it right for the Spirit of God to impart spiritual life
to us. That's something, not anything
found in us. It's got to be something outside
us. And until we know that that's something, that's something that
makes it right for God to do that, to justify us and to impart
life to us in time, until we know that that something is the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, we don't know
the God of the scriptures till then. None know God by nature. He is to all, even to His elect,
the unknown God. Yet God knows His people, and
His people will know Him. Christ prayed that His people
would be given life and the knowledge of God through Him. Look at John
17, verses 1 through 3. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." You see, Christ is praying here that God not
leave His people in ignorance, that they be brought to the knowledge
of Him through Christ. Christ's people will all be taught
of God. Look at Hebrews 8, verses 11
through 12. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall
know me from the least to the greatest. How will they know
me? They'll know me as a God of mercy
who forgives their unrighteousness and remembers their sins and
iniquities no more, based on Christ's work alone. God's people
will all be taught of God. They'll be delivered from the
counsel of the ungodly. They'll be brought under the
sound of God's gospel. The Spirit of God will impart
life to them. They'll be given faith to look
to Christ, and those who learn will come to Christ. Look at
John 6 and verse 45. 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 comes to me. Now
these aren't going to come to Christ to accept Him as their
personal Savior. They're not going to come to
Christ to add their faith to His death and thereby save themselves
from sin. All that thinking is unscriptural.
Those are things that God's people come to repent of in time. But
these will come to Christ. They'll come to the God-man whose
obedience unto death upheld God's standard of judgment and established
righteousness in the earth. They will come to Christ who
put away the sin of his people. They'll come to Christ whose
righteousness imputed alone enables God to bless and to justify and
eternally bless all those that he was given. I would ask every
sinner who claims that you've come to Christ, have you come
to the one whose death alone has saved every sinner that he
died for? Have you come to that Christ?
Have you come to the God that you did not know apart from the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? A man might say,
well, I know God by creation. I know that God created, therefore
I know God. It's true, you might believe
that there is a God who created. I believed that before God brought
me to the gospel. But you can't know the God who
did the creating by His creation. You see? You might believe that
God is sovereign, that He's in complete control of all things.
You might believe that. I believed that before I came
to the Gospel. But the only way to know the
God who's in complete control of all things is the way that
He's chosen to identify Himself and distinguish Himself in the
Scriptures. And He says that's through the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Matthew chapter 11, verse
25 and 26. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, or so it seemed
good in Thy sight. Now, the statements Christ make
here come on the heels of Christ upbraiding those cities who saw
His greatest miracles, and yet they refused to believe on Him.
They refused to repent. So He's upbraiding them here.
And as we saw before, the wise and the prudent of this world,
God brings to nothing the wisdom of this world. The wise and the
prudent are those that have an idea of how God saves, but it's
by Christ's work plus man's work. The only way sinners know God
is through the Son that God has sent. Look on in this context
in Matthew 11 and verse 27. He says, All things are delivered
unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. If we
would know the Father, if we would know the God of the Scriptures,
if we would know a just God and a Savior, the Father has to first
reveal the Son to us. He has to sit us down under the
Gospel, where Christ, His person, His work, what He accomplished
for those He represented is preached out, where we understand the
righteousness of God. That's the only way we'll know
the God of the Scriptures. We get that knowledge through
the Son. Until the Son reveals God to
us, He remains the unknown God. We don't know Him. Look at Philippians
3, verses 7 through 9. Now, we usually equate this scripture
right here to repentance, and it is. It is that. But look at what Paul writes
here in Philippians 3, 7. He said, But what things were
gained to me? Let me just stop right there. He's just listed
a whole list of things that he thought gained him the favor
of God, that he thought gained him some measure of acceptance
with God, being a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
born of Israel. as touching the law of Pharisee.
He thought his law keeping and his being a Pharisee and his
being an Israelite, all those things he thought recommended
him to God. But what things were gained to
me, he says, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Like I said, Paul
is saying here that everything he thought gained him some favor
with God. Everything he thought he knew
was recommending him to God. But all that changed when he
came to the knowledge of Christ, when God brought him to the gospel. When he says, I've suffered the
loss of all things here, he's including in that all things
his thoughts of God as a Savior before God stopped him on that
Damascus road and taught him what Christ had done to save
his people. And what he's saying here is
what Paul said, I'm a pattern. I'm a pattern of all who believe.
When any sinner thinks anything, like Paul did here, When any
sinner thinks anything is gaining them God's favor other than the
imputed righteousness of Christ alone, that sinner, whoever they
are, you, me, or whoever, at that time, that sinner is not
looking to the God of the Scriptures. He or she does not know a just
God and Savior. He or she is not trusting Jesus
Christ whom God has sent. Have you, have I, ever thought
that anything recommended me to God other than the imputed
righteousness of Christ? I hope you can answer yes to
that, because I know there was a time in my life when I thought
a lot of things recommended me to God, and I didn't even know
anything about an imputed righteousness. I didn't even know anything about
a just God and Savior. Our next subject in this series
of messages will be godly repentance. Having brought sinners to the
gospel, Having brought sinners face to face with a just God
and Savior. Having taught sinners of the
God who is unknown to us by nature. Having done that. God, after
that, after he does that, commands all men everywhere to repent. Repent of your former idolatry.
Repent of your dead works. But that command will only have
reverence, relevance. It will only have relevance to
those who've changed their God. It will only have relevance to
those who have embraced the unknown God. Only those willing by the
power of God to leave the idol of their imagination and embrace
the God of the scriptures, the God preached in this pulpit,
a just God and a savior. In closing, like Paul did to
those on Mars Hill, I've set before you the unknown God. Now, some scoffed at Paul's God. They said, nah, I don't know
about that resurrection of the dead. Now, we'll hear you again
on that matter. But others, others wanted to
hear more about Paul's God. My question for you in closing
is, which crowd are you in? Most who hear the gospel, by
far the largest number of people who hear the gospel, resent the
idea that they don't know God until the righteousness of God
revealed in the gospel makes Him known to their minds. But
that's God's testimony. I've shown you from God's Word,
and it's God's Word we have to go by. So, which God will you
leave in? The God who's unknown to us by
nature, but is revealed in the gospel, or the God that you want
to go on with in your religious practice. You'll make that decision.