If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans chapter 1. You can follow me in your pastor's
commentary as we make our way into a very strategic portion
of Scripture of which the Apostle Paul in true prophetic form is
setting forth. The Word of God is rich and vital
and significant in its utterance, in its declarations. So when
they come to us out of the mouth of God, they come to us in power,
enlightening us to who God is and where we stand with him and
or revealing to us the glory of God in Christ. And so bringing
us to a saving knowledge of him. In any event, the word of God
is powerful to make sure that mankind knows that when God speaks,
it's God speaking. However, when you read your Bible,
one of the things that you want to learn to do is follow the
Spirit of God's method and approach to communicating a truth relevant
to your soul by way of the unfolding of Scripture. And what I mean
by that is you and I are preoccupied in Romans 1 through 3 with a
theme, a theme that the author of the book and the Spirit of
God is going to press down into our lives and help us to get
it. This theme will be an overarching
truth that will make us uncomfortable, but nevertheless is designed
to see to it that those of us who are serious about salvation
will actually achieve the goal for which we have been called.
Romans chapters 1 2 & 3 are designed to communicate to us the nature
and character and glory of God in such a way that Everyone listening
will be persuaded That all Have sinned and come short of the
glory of God So so so okay before you go a man cuz I amen I got
a verse for that one today. I Before you go, amen. I got
a verse for that one today. What I want you to understand
is as we press into the text and listen carefully to the argument
of the Spirit of God as He has surveyed all of humanity from
the first man to the last man, He has made an assessment of
us all. He has given judgment concerning
all of us. the way we are, the way we act,
our mannerisms, our conduct, and he's going to expose us for
being the frauds that we are, if in fact we are playing games
with God. So it's going to be uncomfortable
for a season. If you're not right with God,
this will be a great time to get right with God. Because when
we come up out of the valley into other rich and necessary
vital truths, if you have missed these points, you will fall into
the category of a people group that we'll have to talk about
here in just a brief moment, of which I pray that not one
soul in this room will be found on that last day having fallen
into this category. And that category is the category
of the reprobate. reprobate now what we have been
taught in Romans chapter 1 is that God has been and is revealing
his glory piercing through the darkness of human experience
of human reaction to God's revelation God is speaking successfully
revealing to man who he is by virtue of his revelation. And
man is continually suppressing that revelation all over the
world so as to deny God his glory. This is the interaction between
God and man at this present hour. Mankind as a collective whole
is suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. I hope I persuaded you a part
of that last week and today. Everywhere you go, what you hear
and what you see in terms of the whole scale makeup of human
existence is a suppression of the truth. Everything you listen
to, every program you watch, every discourse that you find
yourself exposed to by way of man's logic and reasons and arguments
about who we are and how we exist and what we are made for and
what we should be doing and how we are free to be who we are,
are all suppressions of the truth. The whole of humanity at present
as a collective is suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness. This is the category of people
that you and I began to discuss last week in Romans 1 verses
24 through 28 when we saw that God gave them over in response
to their suppression of the truth because they exchanged the glory
of God for an idol. You remember that? God gave them
over to three things. He gave them over to the lust
of their flesh. That's verse 24. And then He
gave them over to unnatural sexual desires. That's verses 25 through
27. And then finally He gave them
over, in verse 28, to a reprobate mind. That's where we are at
present as I lay a foundation for chapter 2. So humanity has
been handed over by the power of God to the dark authorities
of this world system. And so when you look out into
the world, what you see is a world given over to the darkness of
sin and Satan. The full orbed expression of
our present world how it manifests itself, and how happy it appears
to be, and how it loves pleasure, and how it just loves to just
continue to revel in this pseudo-happiness, in this pseudo-partying that
it engages in, which for the people of God is darkness. They
are telling you this is the way that it is, and what the Word
of God is saying, it's a suppression of the truth, and it's a judgment
of God on them. And you and I contemplated significantly
how that when we don't know God, in the grace of Christ, we pervert
our sexuality. Because what God does when he
gives humanity over is to give them over to themselves. And
when you are given over to yourself as the foundation and the grounds
of all satisfaction, the ultimate thing that you're gonna do is
terminate satisfaction in yourself. Because you're giving over to
yourself. The only thing you can do separate from being a
partaker of the divine nature and exposed to the glory of God,
which is an infinite, infinite abyss of pleasure, which if you
had it, you'd be able to enjoy new revelations of joy and blessing
in God every day. But when you are left to yourself,
all you can do is terminate pleasure in yourself. And even when that
occurs, God gives you over to a twisting of it so that you
don't even do it according to the biblical model. And the last
category that he began to deal with is in verse 28, of which
I want to call your attention briefly because I want you to
understand there is a second category of people that Paul
is now going to target in our text. that second category of
people to whom he is about to speak, he is going to transition
seamlessly in his argument to that category of people. And
that category of people, while you and I may have been uncomfortable
last week with the other rank, heathen, pagan sinners out there
living like hell, because we certainly identify with them.
See, the one thing about a believer, if I may digress for a moment,
is if he or she is honest, we know what it means to be a rank
sinner. But we also know what it means
to be the righteousness of God in Christ. Because of the grace
of God, I fully identify with all of the virtues of the divine
nature, the character and attributes of God, my soul says yes and
amen to, and I have perfect fellowship with that God by virtue of the
Spirit of God in me. I know what righteousness is.
I know what grace and mercy and kindness is. I know what the
power of God is in my life. I'm a new creature in Christ,
so I'm able to identify with that grace that has moved me
out of darkness into His marvelous light and given me a hunger for
God and has brought me into the satisfactions of communion with
God. I know what it means to walk
in the light, but I also still know radically what it means
to have been in the darkness and to be still struggling with
that darkness. This allows the believer to maintain
qualification for effective witnessing to the lost. But be sure to understand
this, child of God, that your assessment of biblical truth
must land where God aims for it to land for you to be secure. for which we are now about to
discuss the next doctrinal act on God's part with regards to
humanity briefly as I lay a foundation for our message today and that
is because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.
Because mankind says no to the knowledge of God. That's what
that means. Literally in the construction, it means that they
do not accept the fact that they know enough about God to give
Him glory. That means they are constantly
opposing what deep down inside they really truly know. Watch
this. Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
that's a volitional antagonism. In Romans 8, it's called enmity.
Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.
God gave them over. That's our word parodidomi Paradoken
remember one authority giving you over to another authority
because you don't want to voluntarily submit to that previous authority
God gave them over watch this now to a reprobate mind Time
to learn some things about what it means to have a reprobate
mind What is reprobation? It actually was a term that was
coined with regards to metals and jewels and fine, fine, precious
rubies and diamonds and gold and silver. wherein the claim
to be silver would be tested by taking the silver and putting
it in a crucible to see if that silver can stand the test of
purging. And when the silver is purged,
whatever is left is called pure. But that which was purged is
called dross. And sometimes a piece of silver
or a piece of gold can look authentic, until it's placed in the fire.
And when once it's placed in the fire, because it's more dross
than gold, it is declared reprobate. The word means to be rejected.
It means to have been tested and proving to have failed to
qualify for what it says it is. Now, when God gives us over to
a reprobate mind, what that means, ladies and gentlemen, is that
we have lost the capacity to use our minds the way that God
designed them. We have lost the capacity to
think God's thoughts after Him. We have lost the capacity to
be able to reason through and draw proper conclusions about
the things we see, know, and experience. When you and I are
given over to a reprobate mind, we never come to the truth about
a thing. We never come to the truth about
a thing. A reprobate mind never comes
to the truth. It's always laboring for an answer
and that answer is always wrong. This is what is meant to be led
by the spirit of error. This is why we are in the present
age dominated by agnosticism. I don't know. We're dominated
by it. And to be a reprobate means to
be disqualified in your mind for being able to make right
judgments. I want you to see how this works
in order for you and I to be able to examine ourselves when
it comes to biblical truth today. The first place I want you to
go with me is in 2 Corinthians chapter 13. We're going to look
at four or five verses, and this will be a germane text for us
to contemplate because it's here that the Apostle Paul is warning
the church at Corinth who professes to be a Christian church, he's
asking them the question, since you say you are a Christian,
let's examine that claim and try to determine whether or not
your profession is authentic. So he says in verse one, this
is the third time I'm coming to you. the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every word be established I told you before
and I'll tell you again as if I were present the second time
and being absent now I write unto you heretofore to those
who have sinned and to all others that if I come to you I will
not spare was amazing since you seek a proof of Christ in me
which to you words is not weak but is mighty in you for though
he was crucified through weakness yet he lives and Though he was
crucified in weakness, yet he lives. Though he was crucified
in weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also
are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of
God towards you. Now Paul is justifying his claim
as an apostle over against a group of people in Corinth who is saying
that he does not have the qualifications. And so here's what Paul does.
Watch this. He says in verse 5, you Corinthians, examine yourself. Put yourself in the crucible
of testing and determine whether or not your faith is authentic.
Because right now, the way you are judging me, you are proving
that you do not have authentic biblical faith. I'm the apostle
that God used to bring the gospel to bring to life and birth this
assembly. And there are a bunch of you
who are questioning my authority. Now, when I come, I said, Paul,
we're going to straighten all this out. But I'm gonna give
you an opportunity before I come to examine whether or not you
are even authentic now We're actually getting some insight
into how religious people can be arrogant and pompous against
the authority of God under the false notion that they are saved
and yet their lives Demonstrate a contention and hostility over
against biblical truth. And here's the mercy of God.
I'm giving you a preclude to our text Here's the mercy of
God get it right before I come because when I come I'm not sparing
that's God talking That's God talking. That's God talking. He's talking to the arrogant,
pompous religious folks who dare to rise up and challenge the
authority of the apostles and the authority of the things that
they wrote. And so here's what he says. Now, while you're still
breathing God's air and living in God's word and he hasn't pinched
off your vocal cords and took you home, examine yourself. Examine yourself. Here's what
he says. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your
own self. See that phrase, prove? That
means to test it. Test yourself. Watch this. Know ye not yourselves. Affirm within yourselves how
that Christ is truly in you, except you be what? There it
is. There it is. You know what Paul
is saying is stop talking. Because see, religion loves to
talk. That's going to be our first and second point. They
love to talk about who they are, boast who they are. But in fact,
their life demonstrates exactly the opposite. And what Paul is
saying is, examine yourself. See, your real job in mind is
not examining the other person, it's examining ourselves. Your
job is not to examine me, your job is to examine yourself, whether
or not you know God. See, on the last day, we all
gonna stand before God individually. Examine yourself whether you
be in the faith or not. Watch this. Know ye your own
selves, how that Christ is in you, except you be reprobate. Verse 6, but I trust that you
shall know that we are not reprobate. Do you see that? Now I pray to
God that you do no evil. I pray to God that you do no
evil. Not that we should appear approved.
That's the other scandalous charge that reprobates will lay upon
leadership is that somehow leadership is in this for themselves. That
if you look good, leadership looks good. Now, leadership tells
you to make sure you don't do evil so that your soul doesn't
end up in hell, but that you should do that which is honest,
though we be as reprobates. We're willing to accept the charge
of reprobation so long as when your life is over with you end
up in glory. So it is the duty of every professing Christian
to make sure that you don't fall into the category of the group
we're getting ready to deal with. The next way this word is used
is in first corinthians chapter 9 where the apostle paul talks
about running a race And he says when he runs this race his objective
in running that race first corinthians 9 27 is to make sure he's not
disqualified You know, like when you run a race you have a goal,
don't you? You have an objective when you run a race, right? Isn't
that objective to make sure you finish that race? What's the
purpose in running in a race? If you don't run to win and run
the finish. But what is the process and importance
of the process of running from point A to point B? Making sure
you run what? Lawfully. Because even though
you're running, if you don't run lawfully, you won't be what? Crowned. It's the same point
here. See, sometimes we don't care
about the process. We boast in the fact that we're
in the race and we talk like we've already finished the race.
But brothers and sisters, until you cross the yellow tape, you
better make sure while you're running that you don't disqualify
yourself by going outside of the lines. That's our word for
reprobation. Are you following me? Listen
to it. I, therefore, so run in this manner, not as uncertainty,
so I fight, not as one that beats at the air, but I keep under
my body. You see that third line, that clause, keep under my body?
It's called temperance. It's called the power to control
and reign in. And I bring it into subjection,
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a what? See the word castaway? That's
our word reprobation. Stay with me. So in Romans 1,
verse 28, what God says is, for people who continue to suppress
the truth and unrighteousness, the mind is cast away. It is
no more useful for being able to draw right conclusions when
it comes to biblical truth. That's a scary, scary thought.
Do you actually know what's going on here? Go with me in your Bible
now to 2 Thessalonians 2. I'll show you what's going on
in 2 Thessalonians 2. In 2 Thessalonians 2, it gives
us a commentary on this in verses 11 and 12. I want you to see
this. This is the same thing that's
taking place in Romans 1. We're setting the context. Once
the context is set, we will run. But I want to make sure you understand
that when God gives them over three times, He gives them over
to the lust of the flesh. That means the power of the passions
of your sinful nature are stronger than the precepts of God's Word
and the influence of God's Spirit so that you do what your flesh
dictates, ultimately resulting in sin. He gives them over to
unnatural affection, which is the ominous, ominous and fearful
manifestation of the proliferation of homosexuality and lesbianism.
That's the fearful manifestation of God giving us up to unnatural
sexual passions and desires. And for those of us who study
it objectively and understand the critical implications of
homosexuality, we understand that that's a culture of death.
You cannot proliferate being a homosexual. You are basically
calling for the death of civilization. And some of us have been there
and were redeemed by God's grace. Is that not true? And listen,
the third category is just as bad. It's the category of people
ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
They do religion, but they have no clarity on the truth so as
to be bold for Jesus. Why? Because God gives them over
to a strong delusion that they should believe the very same
lie that's dominating the whole world politic. Look at the text.
Watch this now. Watch it now. And for this cause,
God shall send them what? Literally in the Greek, it's
a working of error. Error and truth are opposites,
right? They are antithetical. So when
people have reprobate minds, the only thing that they can
do is err, err, miss the mark. And God has given them over to
that because they reject biblical truth. Watch this. That they
should believe a lie. Suppression of the truth leaves
no other description of human experience but a lie. Whenever
we suppress the truth in any way, what we are doing is lying
on God. Ladies and gentlemen, is that
clear? You're lying on God. Now watch this. That they all
might be what? We're getting ready to go there.
Who believe not the what? But have pleasure in what? There
it is. There it is. Now let's go back
to our text and go to work. The first category of people
were the folks who are your open rebels, your rank heathen, your
unbelievers, your professional agnostics and atheists, and all
of your highfalutin secularists who basically says no to God
and then builds a hypothesis that God does not exist. The
second category of people are the people with whom now you
and I must regard because unfortunately, and fortunately at the same time,
they come closer to home. Who is this category of people
of which Paul now is going to speak to in particular starting
in verse 31 or 32 of Romans chapter one? Who are these people that
Paul is going to be speaking to now? He's going to be speaking
to that category of people who are not so crass as to reject
God's revelation. These people will accept that
there is a God. They will also accept that God
has given us a depository of truth called the Bible. These
people will accept that there are morals and ethics that are
axiomatic to God's nature and they are fundamentals to us as
human beings for which we have a system of right and wrong.
These people will admit that it's wrong to commit fornication. It's wrong to commit adultery.
It's wrong to commit idolatry. It's wrong to commit homosexuality.
It's wrong to lie, steal, and do all of this. It's wrong to
covet. It's wrong to live in any kind of excessive immoral
lifestyle. These people will admit that.
These are your secular philosophers in the days of Plato, Socrates,
Aristotle, Philo. All of these guys will sit up
and hypothesize a system of moral rights and wrong. Romans chapter
2, the latter part plainly said, the law was written in their
what? Conscious and in their heart. So they know there's a
moral system. And these people stood up and
say, do you see those heathen acting a fool like they're doing?
What they're doing is wrong. And they feel good about being
able to draw a plumb line and say what's right and what's wrong.
The problem is. These very people are doing the
same thing. Now, this is where you and I
are going to be apprehended today. Because by application, what
you and I have to ask is, do we profess to be a Christian
and do exactly the same things that this pagan world is doing?
Because we've shown up quick to tell them they're wrong. Now
watch how the text goes. Who knowing the judgment of God,
verse 32, that they which commit such things are worthy of death. We do say that, right? Not only,
watch this, I want you to follow this trend that's going to run
through verses 32 all the way through chapter 2, verse 13.
I'm going to show you the trend. This is Paul's argument right
now. Who not only Do the same, but have pleasure in them that
do them. Saints, that's 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11 and 12. God gave them over to a strong
delusion that they should believe a lot, that they would not obey
the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. He gave them
over to a strong delusion. Who is that people that he gave
over to a strong delusion? The church, religious people. who have a form of godliness,
but deny the power thereof. Religious folk who will call
on the name of Jesus, but live exactly and precisely without
variation like the world. Let me show you the line. Point
number one in our outline. Point number one, here it is.
The practice and approval of sin by the religious. Now, the
two categories of people that we're dealing with today, those
people who openly suppress the truth and unrighteousness and
live like hell, put their fist in God's face, they are sharing
with the world a message, are they not? They're declaring a
message to the world. And their message is a lie. It's
a message that I do not approve of. Do you? God does not approve
of the world's lifestyle. See, we're all living epistles. Everybody's watching us and they're
reading our mail. You got that? We all send it
to our kids, to our relatives, to our neighbors. We're all epistles.
We're all messages. But God does not approve of the
message that the world brings. And I'll tell you, who else doesn't?
The righteous don't approve of it. Godly people don't approve
of it. We don't approve of the lifestyle
of the world of which we came out. Is that true? I don't approve
of this rank open system of hostility against God manifesting itself
in the lust of the flesh, unnatural sexual desires, and the litany
of perversions that accompany it in Romans chapter 1 verses
29 and follow. I don't approve of that. Do you
approve of that? But the other category that I
am bound not to approve of are the folks who play church and
do the same. Because that message is just
as much an oppression of the truth as is the folks who are
living in rank opposition to God. Do I have your attention
now? I want you to be able to understand
the scriptures in front of you. So the Apostle Paul speaks to
us in verse 1 of verse 31 by saying who know that knowing
the judgments of God That they which commit such things are
worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them
Therefore verse 1 of chapter 2. Do you see it that word? Therefore
Dio is a word that means now I'm going to explain to you why
I said what I just said It's an explanatory conjunction therefore
now watch this now. Here's what he says therefore
thou art worthy Inexcusable that's our word for apologetics. It
means you have no defense. Oh, man Whosoever you are that
what judges stay right there? You don't have any defense whosoever
you are that judges and it's not because you judge Everyone
must judge But it's because you judge and you still do the same
thing You disqualify your capacity for being a lawful judge because
you are breaking the law. See, this is what Paul is dealing
with. Now listen to the way he frames it in verses one, two,
and three. Here it is. Therefore you are
unexcusable, O man, whosoever you are that judges. For wherein
you judge another, you are condemning yourself. Why? Because you're
judging? No, not because you're judging. Because you that judge
are doing the same things. This is the second time he said
it, right? First time in 131, second time in 2-1. Watch this
now in 2-1. Watch what he says in verse 2.
But we are sure that the judgments of God are according to truth
against them which what? Commit such things. Now we're
going to get to that in a moment. Verse 3, here it is. And do you
think, O man, that judges them which do such things, and you
do the same, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Now stay
with me, saints. Remember the last category of
people that God gave over? Was the people with reprobate
minds, right? First he gave them over to lust of the flesh, then
he gave them over to unnatural affection, right? And the last
category was the what? Reprobate mind. The reprobate
mind think like this. This is how they think. Are you
ready? They can actually take God's Word up, talk about adultery,
fornication, all the other moral crimes that are committed, spiritual
crimes, and do the same. and actually take pleasure in
those that do it. See, that's the church in our present culture,
the liberal church, where everybody can live like hell and still
come to church and still find a place in the kingdom without
any repentance, thinking they're going to escape the judgment
of God. You know what God says? You won't
escape. You will not escape because you're still suppressing the
truth. This hurts, but I'm going to help you. This hurts, but
I'm going to help you. You cannot escape the judgment
of God by simply playing church and going, Lord, Lord. Because
that does not depict the nature of grace in its saving power,
and therefore not only are you suppressing the truth in terms
of the glory of God, you are suppressing the truth in terms
of the glory of the gospel. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
You're suppressing the truth in terms of the glory of the
gospel. So the Apostle Paul is nailing now. He's nailing now
the religious. He's nailing the religious who
love themselves and being able to quote scripture and talk about
this and talk about that as an ideal. But it has no real efficacy
and power in their life to actually move them up out of the things
that they are condemning. Powerful. Go back to our point. Let me demonstrate this so we
can see this. Here it is under our first heading. Here we go.
the practice and approval of sin by the religions. You'll
meet them on the street. These are the folks who are reprobate.
When you talk about adultery being sin, you go, what's wrong
with adultery? When you talk about chambering,
you know, the folks that are shacking up and living together,
they'll call you a judge and say, you're crazy. We live in
the 21st century. We're free to do that. Reprobate
mind. And when you tell them, hey, homosexuality is wrong.
Lesbianism is wrong. Pedophilia is wrong. Paterosity
is wrong. Those things are wrong. They'll
tell you, no, that's just their nature. They can't help that.
Watch this. Reprobate mind. Reprobate mind. The authority
of the word of God does not prevail in their heart and mind. They
can't speak God's thoughts and get the... And now watch this.
This is how you know you're a reprobate. You can't stand over against
yourself with God to say you are a hell-bound sinner. which
is the first work of grace. How do I know I'm saved? Because
the Spirit of God has powerfully persuaded me that I am a hell-bound
sinner, having broken all these laws in my nature, and that should
I continue in this course, hell is my destiny for sure. That's
the first work of the spirit john 16 8 and when he the spirit
of truth has come He will convince the world of sin. Are you convinced? Are you convinced that you're
a hell-bound sinner? Are you convinced that god must deliver
you out of a course of sin that will lead you to hell? If you
are you're going to tell somebody else And when he the spirit of
truth has come he will convince you of sin and then he will convince
you of righteousness He will convince you of righteousness.
You know what that means? He will show you the legitimate escape
from sin through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And you
will latch hold to Christ for your life. Joining yourself to the Lord
Jesus you will be led out of darkness into his marvelous light
and the path of the just is a Shining light that shines more and more
unto the perfect day until Jesus shows up face to face I'm gonna
talk about that path in a moment because this is what he's talking
about the course of life that people live Determine what authority
they're under Three things in if you and I
are going to church and Shouting hallelujah. Praise the Lord and
Practicing and approving of that manner of lifestyle of which
sends a wrong message. We are first and foremost practicing
hypocrisy Is that true? It's plain hypocrisy Let me show
you what I mean Matthew chapter 23 Stay there to a PowerPoint
leave it leave that these folks can go to your Bibles. Oh, no,
we better go there So most folks don't bring their Bible. That's
right. Let's let them read some scripture Matthew chapter 23 Let me show you guys something.
In Matthew 23, eight times in the book of Matthew chapter 23,
does Jesus condemn the rulers of the church for hypocrisy?
He calls them hypocrites eight times. You fools and hypocrites. See, in the present culture that
we live in, that would be politically incorrect. See, I can't call
people fools and hypocrites without being unkind. But our Lord did
it. And it wasn't a rhetorical device.
He did it because they were fools. And he did it because they were
hypocrites. And I'm going to show you the line of problems
that occur when you profess to know God, but in works deny him.
I want you to see the logical line that falls out. If you say
you walk in love, then you're going to actually do something
about this. Now watch this now. Here it is. Matthew 23. Notice what Jesus says in verse
3. He says, therefore whatever they bid you that is the Pharisees
observed that is when they teach consider what they say and then
if it's true according to a right dividing of the Word of God do
what do it that's what our masters is but do not ye after there
what now here's the reason why for they say and do not got it
For they say and do not. They tell you to do it, but they
don't do it. They tell you what Moses says,
but they don't do it. Now who's talking here? The Lord
Jesus. What's he doing? He's exposing hypocrisy. What's
he affirming? He's affirming the argument of
the Apostle Paul that it's possible to rise to the highest level
of religious authority and influence and yet not know God. And so
by your lifestyle, suppress the truth by saying one thing and
doing another. Am I making some sense? Watch
it now. Matthew 23, verse 13. Matthew 23, verse 13. Are you
there? But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
So our Lord was bold, was he not? Bold. For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. Crazy. Watch this for ye neither
go in yourselves Neither suffer you them that are entering to
go in Pastor what are you talking about? I'm talking about the
same thing. I've been talking about all this sermon by your
life you demonstrate whether or not you have entered the kingdom
and by your life you demonstrate whether you become an Access
for people to enter in or an obstacle to keep them out The
Pharisees were obstacles keeping people out of the kingdom because
they didn't enter in themselves. They didn't enter in and they
didn't let other people in. Go back to our PowerPoint. Let
me show you the logic that flows out of this. If in fact I am
one that says but does not, then I am approving of the things
that they do that are wrong that God judges of those who suppress
the truth and unrighteousness and I rightly bear the term what? Hypocrite. But here are the things
that fall out of being a hypocritical Self-righteous person who's trusting
somehow in my mere religion that I'm going to be all right with
God The first thing that happens is if I'm living like hell Professing
the trust in Christ. I'm still on the wrong team I'm still on the wrong team Did
you guys get that? I'm still on the team that I'm
supposed to be battling against Because even though I have put
on the uniform that says I'm headed to glory, I'm still practicing
and conducting myself like I'm headed to hell. And all I'm doing
by that is what the next point will affirm. I am not walking
in love, nor am I walking in light, and I'm becoming a stumbling
block to everyone around me. Am I telling the truth? I'm becoming
a stumbling block to my wife. I'm becoming a stumbling block
to my children. to my grandchildren and to everyone around me, because
I'm saying one thing and I'm doing something else. That's
1 John chapter 1 verse 6, 1 John chapter 2 verse 4. In 1 John
chapter 1 verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with
Him, but we walk in darkness, we're lying and not doing the
truth. If we say we know Him, but we walk in darkness, we're
telling lies. When we tell lies by walking
in darkness we cause other people to stumble And you know what
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18. I want you to hear me now
My brothers and sisters and you religious folk It would be better
for me to put a millstone around my neck and to cast myself into
the depths of the sea To serve as a model to cause people to
stumble By watching my life in its crass opposition to biblical
truth See, I'd rather you hate me for telling you the truth
than to love me for going to hell with you. When in fact,
all we're going to do is both go straight to hell by the way
we're living. And back in Matthew chapter 23,
don't go there. You know what Jesus said to the
rulers? You're not evangelizing. You're proselytizing. And I taught
this in evangelism class. Who knows the difference between
evangelism and proselytizing? Here's the difference. Evangelism
points people and leads people to Christ. Proselytizing sends
people to hell in a religious system of self-righteousness
that can't merit you the favor of God. Do you see the difference? He says you make them twofold
more a child of hell than yourselves by saying and not doing. Saints, are you following me?
Let's go back and deal with our next point then. Before we do
that, the last category. So if I'm a hypocrite, then what
I am demonstrating is I'm still on the wrong team. I'm on Satan's
team. And Jesus said in Luke chapter 11, verse 23, he that
is not for me is what? Are you foreign? Don't answer
unless you can be authentic. See, we're in the dark, tough
stuff today. We're in the dark, tough stuff
today. Because in true prophetic form, the Apostle Paul, under
the anointing of the Holy Ghost, is doing what all the other prophets
did. Everything that Jesus did, everything that John the Baptist
did, all the prophets did what I'm doing with you right now.
They are warning you not to play games with God. They are warning
you that God is too holy to accept false religion. They are warning
you that you will not get by by a mere profession of faith
while you still live like hell. They're warning you. And their
warnings are so piercing that it should stop us all in our
tracks and cause us to earnestly say, Lord, have mercy on me. The easiest thing for you and
I to do in Western Christianity is fall prey to hypocritical
religion. The last thing is when you and
I are saying and not doing, we strengthen the hands of the rebel.
The rebel loves to run across religious folk who are actually
doing the same things they do because it strengthens their
argument. Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 22. I just want to show
you one verse before we move to our next point. Here's what
Ezekiel was told by God to say to the people who were doing
exactly the things that they were doing in the first century,
of which Paul is speaking in our text, of which I want to
warn you. Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 22. Ezekiel 13 22 here it is because
with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad You see
that So now don't that don't matter to you right now because
most of us are not operating out of righteousness If you were
you would understand how the heart is sad When the truth is
not told You would understand See if you're on God's side then you think God starts after
him. And like Elijah had a zeal for God, and like Samuel had
a zeal for God, and like the prophets had a zeal for God,
whenever people lie on God, your heart ought to be sad. It shouldn't
be calloused and careless. It should be sad. They're lying
on your God. He's the only source of truth
we have. And especially when religious folk do it, you ought
not to be happy and different and apathetic sitting there watching
them lie on God, manipulating and ripping off the people and
hardening their hearts and sending them to hell. You ought to be
sad when you see false religious teachers, as it were, hoodwinking
men and women. You ought to be sad. But the
righteous are. The righteous are, because we
understand how absolutely entrapped men and women are in the blinding
delusions of false religion. We understand it. Watch this
now. Watch this. Whom I have not made sad, and
they have strengthened the hands of the wicked. How do they strengthen
the hands of the wicked? That he should not return from
his wicked ways by promising him life. All you have to do
is accept Jesus in you. Just say Jesus. You're good to
go. Welcome to the family of God. No repentance. No conversion. No brokenness. No humility. No utter crisis
of the soul. No breaking under the reality
of the glory of God and the immanency of your eternal doom. No honest
acknowledging your rebel state and begging God for mercy. to
get a hold of you and change your life? No, you just signed
on a dotted line now you plan church. Still on your way to
hell. Let's go to our second point.
Let's go to our second. So the first thing we do in not
approving of the message of this world system is that we must
not consent to nor approve of the practice or the pleasure
in which these people engage themselves because we would strengthen
the hands of the ungodly. We would cause the believer to
stumble. We are on the wrong team and we are rank hypocrites.
Secondly, and this one we will be able to go through quickly,
mere judging does not deliver us from the judgment. See, this
is why I opened up talking about a reprobate mind. Some people
take pleasure in judging. As if somehow being able to judge
others is going to cause you to escape the judgment. But it's
not. Do you hear Paul's argument?
Do you hear Christ's argument? Do you hear John's argument?
Watch this. Here's Paul's argument. It's
not those who are the hearers of the law that will be justified,
but the doers. You know what Christ's argument
is? Hey, more blessed are they that not only hear, But do what
God says do. Do you understand the argument?
The argument is that when the gospel comes in power, it's designed
for you to move. Not stay there. It's designed
for you to move. And so mere judging does not
deliver you from the judgment. Why? Because you're doing exactly
the same thing. Why? You and I must first what? Obey the gospel. That's right. Obey the gospel. Let me show
you another text now. Let me work with this right quick.
I love the Lord. Matthew 7, verse 1-5. I want you to see this now.
Matthew 1-5. Now the Lord gives what we call
an observed analogy. This is an extrapolation upon
a scenario that needs to be reckoned with. In verse 1 of Matthew 7,
which the ungodly love to use, the reprobate loves to use against
those of us who actually declare the Word of God to be right.
They say, do not judge, right? Don't judge. Don't judge. Watch this. Judge not that you
not be what? Now give me verse 2. Let's do
some teaching. Here we go. Verse 2. For with what judgment
you judge, you shall be judged. Now if you don't understand what
that means, this is what this means. When you judge others,
make sure you have passed through the judgment yourself. Because
that very same judgment will have right to come and test you.
You got that? Make sure when you judge others
that you have passed through the filter of that judgment and
you are qualified to tell them, hey, you're wrong. And they'll
say, who are you to judge me? It's not me, it's God. I'm going
to show you that in a moment. But watch what Jesus says. For
what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what
measure you mete out, it shall be measured to you again. Verse
three. I love this. And why are you beholding the
moat that is in your brother's eye? So stay right there because
y'all love to argue about that too. All y'all that's being happy
right now. And what our Lord is simply saying
is this. If you love your brother, you will not leave him or her
with a mold in their eye. Hold on now, now get this. You
might think you can live happily with a mold in your eye, but
I don't. I know what a mold can do. Have
you ever had a splinter in your eye? Any little thing? Doesn't
it agitate? Can't a splinter work havoc in
your life? Can it ruin your day? Can it
make you miserable? Can a splinter in your eye cause
you to cry out to God? Lord, have mercy on me. Deliver
me from the splinter. Am I telling the truth? So stay
with me for a moment. All sin hurts. And if I love
you, I will tell you we got to get that splinter out. Because
that's why you're acting the way you're acting. You're not
clear because you've got a splinter in there. Am I making some sense?
But first, I've got to deal with a much larger problem than your
splinter. And that's the beam running through
my whole head. I've got a beam running through
my whole head. So sit with me now. This is our
Lord. He loves us. You got a beam running
through your head. How on earth do you even see
a splinter running through your brother's eye? Right? And what our Lord is saying is
make sure you are right with God first before you help your
brother. Go back to our points. I'm going
to show you this. Don't you ever think that it
is not your obligation to be your brother's keeper. Don't
you ever think it will be all right for you to just watch your
brother lose his eye because of an infection that will take
place with that splinter if it remains in there and affect his
vision for life. And you know you could have done
something about it? Don't you ever act like that can't lead
to worse problems in his life. Okay, so now watch this. You
and I have no right to judge if we're doing the same thing.
We must obey the gospel first. We must get right with God before
we can help others get right. You guys see that last line?
Here's the text I'm going to use. I'm going to use 2 Corinthians
chapter 10, 6 for time sake. But in your own time, read Psalm
51, 12 through 17. You know what David said? He
said, Lord, restore unto me the joy of your salvation. Renew
a right spirit in me. Cleanse my heart. Wash me with
hyssop and make me clean. Straighten me out, oh God, because
I've been messed up for a long time. And when you straighten
me out, then I will cause transgressors to hear your word and they will
effectually turn to Christ. He knew that so long as he was
living like hell, He couldn't be a means by which other people
came to know Christ. Am I making some sense? Second
Corinthians chapter 10. Second Corinthians 10. Here's
what the apostles said. As we were dealing with this
before he was speaking to The critical work of us being armed
to be able to battle against all of the worldviews that oppose
the gospel You guys learn this he says in second, uh corinthians
chapter 10 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty
through god to the pulling down of every stronghold and everything
that exalts itself second corinthians 10 5 casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen? We do have to
go to war against error, like I'm doing now. And then we bring
those false notions, those false ideas, those faulty worldviews
into captivity. To every into captivity every
thought to the obedience of christ what that means is we weigh out
every Argument over against the person and work of jesus christ
to demonstrate that they're wrong and he's right You guys got that
now but we only have the right to do that when we meet the requirements
of verse six And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience See,
I love the word of god. You know why I love it because
it forces us to deal with our calling in a deep and in a profound
way. I am not a godly man if I'm not
ready to avenge the truth for the glory of God, for my own
salvation, and the salvation of others around me. I'm not
godly if I just let everybody live, whatever will happen will
happen. Whatever you want to do is good
with you. That's not godliness, and it's not love. Watch this.
Having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience
is what? What we mean by gospel obedience.
Have you obeyed the gospel? Have you trusted Christ? Have
you yielded to the crown rights of Christ? Has the righteousness
of God been imputed to you and imparted to you so that you have
a holy nature that yearns for God, loves God's word, pursues
God, and agrees with God? Are you abhorring evil in the
world and in yourself and in everything else until you're
doing that? You can't stand for God. Am I
making some sense? All right, then let's move on
to our next point. The objective judgment of the
believer is scripture. Go back to Romans two. I love
this. I love this. Y'all gonna have to be patient
because I want to make sure you get these points today, because
this is going to be a critical foundation for the for the subsequent
arguments that the apostle is making. He says in verse 2, after
affirming that there is no excuse for those who profess to be believers
but are doing precisely the same thing. You won't escape. He says,
but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to what?
Against them which commit such things. Can I make a very clear? Argument for this in verse 2
what Paul is saying is when we tell men and women are you ready?
The wages of sin is death. We're telling the truth Stay
with me for a moment when we say the soul that sinneth it
shall die. We're telling the truth. I When
we say that in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, you will surely die. And in dying, you will constantly
die. We're telling the truth. When we tell men and women that
God is a God of holiness and he must punish sin, we're telling
the truth. Right. And we're telling the
truth because it's scripture. Now, watch this now. Going back
to our point. Watch this now. When we declare to men and women
God's word, we are being as merciful to human beings as we possibly
can. Let me help you understand why.
Because God does this. God gives us His decrees. He reveals to us His will. And
He tells us what's right and what's wrong. He also tells us,
if you do what's wrong, I'm going to kill you. Stay with me for a moment. Stay
with me for a moment. This is the God of the Bible.
And this is the God I love. I love God. because he's the
only being in the universe that keeps his word. Stay with me
for a moment. The decree of God's judgment
is that the wages of sin is death. Now, when God acts in punishing
sin after the decree, he has done it in a state of revealed
righteousness. Let me help you understand what
I'm getting at. His judgments are always right. because they
proceed from His nature. Do I have your attention for
a moment? I want you to get this. God declares He will punish sin. Is that right? Has God shown
in His Word that He will punish sin? Do you people read your
Bibles? Does God declare in His Word
that He punishes sin? Did God punish sin in the days of Noah? Did He punish sin? Did He punish
sins in the days of Lot? The New Testament says that's
an example of eternal fire. Did He punish sin in the days
of Moses and Joshua in the wilderness? Did He punish them? Did He punish
sin in the days of the kings when Israel rebelled against
God? Did He punish them? Did He scatter Israel to the
four winds? Did God punish sin when He sent His Son to Calvary? Yes, He did. To prove to you
and me that He punishes sin. But what he did, ladies and gentlemen,
was to reveal his righteous character. I want you to get this because
now Paul is going to press down his argument for why you need
to thank God that you are still breathing right now and that
if you are wrong, deal with it right now. God only punished
people after long periods of giving them opportunities to
turn from their sin. He gave them long periods to
turn from their sin. He gave them year upon year upon
year. He told Noah, I'm going to destroy
them, let them know, but I'm going to give them 120 years.
That's a long time to get it right. Now you know you're depraved
when God gives you 120, you still don't quit. the days of Abraham God says
I'm going to destroy all of those folks out of Canaan just like
I prophesied through my servant Noah in Genesis 9 the Canaanites
are gonna be servants to Japheth and and to him to Seth remember
that I'm gonna punish him I'm gonna bring them all out but
the iniquity of the Amorites must come to the full that's
Genesis 15 remember that he's giving them time to repent but
they won't And so by the time God moves his army in, he has
to destroy them because they would not what? Repent. See,
this is the word I want you to get today. That's the word I
want you to get today. That's the word Paul is going
to be persuading you is critical to your salvation. God says,
I punish sin. The lights are still on. That
means he's calling you and out of something. See, by the time
our Lord Jesus Christ showed up in the gospel of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, you know what his forerunner John the
Baptist said? Now is the axe laid to the root
of the tree. In true prophetic form, John
was saying, Israel, you're in trouble, dude. You missed it
in the days of Jeremiah, in the days of Isaiah, in the days of
Ezekiel. God warned you in Malachi that
his servant would come before him and that he would come, the
messenger of the covenant, and he would purge the sons of Levi.
He warned. And when Jesus showed up, they
still rejected him. And what did God do? He brought
his judgment, didn't he? Scattered Israel to the four
winds. So my point is God decrees judgment and then when he judges,
he judges and his judgment is always what, ladies and gentlemen?
Remember when Abraham debated with God trying to save Sodom
and Gomorrah? Shall not the God of all the earth do right? You
know what God says? Yeah, I'm always going to do
right. And so what did Abraham say? Lord, if it'd just be 10.
First he said 50. Now you know you ain't getting
50 righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. Then he said 40. God said, OK,
if it's 40. But Abraham, I wouldn't put no
money on that if I was you. If it's 30. And Abraham got to
thinking, 30 people, Sodom and Gomorrah, those folks living
like hell from the least of them to the greatest. Lord, what about
if it's 10? If it's 10, don't destroy them.
And I shared this in the Friday study. I'm going to share it
now while I have your attention. There are a bunch of men and women
who live with their fist in God's face, living in open, unnatural,
sexual immorality. And you have someone praying
for you, just like Abraham did. Praying for you. You got mothers
and fathers and uncles and brothers and pastors and churches praying
that God would change your heart before he pours his wrath out
on you. Am I making some sense, ladies and gentlemen? Why am
I saying that? Because God's judgments are true
and He's going to punish sin. Y'all got that? He's going to
punish sin. Let's move on to the next one.
So we can wrap this up and begin to depart. So the objective judgments
of the believer are scripture. You and I aren't arguing from
our own human reasoning. We're arguing from the Word of God.
God's decree is plain and God's judgments are right. Point number
four, this is amazing. I'm going to just treat this
a little bit and then I'm going to pick it up more fully next
week because I know that you really need the benefit of a
deep analysis of this verse. Here's what the apostle says.
Verse 3 and then verse 4 he says we're sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth Against them which commit such
things and do you think this? Oh man that Judges them which
do such things and you are doing the same that you shall escape
the judgment of God I hope I have convinced some of you who are
in this camp in this category. You will not escape If you don't
allow the judgment, the gospel of God, if you don't allow the
gospel of God to be a revelation that leads you to Christ now,
the gospel of God is going to be a rod that leads you to hell
on the last day. Listen carefully to me again.
If the gospel doesn't lead you to Christ now, as Romans 1, 16
and 17, it's going to lead you to hell later. That's Romans
chapter 2 verse 16 and following. In the day when God shall judge
the world and the secrets of the hearts of men according to
my gospel by Jesus Christ. See on the last day the gospel
is going to judge humanity. And as a rod it's going to send
you to hell because you rejected that gospel. Now let this resonate
as we begin to close it down. Watch this now. Here's his plea. Love this. This is masterful
and humbling. This is verse 4 of which I'm
about to deal with is born up out of the Apostle Paul's experience
as a Jew as a Pharisee as a scribe and a scholar and as a hypocritical
hell-bound sinner who was in the same camp of the people he's
talking to right now and Are you guys following me so far?
In other words, Paul is not on the outside of this camp having
no knowledge of the kind of subtle workings of deception that go
on in false religion. He was one of them. In fact,
he was at the echelon of leadership. So he could acutely speak into
that people's experience and tell them, listen, you won't
escape. And here's the reason why. Verse four. Here it is. It's because you despise the
riches of God's goodness. Do you see it? I'm getting ready
to work that. Do I have your attention for
a few more minutes? This is remarkable. Because what Paul now is doing
is appealing to an aspect of God's nature that because of
our sinfulness, we are willing to neglect. Here's what he says. He says, do you think that you'll
escape the judgment of God when the whole of your life is despising
the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering,
being willingly ignorant of this truth that the only reason for
which God is being good to you is to lead you to repentance? Didn't I make it clear right
there? Did I make that clear? Now I need to unpack it. I need
to unpack that for you because you need to see it. That's why
I said a few times earlier, you're breathing God's air today. You
woke up without a headache. You woke up in your right mind,
but you're still in rebellion against God. It's because you
are despising his goodness. Go to my PowerPoint. Let me develop
this. Let me show you guys. So these are God's saving ways
that Paul is about to talk about. I'm going to share them with
you. First and foremost, to despise something is to look down on
it, to be narrow in your attitude about it. It's to neglect it,
to lowly esteem it, basically to spit on it. When you despise
something, you actually are raising yourself up over it. This is
a word that was used by Jesus concerning the Pharisees, of
whom Jesus says, the Pharisees thought themselves to be righteous,
watch this, and they despised others. Remember the rich man? I mean, remember the Pharisee
and the publican in the temple, how the Pharisee talked bad about
the publican and he went to God and said, hey, I'm all that.
That's what our Lord meant, despising the publican. In this context,
it's the religious folks not despising the publican, but the
goodness of God. Despising it, looking down on
it narrowly, assuming it to be nothing. Now watch this. And what are they despising?
His rich goodness. Amazing. Now Paul knows what
he means when he uses that adjective rich over against that second
adjective goodness. He's actually talking about the
character of God. Remember what Moses besought God for in Exodus
33 when Moses discovered that God actually kills people? Remember
I told you he put God called Moses to pull almost 2 million
people out of Egypt remember that and so Moses headed to the
promised land I need to ask you pull the truth out of that, but
I'm not gonna deal with it So he got all of these church folk
that he's leading to the promised land See when God saves you he
leads you out of something into something else. That's why you
better make sure you're you're leaving darkness when God calls
you He leaves, he's leading the people of Israel out of the land
of Egypt to go to the promised land. And these people come to
meet a holy God who will not stand idolatry. Remember Exodus
32 and 33? Moses, get on down because I'm
about to kill a bunch of people. And in fact, I'm going to use you
to do it. Separate the ones who love me and know me from the
ones who have rebelled against me and kill all of them. On that
day, Moses discovered that God is holy. That's the problem with
my generation. We don't believe God is holy.
See, this is part of the reprobation. You actually despise God's goodness. Moses trembled in his boots that
day and said, Lord, you got to help me because I haven't been
able to figure out since you killed all those people how I'm
going to make it into the promised land with the folks that's left.
Because if you act this way over something like that, and I know
these people are a mess, by the time I get to the promised land,
only people going to be able to go in is me and Joshua. Lord, show me your glory, which
is what I'm praying for some of you. Because there's still
the point. The point still here is the glory
of God. The reason our life don't change is because we don't see
his glory. Lord, show me his glory. You
know what God says? Moses, I'm going to show you. My goodness. I'm going to show you my goodness. He didn't say I'm going to show
you my glory. He said, I'm going to show you my goodness. He says, now I'm going
to set you in a cleft of a rock and I'm going to pass by you
and you're going to see my goodness. What do you mean, pastor? Everything
about God is good. Watch this now. His holiness
is good. His righteousness is good. His
justice is good. His wrath is good. That's his goodness. You know,
the world loves to blame God for being so wrathful as if that's
not good. That's good. God's wrath is good. That's why the law is good, because
the law represents God's holiness and says, I will punish sin.
That's what Paul meant. See, in God's goodness revealed
to Moses, taught Moses this, that God, yes, he's long suffering.
Yes, he's patient. Yes, he's forbearing. Yes, he
forgives sin. Yes, but he will by no means
pardon the guilty. He will punish transgressors. Aren't those all attributes that
were revealed to Moses? You know what that meant? Moses
could expect God from time to time after putting up with people's
rebellion to act in his goodness and punish. Are you with me so
far? Let me go back and work through
a few more points. Thirdly, in God's saving ways, we despise
him when we fail to understand that his goodness is his intentional
prerogative to forbear. See that word forbear? It means
to hold back. He holds back. God holds back. And I want to help you understand
what He's holding back. God holds back His wrath. God
presses His wrath back. God presses His wrath back every
day. He presses His wrath back. He
restrains his wrath. That's Revelation 7, 1-3. Hold
back the four winds. Hold back the judgment. God forbears,
forbears. It means restrains Himself. There
is that in the nature of God that must punish sin. And He holds it back with the
objective of us getting the point. He forbears. He forbears. But we despise that aspect of
his goodness. Third one, he exercises a patience
that most of us have misinterpreted. See, we think that God's patience
is God being indifferent about moral and spiritual issues. But you are grossly wrong. God's patience is God's intentional
slow rising of the temperature of His wrath. Slow rising of
the temperature of His wrath. Macro. Thumia. slow rising of the temperature,
like the gauge you watch. You can watch the temperature
rise. That's God's patience. God's patience is the slow rising
of his temperature. It is that expression of his
hatred and his antipathy against all that's wrong, gradually and
slowly building up in his moral nature. It's building up. That's God's patience. You know
what we call that? That's God being indifferent
to our sin. 2 Peter 3, verse 9, God is not slack as some men
count slackness. Now watch this, I want you to
get this. Because God doesn't pour it out right away men Misinterpret
his patience as God not caring how we live. I'm hearing that
in the evangelical church every day I just heard it the other
day God no longer has fury in him. He no longer has wrath in
him I said God that man suppressed the truth. He did not tell the
truth about you either since Christ died God loves everybody
that man did not tell the truth and God's nature didn't change
at Calvary. It was affirmed at Calvary. God's
holiness was not diminished at Calvary. It was affirmed at Calvary. God is the same yesterday, today
and forevermore. It's our blindness. It's our
darkness. It's our perversion that misinterprets
the thermometer. Are you hearing me? I'm almost
done. But just as He did in the Old
Testament, He'll do again. He will break out in judgment
and it will pour out in the fury and the unleashing of His nature
as an animal who furiously destroys its foe with one blow. That's the book of Revelation
where God pours out his wrath. When? When the temperature has
risen to peak. When men have gone on and on
in a non-repentant state, hardening their heart, treasuring up to
themselves wrath against the day of wrath and judgment of
God. Are you hearing me? So what we
are experiencing in our generation where reprobate men and women
are, as it were, fancying themselves all right with God while still
living like hell is a misinterpretation of his patience. Let me share
with you one glorious gospel truth, and I hope this depicts
you who are yet lost. Ask an honest sinner who has
come to know the grace of God if everything that I'm saying
is true. Ask an honest sinner. And I'm going to give you one
right now. This is a man who lived his whole life suppressing
the truth in unrighteousness. He was a thief and a murderer. He was a criminal, a crook, and
a con. He broke all of God's commandment
while living under the light of God's law and world in Jerusalem. He every day woke up saying,
God is slack in his judgment. Every day. He lived in rebellion
against God until God finally said, justice, catch up with
that man. Justice caught up with that man.
And that man and his partner in crime, both found themselves
guilty of death. and they are hanging on a cross. His partner on one side and he
on the other. And there was a man in the middle. This man who lived all his life
despising God's goodness, going to church, living like hell,
misinterpreting God's patience is now caught by divine justice. He's hanging on a tree, guilty
of all the crimes he committed. His body is still suppressing
the truth and unrighteousness. Luke chapter 23 verse 40, let's
read it and I'll close here. Do you believe in the patience
of God? Do you believe that patience flows from God's goodness? Do
you believe that in that slow rising of God's wrath, Simultaneously
to allowing men's hearts to be hardened, God also graciously
calls sinners to himself, saves some even at the last hour of
their life to demonstrate two truths of which I want you to
go home with before we take the table. Watch this now. God saves
some at the last minute only to show how gracious he is and
how wicked you and I are that if it wasn't for God's mercy
in just a minute that man would have been in hell for all eternity
had it not been for the kindness and goodness of God. Now watch what happens in a nanosecond
when God actually gives you grace. This man went from a religious
hookster to a saved child of God, professing the right things
in a nanosecond. Go back to verse 39. And one
of the malefactors which was hanged railed on Jesus. This is most folks that's going
to hell, railing on Jesus, saying, if you be the Christ, save yourself
and us. Get us down from here so we can
keep living like hell. Got it? Next verse. But the other,
in a moment of divine revelation, where his heart was changed,
it was no longer reprobate. It no longer suppressed the truth
and unrighteousness. He said in a moment, standing
in judgment against himself. in judgment against himself and
in judgment for the glory of God. See, that's what happens
when God saves you. You admit you are a hell-bound
sinner. You admit you deserve to go to
hell. You admit Christ is the only
one who did this thing right. And then you apply to Christ
to save you, lest you breathe your last breath and end up in
hell. But he rebuked him. That's our
job, Saint. Rebuke him. He rebuked him, saying,
do you not fear God? That's the problem with our generation,
isn't it? An absence of the fear of God. Seeing you are in the
same condemnation, you caught guilty as charged, just like
I am. You're guilty. Next verse. Here
it is. Here it is. Verse 41. Let's go.
Let's go. And we indeed what? See it? See, true believers admit God
is righteous in His judgment. For we have received the due
reward of our what? Is that a revelation? Is that
a repentance of mine, a renewing of mine, a clarity of the righteous
judgment of God? Is that right before our eyes,
a renewing of His mind, no more reprobate? Clear on the truth,
isn't he? Watch this now. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. Do you see that? Saints, that's
the only person that can get you out of the trouble that they're
in. And this sinner didn't even ask Him to get him down off the
cross. He went to this man for the right
reason. Get me out of God's hellish judgment. Get me out from under
God's wrath. Set me up in a way that I might
know your mercy next verse here. It is next verse And he said
unto him Jesus Lord Isn't that good Jesus? Lord Isn't that good
now? He's Lord and his name is Jesus. I See, all those sermons have
come back now. All those messages he sat in,
listening to the preacher preach Christ, but saying, I ain't got
time for that. Now he knows the name. Now he
knows the authority. And he's appealing to that authority
from the deepest of his being. Lord Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. See, that's true confession.
That's true confession. Next verse. It is. And Jesus
said unto him, Verily I say unto you, you'll be with me in paradise
today. Today. Today. Today. Today. Do you know why? He started telling
the truth. He started living the truth.
God gave him grace to tell the truth and to live the truth. May He give you grace. We're
about to partake of the Lord's table, have the offering, and
then we'll close in prayer.