Romans chapter two, we are moving
on, verse five. We've looked at repentance in
some detail, but let's move on. And I wanna read several verses
here, and I will probably not get through them this morning.
Verse five, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart. Remember,
who's he writing to? The believers at Rome. and he
is here not singling out some few unbelievers that happen to
be in their midst, he's talking to the church that gathered at
Rome. But after thy hardness and impenitent
heart treasureth up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render
to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient
continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,
and I know this in English is a little hard because it's just
the way they punctuate it, it doesn't really, it's hard to
get a hold of. What is it? To those who by patient
continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,
what's they gonna have? Eternal life. That's what he's
saying there. But unto them that are contentious
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, to them,
here's what's coming to them, indignation and wrath, tribulation
and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew
first and also of the Gentile. But, now it goes back to the
other again, but glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh
good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for there is
no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without
law shall also perish without law. And this is me now, but
they shall perish. That's the whole point, they
shall perish. and as many as have sinned in
the law shall be judged by the law. And then he interjects,
by the Spirit of God, for not the hearers of the law are just
before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. In
other words, it's not enough just to hear it and know it.
It's not enough to give lip service to it. It's not enough to put
forth your best effort but you must be a doer of the law if
you seek to be justified by the law. When, for, I'm sorry, for,
verse 14, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by
nature the things contained in the law, these having not the
law are a law unto themselves. In other words, excuse me, especially
in the days, Paul's talking mainly about Gentiles before this time,
before he was here when he was writing. God never even sent
the law to the Gentiles. A few Gentiles here or there
were brought in under the auspice of Israel and were taught the
law, but most Gentiles had no idea what the law said to do
or what not to do. They just did not know. But God
has done a work in all of men and women's hearts so that men
and women know there is right and there is wrong. They know
there is good and there is evil. And I will say this without arguing,
even those who profess to be atheists, that there is no God,
still thinks that some things are moral and some things are
immoral, right? If you don't, you'll end up like
a wild beast. You understand what I'm saying?
But when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature
the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are
a law unto themselves, which show, or shew, it means to show,
the work of the law written in their hearts. But here's the
problem. What heart is that written in? If they're unregenerate, the
only heart they have is an unregenerate heart. Therefore, there is a,
I gotta be careful how I say it, so I try to explain it in
case I don't get it exactly right. Therefore there is a fault in
this. But the fault lies in the faulty
heart of man. Because you and I know well that
not everybody believes that everything exactly the same is good and
everything exactly the same is evil. Now all men believe there
is good and there is evil, but they differ as to what is good
and what is evil. Why is that? Since the law is
written in their heart. Because their heart is a fallen
heart. It perverts even that work that
God done in mankind. Which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience, also bearing witness. Men and women, I don't care who
they are, can do some things and feel guilty over it. Right? If it's under the auspice of
what their conscience, or heart, rather, what their heart thinks
is good or evil, if they think they do evil, if they hurt someone
or do something wrong, they begin to feel what? Guilt of conscience. But the problem also with that
is the conscience is as fallen as the heart is. You see? But look, and their thoughts,
the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another. You see
that? In the day, now it goes on with
what he was saying to begin with, to end with in the last words
of verse 12. Then he says, if I must, in the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,
and notice it's not even according to the law. though I'm not saying
that's not so, but it goes further than that. It is even according
to my gospel. Now, my subject for this morning
is this, the two states. Now not states as in West Virginia,
Virginia, but the two conditions, the two states of being. And we see this explained mainly
in verses five down through verse 11. There's two states. Now remember, don't ever try
to divorce yourself from certain truths of the scripture because
you're afraid you'll find some condemnation in it. Because you
automatically are seeking self-will rather than saying God teach
me what I really am. and let me bow to your word and
face it as it really is. And if I need to run to Christ
for mercy, I'll run to Christ for mercy. And if I ought to
give glory to God that he worked in me both the will and the do
of his good pleasure, I can give that glory to God. Because God
doesn't work in us to do evil. He doesn't work at us to do evil.
God tempts no man with evil, does he? He can't be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth he any man with evil. The evil's
already down in here. The lust is already down in here. But as we read this, let us not
divorce ourselves from it for fear of condemnation because
under law, we're all condemned, Jew or Gentile. Whether you know
the law or you don't know You've got a heart, now it's desperately
wicked above all things. It is corrupt and you've got
a conscience, but it's twisted and marred by the fall. But nevertheless,
let us face God's word for what it says. Now, if you were to take verses
five, and actually a few more, I understand that, but for the
sake of this this morning, if you were to take the words the
truth written in verse five, mainly down through verse 10,
and you lift them out of the context. And you take them to
be the truth of God standing alone. Some have been said, salvation
here seems to be being taught by works. But that's not even
so. Because he's not talking about
salvation, he's talking about judgment. He's talking about
God's judgment. He hasn't left judgment. Remember,
he began in chapter one, verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and in righteousness of men who
hold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And he hasn't
left this subject. He hasn't left this subject.
And God will judge every man and woman's work. He will judge every man and woman's
work. Now look at it. But after thy hardness and impenitent
heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, my problem is
I still have, even as a believer, that old heart. And it is still hard and impenitent. The glorious thing about the
good heart that God gives, and Christ said the seed of God,
the word of God preached, can fall or does fall on some things
that are called good ground, correct? And he calls it, in
his explanation, he calls it a good and honest heart. I will
not debate that. That must come from God because
we don't have that by nature. but even that good and honest
heart is not all that it ever will be in its fullness. For
the seed of the good word of God must fall on that good heart
to bring forth the fruit that God has demanded. Having a good
heart alone will do you no good apart from the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration alone, that is the
initial quickening of a dead soul, a dead spirit, a dead person,
let me put it more that way. Regeneration is not an end in
itself. And regeneration is not all there
is to salvation. I will put it this way, when
God regenerates a man or a woman, by sovereign fiat, by simply
breathing that spiritual life on them, God has saved them.
But they are still lost. Until God Almighty brings his
gospel to fall upon that heart. Huh? Because it's still, God
saved me. God is saving me. Paul tells
us this in Corinthians. He uses the word, or they translate
it, deliver. It's still the same word, to
save. He has saved us, he has saved us, and he'll yet save
us, and he must. Salvation's not something that
gets kick-started when you come forward and pray the prayer and
decide to start repenting and living right. Salvation began
with God before the foundation of the world. And when God chose
the people, he saved them. But that doesn't mean they were
born converted. And it doesn't even mean they
were born regenerated. But God regenerates so that we
will be converted. And regeneration, apart from
conversion, is, and I want to put it this strongly, is useless.
because God didn't purpose just regeneration, he purposed regeneration
for the sake that we would be converted to Christ, and being
converted to Christ, which regeneration's a one-time act, conversion, God
just keeps converting us and converting us. And he is conforming
us to the image of his son. Now we don't see a lot of that
right now. I think a lot of it's there but we don't see it because
the flesh is also there and sometimes it's hard to distinguish between
the two because the flesh is really good at make-believe and
copycatting. You understand what I'm saying?
God is working his work in us but it's hard sometimes to distinguish
what's God's work and what's the acts of the flesh. because
the flesh is not all immoral. The flesh may be very religious. The flesh may be very moral,
but it's never righteous before God. Now did you see the difference? It could be very moral, but it
is not ever nor ever will be righteous before God. And Joe,
you used the illustration, isn't it? Shriners, Crippled Children
Hospital. Many people do that, and I'm
glad they do it even if they got self-motivated reasons. You understand that? I'm glad
God Almighty and His sovereignty moves even some wicked, immoral,
unrighteous, ungodly people to support an endeavor like that
for the benefit of those little kids. I'm glad God does that.
But there are people who do that just so they can tell people
what they've done. and to maybe cover up for what else they do
as well that they know they shouldn't be doing. And we all do that
by nature. So let's get back to it. But
after thy heartness and impenitent heart treasureth up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God who will render to every man according to their
deeds. Does that give you a little,
whoa. Does that make you want to step
back just a little? Because folks, if anybody here
or that hears my voice at any other time concerning this message,
if your works, if you feel comfortable before a thrice holy God by your
works, you do not know the thrice holy God. Isaiah was a prophet
called of God, and had been pronouncing many woes in the first few chapters
of Isaiah. And let us remember, he didn't
just write the book, he preached a lot of these messages, and
then God moved him to write them down and compile them in a book
called the Book of Isaiah. But in the sixth chapter, Uzziah
died. Paul liked Uzziah, and Uzziah
was a godly man, but he made a terrible mistake, and I'm not
even going into that, and he said, in the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also, which lets us know he was looking at something
else, I believe it was Uzziah, but he said, I saw also the Lord.
High and lifted up, and what did he cry? Woe is me. Not woe, he'd been woeing everybody
else. But when you see God for who
he is, you cry out, you can't help but cry out, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And he wasn't
letting the people off the hook. You see, my rebellion against
God don't let you off the hook. We are clay pots. And anything
that's in us that's good, that God uses, is because God Almighty
created it and brings it forth. It's not coming forth from this
clay pot. He said, why do you say I'm a
man of unclean lips? Well, I say the wrong things.
No, it's deeper than that. Because out of the abundance
of the heart, the yap yaps. The mouth speaks. The tongue
forms its words, and what we say and do, I don't care whether
it's moral or immoral, if it's against the truth of God, and
that's what Paul's talking about here. If it's against the truth
of God, it's evil. So let's look at it. Who will
render to every man according to his deeds? To them who by
patient continuance. Now what is patience? We think
of patience as to wait, and that is true. That is true, but it's
far more than waiting. It is understanding that God
Almighty is in absolute sovereign control and things will happen
at His speed, at His pace, and at His time. Even when we cry
out for admirable things, even when we cry out for deliverance.
The Jews in Babylon cried out for years, I am sure. They cried
out, they did not like being in Babylon. but they were told
you're gonna be in Babylon for three score and 10 years. And they no doubt cried for deliverance
and cried for deliverance, but deliverance would not come until
the 70th year. You understand? That's just the
illustration. You may cry, if God told me I'm going to save
such and such, somebody I care about, I still have to be patient
and wait on God. Because if he don't tell me what
day it's gonna happen, then I got no idea when he's
gonna do it. You understand? Now he doesn't
tell us, I will say this one, this one, and that one. But he
tells us who they are by the character he manifests in them. Now you hear what I said? By
the character he manifests in them. Let us never forget, it
is God. who worketh in us, that is those
who are regenerated and converted, works in us both to will and
to do of his good pleasure, and bless our little pee-picking
hearts, if he moves in you to will and to do his good pleasure,
you will do his will and good pleasure. You will, but you might
not even know you're doing it. and other things, you may think,
well, that was God working in me, both the will and the do
of his good pleasure, and you find out it was shot full of
hail. Shot full of hail. To them who by patient perseverance. You see, the book tells us this.
He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. It does
not ever teach he that is enduring at the end. Do you understand
what I'm saying? There are people today that teach
you be saved and then lost, be saved and then lost. That's not
enduring unto the end. In that system, all you can hope
is that you're enduring, that's not enduring unto the end. That
is just a hope, a shot in the dark, I just hope I'm enduring
at the end. That ain't the way God saves
sinners. Once he saves a sinner, that's regenerates and converts
them, that's what I mean by that word now. Regenerates and converts
them, he never lets them go. They not only may, but they will
fall flat on their face. and be found with shame and guilt
and maybe even fear of condemnation. Maybe even fear of condemnation
because they know who will render to every man according to his
deeds. But to them who by patient continuance
and well doing seek for whose glory you think that's talking
about. There are a lot of people who are patient and persevering,
seeking their own glory. Are they not? So see, it's a
whole lot more than just taking verse five through 10 and lifting
it out of the context and say, all right, here's people with
good works, they get to go to heaven. Here's people with bad
works, they get to go to hell. That's not the truth of this
book. As a matter of fact, when we get to chapter three, we'll
find out Paul condemns us all. Doesn't he? Paul condemns us
all by the word of God. He said there's not a one of
us that are righteous. There's not a one of us that understands.
There's not a one of us that does good. If you hooked us all
together, we're all together become unprofitable. And that's not what we used to
be. That's what we still are in the flesh. what we still are,
but to them who by patient, continuous, and well-doing seek for glory
and honor and immortality, what's going to happen? They're going
to one day experience in its fullness eternal life. We have that life as believers
now, but I can't experience it all now. because I'm still bound
in this mortal body and I still have this corrupt flesh and I
can't enjoy eternal life like God meant for us to enjoy it
one day. But one day we will be, we will
experience the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Paul goes
so far to say that even creation groans under this bondage right
now. And the creation itself will be delivered from this bondage.
but unto them that are contentious. That means everybody that argues,
no, this is contentious against God. You see, God has an ordained
order. You go contrary to that order,
you're asking for God to deal with you. Chapter one, verses
19 through 32. God has an ordained order. Don't
ever surmise. Remember I mentioned there's
a reason why that Paul preached what he did and why this came
just right at this time. Don't ever surmise. Well, if
that is true, then this must be true. This is never true unless
this book says so. No matter how logical and rational
it seems. What shouldn't we, here it is.
Okay, we're not under the law. Believers not at all, but shouldn't
we really encourage one another to keep the law because wouldn't
it make for society to be better? No. Because if we teach the law
as the way of life, where sin abounded, or where the law was
given that sin might what? I'm sorry, abound. As Henry May
had once said, laws, I don't care what law it is, makes rebels
more rebellious. All you gotta do is tell a kid
don't do something, and there's that within them that rises up. And even if they don't do it,
they would love to do it if they thought they could get away from
it. No, wouldn't they? I raised two kids, not very ably,
not very well, but I raised two kids. All I had to do was tell
them not to do something. That was the one thing that I
had to watch out to see if they were gonna do or not. I mean,
my grandfather on my dad's side, I don't have any reason to believe
that he really knew God, but we were at a family reunion. This was years ago before God
ever saved me, and it rained that day. Of course, it was a
big crowd of Pendletons around, and the kids were outside playing,
and some of them were going over there and jumping in the mud
hole. Of course, they're supposed to come back inside the house
and eat later, right? They're jumping in the mud hole. He hollered
out, hey, all you kids, I want y'all to go jump in the mud hole.
I'm serious. You know what they did? Poof, scattered. Not a one
of them got near the mud hole. Now I'm sure he got lucky with
that one. And that's a little bit of, but
you understand what I'm saying? When he told them to go jump
in the mud hole, I said, well, I'm not gonna do what that old man
said. All of a sudden, the mud hole became not so lustrous anymore,
did it? No, and to them that are contentious,
they fight against God. That's the chief problem. In
this small group, I guarantee you if we were to sit down and
talk about a whole plethora of things, different circumstances,
we'd probably disagree as to how they ought to be engaged
in. Don't you think? We all do it maybe this way or
do it that way. Well, you just go to, you go
to put up drapes. We sit and argue about what color
they should be, how long they should be, right? What kind of
material they should, no, we can send them back. But that's
not the point. Now, that shouldn't be, but that
happens all the time. But when you contend against
God, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. David put
it this way, and I still don't understand it fully, but I know
he said it, and I know it was inspired of God when he committed
those great sins that he committed. I mean, can you imagine every
morning that he had to wake up for a long time, Mason, that
had to haunt his soul? Huh? Every time he looked at Bathsheba,
it had to bring up memories, did it not? But he said, against
thee, when he cried out to God, against thee and thee only have
I done this evil in thy sight. Why? Because God is the ultimate
but stops here. When we offend against our fellow
man, we're not just offending against our fellow man. We are
offending against God. Because God is the creator and
sustainer of everything in this world. but unto them that are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey what? Not
just immorality, because remember, morality changes, doesn't it?
I mean, there were things when I was young they would not allow
on TV. It didn't just get bleeped. They
didn't allow it to be shown on TV. Now you can see anything
on TV. Hmm? almost anything on TV, but
in them that are contentious, do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness. Here's what happens to them,
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of
man, and it don't matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. You
do evil, those evil deeds will be judged. Then he says, but
glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good. But what
does it really mean to work good? Now, I'll give you an illustration.
Preacher, I think it may have been Tim James, was the one I
first heard it from. I'm sure Tim's not the only one
that's ever said it. He said, our Lord, when he was
in his condescension, when he came into this world the first
time, he'd done many wonderful works, did he not? And he asked
me, for what good work do you stone me? Well, they wouldn't
even mention him. They said, well, we're not stoning
you for good works. Nobody wants to stone you for good works,
do they? But because you being a man, you make yourself God.
See, he didn't have to work at that. That's who he was. But that same God, that God man,
when he was here on this earth, the only time it's ever recorded
in the scripture that he called a work good, do you remember
what it was? You remember what it was? He
was in this house, and I think it was the house of a Pharisee,
and there was this sinner woman come in. sinner woman, so much
so that everybody else knew. She'd been around enough, everybody
knew she was a sinner woman. But then she came over and she
had this alabaster box of ointment. And she cracked that thing open
and anointed his head. And you know what he said? She
hath performed a good work on me. Now if you wanna know what
a good work is, it's something that's done to honor the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Because if that's not the top
thing, everything else below it's bad, no matter how good
it looks to us. You understand what I'm getting
at there? If it's not meant primarily,
Joe, we gotta have our ducks in the right order when it comes
to this. Christ is preeminent. If it don't give him the glory,
then there is no other glory God will accept. God said by,
I think it was by Isaiah, he said, my glory I will not share
with another. Now we can sit around and you
can say, well, I do this a whole lot better than Walter. That's
all well and good. And you may be absolutely right, but you
will not stand in judgment before me. I will not stand in judgment
before you. We will stand in judgment before
God. And I thank God I have some good
works. And he performed them for me. He worked them out for
me. And all of the evil that I did,
he's already suffered for it. Now, I may well Give an account
of those things. But Mason, Lily, I will not be
condemned because of those things. You hear what I'm saying? There's
gonna be a group of people, small and great, stand before God,
and the books will be opened. And another book is opened. And
I just take it, the books are over here. They may well be these
books right here, the first five. Here the books are open, and
over here another book is open. And the dead are judged according
to what's written in the books. But then there's another group
of people there. They're going to go into glory. But you know
all it said, not a work one of them, it says, and their names
were written. Because it's written in the book
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's my only hope. Because when I hear the law,
and I would love to keep God's law, and when I've tried, I can
pick out one thing, and when I try, I will and have always
soon miserably failed. Miserably failed. So this is
what I'll tell you. You want to try to keep one of
God's laws, go ahead, but you're going to fail. You're gonna feel
guilty, and guess what? Thank God you can do. Run to
Christ for mercy. Run to Christ for mercy. I'm
not telling you to steal. But God's law says thou shalt
not. And there is no leeway for even
one or two little thefts. Grace comes along and says this.
It's the same, but yet so much different. Grace comes along
and says let him that stole do what? Still no more. So we're not out to break God's
law, but we're out to honor Christ. That's what it's about. Because
if you seek to walk in righteousness and holiness, and if you are
a believer, if you're in the first camp, you do. You do. But if you are a believer, your
desire is not to offend your husband. And that's where it
stands. Oh, Father, teach us these things. Our minds are so convoluted with
thoughts and probabilities and possibilities. And Lord, you
are beyond our comprehension. And your holiness is so far above
us, we can't touch it. But we know you've joined us
to it in Jesus Christ. Comfort us in him. Amen.