is not that I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. I've entitled the message for
this morning, God, Judge or Judged? God, Judge or Judged? I'm not making a generalization
when I say that there are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who judge God and those
who justify God, those who worship God, and those who are God's
critics. And you and I right now fall
into one of those two groups. I'm either God's critic or I'm
someone who worships the living God. You're familiar with the story
of the fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. God placed
them in the garden. They had innocent natures. They
were not sinful. God made man upright. The serpent
tempted Eve to eat the fruit. She got her husband to eat the
fruit, and thus we have the fall of our race. Now, the fall of
Adam. Adam, God made him upright, and
he fell and he became a sinner. And as soon as he fell, he became
God's critic. This happened a long time ago.
When God confronted him with his sin, he said, the woman you
gave me, She gave me of the fruit, and I did eat. The obvious implication,
if you had not given me this woman, this would have never
taken place. You've set me up for failure.
I'm a victim. This is not my fault. And you see how Adam became God's
critic and stood in judgment of God. Now, this is horrible.
that a sinful man would stand in judgment of God, and yet that's
true of every natural man. Every natural man becomes God's
critic rather than someone who bows and worships before Him. This is what every natural man
does until God saves him. Now Paul in the first two chapters
of Romans, we're going to look at Romans chapter 3, but in the
first two chapters of Romans he spake of those who did not
have a Bible, did not have a written revelation from God, and he spake
of those who did have a Bible, who did have a written revelation
from God. And then he addresses the ones
who had the written revelation in chapter 3, he had proved them
both under sin, both equally sinful. The ones with the written
revelation weren't any better off in God's sight than the ones
without the written revelation. Talking about Jews and Gentiles,
that's everybody. And so he says in chapter 3 verse
1, what advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of
circumcision? If the Jew, the man with the
revelation from God, if anything, he's more guilty than the man
without the written revelation from God because of his disobedience
to that written revelation. So Paul says, what advantage
then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? If
that's the case, where is it advantageous to be a Jew? Well,
he says, much, verse two, much in every way, chiefly because
unto them were committed the oracles of God, the word of God,
the divine utterance. This book we call the Bible is
the inspired word of God. All scripture, is given by inspiration
of God. Now, if you don't bow to the
Bible as the Word of God, what do you have? You have your opinion,
you have my opinion, which in reality are worthless. God has
made himself known in this book, and the advantage to the Jew
is they've been given the oracles, the words, the divine utterance
of God. Now, there are things we can
know about God without this book. We can look at the creation and
see that God is very powerful. We can look at the creation and
we can know somebody made all this and He was before any of
this was made. He's eternal and He's divine. Oh, He's not a man. He's all-powerful. There are things we can see from
the light of creation, but there are things that we'll never know.
about God or we'll never really know what God's like until we
find out how He has revealed Himself in His Word. For instance,
by the light of creation, could you know that God loves sinners
or that God will forgive sin or that God is merciful or gracious?
You can't know these things from the light of creation. You can
see His goodness from the light of creation. God's good in making
this creation that He has made. But you can't know really what
it's like apart from this book. For instance, this book lets
us know that God is immutable. He's changeless. I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. This book speaks of his infinity,
how he never began to be, and he'll never end. There was never
a time when God was born. God is always the great, I am
that I am. Not I was, would be, could be,
or should be, or will be, but I am that I am. This book tells
us of his omnipresence. You cannot go anywhere where
He's not. God is a spirit, and the universe
is contained in the palm of His hand, and He is everywhere. This book tells us of His omnipotence. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He, because He's got the power to do it. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? This book tells us of His omniscience,
how He's never learned anything because He knows everything.
It lets us know that He is the only wise God, the blessed and
only potentate. This book tells us of His sovereignty,
the fact that He has a will, He has the power to make sure
His will comes to pass, and He always does make His will come
to pass. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
whatever He was pleased to do, that did He. Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. In this book, we learn of the
love of God, of the grace of God, of the mercy of God, of
the longsuffering of God, of the goodness of God. But we also learn of the anger
of God and the wrath of God and the hatred of God. Does God hate? Yes, read this book and you'll
find out. We read of the joy of God, and the holiness of God,
and the justice and righteousness of God, and the truth of God,
and the faithfulness of God, the blessedness of God, the independence
of God. He is dependent upon none. He is the blessed and only potentate. He's absolutely independent.
He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. The cattle
on a thousand hills are mine. And there are things regarding
His character, for instance, we learn of the unity of God. The Lord thy God is one God,
and we also learn of the Trinity of God. God is one God in three
distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. Now how would we know any of
that without the Bible? We couldn't figure it out. Oh,
it's a blessed thing to be a Jew because to them were committed
the oracles of God, the very word of God. I'm so thankful
for the scriptures. I'm not left to grope for God
in the dark to try to find out who he is. God has made himself
known in this book. Now, I realize we can't understand
this book unless he gives us the understanding. This is a
spiritual book, and the only way I can understand it is if
I'm born of the Spirit and given a spiritual nature, and God teaches
me. If I'm just a natural man reading
this book, it'll be like any other piece of literature. But
oh, if God teaches me who He is through this book. What advantage
hath the Jew? Much in every way, because unto
them were committed the oracles of God. Now, Paul says, verse
three, for what if some did not believe? Now of these Jews that
had the oracles of God committed to them, they were given the
law on Mount Sinai. Of all those thousands of Jews
that left Egypt, do you know how many over 20 years of age
entered the Promised Land? Only two. The rest died in unbelief. Only two, Joshua and Jacob. The rest did not enter the promised
land. Now, what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Will it make God's purpose frustrated
because they didn't believe? God forbid. Yea, let God be true,
and every man a liar. Now, the unbelief of these people
will not make God's purpose ineffective. His purpose will be done. Now let me ask you a few questions.
Just because somebody doesn't believe, that in no way nullifies
what God has said. Would you disbelieve God's word
simply because somebody else doesn't believe God's word? Did
God fail to keep His promise because so many did not believe? Will God be unfaithful to his
son, though some do not believe? Now listen to me. Let God be
true, and every man a liar. That's what Paul said, and I
love that language. Let God be true, and every man a liar. You see, God's will is going
to be done. We're sure of that. Even if things look like a mess,
God is in control of it. And God's will is always being
done. All Christ died for will be saved. Now, we don't beg sinners to
accept Him because His will won't be done if they don't. We call
on men to sue for mercy, asking that if it be His will that He
would have mercy on me. Now, God will not alter His truth
even though many do not believe. What if nobody believes? Let
God be true and every man a liar. Are you willing to believe God
even if you're the only one and nobody else does? Oh, may God
give us grace to believe what He says. The oracles of God were
committed to them. He says, What if some did not
believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true,
and every man a liar, as it's written. that thou mightest be
justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art
judged." Now, he's quoting Psalm 51, verse 4, David's great Psalm
of repentance. And he says, you're going to
overcome when you are judged. Now, for somebody like me or
you, and believe me, I'm including myself, for somebody like me
or you to sit in judgment on God, and give our yay or our
nay to what he does or to criticize him for how he does things. That
is morally reprehensible for you and I to sit in judgment
on God. I think of what Paul said in Romans chapter 9 when
he's dealing with the great truth of God's sovereignty and salvation
and how God saves some and hardens others and everything is in God's
hands. We read in verse 17, And whom he will, he hardens. That's what it says. Thou wilt
say unto me, why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted
his will? How can he hold me responsible
for something? If he hardened me, how can he
hold me responsible for the sin I committed through him hardening
me? That doesn't seem fair. That doesn't seem right. I love
Paul's answer. Nay, but O man, who are you to
reply against God? Since when do you have the moral
authority to set in judgment over the God of glory and say,
I think this is fair, and I think this is not fair. Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? You and I are not fit to judge
anybody when it comes right down to it. I'm talking about myself
and I'm talking about you. I think of that passage of scripture
in Romans chapter 2 where Paul says, therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, you condemn yourself, for you that judge, you do the
same things. Whatever you sit in criticism
about anybody on, you're guilty of doing the same thing. And
it's, in reality, grotesque hypocrisy for mere you to sit in judgment
on any of our fellow sinners, more or less, to sit in judgment
on God? Oh, that's a dangerous place
to be. Now Paul says in verse five, but if our unrighteousness,
commend the righteousness of God. If God's righteousness is
seen in judging me for my unrighteousness, what should we say? Is God unrighteous
who takes vengeance Is it since all my sin does is display God's
justice and His perfections and His holiness, does that mean
it would be wrong for God to take vengeance against my sin?
God forbid, for then how, verse 6, for then how shall God judge
the world? God is the judge. He's not to
be judged. He is the judge, and you and
I are in His hands. God is the judge of the earth. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of His throne. He's not to be criticized. Whatever
He does, bow to Him. He is the God of glory. We're not trying to talk people
into anything. This is who God is, Baal. He's the judge of the earth. Now Paul goes on to say, For
if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto
his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? If my sinfulness
displays God's justice and glory, why does He condemn me as a sinner?
That's pretty much the same thing He said in verse 5. And not rather
as we be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say,
let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just.
If somebody says, let's do evil so God can be merciful and show
His goodness. Somebody that says that, their
damnation is just. They never got that from the
Word of God, looking for an excuse for their sin. Now Paul says
in verse 9, what then? Are we, we who are Jews, we who
have the oracles of God, we who have the Word of God, are what
then? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
that they are all under sin, all under the complete control
and dominion of sin. That's me and that's you. We're
born into this world under sin. We're born bad. Now, Paul goes
on to quote Isaiah, I mean, Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Listen to his
words. He says, as it is written, there
is none righteous, No, not one. Isaiah said in Isaiah 64, 6,
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
Do you know, you can't pick up this Bible and figure it out.
You do not understand. Unless God is pleased to make
himself known, we'll never know. There's none that understandeth.
And then next he says, there's none that seeketh after God.
Do you know, there's never been a man who first sought the Lord
before the Lord sought him. Now, if the Lord seeks you, you'll
seek him. But if He leaves you to yourself
and if He leaves me to myself, we'll never seek Him. Oh, we
might be religious. We might seek to better our lives. But as far as seeking the living
God, there's never been a natural man ever to seek the living God
and bow the knee before Him. He says, they are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. That's God's universal testimony
concerning man. None righteous. No, not one.
There's none that understands. There's none that seeks after
God. They've together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good. No, not one. That's God's testimony
of me and you. That's what he says regarding
us by nature. Let's go on reading. He says in verse 13, their throat
is an open sepulcher, a grave. With their tongues, they've used
deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips. This describes the words that
come from our mouth, slander, gossip, and blasphemy. Hard words
for God and all authority. bitterness, murmuring, exaggeration
flow freely from these lips of ours, whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness." Then he talks about their action in
verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood. Now here Do you
know that God's throne would not be safe for a second if it
were within our power to pull it down? Every man by nature,
if he could, he'd kill God and take his place. And if we've
never murdered anybody physically, we've murdered them in our hearts,
being angry without a cause, or murdering their character
by slandering, gossip, and innuendo. Feeder swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. This is all they bring to the
table. And the way of peace they have not known. No man by nature... Everybody wants to feel peaceful.
We want to have peaceful circumstances and so on. But no man by nature
knows the way of peace with God. Peace by Jesus Christ. Peace
by what He did, where He made my peace with God. Preachers
ask questions like this. Have you made your peace with
God? No, I haven't made my peace with
God. Christ made my peace with God. And that's the only thing
that gives me any peace. But this way of peace they have
not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. No true
reverence for His person. Now, Paul says, now we know.
Here's how he concludes all of this. Now we know that what thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped. You're no longer God's judge.
You're no longer God's critic. No more of this self-vindication
and self-justification. Your mouth is stopped. No excuses. that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. God is the judge, and I stand
guilty before Him. Has your mouth ever been stopped? You know, if we ever see who
the Lord is, now I read this horrible description of human
nature. And if we ever see who the Lord is, this is what it
takes to see this, what I've been talking about, you've got
to see who the Lord is. If you see who the Lord is in
His holiness, in His unapproachable justice and righteousness, it's
the God of glory, you're going to see who you are. Nothing but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores from the top of your head
to the sole of your feet, as Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter
1. Isaiah said, In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. He said, I
saw the Lord. And you know what he said about
himself after he saw the Lord? Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone. For I'm a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Job said, I've heard
of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth
thee, wherefore I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now, when somebody sees who the
Lord is, They go from being his critic, finding fault with how
he saves and his sovereignty and his attributes. They go from
being his critic to standing before him as the one who is
judged. That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty, subject to the judgment of God. Now look what he says next. Verse
20. by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin." Now, when you stand guilty before God,
this is one thing you find out. You can't save yourself. You can't be saved by your own
deeds. You can't be saved by your good
works. You can't be saved by your decision.
You can't be saved by your good intentions. You cannot be saved
by anything you do. That's shut out by the deeds
of the law. There shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. All the law does is expose sin. Now, when we stand before God,
as judge. It stops our mouth. We can't
sit in judgment of our fellow sinners, and we certainly can't
sit in judgment on God. We stand before Him, and all
we can do is plead for mercy for Christ's sake. Now, when
we stand before Him as judge, This shows us the depths and
the darkness of our sin and of our depravity, and it shuts us
up to faith in Christ. You have nowhere else to go.
You don't have any other options. All you can do is look to Christ,
just like that thief on the cross did. Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom. Your only help is Christ, like
the leper. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I can't make myself clean. I'm
in your hands. If you will, you can make me
clean. I'm shut up to faith in Christ.
I'm shut up to this. The only hope I have is for God
to do something for me. You see, salvation is not what
the sinner does for God. It's what God does for the sinner. And what a blessing to be shut
up to the Lord Jesus Christ, where you have nowhere else to
turn. I think of what our Lord said to his disciples after he
watched the 5,000 leave him. He said, will you also go away? Peter said, Lord, to whom should
we go? It's not like we have any other
options. It's not like we can go back to the law or go back
to our old way of life. To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. Now, I don't
want to be someone who is God's critic and God's judge. That's
a battle I'm going to lose. You see, he's going to be justified
when he judges. I want to be someone who justifies
God in all that he does. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Lord, have mercy upon me. Save me for Christ's sake. I have no reason in myself. I'm
shut up to your sovereign mercy. Oh, would you save me? Would
you have mercy upon me for the sake of thy blessed son? I can't
find a reason in myself. Whatever you say is right and
just. If you send me to hell, you're
right and just. But oh, would you please have
mercy on me for Christ's sake? and deliver me from this horrible
sin of being your judge and your critic. It's pure hypocrisy for
me to take that position. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.