The Gospel Command

The Gospel as a Command Rather Than an Invitation

Does everyone have your worksheets? Okay, well we are continuing our study of Bible memorization for evangelism. And tonight we're going to open our Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 17. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Paul addressing the men at the Areopagus, known as Mars Hill in the King James Bible.

And this particular passage that we're going to study tonight is one that I believe is very important for us to remember in evangelism. Now, you remember that's the whole purpose in this study, is we're memorizing Scripture so as to be able to use Scripture in evangelism.

The first passage we memorized was the Gospel in 15 words. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5 .21. That was the first one.

I hope you've all committed it to memory. I've spent a lot of time putting that verse everywhere. I don't know if anybody noticed, but when you walk into the church now, we have a banner in the corner.

And what is on that banner? 2 Corinthians 5 .21. It is the Gospel in 15 words. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The next verse that we learned, which was last week, was what?

Who remembers? Hebrews 9 .27. What is it? As it is appointed for man to die once and after this is judgment. That was the verse that we learned. And I'm hoping that you will memorize. That was the verse that we learned last week.

And we said that the reason why that verse is so important, and I did make a tract for that as well. The appointment card that we talked about. I took your idea, that thought. We made a design out of it.

And we will have some of those to hand out in our new fishing hole ministry. The Gospel tract that looks like an appointment card. And where it normally says date and time, it says the Lord knows. Because the Lord does know the appointed hour for our death.

And so, it's appointed for man once and after this is judgment. That's an important thing to share with people in evangelism. And that's a scriptural truth. And it's also a truth that we all know innately.

That one day we will die. And the one thing we might not realize innately, is that after death comes judgment. So that is an important and solemn reminder that we have. Well, tonight we're going to look at what I am calling the Gospel Command.

The Gospel Command. And the reason why I've entitled this the Gospel Command, is because often times we present the Gospel as if it were an invitation. Now, the phrase invitation is very common in Christian lingo.

In fact, what is the last part of the service typically called in most of your evangelical churches? It's called the what? Invitation. And what is usually done during the invitation? You invite people to come to Jesus.

That's so common. It's so ingrained in the minds of people that that's just the normal thing. That if you ever hear of a church not having an invitation, often times it's kind of weird. And I've often said, you know, we don't have the typical evangelical, maybe what you might say southern Baptist style of an invitation.

Where we lower the lights. And we raise up the music. And we play just as I am. Very slow and methodically. And we wait for at least one to come forward. And somebody better come or we're not going to lunch.

Because we're going to keep it going. Yes, ma 'am. Well, you know how that all came about? We create ways of trying to make it as easy as possible. Which is the exact opposite that Jesus did. Jesus made it very hard to follow him.

A man comes up and he says, Jesus, I want to follow you, but I have to go home and bury my father first. Jesus says, let the dead bury their own dead. You come and follow me. Don't even go to your dad's funeral.

Don't even go home. Just come. Now how many of us, that doesn't sit real well. When you understand the entire context of it, it makes a little bit more sense. But the reality is, and I don't want to get into it, but the reality is, Jesus didn't take half-hearted followers.

And the whole idea that we've tried to make it easier and easier and easier, is really just, it's unbiblical. Because what it started as, is come forward. Then they realized nobody's coming forward. Well, you can sit there and raise your hand.

Then they realized nobody was raising their hand. So they said, close your eyes and maybe somebody will raise their hand. And then they closed their eyes and nobody raised their hand. So now what do they do?

I see that hand. And I've kept my eyes open. There ain't no hands. Hope agrees. There's no hands. That, it's, it's, we want to simplify everything to the point of ridiculousness. And that's where that, the whole, she's not pleased.

Yes, sir. It's for invalids. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was specific. The context of just as I am is for invalid. For the invalid. Just as I am without one plea for that I word with you. You know, that, that, the idea, yes.

It's an interesting history of that song. Most people don't even know. Oh, everyone. Everybody who's ever been to a Billy Graham crusade knows just as I am. Over and over and over. So, this is where we take a little different approach.

At least, I believe we should take a different approach in our evangelism. Because, oftentimes, we look at evangelism as an invitation. When, actually, the gospel comes as an imperative. It comes as an imperative.

An imperative is a command. Even at the very end of the Bible, where it says the spirit and the bride say come. You know, we often think come is an invitation. And, in a sense, it is. It's an invitation to come.

But, it's within the come is the imperative. You must come or you will be lost. It's not as if, it's not as if I'm having a tea party. And, I'm hoping you show up to my tea party. It's not as if I'm having a birthday celebration.

And, boy, I sure hope Jack comes. It's you must come or you will perish. So, it leads away from the idea of the simple invitation of Jesus. They're standing at the noblest door just begging for someone to let him in.

It's the command that we come. And, thus, we look at this text. And, the text is Acts 1730. This is the Apostle Paul preaching to the culturally elite of his day. And, he provides to them this simple message.

He says, The times of ignorance God overlooked. But, now, He commands all people everywhere to repent. This passage is so full. It is so meaty. Because, there's so much here. And, I really just, we're going to dive into it.

But, I just want you to just think about just what it's saying. The times of ignorance God has overlooked. And, we're going to talk about what that means in a moment. But, just think. That's over. The ignorance is past.

Because, now, you know. This is, again, Paul's in the context of talking to these men. Who, before this, were ignorant of this truth. But, now, they will know it. And, this is the same context we will be in.

When we talk to people who are in a situation. Who have, at that point, been ignorant of the gospel. We'll say, you have been ignorant up until now. But, now, you know this. God commands you to repent.

You say, well, that doesn't seem like it's going to sit well with people. It ain't. But, it is the imperative of the gospel. And, we're going to talk about the meaning of this text. And, the time of ignorance.

Which is actually referencing the time prior to Christ's coming. But, it references, even to today, the people who are ignorant. In a sense, the time, up until the time they hear the gospel. Doesn't mean that they're not, if they were to die in ignorance.

That they wouldn't go to hell. Because, they would. But, the idea that that time is over. When you hear the gospel. The time of ignorance is over. You know. And, he goes on. We'll look at the NASB. I'll give it to you in a couple of different translations.

The NASB says. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance. God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent. I think that's a little choppy. But, if you want to memorize it in that.

That's fine. No problem. King James. In the times of ignorance, God winked at. I think that's kind of an antiquated way of saying overlooked. He winked at it. But, now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

The Greek. Chronos. Well, Chronos. Chronos. Chronology. Time. That's the word time there. Agnos. Agnos. What is Agnos? Without knowledge. Ignorance. We think of the word agnostic. That's where we get that word.

Huperidon. Is overlooked. Hatheos. Ta. Nun. This next one is a longer word. Paragale. Which that is the command. That is the imperative. Tois. Anthropois. All men. Pontos. Actually, it's the word all.

So, it's people, all, everywhere. Pontos. Pontikou. Pontikou is everywhere. So, you have Pontos is all. And Pontikou is everywhere. And then, Metanoen. Metanoen is repentance. Metanoia means to change the mind.

Meta being to change. Gnosis or knowledge. Noia there is mind. So, that's the Greek breakdown. And why do I give you the Greek breakdown? I told you every time I'm not doing that just to sit here and spout out Greek just to sound fancy.

I'm telling you, that's the breakdown of it. So, whatever translation you learn, just make sure it's in keeping with what the original says. If you choose the NIV, if you choose the King James Version, if you use the NLT, any of these, as long as they are faithful to what this is saying, that's the key.

The key is, when you're talking to someone about the Gospel, that you understand at some point in the presentation of the Gospel, you are going to give them this command. And I've had this conversation with people, and we'll be in the midst of the conversation, and I'll say, do you realize that God has not requested this of you?

That God has commanded this of you. God is the ultimate commander of the universe. He is the one who created you, and thus has the prerogative to give you a command. Your creator, your sustainer, the very one who causes your heart to beat within your chest.

The very one who could at any moment erase all memory of you. He could not only kill you, you might say, well, God wouldn't kill. Well, there's some parts of Scripture that I think about, you know, there are times in Scripture where God certainly did take the life of certain individuals.

Ananias and Sapphira, we were just talking about that. Dead, they would be our teeth. Dead right there. You know, at that moment. So, God certainly has the prerogative to give life, to take life, and I've often thought, and I remember where I was when I came to this.

There was a time in my ministry where it just overwhelmed me with the fact that I realized that my very being is wrapped up in the being of God. And if God didn't exist, I wouldn't exist. And if God at any moment chose for me to simply not exist anymore, He could do that.

And it would simply be to Him to simply remove me from existence, and I would cease to be. And that just overwhelmed me with the idea that God is that powerful. I'm not saying He would, but the very fact that He could overwhelm me with the sense of His power.

And so, that idea of who God is and the power of God. We present people with a command from the commander of the universe. Not a suggestion. Not a bit of friendly advice. The one who created has given a command.

And the command is simple. What is the command? Raise your hand and accept Jesus. Ask Jesus into your heart. Pray a sinner's prayer. No, no, no. What is the command? The command is in the text. That all men should what? Should repent.

He came preaching repentance. Yes. And Jesus came preaching repentance. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mark chapter 1. You know, we see this. The preaching of repentance was from the mouth of John.

It was from the mouth of Jesus Christ. It was from the mouth of all of the apostles. What was it when the men asked Peter on the day of Pentecost, what shall we do to be saved? Repent and be baptized.

Remember, Peter gave them the great answer. To repent is to turn from your sin. And baptism was a demonstration of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Receiving the baptism in his name. So there is that two-fold response to the gospel.

Is to repent. To turn from your sins. And to trust in Jesus Christ. And so, that's the command that we provide for people. And we can bring them back to this text. Showing them that the God of the universe has provided for them a command.

And that that command is universal. Again, Pontos, Ponticu. All, in all places. All, everywhere. There's not one who is exempt from the command to repent. No one's exempt. No one can say, I don't need to repent.

I have no need to turn from my sins. God doesn't have a problem with my... He might have a problem with your sins. And yeah, yours are pretty bad. And yours... But, I don't have that need. Cody wasn't even looking when I pointed at it.

No. When I am reading from the Greek. And I'm doing it poorly. I'm using what's called the Erasmian pronunciation. The Erasmian pronunciation is more of a scholar... It's more of a way that scholars understand the letters to work.

But it doesn't sound what the Greek would have sounded like. It's a dead language. So, we don't know what it would have sounded like. So, we're taking our best guess based on how vowels and consonants work together.

And when you understand the alphabet. Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, capital, lambda, mu, nu, c, omicron, p, rho, sigma, tau, epsilon, phi, keep, c, omega. That's the Greek alphabet.

And when you know those letters. And you know the diphthongs and the vowels. You know what a diphthong is? When you take two vowels and put them together and make like omicron, iota. Makes the oi. Just like o and i make oi for oil in English.

Those diphthongs exist in Greek. So, you kind of formulate those diphthongs. And you read it as best you can. Understanding that we are doing it in a way that is... We're reading a dead language. There's no real perfect way of doing it.

And there are guys who do it different ways. If you go to like for instance a... If you hear the word iota. That's the letter i in Greek. We would call it... You've heard people call it iota. Right? Or iota.

And I say iota. I say iota. But it sounds like I'm saying the Star Wars character Yoda. Right? Because I'm saying iota. Iota fast sounds like Yoda. So, it's kind of funny. And so... But if you go to a school, you'll see like the...

What's that one letter that everybody... Oh, everybody gets this one different. What is that letter? Pi. But in Erasmus pronunciation it's P. It's just like our letter P. So, you'll hear people say pi.

But it's P. And so, that's just, you know... So, that's why it's like I say. You might... On a college campus, it might be a little different than the Erasmus pronunciation. And that's... So, yeah. I'm doing the very best I can just simply trying to read it off the page.

But telling you the meaning of the word is what matters. Just like that word agnos. That word to not know something comes from the root gnosis of knowledge. Putting the A, the alpha at the beginning makes it the opposite.

Just like theist. If you put an A at the beginning of theist, it becomes atheist. Or to be opposed to theism. So too does gnosis. If you put an A at the beginning, it becomes agnostic. A person who doesn't know.

And that's where this word ignorance comes from. To lack knowledge. And that's where that word comes from. Alright. Let's look at the context of this verse. Because the times of ignorance God overlooked.

But now He commands all people everywhere to repent. And it falls into a context. A story of the Apostle Paul bringing the gospel to the culturally elite. And it begins in verse 22. So if you want to just...

I've got it in your worksheet. But if you want to follow along in your Bible, you can as well. It says, So Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

I remember a few years ago. Actually it wasn't years. It was last year. I was walking in a Hardee's. And there was a lady who was giving away Jehovah Witness tracts. She had a little table set up. And I just walked up to her and I said, I can see that you're very religious.

And she just kind of looked at me. She didn't know I was quoting this passage. Maybe she did. I don't know. But she was kind of... I can see in every way you're very religious. That's what Paul said. Because you see, they have all these temples.

They have temples everywhere in Athens. And they have these unknown God statues all through Athens. And that's what he's referencing here. He says in verse 23, For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.

What 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 mankind To live on the face of the earth, Having determined allotted periods And the boundaries of their dwelling places That they should seek God And perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him.

Yet He is 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. Let's just stop right there very briefly and make a quick note.

The Apostle Paul has said a lot in just a few verses. He's referenced the fact that God made the world, He made everything in it. This is one of the biggest issues that is facing the world right now, Is when the Christian goes out to share his faith, Often one of the first things that comes up Is the issue of creation versus anything else.

And you might say it's creation versus evolution, But that's really grown to other things. Because now it's not just creation versus evolution, It's creation versus all kinds of other scientific, theological, Or paradigms that are out there.

People who believe in all kinds of different types of creation, Or different types of spontaneous generation. Evolution still remains popular among the scientific community, And it's considered to be fact.

You know, you often hear people say, Well, evolution is just a theory. But you have to understand how the word theory works in science. For a scientist, a theory is more acceptable, Because they don't consider anything concrete, anything as fact, It's just simply a theory.

So gravity itself is a theory, if you think of it that way. And thus to them, it's as sound as gravity. It's as sure as gravity. And so, to the scientist, it often times people say, Well, it's just a theory.

Think of how a scientist thinks what a theory is. To a scientist, a theory is dogma. It's truth. Until some other truth comes along and trumps it, This is the truth of the day. And so for the scientist, simply calling it a theory doesn't really, It doesn't go very far for them.

But you notice that it's funny. This is 2 ,000 years ago. The Apostle Paul is standing here talking to these people 2 ,000 years ago. What is he addressing at the beginning? The same thing we're addressing 2 ,000 years later.

God created the world and everything in it. You see, they didn't believe it then then. And people don't believe it now. Because what is it that you have to accept When you accept that God created the world and everything in it?

He is in charge. If He made it, He can command it. If He can command it, you are obliged to be obedient to Him. And if you're obliged to be obedient to Him and you are not, Then you live as a perpetual rebel to your Creator.

So what is the easiest thing for people to do? Deny that the Creator exists. Yes. Absolutely. Romans 1 says that's how we know God exists. He has made it plain to us in that which has been made. And so well that every man when they face God at judgment will be without excuse.

The Apostle Paul said without an excuse will they be when they face God at judgment. Because God has made Himself so clear to everyone Through the very simple revelation of Himself in the creation. So Paul is just agreeing with what everybody knows.

Sy Tenbrugengate, he's got a cool name. But his name, Sy Tenbrugengate is a Canadian, which we forgive him for that. He's a Canadian apologist. And he's a fantastic apologist. He presents, I met him recently, Jennifer and I both met him.

He presents a very unique way of defending the faith. But it's not unique really to him. It's just unique that it's not, it's becoming more popular. Presuppositional apologetics is what I think is appropriate.

But it's becoming more and more popular, especially in reform circles. But when Sy is presenting the gospel, he says really the only thing that, People ask him and say, why do you believe God exists? And he says, the same reason you do.

Or no, so people say, how do you know God exists? He said, the same way you do. You know God exists. I don't have to prove this to you. The Bible says you know God exists. You are constantly rebelling against Him.

You're constantly telling yourself no to something you know innately is true. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament above His handiwork, absolutely right. We know God exists. And when somebody asks him, how do you know God exists?

The same way you do. Well, I don't believe He exists. Yes, you do. You're denying what you know to be true. You might say, that's a hard way of doing it. And yeah, it doesn't make him a lot of friends.

He's not writing the book, How to Influence People and Make Good Friends, or whatever that title of that book is, How to Make Friends. Well, yeah, we've talked about this before. And so, and that's the thing.

People aren't making, people aren't holding signs up opposing things like Santa Claus and other things like that. But people will go to great lengths to oppose God. Why? Because there's an active rebellion there.

They actively rebel against God. Because they know He's there. And that's hard. Atheists don't want to hear that. But that's what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us in Romans 1. They know He exists.

And when they face Him at judgment, they'll be without excuses. I've heard atheists try to give excuses. I heard one guy say, when I face, if I die and there is a God, I'll look Him right in the eye and I'll say, you didn't give me enough evidence that you existed.

And my response to that is, when you die and when you face God at judgment, you will say nothing. Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

You will say nothing but that. Absolutely. So, I just like the fact that the Apostle Paul starts here with creation. And he addresses this. The God who created everything and you, because you're part of everything.

And he goes on. He says, you don't know Him. But you've got this inscription to the unknown God. This God that you don't know. I'm going to explain to you. He's the one who created the world. He created everything in it.

He doesn't live in temples. You've got all these temples. He doesn't live in temples. He doesn't need anything. He gives everything. He doesn't need anything. He gives everything. He gives us life. He gives us breath.

And I love this passage even though the Apostle Paul here quotes from a pagan scholar. So interesting. It shows that Paul is well read. He has read not only the Torah and the other Jewish books. But he's read enough of pagan literature to be able to use it against them.

And that's an important kind of note here. He's quoting from their scholars. He says, even your scholars know that in Him we live and move and have our being. Your scholars say that we are His offspring.

But who is He? Who is the one they're talking about? Well, they were talking about Zeus or maybe Jupiter or some other false god. But the true God, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the God in whom we live and move and have our being.

So your scholars were right. They were just pointing at the wrong God. They were right about what God is and who God is. But they were right about what God is but not who He is. They knew that God created the world.

They just didn't know who God is. And so I declare to you who He is. You think He's unknown. But I tell you He can be known. And so he goes on in verse 29. 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 or imagination of man.

Now he's getting to the issue of what? Idolatry. You guys have created gods out of stone and wood and gold. But here's the deal. God's not like that. And the times of ignorance God has overlooked. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent.

Verse 31. And by the way, this might be something else you want to memorize. I've been trying to only give you one verse to memorize. But I want to encourage you. Learning verse 31 is also helpful. Because He has 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. Who's the man? Jesus Christ. What's the assurance of the judgment of Jesus Christ that's coming? It's Jesus' resurrection. So Paul says, you have been commanded to repent.

And God has appointed a day. That harkens back to last week when we looked at that day that we're all going to die. We're all appointed once to die and then come to judgment. God has appointed a day. He's fixed the day.

That means it's immovable. It's going to happen. He's fixed the day when He's going to judge the world in righteousness through Jesus Christ. And then He goes on. Verse 32. Now 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 whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite, one of the elite, culturally elite, and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

So here's what happened. Paul preaches the gospel in the midst of a group of people, the culturally elite, these scholars. He preaches the gospel to them. And there is one of three responses. The first response is mocking.

And beloved, know this. When you're sharing the gospel, that's going to happen. The other day, we were at the Shrimp Boat Festival handing out tracks. And there were some guys there preaching. They actually had street preaching.

I thought they weren't going to allow that. But there were some guys there. So I went over and talked to them, spent some time with them. Well, I walked about 100 feet away. And I was hearing the people come away from them.

And they were mocking them. I said, well, there's the proof. Of the people who hear the gospel, some will mock. Right? And then there will be those who postpone. They hear something. It may address their heart and conscience.

But they're just not at that moment ready to do anything about it. And that's why these people say, I will hear you again on this. And some people see this as a positive thing, that they're positive. They're saying, well, we'll hear you again.

We'll be willing to listen again. And that could be a positive thing. But it could also be as if they're saying, well, we're not quite ready yet to do this repentance thing. Maybe later. Whether you take it positively or negatively, there's always going to be those people who won't respond right now.

That's not to say they may never respond. But that's going to be probably the majority. Most people won't mock you. But they'll be indifferent toward you. You hand them a gospel tract. You go to say hello to them and can I talk to you about Christ or something.

Well, we'll talk later. I'll read your tract, but I don't want to talk. Okay. Please read the tract. I mean, if that's all I got, that's enough. Take the tract and read it. But, yes. Yeah, if you're talking about this passage with someone, to go to 1 Corinthians 15 together with this, and say that without the resurrection, our faith is in vain.

Right. Absolutely. Yeah, I would say that. Yes. The third response that we see, we see the first response is mocking. The second response is postponing. And whatever reason the postponing is, it's a postponement.

We'll hear you again later. And the third response is what? Response of regeneration and acceptance and faith. The repentance and faith is what we hope for. And that's the goal in preaching the gospel is that we would see men come to faith.

That we would see men changed in their hearts. And we see that Paul has one, as I said, one is an Areopagite. That means he was one of the men on that hill. He was one of the men who were among that culturally elite.

This was the courtroom of Athens. This is where people came to hear their cases heard. These men were considered the upper echelon of the wisdom of the town, of the area, of the city. These were the wise men.

And one of those men came away a believer. And that just encourages me. Because people say, well, I don't know if I could share my faith with somebody who's smarter than me. I don't know who this guy is.

But I know this. He's one of the culturally elite. He was not a dumb person. He was one of the men who was respected in the city as a wise man. And yet, he came away as a believer. Demonstrating that salvation is by grace through faith and not of ourselves.

It wasn't something that he was looking for. But God knew him and had chosen him. And it opened his heart to believe. And God can do that with anyone. So we often forget that. So let's look here at the three blanks.

Let's fill in our outline. Three things to remember from this passage. One. God has been patient in not enacting immediate justice on mankind. Go back to the times of ignorance God overlooked. What does that phrase simply mean?

Does that mean that before Jesus, God didn't judge sin? No. That's not what that means. Does that mean that before Jesus, God simply went, I'm not going to really worry about their sin until Jesus comes.

No. That's not what that means. What it means is simply this. That God has been patient because he has a purpose in time. In bringing about Jesus Christ in the ministry of the gospel. God has been patient through a whole lot of sin.

He has been patient through a whole lot of rebellion. Think about the Ninevites. And think about the different Amalekites. And all these people of the Old Testament. All these terrible. Think about the Jews themselves and all the things they did.

And God has been patient with them. Why? Why didn't he just wipe them all out? He did with Noah. He wiped everyone out except the eight. The ones he had chosen. The ones who received grace. But after that, he said, I'm not going to do that again.

I'm going to raise up a nation from one man. Abraham. From that nation would come my law. I will give my law to them. They will codify my law and scripturate my law. Pass my law down generation to generation.

Demonstrating my holiness and their sinfulness. So that at the time, the chosen time, the appointed time. I will send forth my son born of a woman. Born of the law. For what purpose? That he might fulfill that law.

Demonstrate his righteousness before men. And that all men would understand the necessity of repentance. Of sin and faith in him. So when it talks about the times of ignorance. God overlooked. Please don't assume that that means that God simply turned a blind eye to sin.

What it's saying is that God could have at any moment exercised justice. He could have at any moment judged the world in righteousness. But he chose not to because he had a purpose in bringing Christ.

And a time affixed in bringing Christ into the world. So God could have enacted immediate justice on mankind. But he's been patient in not doing so. And we could argue that he's still patient in not doing so.

God has still not brought ultimate justice on the world. That is coming. And the promise is in this text. In verse 31. There's coming a day of judgment. There's coming a day when there will be no more days.

There's coming a day where the day will move into eternity. And from there it will not be anymore days. It will simply be eternity. It will be a timeless existence. Something we can't understand because all we've ever understood was time.

Beginning and ending. But there's coming a day when there will be no more days. And at that time, God's patience will run out. It's scary. But it's a good reminder. God has been patient. But he commands all men everywhere to repent.

And that's the second thing. The gospel is properly understood as a command not a request. Or you might put suggestion. It's a command not a suggestion or a request. And that's why I think that word commands there is very important in the text.