Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob and Yart Live. Today we’re getting into a sermon which my father and predecessor Bob and Yart gave at Denver Bible Church. This is Defending God’s Goodness Part One. Let’s jump right into it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Sometimes I feel conflicted when our culture mocks God. I get angry And for example, at a Christian college that is no longer Christian, I say, why is it even Christian? Or the YMCA right down the street from our house. Brand new YMCA. Why don’t you take the C out? Just YMA. Why is it Christian? And then when our culture actually goes ahead and removes Christ’s name from something, then I get upset. It’s like… You can’t eat your cake and have it too. So Harvard, the first university established in North America, was set up to train men for the Gospel. To preach the Gospel. To be ministers. And of course, today it’s godless. As institutions do, institutions, Jesus said you can’t put new wine in old wineskins, so you set up a hospital. to minister the gospel after you minister to people’s bodies, and eventually the hospital is dishonoring God and doing abortions and so on. The same thing happens with denominations. The same thing happens with universities. So in 1693, the second university in America was established. William and Mary, one of their alumnus, One of their alumni, Thomas Jefferson, which does not necessarily go to their credit. But that was established in 1693 in order to train men to be Anglican ministers. And so it’s a Christian university. And just this past year, the president of William & Mary College decided the cross that was in front of their chapel, that cross would be taken down. And it would only be put up on Sundays. And that offended me. And I thought, come on, you guys are supposed to be liberals. You’re supposed to be tolerant. The beautiful people, diversity, free speech. And now I know you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, but isn’t it part of the history of your college? You can’t even tolerate a cross. Can’t even do that. And I think of my thoughts about Christmas and Christmas. it’s so commercialized, it’s like it’s mocking God. So why do you even call it Christmas? And so then the world says, okay, we’re not going to say Christmas anymore. Merry Christmas, we’ll say happy holidays. I say, no, wait a minute, I don’t like that. But at least, you know, I’m conflicted. I don’t know which way is it more painful when the culture mocks God. And I am thankful that on Judgment Day we read that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I’m glad, even though they won’t feel it in their hearts. You know, you walk into court and the bailiff says, all rise, and everybody rises for the most part. Well, just imagine on Judgment Day the multitudes, the masses spread out before God to be judged and in walks the Lord Jesus Christ. And every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Well, our culture is broken and in Europe, which is now post-Christian, they have, of course, introduced legal suicide in Europe, just like we’re beginning to do in America. Only this past week, the high court in Sweden took it further and they have said, until now, you have to be of sound mind. and if you have some type of ailment that is excruciating pain, an incurable disease, you could consent to commit suicide and the doctors will give you a lethal injection and kill you. So that’s happening more and more here in America, but in Northern Europe, that’s law. And so now the high court ruled that even if you’re mentally ill, you can be assisted to kill yourself. Now how’s that? I thought they believed that you have to be of sound mind and able to know what you’re doing. I thought they believed that. But of course, they don’t believe that these are personal decisions that should only be made by the family. They don’t believe that. They’re not pro-choice because in China, they have forced abortion and all the pro-abort activists, they don’t complain about what’s going on in China. What motivates them is they’re part of the long war against God. They’re in rebellion against God and that’s what gives them their passion. So we, as defenders of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we preach His Word. We have to be prepared. to defend the God of the Bible. That He is a just and righteous God. So I’d like us to do a Bible study today. For some of us, we’ll be familiar with this material, but it will still be worthwhile to remember that God is righteous and He doesn’t punish people for the sins of others. If He punishes, it is for our own sins. We’re studying in the evenings Joshua. And in the book of Joshua, some Christians have asked, how can it be just to destroy everyone in Jericho? Everyone. Isn’t that wrong? How about in the global flood? Isn’t that wrong to destroy everyone in the flood? Because surely there are some people who have not rebelled against God. Think of the children. Think of the infants. Is that unjust? So if you bring that question and you ask that question and you want to be informed by God’s Word, that’s worthwhile to think through because God says that He is a righteous God and He says, come let us reason together. So please turn to Ezekiel 18. Ezekiel 18. Ezekiel 18. But God made man and God was determined if we rebelled against him that he would offer us salvation through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. So God knew that if we rebelled against him then we would live life on this earth and then we would die, we’d transition from this life to the hereafter, to the afterlife. And so God made us now that we would live on this earth and then in the afterlife, and it is not immoral for God to bring us, to bring anyone, to bring mass murderers or innocent children through to the afterlife. That’s not immoral of God. That’s not unjust. If God were to say, here are all these children… And I am going to torment them forever in hell because of Adam’s sin. If God were to say that, that would be unjust. To punish these children because of the sin of someone else, that would be unjust. But God is not unjust. So we need to understand, we need to be experts at right and wrong, and to be able to teach others and show them that God, above all else, that God is a good God. He’s holy and righteous. So Ezekiel 18, God takes up this issue, would I punish someone for someone else’s sin? Would I do that? Would it be right? Would I punish the child for the sin of the father? So let’s look at it. Ezekiel 18, the word of the Lord came to me again saying, this is to Ezekiel, God says to Ezekiel, what do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge? God is angry about that saying, they say. They say, oh, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and it sets the children’s teeth on edge. You ever bite into a lemon and your face scrunches up? It’s like, boy, that’s sour. Well, imagine if you did that and then your grandkids, their face scrunched up. That’d be weird, right? So God says, in Israel you have this saying, the fathers eat sour grapes and it sets the children’s teeth on edge. As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. God says, as I live, don’t say that again. That makes me angry when you say that. Because your implication, it’s just some little cliche you say, but the implication is that I am unjust. That you are suffering because I’m punishing you because your fathers were evil in the wilderness. If I punish you, it’s because you’re evil. So God goes on. Verse four, behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the Father as well as the soul of the Son is mine. The soul who sins shall die. But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, let’s go down to verse nine, If he has walked in my statutes and has kept my judgments faithfully, he is just. He shall surely live, says the Lord God. So God is saying, if there is a man who is righteous… He will live. In this life, it’s not physical life. It’s spiritual life, eternal life. Because the righteous die and the wicked die. We all die in this life, except for the last generation. But we all die, so this is not talking about physical life or death. It’s talking about spiritual life. And just in case there’s somebody reading this and thinking, oh now, wait a minute, I thought we’re saved by grace and this has to do with works and commandments and Remember that there is the covenant of law that God gave to Israel and the covenant of grace that He gave to the body of Christ. And this is Israel. So the Israelites, they were saved by the blood of Christ. God’s grace was the foundation of their Mount Sinai. Their covenant of law was built on the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. But they had a covenant of law. We don’t. We have a covenant of grace and there are extraordinary differences between the two. So if you read from the covenant of law and it seems to confuse you, then you could congratulate yourself. Say, at least I’m paying attention. Because there’s something here that doesn’t quite jive with Ephesians and Galatians and Romans. And that’s okay. Because there are different covenants and the Apostle Paul is the one who said that we will not be ashamed as workmen if we rightly divide the word of truth if we rightly divide between Israel and the body law and grace so now let’s go to verse 14 if however Okay, then God talks about a wicked man. First, we mentioned the righteous man. Then He talks about a wicked man. Verse 14, “…if, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done and considers but does not do likewise…” The end of verse 17, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. Again, this is spiritual life. Eternal life. God is not going to send someone to hell because his father or grandfather or Noah or Adam were evil. God is not going to do that. Look at verse 19. Yet you say, and how many Christian theologians say this? Thousands. Thousands. Yet you say, why should the Son not bear the guilt of the Father? Christians are taught that God punishes us because of original sin we inherit from Adam and that God will send people to hell, even children who don’t have the opportunity to hear the Gospel. God will send millions of children to hell to be punished for all of eternity. They say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? That is taught in the doctrine of original sin to millions, especially in the covenant theology camp, in the reform movement, in Presbyterianism, in Calvinism, that God, it brings glory to God and pleasure to punish the children and send them to hell even if they had no opportunity to get saved. And we wonder why so many hate God apart from any reason of what God is really like. If people are going to reject Jesus Christ, let it be because they reject Him. Not our misrepresentation of who God really is. Because then the blood is on our hands. When we misrepresent God and people reject our representation of Him… then we share in the guilt of their rejection of God. So we have an obligation to defend the goodness and the righteousness of God. So verse 19, Yet you say, why should the Son not bear the guilt of the Father? Why not? God wants to know. Because the Son has done what is lawful and right and has kept all My statutes and observed them. He shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. And believe it or not, there are plenty of Christian authors who will quote that verse and say, therefore God is just when He punishes someone for Adam’s sin. That’s the conclusion they get from that. And that’s what we’re up against within the body of Christ. So when the world mocks Jesus Christ, we have to rebuke the world, but then also try to correct Christians into not misrepresenting Him. Verse 25, “…yet you say the way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair and your ways which are not fair?” Verse 29, yet the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? And verse 32, while millions have been taught that all the wickedness that happens in the world happens for a reason, God has ordained it for His own pleasure, that’s a lie. That’s not true. Millions have been taught that the wickedness and the rebellion and the hatred in the world happens because God has willed it for His own pleasure. And look what God says. For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore, turn and live. Now let’s fast forward to the New Testament, the book of Romans. If you have a Bible, please turn to Romans 1. We’re going to talk a bit about the age of accountability, but not get into the debate. One of my dearest friends in the whole world is right here, one of our elders, Gordon Carroll. And Gordon teaches that the age of accountability is age 20. And in that position, he has a lot of support from Christian teachers elsewhere. In fact, the Through the Bible guy, what’s his name again? J. Vernon McGee. Get on the Bible bus. We’re going Through the Bible. He’s preaching, he must be 112 by now. He’s still preaching on the radio all over the world. Well, he has argued that the age of accountability is much older than we would think. And in a little bit, I’ll get to what I think is the strongest verse in the Bible for that position. But I believe the age of accountability varies with the ability of each individual and their circumstance and what has been revealed to them. To whom much is given, much is required. Now, in Romans, Paul addresses this issue to some degree of the age of accountability. But every person who comes into the world is given light. Every person. There is grace from God reaching out to all the world. And in Romans 1, verse 20, Paul writes that since the creation of the world, God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even God’s eternal power. even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So that God is eternal, that He is powerful, and that He’s personal. We could know all these things just by looking at the Creation Museum at Answers in Genesis. Just by looking at the creation. We know, wow, there must be an eternal, powerful, personal Creator. And then look at verse 21. Because although they knew God, do you notice that? They knew God. Every man who comes into the world knows God. We are all born with the knowledge of God. We are made in His image and likeness, and we come into existence knowing God, but then as we grow, as we grow, we decide for ourselves to join the rebellion against God. When the law comes, the commandment comes, and then sin revives, I inherited sin and death through Adam. And so I’ve inherited his flesh. So given the opportunity, I will join the rebellion against God. But I am alive to God until I reach that age of accountability and I join sides and I’m now part of the enemies of the cross. And then I need to be saved. Then I need to be saved. Before that, I know God. And if you look at the end of the Gospel of John, we read, this is eternal life that they might know you. God the Son. If you know God, you have a relationship with God, that is eternal life, knowing God. So although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. And look at verse 25. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So everyone who comes into the world, they knew God, but then they exchanged the Creator for the creation and they worshipped themselves or they worshipped money or they worshipped fame or covetousness or bitterness. Some people seem to thrive on their own bitterness. or unhappiness. So we could exchange God for pretty much anything. Now, if you turn to the next chapter, Romans 2, God has put it in our hearts that we are sinners because our conscience bears witness when we do wrong that there is a God, He has a righteous standard, and we have violated it. Now Romans 2 might be confusing until you realize that it’s talking about the unsolicited. Those who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they’re treated differently by God than those who have heard and rejected. And so that’s a Bible study that we should do separately. But Romans 2 deals with the unsolicited. Those who have never heard the Gospel, but let’s look at it. Romans 2.11, for there is no partiality with God, for as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. What does it mean to sin without law? Paul is speaking to the Jews. In this book of Romans, he’s explaining what’s happened. God had a ministry through Israel, and now he’s gone to the body of Christ. which are made up mostly of Gentiles and Jews. So there was confusion. Israel, God commanded them they had to be circumcised. The body of Christ, we do not have to circumcise for spiritual reasons. Paul says if you do, you’re in big trouble because you’re confused. You’re under the wrong covenant. If you circumcise because you think you’re obeying God’s covenant, you’re confused. In fact, he says you’re cursed because you’re working under the wrong marching orders. You have to understand the commands that God gave to the body of Christ, not those he gave to Israel. So, There is no partiality with God. As many as have sinned in Israel, having received the law, the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, if they have sinned with the law, they will perish with the law. If they’ve sinned without the law, the Gentiles, they will perish without the law. Verse 13. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law, the unsolicited, those who have never heard God’s special revelation of His Bible, the unsolicited, to whom much is given, much is required. To whom less is given, less is required. And so as we preach the gospel, that actually is a dynamic that affects people standing before God and how He will judge them. And when they hear the gospel, the incidence of trusting in Jesus Christ is dramatically higher than if you’re just hoping that a pagan in India who’s worshiping a thousand gods will somehow come to the realization that there’s only one God. That’s not a very effective missionary program. But to go preach the gospel and let them hear of God’s love for them, that is far more effective. And so, verse 14, when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. It’s the conscience that God put in us. Verse 15, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. So when someone has not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they haven’t been given the opportunity to enter into the body of Christ, God judges them, but not by a gospel message they never heard. He judges them by the message that was given to the world through the creation. That’s obvious to everyone through Noah, to all the nations. That has been obvious to those through the centuries who never read Moses, who never heard of the Hebrew prophets. God still will deal with them, but of course in a different way than He deals with those who have received the law. Yet ultimately He is just. He is righteous in the way He will judge those who have heard and the unsolicited. Shall not the judge of all the earth do rightly? Now let’s go to Romans 5. Because those who argue that the child who’s born who then dies, say he’s born to a pagan family and he dies, there are millions of Christians who have been taught that child will go to hell, and rightly so, because Adam sinned, that’s why God will punish that baby for all of eternity. Now that’s wicked. That is evil to teach that. That is slander against the goodness of God. For he is holy and righteous. He is not arbitrary. He shows no partiality. But how could it be, though, that that baby, since he’s inherited Adam’s flesh, how could it be that he won’t go to hell? Because he’s from Adam. And everything from Adam is death unless you get reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. So Paul deals with that in Romans 5 and Romans 7. Romans 5, verse 18, “…therefore, as through one man’s offense, judgment came to all men.” Who was that one man? Anybody know? Shout it out. Adam. Through one man’s offense at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, through one man’s offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. That’s death. The flesh, the fallen flesh and death came to all men because of Adam. But that’s not the end of the story. Even so, through one man’s righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. So because of Adam, death came to all men. And because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, all men were justified from Adam’s sin. So that no one will die and experience eternal separation from God because of Adam. Because Jesus Christ made sure that we were justified that the natural consequence of Adam’s sin would not send any of his descendants to hell. Only us as individuals. If we join in the rebellion against God and we do not humble ourselves and repent, then we can live as we wish, eternally separated from God. But He will not punish us for the sins of our fathers. Then look at verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. Adam sinned at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree represents the law. What is the law? The law is the knowledge of good and evil. That’s what the law is. So Adam sinned at the tree. That’s the offense. Don’t partake of the law. Live based on your relationship with God in innocence. Oh no, I want a set of rules. I want the knowledge of good and evil. Well, those are the two ways. Either live based on a relationship, a love relationship with God, or try to be good based on a set of rules. The set of rules are not going to work, but go ahead and try it. And they tried it. That was the offense. That was sin and death. Why did the law enter? The law entered so that the offense might become exceedingly wicked. The law entered so that the sin at the tree might be multiplied. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. There was one law originally, don’t partake of the law, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then God added the Ten Commandments and they broke all ten. Then hundreds of ordinances…
SPEAKER 01 :
Stop the tape. Stop the tape. Hey, we are out of time here on KLTT. If you want the rest of this broadcast, head to kgov.com. That’s K-G-O-V.com. Kgov.com.
