Things people don't know

Turn with me please to the Gospel of Matthew, and we're going to read together in chapter 22. The topic that's on my mind for this evening is, it's a very large topic, it's things that men don't know. And when we start to think about the ignorance of men, it's an endless topic that could be taken up.

But I've got just three verses in my mind tonight that men don't really know and they need to consider. And they do need to know. Matthew chapter 22, and we're going to read at verse number 29.

Now the context here, are there some men, they're called the Sadducees, and they do not believe in the resurrection. And the Lord Jesus says unto them in verse number 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. So they did not know the Scriptures, nor did they know the power of God.

Now Romans please, in chapter 2. Romans in chapter 2. And Paul is writing here concerning the judgment of God, and men are guilty. We'll read at verse number 2. It says, But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

But after thy hardness and impenitent or unrepentant heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And one final reading in chapter 10 of this book, and we'll begin at verse 1. Romans chapter 10, verse 1. Paul says, And Lord will bless to us the reading of his precious word. When you think of things that men haven't discovered yet, and men haven't learned yet, or they still do not know, when it comes to things of everyday life, there are tremendous questions that people have been trying to answer for the ages, and they haven't been able to answer them yet.

And there's always new challenges that pop up with men in life, and we're trying to solve them sometimes through science, and sometimes through physics and mathematics, and all these things. But there are things when it comes to spiritual things that are absolutely a necessity to know. There are things that we don't know when it comes to everyday.

We know not what a day will bring forth, James tells us, and that our life is but a vapor. We do not know the day of our death. We do not know the day of the Lord's coming.

And there's lots of things that are unknown to us when we come to the Word of God. But three things that I would like to emphasize tonight are simply this, that when we come to Matthew, and we read that they did not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God. They did not know divine revelation.

We come to the book of Romans in chapter 2, and there they did not know that it was the goodness of God that was leading them to repentance. They didn't recognize that the things that were taking place in their life, whether it was the trials of life, or whether it was the God who would allow things into their life, they didn't understand that that was God working, that they might repent. And remember that God commands now all men everywhere to repent.

And we come to chapter 10, and very simply it's this, that they did not know the righteousness of God. They didn't know how to be right with God. They didn't know what it was to be right with God.

And that is the question of the ages for Job asking himself, he said, how can a man be right with God? So those are the three points I'd like to emphasize this evening. When it comes to the day of our death, we don't know when it is. We might have a clue if we've been diagnosed with some disease, or some problem, or some ailment.

But the reality tonight is this, that not knowing that death is not really the problem tonight. Death isn't the problem of mankind, for Paul says to die is gain. We don't know when the day is, it is a great danger.

Death is an imminent danger. It is going to pass upon all of us if the Lord be not come. But to not know that day is not the problem.

To not know the day when the Lord comes is not the problem, although that's an imminent danger. And I want to just say this for you young ones here that are still in your sins. The coming of the Lord is very real and very eminent in the day and age in which we live.

This that's taking place in the Middle East right now is absolutely amazing to me. It's absolutely exciting and at the same time it can be absolutely scary. And if you're not saved and the Lord comes tonight and you will be left behind, you are in a great danger, but the coming of the Lord isn't the problem.

It's not the problem. Understand tonight, just for a little bit of timeline, nothing is needed to take place before the Lord comes to the air for His own. He could rise and give the shout and call His waiting people home at any time.

The next thing really on the timeline of God is this, after the Lord comes, there's going to be a peace treaty with Jerusalem. Now, is there not a peace treaty that's needed right now? Peace is going to be made, it is going to need to be made. And if it would be the treaty that would be with the man of sin, understand this, the Lord will come before that.

The Lord will come before that. So just to get it in your mind a little bit, just for the sake of argument, this skirmish, this war is over and the peace agreement is signed in 30 days. And if it is the one that is with the man of sin, the Lord will come before that.

That's how real the Lord's coming is. Don't take it for granted. But the Lord's coming isn't the problem.

Death isn't the problem. What I want to look at tonight is the problem of all mankind is their sin. Their sin.

For death isn't the problem for the believer, for to die is gain. And the coming of the Lord isn't the problem, because that's what every Christian is looking forward to. Everyone in their sins should dread both cases.

But the problem tonight between God and man is simply this, it is the sin of man. It is your sin. Your sin is the problem between you and God.

Your sin is what is separated between you and God. Your sin is what you'll be judged for under the wrath of God. Sin tonight is the problem.

In Matthew chapter 22, they knew not the Scriptures nor the power of God. Two things that they didn't know. It would be a fair argument to say that if you're in your sins tonight, it is the same with you.

That you know not the Scriptures nor the power of God. What do the Scriptures say? In the context here, they're speaking of the resurrection. And these poor souls who didn't believe in a resurrection from the dead, they're trying to make a case against the Lord Jesus.

And the Lord Jesus simply refers them to this, that they don't know the Scriptures, and they don't know the power of God when it comes to the resurrection. The resurrection is to be preached really in every Gospel meeting. Primarily the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But when it comes to sin, do you know the Scriptures? And do you know the power of God? You say, what do the Scriptures say about sin? The Scriptures tell us this, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that takes in everyone here without exception. It takes in the whole wide world without exception.

Sin is passed upon all men. Because Adam sinned. And death because of sin.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says that the wage of sin is death. Absolutely.

The Bible says that sin is the problem. For it is our sins that have separated between us and God. And so I want to make sure tonight, even though I know that most of you here, if not all of you here, have heard it before.

The Scriptures declare that sin is the problem between God and man. And if sin is the problem, then the removal of sin is necessary. The salvation from sin is absolutely required.

And that is why the Bible tells us that we must be saved. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

We must be delivered. We must be rescued. But from what? It is our sin.

And the power of sin. And the penalty of sin. And for those of us that are saved, we're looking forward to be delivered from the very presence of sin altogether.

What do the Scriptures say about your sin? What do the Scriptures say about the power of God? You remember what the Lord Jesus said? He said, Don't fear them that have power to kill, but fear him that has power after he is killed to cast into hell. The power of God. The power of God is a tremendous study throughout the Gospel.

You can go to Luke chapter 5, and there you'll find the Lord Jesus teaching in the house. And those people that were in the house to learn, they were scribes and they were doctors of the law, they were Pharisees that come out of all the region of Galilee and Judea to hear him teach. And it says there that the power of the Lord was there to heal them.

Don't miss that. The power of the Lord was there to heal those religious people, those Bible scholars, those Bible students. And in that context of the paralyzed man who was healed, how many of those religious people were healed? Not one.

Not one. You see, they had studied the Scriptures, and they had learned the Scriptures, but they didn't know the Scriptures. And maybe there's a Sunday school student here tonight, and you have memorized the verses, and you have heard them preached, but you don't know the Scriptures.

What they say about your sin. Friend, it's your sin what's taking you down to hell tonight. It's your sin that is requiring the wrath of God tonight.

Are you sure about the Scriptures as far as your sin? And the Scriptures and the power of God. And that story in Luke 5 of that paralytic man is one of my favorites. This man is brought to the Lord Jesus.

Men look on the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart. We would look at this paralyzed man, that he is going there, that he might get his legs back, that he might get his motion back, that he might be healed of his disease. But you've learned and you've seen it before, I know you have, that the first thing that the Lord Jesus does for that man is He forgives his sin.

I suggest to you that's why the man came to the Lord Jesus. Because his greatest need was the forgiveness of sin. The Lord Jesus never saved anybody unless that was their first and foremost need.

Unless it was their greatest desire. Unless that was the thing in their life that they wanted dealt with, is with their sin. For He said, You shall seek for Me and you shall find Me.

When you seek for Me with all your heart. And this paralytic man comes. And the Lord Jesus uses him really as an illustration to those men in the house.

Those men that the power was there to heal them, none of them were healed that day. And the man is let down through the tiling of the roof, right into the very presence of the Lord Jesus. I have to smile to think of the Lord seeing the daylight start to open up upon the tiles on the roof.

The man's right on time. His lesson, his object lesson of this man to those religious men, he was right on time. And something interesting happens.

As he is let down, there's room made for him in the house. Could I tell you tonight that there's room for one more at least in the house of God? Someday the last soul will be saved in the age of grace, and the door will be shut. There is room for one more tonight.

I don't have the authority to tell you that there's room for millions of more, although I know that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And I know that propitiation has been made for the whole world, and that souls could be saved tonight. But what if the last one was saved this night? What if it wasn't someone from this gathering? What if it was someone from this gathering? And the Lord would come.

Are we convinced of the power of God to save tonight? I firmly believe that God has the power and the will to save tonight. Do you know the Scriptures? Do you know the power of God, the power of the God to save? It's a marvelous power, and it's only God that can save. Men are powerless when it comes to salvation.

Men are powerless when it comes to even stirring an anxious thought. But the power of God was present in the house to heal them, and God's presence and His power is here tonight, and you could be saved before the meeting is over. They did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God.

They did not know that it was the goodness of God that was leading them to repentance. And it's a very interesting book, the book of Romans, especially the first chapters. It's all interesting.

But in chapter 2, they don't realize that God is working in their life, seeking to bring them to repentance. Repentance is a change of attitude and is a change of direction. It is agreeing with God, even when it's against myself, that God is right, and I am the one that has been wrong.

God has always been right, and men have always been wrong. Let God be true, and every man a liar. We come now to this chapter where we're speaking of the judgment of God, and His question is, are they despising the riches of His goodness and His forbearance and His long-suffering? This is what God is doing tonight.

God is displaying, really, His riches. They're despising the riches of His goodness. There are some here tonight, and I know that God has spoken to you in recent days.

God in some way and shape and form has tried to get your attention, tried to awaken you to your great need of salvation, tried to bring before you, even if it was through a funeral or through a death, that God is still trying to get the attention of men. And never forget, that is God's goodness. God's goodness.

The riches of God's goodness, His forbearance, His long-suffering. God is long-suffering tonight. Oh, the suffering and the payment for sin has been accomplished since Christ has died and was raised again.

But God is still looking down on a sinful world. And God sees the wickedness in the heart of man. And God knows the imaginations and the thoughts of men.

And it still grieves Him. It still offends Him. Even though Christ has died and payment for sin has been made, God looks down and He sees the unbelief of men.

And it grieves Him. And yet He is patient. Isn't that what Peter says? That God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And as God works in your life and He's seeking to bring you to repentance, you just take the things that are going on in the world for a moment. We see from California what lawlessness is. Why is God showing us what lawlessness is? It's not that we might say, well, I'm not that way.

I wouldn't riot in the daytime. I wouldn't riot against God. But the goodness of God is getting us to see it in our own heart, to see sin in our own life.

That we may not have rioted in the daytime in California, but we rebel against God day in and day out. And it's the goodness of God seeking to awaken people of their sin that we might repent. It's amazing to us that we're all the same.

We see people on the news doing sins that we would never do. And what bubbles out of us is our own self-righteousness. That's what bubbles out of us.

But could I just draw your attention tonight that when you see people sin, it's not to make you feel good that you don't do those things. It's that you might recognize that you in some way have done the same thing to God. And that it is the goodness of God when sin is exposed to bring men and women and boys and girls to repentance.

Maybe some of you have been offended by someone. Just to get you to think about the goodness of God. When God allows us to be offended by someone, God is trying to get us to realize that we have offended Him.

You notice that in your life. That when someone offends you, or some sin affects you, or some sin speaks to you, God is trying to get us and bring us to repentance. I don't know how many times in my life, especially as a Christian, that something has come into my life that I thought was despicable.

And it was just a matter of moments, and the Lord says, that's what you're doing to me. God is trying to lead you to repentance. Why? God has brought things into your life that have got you to think about maybe what life is even all about.

God has brought things into your thinking that maybe you've never thought about before. Why? Because it's the goodness of God that is leading you to repentance. Seeking to get you to turn.

Seeking to get you to agree with God. What sin is. And that you have it.

And not only that you have it, but you're full of it. It's the goodness of God. And these people, they despise the goodness of God.

They don't understand, they don't know that it is His goodness that is leading them to repentance. And verse 5 says, But after the hardness of unrepentant, impenitent heart... So God is speaking to people, God is speaking to you about sin. And the unrepentant heart hardens itself against God.

And what happens? The verse tells us what happens. That the unrepentant person treasures up wrath. Wrath because of sin.

Unbelief is sin. Wrath because of sin. And we're treasuring it up.

And dear sinner tonight, you've got more sins tonight than you had last night. And if the Lord spares you and you're unrepentant and not saved, you'll have more sins tomorrow. And that was one of the things that spoke to me as growing up in a Christian home.

Saved at the age of 17, God spoke to me from the Scriptures. In an obscure verse, the preacher was preaching one night in a gospel meeting, A high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. And I could understand that a high look and a proud heart was sin against God.

But growing up on a dairy farm, I had no clue what it meant that the plowing of the wicked is sin. God told Adam to till the ground. God told Adam to plow the ground.

How can it be sin? Farming is hard work. You're feeding the world. You farmers know that.

I don't have to tell you that. And so I asked a question. How is it that the plowing of the wicked is sin? And the answer was clear and it was from God for my soul.

The answer come back like this. Every moment you reject the Lord Jesus Christ is sin. You think about that.

Every moment you reject the Lord Jesus Christ is sin. Every moment you choose your sin over Him is sin. And so I started to do the math.

And some of you are better at math than I am. But I took, if I'm 17 years old, say I was, for the sake of argument, when I was 7, I was old enough to understand. Likely younger than that.

But 10 is a nice number to work with in math. 365 days in a year. Times 10 years.

24 hours in a day. 60 minutes in an hour. 60 seconds in a minute.

And if you figure out the seconds in 10 years, you'll come up with 315, 500 some odd thousand seconds in 10 years. And every one of them, and in every one of them, I called God a liar because I received not the record that God gave of His Son. 315 million sins of calling God a liar.

And for the first time in my life, my mouth was stopped. And I was guilty before God. And no one deserved the lake of fire more than me.

What was God doing? He was bringing me to repentance. That's a lot of sins. And if I was responsible for what I learned one second, and you work it backwards, factorial, that's like taking 5 times 4 times 3 times 2 times 1. From 315, 500,000, that's a big number.

I tried it on the computer. It just said E. My sins were more than could be counted by a computer. What about yours? They know not the righteousness of God.

Chapter 10. Paul's desire and prayer for Israel was that they'd be saved. Why did he want them to be saved? Because he himself had been saved.

He himself knew what it was to sin against God and to reject Christ. And Paul's desire for his people that they would be saved was because they were just like him. They had committed the same sins that he had committed.

They were under the same judgment that he was under. They were going to meet the living Christ in their sins. They were going to meet the same man, the resurrected Lord Jesus.

And they were going to meet Him in their sins. And they were going to meet Him in unbelief. And he wanted them to be saved.

He gave them credit that they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They were going about to establish their own righteousness. And they were ignorant to the righteousness of God.

And if you're in your sins tonight, you're in the same danger. You might be going about to establish your own righteousness. You have not come to understand the righteousness of God.

That there at the cross of Calvary, God dealt with sins on the person of His lovely Son, the Lord Jesus. And there the judgment and the wrath of God, as He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God's righteousness is a tremendous thing.

That sin has been dealt with righteously at the place called Calvary. And it has nothing to do with our own righteousness. It has everything to do with God's righteousness.

And that sin has been dealt with in a righteous and a holy way. That sinners can know the forgiveness of sins. That sinners can be saved tonight.

Do you know it? If I ask you tonight, if you died tonight, where would you be and why? What could you tell me? We run into more and more people, it seems like. Everybody claims to be saved. Everybody claims to be a Christian.

Everybody knows the Lord. And you ask them that question, and you get all sorts of wrong answers. I've been a good person.

No, that's your own righteousness. Wrong answer. Another thing lately is asking people, it's hard to tell whether they've got the root of the matter or not.

I've been asking them this, if you met someone that was dying on the side of the road and they had ten seconds to live, what would you tell them? Three people in the last week took the place of being saved and didn't have a clue what they would tell someone who was dying in their sins. So it's very revealing that if you're not able to tell someone else how to be saved, that you never saved yourself. Dear woman, sat there across the kitchen table and she just said, I'd be sincere.

What do you say? It's not your sincerity that's going to give them any. It's more than being sincere, you have to tell them something. Are you ignorant of God's righteousness? Or are you saved? The Bible way.

Born again the Bible way. Know what it is to stand on solid ground. That Christ died for the ungodly.

And that Christ died for the sinner. And that He was made sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

That Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. That He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh and quickened by the Spirit. It is a marvelous thing.

You see the righteousness of God is what condemns the sinner tonight. And righteousness of God in that aspect is a terrifying thing. But when a person is saved, the very same righteousness that once condemned us in our sin is the same righteousness that justifies us.

Because it's God Himself that declares that they that trust in the Son are justified. The righteousness of God. I hope now after the end of this meeting you're not ignorant to the Scriptures nor the power of God.

And that maybe you've understood in a small way that it's God's goodness that is leading you to repentance. And that if you know not God's righteousness as far as sin is concerned, you might rest upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And know that at that place called Calvary, God's righteous mans were met.

And you can be forgiven tonight. And you can be saved tonight. Because what Christ has done.

And by the power of God.