What Unbelievers Need to Understand

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Amen.

Let's pray together.

Lord, our prayer today is that you would so work in our soul that whatever happens, that it would be well with our soul, because our soul is steadfast.

It's connected to you.

It's ruled by you, not by what happens in this world.

Because if we if we are ruled by what happens in this world, our soul is always going to be amiss.

We're going to charge God with wrongdoing.

And God is sovereign and he's good and he does not do wrong.

We live in a fallen world where bad things happen to good people.

God is still sovereign and God is still good.

And so, God, I want to pray for those in this room that are still bearing their sin.

They don't have a savior, they're still trying to work it out.

Some kind of system of belief where they can somehow continue to do what they want and feel good about it.

It's impossible.

We call it a mental health crisis, and that's real.

But a lot of us, we're just trying to bear our own sin.

Because we don't have a savior.

We need a savior today.

So, Lord, may your word go forth and reach more people, which results in thanksgiving, which brings you glory.

This is our prayer today, God, that when your word is preached, that you would ultimately be glorified.

Make that happen, Holy Spirit.

Aid me in this process, assist me, rule over me in my natural proclivities with your supernatural nature.

We love you.

We ask you for this as your sons and daughters, and we ask what in Jesus' name everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And if you're our guest today, I'm going to say, Welcome.

Thanks for exploring a new church.

We're preaching through the book of Acts.

Let me just acknowledge this about Father's Day.

I'm not going to talk about five qualities of a great father, okay?

We don't worship fathers, we worship God.

And so we'll leave it up to you to celebrate your dad today, and we're going to just preach the gospel.

Is that okay?

Uh it's what we're going to do anyway.

I hope it's okay.

Uh, so anyway, I want to talk to this morning.

I'm in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you this morning uh uh about what unbelievers need to understand.

What unbelievers need to understand.

And let me just get this straight from the get-go.

I'm not saying that unbeliev this is not a dig at unbelievers, people that are non-Christians.

I think that unbelievers don't understand a lot of things because Christians don't talk about the things we should talk about.

Let me say that again.

Unbelievers do not understand a lot of things because Christians aren't really equipped or whatever.

We don't talk, we talk about a lot of things, but we don't talk about things uh that we need to be talking about.

And so let me give you the context.

It's been a couple weeks since we were in Acts.

Paul, he got in some trouble in his city, and his friends said, Hey man, go on a cruise.

Took him down, put him on a ship, sent him to Athens, and said, just kind of just kind of chill in Athens.

We'll catch up with you there.

He's walking around the city of Athens and it's full of idols.

There's like what we would call statues everywhere.

And they're to every God that kind of the it's kind of the God of Oprah.

All roads lead to God.

Just pick the one that you're comfortable with.

And so Paul's looking around, and the Bible says in verse 16 of Acts 17 that his spirit was provoked within him.

That is that's not anger, that is activation.

His spirit was like, whoo, whoa, this is the target-rich environment.

There's a lot of wrong in this place, okay?

And so now he talks to some Epicureans and Stoke philosophers, and then they say, Hey, you've got to go to the Areopagus.

The Areopagus was kind of like it's Mars Hill is what it was.

It's a place where, hey, these people are the ones, these are the officials that are responsible for maintaining the religious order in Athenian society, because what Paul was saying was strange and threatening, okay?

And so they were like, wait a minute, you're you're disrupting this place.

You got to go see the religious police.

And so that's where we are.

Paul's been brought before these people, and basically they said, Hey, you convince us if you're so smart and everything, you you tell us what you've been telling everybody else.

And Paul's like, not a problem.

Because one thing that drives him is he wants unbelievers to understand what the truth is.

And so Acts chapter 17, verse 22 says this.

Acts 17:22

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that every way you're very religious.

For as I passed along and I observed your objects of worship, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

Well, therefore, you worship as unknown.

This I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of man to live on the all to live on all the face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, quote, for we are his, indeed, his offspring.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day, which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Now, when they when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this.

So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed.

Among them uh also were Dionysius, the Arapagite, and a woman named Demarius, and others with them.

And so what I want you to see in the Bible is that every time you share spiritual truth, it's not going to be this, and everyone's going to agree with you.

But what you have to be driven by is what Paul was driven by.

He wanted unbelievers to understand.

Now he's talking to people, keep this in mind as we go through the text.

He's talking to people that did not believe in the resurrection.

They believed, eat, drink, be married, because when you die, you die, you go on the ground, and it's over.

There is no afterlife.

And because there is no afterlife, there's no consequence for this life.

Christianity teaches the exact opposite because if you have no consequence for this life, then you've got a culture that will be ruled by lawlessness.

Watch the news lately.

See, we have we the salt has lost its saltiness and we let this get away from us, people.

And so, what do unbelievers need to understand?

Oh, there's five things I want to point to.

Uh, three of them I'm just gonna point to, two of them I'm gonna preach on, okay?

But let me just say this.

What unbelievers need to understand.

So if you're here today and you're not a believer, you're not a Christian, uh, relax.

No one's gonna beat you over the head.

If you're here today because you ask your dad, what do you want for Father's Day?

And he goes, I want you to come to church with me.

And you're like, ah, just relax.

I want you to understand this, okay?

I can't make you.

God has to reveal this to you.

Uh, but there's five things in the text.

Number one, you got to understand that religion worships the wrong things.

Religion worships the wrong things.

It's verses 22 and 23, uh, because Paul was in the midst of them and he said, Men of Athens, I perceived it in every way.

You're very religious.

Uh, that word is really a better word.

He said, religious, not like uh like in devotion, but in as in superstition.

It's the mom and dad that are real active in church until their kids graduate high school and go on, go off to AM, and then they stop coming to church.

You really weren't devoted to God in the church, you just used the church to keep your kid out of trouble.

That's superstition.

It's not it's not a relationship with God.

And so when he says, I see that you're very religious, it's really they're kind of superstitious.

But when I say religious, religion worships the wrong things.

I just say this.

He says, I for as I passed along, I observed the objects of your worship.

Objects plural, okay?

There's this insufficiency to religion that leads to universalism.

Uh, he refers to their objects of worship, which was a reference to this city that was full of these various idols, little statues that have inscriptions, and people come make sacrifices to them.

And so, since nobody can be right, let's worship everything.

And so this is why Paul's spirit was provoked.

I told you this about a month ago, but it bears repeating the greatest threat to Christianity is not fundamentalism.

It's not the greatest threat to Christianity, which is by the way, what the culture accuses us of.

They accuse you of being a fundamentalist, you're far right wing, you're narrow-minded, you're a hater, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

They accuse you of that, of fundamentalism, because behind that they want to advance this agenda of syncretism.

Uh, syncretism, you say, Oh, that's great.

What is that?

I brought you a definition.

Syncretism is the process by which aspects of one religion are assimilated into or blended with another religion, and this leads to fundamental changes in both religions.

Let me say it again.

It's the process, syncretism is the process by which aspects of one religion are assimilated or blended in with another religion, and this leads to fundamental changes to both religions.

Like, I get asked this a lot by people, they say, well, basically, aren't all religions the same?

And when I laugh and go, absolutely not, people are like, Are you serious?

How can you be such a hater?

And I'm like, You really think all religions are the same?

This is what Athens was like.

It's like it was full of idols, and Paul's spirit is provoked.

And I just say that they have objects of worship.

If you want to see the contrast in religion and the relationship, and let me just say this again, I'll give you the second point.

Religion worships the wrong things, plural.

Here's the second thing you see in the text Christianity is the worship of the one true God.

Look at verse 24.

Uh Paul, after he says, I observed your objects of worship.

I found also this altar with this inscription to an unknown God.

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Look at the first two words of verse 24.

The God.

The God.

See, Paul from the get-go, Paul makes it clear Christianity is a monotheistic religion.

It is one God.

It's Deuteronomy 6.4, which in in Jewish tradition is known as a Shema.

Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one.

The Lord our God is one God.

Not a God or one of the gods on the pantheon of religions, on the buffway of religions, but Paul is very monotheistic because here's the thing you need to understand.

Nobody is helped by your preferred form of uncertainty.

Nobody is helped by your preferred form of uncertainty because it is a fruit of the spirit in America to be uncertain.

Well, I don't know.

I mean, who am I to judge you?

I mean, we can't really know.

We're all on a journey, we're not there yet.

All that is an expression of cowardice and uncertainty.

And here's what why that is so popular is because without certainty, there can be no authority.

And so we live in a culture that drives everything to a place of uncertainty where you just shrug and kind of go, Well, do your best.

Paul stands up.

And Athens is much like back then was much like America today.

He says that they, because he he ends uh in in in verse 21, he says, now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time doing nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Think TikTok.

It's just sitting, just scrolling on your phone, mom.

At the end of the day, just say something stimulating.

We haven't gotten really far away from this.

And so when I say Christianity is the worship of the one true God, when Paul stands up and says, the God who made the world and everything in it, they're like, What?

You mean to tell me you think there's just one?

I stand before you today as your pastor to tell you there is just one God, and he's right, and everybody that disagrees with him is wrong.

Happy Father's Day.

Yes, yeah.

You say, Well, I don't know what you mean.

They don't know the one true God, and so they're groping around in the dark, needing revelation and proclamation to enlighten them.

Let me say that again.

They do not know the one true God, they've got a city full of idols.

They're groping around in the dark, they need revelation, and they need proclamation to enlighten them.

Do you know anybody like that?

Then great, make that your next mission trip.

Don't go to Costa Rica or Sri Lanka or Romania unless and until you go to that person and say, Hey Bob, can we have lunch?

Because I'm concerned about you, bro.

Because I don't think you're I don't think you're ready for what is to come.

Here's a third thing we see in the text.

God's nature makes him knowable.

God's nature makes him knowable.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

This is where I want to pump the brakes a little bit.

It's in verse 24.

He says, the God who made the world and everything in it, he doesn't just leave it some vague whether it's God.

He gets very detailed about what this God is like.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Underline that little phrase, the boundaries of their dwelling place.

We'll come back to that in just a minute.

And you're gonna want to send me emails, so get ready to write down my email.

Uh, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yeah, he's actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring.

Now, when I say God's nature makes him knowable, this is what Christians don't talk about enough.

We talk about the nature of the church instead of the nature of God.

And you are doing people a deep disservice when you talk about the nature of your church.

What do you mean?

Oh man, we got Pine Cove in the city here this week.

It's awesome.

They got rock climbing walls and swimming pools and trampolines.

They got that's great.

We got a great kids' ministry, great, got a great student ministry, great.

What about God?

Because the driving need, the core need of people is to understand what God is really like.

Because when you understand what God is really like, then this desire in you gets get gets ignited that says, Man, I want to know this God.

And so when I say God's nature makes him knowable, what do you mean?

Paul unpacks, he says basically five things about God's nature.

Number one, he says he's creator.

Here's verse 24.

He starts with creation.

Why does he start with creation?

Because creation builds a case against humanity.

Everybody in the world is guilty before a holy God and without excuse.

It's simply because of the fact that God created everything.

What do you mean?

Romans chapter 1 says it like this in verse 18 for the wrath of God, he was revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

This is why Paul talks about creation, because creation builds a case against humanity.

Notice these last two phrases.

So they are without excuse.

It's the classic, what about the man in Africa who's never heard?

You know, there's nobody in Africa going, what about the teenager in Sugarland that is so concerned about me in Africa?

What about them?

See, you are copying out, okay?

You're an intellectual coward when you say, What about the man in Africa?

It has no basis for you.

He is as guilty before a holy God as you are simply because, well, but being known about God, translation, you can't look around this world and see all that God created and not know that there is a God.

See, the Athenians believed that they had this sense, but this sense that there's something out there bigger and better and beyond me drove them to idolatry, not to the worship of the one true God.

Everybody has something in them that reminds them that, hey, there's something in the world, and some people call it a life force, a positive energy, whatever.

No, no, no.

It is the one true God.

So the first thing that Paul tells them about the nature of God is that he's creator.

Secondly, he's self-sufficient.

He's self-sufficient.

What do you mean?

It's the latter part of verse 24 when he says, Hey, what you guys worship is something unknown, which is is wacky because how can you worship something you don't really know?

Paul says, hey, he he he's creator, he's self-sufficient.

What do you mean?

He he does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything.

He's self-sufficient because you could just come up with a God and build a little altar to them and a little statue, a little idol, and then you had to have you had to make sacrifices.

And when Paul says that God is self-sufficient, what he's saying is he doesn't need a building, he doesn't need altars, he doesn't need you to bring oranges and burn incense on the altar, okay?

That that that that those are false gods because this God doesn't need anything.

You want to worship a God that doesn't need you, he's sufficient for himself, because if God is not sufficient for himself, you're smart people.

Ask this question on what basis can he be sufficient for you?

When when all hell breaks loose in your life and things happen that you never envisioned happening, how is there any sufficiency in God if God is not, first of all, sufficient for himself?

When Paul says to these people, like, don't get it twisted, sister.

God doesn't need you coming down here lighting incense and putting fruit on the altar because that's just idolatry.

This one, the God who created everything, is secondly self-sufficient.

Thirdly, he's provider.

Verse 25, he says given to all men life and breath and everything.

Remember a long time ago when babies are born, they hold up and spank it?

You know why he did that?

To give them to breathe.

So you should think about when you see he's given to all men life and breath and everything.

He gave you life, whack.

He gave you breath and everything after that.

Everything after that.

I told you last Sunday, hey, let's just look for opportunities to say to God, thank you, Lord.

Let's just say thank you, Lord.

Every time we can say that and mean it.

So Paul's talking about, he's letting them, hey, I want you to know what God is like.

He's creator, he's self-sufficient, he's provider.

Here's the fourth thing he tells them, he's the ruler of the nations.

It's verse 26.

Now, let me pump the brakes here because I want you to think a little bit about this.

Look at verse 26.

He gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face, all on all the face of the earth, not just America.

Where everybody wants to see him to come.

Now, I'm not being political, so don't send me emails.

I'm being very missional, so just stay with me, okay?

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

And he did this that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he's actually not far from each one of us.

Now, what do you mean when I say he's the ruler of the nations?

There's two things I want you to see in verse 26.

God created diverse ethnic groups from one man.

Okay, Adam.

What's the importance of that?

This doesn't weigh the racism because we all came from one man.

There's no basis for it, so there's no need for it.

Okay, that's the first thing I want you to see.

Secondly, I want you to see that little phrase and the boundaries of our dwelling place.

Boundaries means borders, okay?

And don't go off Fox News on me and check out, okay?

Uh just stay with me.

Boundaries mean he's the he's established.

He said, Hey, you the allotted periods, like if you've ever said I was born at the wrong time, that's not true.

You were born in the allotted period God wanted you in.

Uh, and then secondly, and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

See, God says, I want certain people to live within a certain geopolitical, uh, this is the boundaries uh uh of your habitation.

This is where the boundaries of your dwelling place.

Why is that a big deal?

It's a big deal because when Russia invades Ukraine, it's not a political issue, it's sin.

Have you ever noticed that the world just kind of sits by and says, hey, we'll give you uh we'll give you weapons, and then other nations say to Russia, we'll give you weapons and we'll just let you go.

No one is saying, by the way, this is sin.

This violates what God says in his word.

We just like, hey, let's just see how this thing kind of plays out.

It also means that when people violate the boundaries or the borders of another nation, it is sin.

It also means that when you come to America, like this is what me when I'm saying be in mission, okay?

I asked a friend of mine this week, he said, Hey, you guys had a rough week.

How are you doing?

You're gonna preach on Sunday?

I said, Absolutely.

Max Dixon, my father-in-law, would want me to preach on Sunday.

He'd be like, Boy, do your job.

Like, okay, you ain't gotta yell at me, yo man.

But I said, Yeah, and he said, What are you talking about?

And he goes, Oh, man, that's controversial.

I said, Not really.

I said, Let me ask you a question.

Is it a sign that missions is failing because the world is coming to America in the worship of America and the freedom we have?

And he's like, I man, I hadn't thought about that.

And he said, I mean, are you gonna talk about immigration?

I said, No, the problem's not immigration, the problem's sin.

People don't want to stay where they are and worship God in their country, they want to come to America and worship America, and we're okay with that.

That's a mission fail.

That's an epic missions fail.

Now, don't get it twisted if you're a visitor.

Are you against immigrants?

Not at all.

I am for law.

It's a sin when you violate the borders of another country.

Yes, but he's the ruler of the nations.

Last thing Paul says about God's nature is that he is knowable.

He is knowable.

This is verse 27 and 28.

Don't miss this.

This is the part where he says he's not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being.

Because even some of your own poets have said, we are indeed his offspring.

Now, he takes something they know.

That's a quote from a poem they all know.

We are indeed his offspring.

And notice the next verse 29 begins with being then God's offspring.

He does a great thing here.

I'm fixing to say something that sounds very nerdy.

I don't I I don't want it to uh want it to, but here's the thing arguments are only persuasive.

If they work within the plausibility structure existing in the minds of the hearers.

Nerd alert.

I think I brought it for you.

I think I put it in my notes.

Let me say it again.

That arguments are only persuasive.

They only help if they work if they work within the plausibility structure that's existing in the minds of the hearers.

In other words, everybody has what's called the plausibility structure.

This is why you should take logic in college.

Every one of you in this room has a plausibility structure in your head.

Like I've said some things already this morning that some of you are like, eh, I do not agree with that, because it doesn't appeal to your plausibility structure.

In other words, that's not plausible.

That can't really happen.

I can't live the life I want to live and that still be true.

Therefore, that just can't be true.

That's you and your plausibility structure kind of listening to life.

Okay?

And so when I say, hey, that the arguments are only persuasive if they work within the plausibility structure exists in people's minds.

This is what Paul does in verse 28 when he says, so brilliantly, as some of your own poets have said, he starts basically with something they know to explain something they don't know.

That's a real simple way of saying, instead of talking about plausibility structure, he starts with something they know.

As some of your own poets have said, we are indeed his offspring.

And then verse 29, he pivots on them and says, Okay, you said it.

Since we're God's offspring, we shouldn't think wrongly about God.

Now, this has happened yesterday morning.

I had breakfast with my friend John up here in Cady, and we're sitting there and we're talking about missions in England and the possibility of our church going next summer to England and taking our students and sharing the gospel in schools because they have religious education.

It's like history and geography and algebra, and they love for American students to come in.

And our waiter, Nosy Rosie, butts in and says, Why are you guys going to England?

And I was like, Help you?

Uh, how about refill my coffee and shut your yapper, okay?

But I didn't say that because I'm a man of the cloth, but I was kind of like, What?

And he said, Uh, why would y'all go to England?

And my job, my friend John, knocked it out.

John said, Uh, you got a driver's license?

This he's appealing to the plausibility structure in this guy.

And the guy went, uh, yeah, who doesn't have a driver's license?

He goes, But do you have a driver's license?

Yeah, I got a driver's license.

Does your picture on your driver's license does it adequately represent who you really are?

And he goes, No, it doesn't look much like me at all.

I hate that picture.

He said, By the same token, students in England have a picture of God that's not in keeping with who God is, and we want to go show them the right picture of who God is.

And the dude goes, Oh, wow.

Okay.

And I thought, okay, now shut up and refill my coffee.

Yes.

And so instead of all this plausibility structure, blah, blah, blah.

This is what I'm saying, okay?

Here's the fourth thing you see in the text.

What you think about God matters.

What you think about God matters.

This verse 29 and 30 says, being in God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone.

Hear this phrase: an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

This is what's happened to God these days.

We've people just kind of they formed this image based on the art and the and on their art or their imagination.

This is why Athens was so full of idols.

What you think about God matters.

And the key issue is not just making idols, but the underlying assumption that God is a thing that we could just make up according to what we think.

He's an image formed by the art and the imagination of man.

It makes me think of what Martin Luther said in his book, Bondage of the Wheel.

He was uh coming back at a guy Erasmus that he disagreed with.

He said this, he said, your thoughts about God are all too human.

And I wonder today if your thoughts about God are just all too human.

They're just the art and the imagination of man, they don't really reflect the nature of God.

You're the kid holding up a driver's license picture of God, and no one cares about that.

No one, because it's not interesting.

It's like, no, that I don't know about that.

So, what do you think about God matters?

Now the last thing I want to say this morning, and I want to pump the brakes and kind of unpack this in a little bit, because we don't talk about this enough in America.

I would say barely at all.

Here's the last thing we see in the text the final judgment is clarifying.

Now hear this final judgment is clarifying.

Look at verse, because verse 30 and 31.

He says, the times of ignorance.

Hello, look at me.

The times of ignorance.

Translation, the Bible says it is ignorant to think that you can just come up with what God is like.

The times of ignorance, God has overlooked.

But now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Why?

What is so terrible that God tells everybody everywhere, you need to change how you think to get ready for this reality that's coming at you?

It's judgment.

He says he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Why?

Because he's fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Now, when I say final judgment is clarified, I want you to notice that the motivation for repentance is the reality of final judgment.

He commands all people everywhere to repent.

Why?

Because he's fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.

And let me just say this: without judgment, love holds no wonder.

Without judgment, love holds no wonder.

It's like when you tell people now, hey, God loves you.

They're like, Oh, yeah, thanks, I know that.

Without judgment, love holds no wonder.

But also, the exact opposite is true.

Without love, judgment holds no hope.

Without love, judgment holds no hope until you just erode into fatalism.

What do you mean?

Like, have you ever seen buddy's got a tattoo on the arm and says, only God can judge me?

I always have to talk to those people.

I just tap them on the shoulder and go, hey man, I like your ignorant again.

I appreciate, man.

Yeah.

Why'd you get that?

Because people hating on me and stuff.

Yeah, you know, when it says only God can judge me, he's going to.

But do you know the God that's going to judge you?

It's going to be a resurrected and righteous Jesus.

So no one's going to get a bad deal.

And people always call me, what do you mean?

I know it sounds cool, like, hey, nobody can judge me but God, but when you stand before that righteous, resurrected Jesus, you're going to wish to God that everybody in the world judged you instead of him.

And then all of a sudden they want to scratch the tattoo off and go, can we just tape over this or something?

No.

What I mean when I say final judgment is clarifying.

Let me ask this question.

You ever wonder if we don't see people repenting like we should?

It's because we don't talk enough about the final judgment.

Well, I hadn't thought about that, Pastor, but since you brought it up, thank you.

Yeah, you ever wonder if we don't see people repenting in America?

We don't talk about the final judgment.

We're so afraid of being, and I don't think you should be, I think it's love to tell the truth.

It's not hate.

But I think we we uh I think it's gotten a bad rap in the church today because it feels unloving, because we believe things about God that just really aren't true.

This is why, if you're a reader, uh Thomas Schreiner wrote a book called The Justice and Goodness of God.

Hear that, the justice and the goodness of God.

And in the book, he talks about 10 things uh that are great about the final judgment.

I'll just give you four and we'll be done this morning.

You still with me say amen.

Uh you're like, I came to church on Father's Day, and this guy talked about the final judgment.

You're welcome.

Or I could talk about four qualities of an awesome father.

By the way, somebody asked me this way, I said, Hey, are you a good dad?

I said, Ask my kids.

Of course I'm gonna say that.

Ask them.

That's not really sharmonic.

Basically, hey, four things about the final judgment that makes a final judgment a good thing.

Number one, the final judgment is good news.

It's good news.

And here's why life doesn't make sense without it.

Okay, if there are no standards, people can do whatever they want.

If there's no accountability for what they do, then why not do it?

Matter of fact, Schreiner says this in the book.

He says a world without judgment is a world of anarchy.

Think about America today.

A world without judgment is a world of anarchy, a world in which those who terrorize others sin with impunity.

Second thing, the final judgment reminds us of the nature of God.

The final judgment reminds us of the nature of God.

We don't talk about the final judgment because we don't talk about the nature of God.

We talk about the nature of the church, but not the nature of God.

And so church becomes more attractional and less consequential because we don't talk about the nature of God.

What do you mean the final judgment reminds us of the nature of God?

God is good, he is holy, he cannot tolerate evil.

Why is that?

Because God is just.

Now, first and 2 Thessalonians were written shortly after Paul visited Athens.

Okay, just follow that away.

First and 2 Thessalonians were written shortly after Paul visited Athens.

And in 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul writes these words.

He says, This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, but you are also suffering.

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Now, some people hear something like that, and they think, man, the final judgment, how can how could a good God judge anybody?

Let me just say the final judgment does not call into question the goodness of God.

It's the exact opposite.

The final judgment verifies the goodness of God because it establishes that God's nature is just and righteous and holy, and because of that, he cannot let sin go unpunished.

Let me bring it down to the level we're most uh most aware of, and that's ourselves.

Think of it like this: if God doesn't punish the unbeliever, because a lot of people say, well, why would a loving God just punish me?

I mean, golly, that's kind of hate speech right there.

He's talking about punishing people and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God?

Yeah.

Yeah.

How is that loving?

I mean, think of it like this.

I just bring it down to apply it to you and me.

If God doesn't punish the unbeliever, then he's not just.

He can't.

Remember, this is all about the nature of God.

The final judgment reminds us of the nature of God.

If God is not just and as a just being, he does not tolerate any injustice.

He's not a feeble presidential candidate looking for votes.

So he lets everybody in and says, Here's your card, vote for me.

That's not God.

He's not elected, he's always existed, and he always will reign as the sovereign king of the universe.

He doesn't give a rip what you think about him.

He's that sufficient for himself, and he's just.

And he's gonna reward the righteous and punish the wicked.

Now, I don't apologize for saying that, but also I don't glory in it either.

Because I know some people that are in that category, people in my family are in that category because they don't believe.

Now, here's what needs to not happen.

You Christians don't need to be like, well, you know, let me take the edge off that because my friends don't like all this talk about God punishing the unbeliever.

Then if God doesn't punish the unbeliever, then he's not just.

Then you've got a bigger problem.

How can this unjust God justify you?

Just, just, it's Romans 3, about verse 26, where the Bible says this about him so as to be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

If God is not just, you have no hope of justification.

You're just as condemned as the unbeliever.

This is how essential the nature of God is to what you profess to believe.

Here's the third thing about the final judgment it teaches us that evil won't triumph.

We should cheer when we hear that.

I hope the second service is like, whoa! I'm sick of watching the news and then looking at my wife and going, Do we have any bourbon in the house?

I want to drink after that.

It's just depressing up in here.

Yes, the final judgment teaches us that evil won't triumph.

You see so much evil these days.

You can start to question does good or evil win?

I mean, I mean, however, the final judgment reminds us that goodness wins and justice has the last word.

That's just the way it's gonna be, people.

So you're not crazy for doing the right thing and kind of looking around and kind of going, does anybody, yes, God does.

He takes notice, he's very aware.

Here's the last thing about the final judgment.

The gospel doesn't make sense if there is no final judgment.

It just doesn't make sense.

Why?

As Christians, we proclaim Jesus saves, then when we trust in him, that we'll be spared from this wrath that is to come.

However, without judgment, the message of Jesus is pointless.

It's just pointless.

Uh, many people today, remember Paul's talking to these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers?

Many people today, by the way, they believe that when you die, that's it.

There's no resurrection, there's no life after that, nothing happens.

Okay?

And this is why they scoffed when he talks about the resurrection.

They're like, that's enough.

You can be done, you're dismissed.

Because they don't want to face the fact that they're wrong.

And they're like, resurrection?

No one rises from the dead.

After this, you just go on the ground and you just ride away.

I'm a biology major.

Wonderful.

You're also wrong.

But many people today, it's one of the reasons that people are indifferent, even cocky in America, in their response to the gospel.

People boast about their unbelief.

Why is that?

Because they don't believe there's any afterlife.

And because there's no afterlife, there'll be no judgment or consequence for this life.

So why not do whatever you want?

However, beloved, you can plainly see from the biblical text that this is not true.

So I just ask you a simple question: Are you ready for the final judgment?

Or are you gonna stand before a resurrected and righteous Jesus?

You say, Wow, I don't know about that.

And you're gonna be judged.

You're not gonna say anything to him, he's gonna say things to you.

And here's the good news if you're not ready for that, then you need someone who can save you from this reality.

And look at me, and I'm done.

The only person that can save you and me from that reality is the same resurrected righteous Jesus who you'll stand before.

So when I stand before him, this is this this is what it means to be saved, to be a Christian.

When I stand before him, I stand before him as someone he recognizes.

And it's not, oh, are you gonna get into heaven or not?

It's like, oh, if a knucklehead like you can believe the gospel, then anybody can believe the gospel.

So actually, it's the final judgment is good news because the person you're gonna stand before, if you are a believer, is the resurrected righteous Jesus who resurrected you from being spiritually dead and imputed his righteousness into you.

And so you stand before him like him, and you have this great peace that passes all understanding.

This is the gospel, this is Christianity.

This is why you can face moments and you've got this certainty.

People talk about the final judgment, you know, like, oh my gosh, that's kind of scary.

But if you're still trying to bear your own sin and do your own thing, you have great cause to be alarmed today because I promise you, you are not ready to stand before this resurrected and righteous Jesus because you have no righteousness, but you can.

This is why Jesus dies on the cross.

He doesn't come just to judge people, don't get it twisted, okay?

He will.

So ask yourself this question and we'll be done.

Why does he wait so patiently for you to come to faith?

Because the same Jesus died on the cross in your place and for your sins.

Because he knew you needed a savior.

If you don't have a savior, then you're gonna get a judge.

You gotta ask yourself which one of those realities awaits you?

Let's pray together.

If you're our guests, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible, even the hard parts, and then give you space to think about it.

So questions come up on the screen, these are for your consideration, but also we'll talk about them in our community groups when they meet again.

Let me voice a simple prayer.

Lord, we just want to be still for a moment, brood over us, Holy Spirit, press in on us what all is necessary.

We all are cocky in our unbelief.

God, there's so much arrogance and unbelief in America.

People posting stuff on social media like that's reality.

Like, who cares who your what your social media influencer status is?

The Bible says that the heels melt like wax at the presence of the Lord.

How are we gonna stand before you?

The only people are gonna stand before you is people that have faith in you.

So, Holy Spirit, sober us today.

Cause us to think about your nature.

God, that's the reality of the gospel.

Only a holy God.

The answer to all those questions is only a holy God.

Only a just, righteous being.

Not some half-cocked internet theologian who's a social media influencer leading people astray.

God, we need to repent.

We're talking more about the nature of our church than we do the nature of God.

And the worst are preachers.

Oh.

Like the church could somehow do something for people that God couldn't.

So thank you for your word today.

As strong as it is, it's also that available.

And so we don't we don't blush back from that.

We step into that.

Thank you for it.

May it result in thanksgiving, and may that re thanksgiving result in you getting glory.

This is our prayer.

We pray in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, again, let me say thanks for being here.

Uh, what you saw today is what we do.

We teach the Bible, we worship, we teach the Bible, we pray corporately.

Every Sunday we gather.

This is what we do.

There's not a lot of fog machines, a lot of light machine, uh, smoke machines, uh, because we don't think you need that.

Uh, that's why we don't do things like that.

But we do uh we do place a big value on worship and the word, okay?

So if you're a guest today and you're like, hey, I'm just kind of exploring, all we ask of you is you text welcome to the number on the screen behind me, which just lets us know that you are here.

We'll shoot you back a text.

We want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey, okay?

We've always got things going on in the life of our church.

The way you make we make you aware of those is that we uh through our video announcements.

So if you would check out the screens for this week's announcements.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.

Hi, my name is Dee Knox, and I'm a part of the team that just came back from Romania.

The people of Romania have always been very welcoming and very gracious when we come.

And there's power in the consistency of us coming back and being there again and again.

When we went into their homes this year, the families were asking for Grand Parkway members by name.

They remembered them coming into their homes.

Pastor Daniel told us about how the kids had been asking, when are the Americans coming back?

When I was there in 2013, the House of Joy, it was just a foundation and a few walls.

And I come back 11 years later, and it is this towering three-story building that just shouts to the villages and shouts to the people.

Look at how faithful God is to the people that follow him.

I prioritized going on a mission trip in spite of my very busy life and schedule, because going on a mission trip is more important than my job.

When I go to heaven, my job is not going to be there.

But I'm optimistic and I pray that the people that I met in Romania, in their homes and on the street, that I will see them there.

And I will get to talk to them and will remember this mission trip.

Hi, my name is Wade Collier.

I think the biggest impact that I personally had the opportunity to see with our financial partnership with our partners in Romania are the tangible things.

Those tangible things are putting groceries in the hands of those who need them, helping build a church, and helping to provide transportation for a pastor who without that transportation would be walking from village to village.

So today we're gonna read about a time when Jesus was going to a city and everyone came to see him.

After December 15th, he's just mentioned to the rash, she doesn't mean it's today is the last day to register for Chat and Chow.

We'll meet together in the fellowship hall between 9 and 11 a.m.

for free breakfast and good conversation.

So come on over after you drop off your kiddos at Pine Cove and Camp Park.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

If you're new to our church and wonder what chat and chow is, uh Marcy, our women's minister, always plans it during uh Pine Cove Week and Camp Arc.

It is a Wednesday in the fellowship hall, which is in the back of the building right over here with the green roof on it.

And it is exactly what the name says it is chat and chow.

When we get together and there's no speakers of Bible study, they just catch up with each other and have a delicious breakfast.

Uh and I say things like, you're not having a Bible study.

And my wife says things like, shut up.

Uh and so, uh, ladies, today's last day to restroom.

We'd love for you to be a part of that if your schedule allows.

If not, don't sweat it.

We'll catch you next time, okay?

Would I conclude our service with a spoken blessing?

So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.

Because God's nature is what it is, and he's a good father.

You can reconcile with your father, you can make peace with him, you can forgive him, and you can call him today.

The gospel gives you that capacity because you never know how long you're gonna have him.

So take the opportunity you have while you have it.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.