Brethren, if you will, begin
turning to Romans chapter 2 with me. God the Holy Spirit led Paul
to write Romans chapter 1, the whole book of Romans, to the
church at Rome, but now to us also. He spends the first 17
verses in chapter 1 describing his commitment to the gospel
of God's free sovereign grace. He's not ashamed of the gospel
because it's the power of God unto salvation. That gospel of
God is concerning his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made
a man, declared to be the son of God in power. He was completely
holy. died on the cross at Calvary,
and was resurrected to the right hand of God. He also plainly
tells us that Christ, the one prophesied of old to come, He's
the source of our grace, He's the source of our righteousness,
the source of our wisdom, the source of our faith, and He's
the source of our peace with God the Father. In chapter 1
and verse 18 through the end of that chapter, In chapter 2
and partly in chapter 3, Paul shows us that the judgment of
God is just. God's justice is righteous. It's
right. He burns into every man, woman,
and child's heart that's ever been on the face of this earth
that judgment's coming. They will meet God one day. They
can ignore it, but they know it's true. And when that day
comes, God's justice will always be right. He will always be holy
and pure in everything He does. And anyone that goes to hell
will go justly because justice demands it. And anyone that goes
to glory will go there justly because justice demands it. There's
where our hope lies. Chapter 1 from verse 18 to the
end of chapter, Paul is addressing the heathen. He's talking to
the people that have never heard of God. They've never seen these
holy Scriptures. born outside of cities or outside
of religion. They just grew up farming and
living life. Never heard anything of these
things of God. That's who He's addressing. It's burning the
conscience of every man and woman. And He says in verse 20, chapter
1, so that they are without excuse. After they were without excuse,
the Lord let some of them go, didn't He? First, He started
with uncleanness. The Lord let them go. Then he
went to vile affections. He let them go to vile affections,
to sodomy. Then finally, he let them go
to a reprobate mind. Completely took his hand off
of them. That's a frightening thought. That scares me to death. But God's justice acting perfectly
and righteously towards sinners that do not know him. Chapter
two addresses something that's even worse, even more frightening
to me. It addresses those people that
hear the gospel and maybe even profess to believe it, and they
refuse it. They keep looking to themselves.
So we'll read the first 11 verses here in Romans chapter two. Therefore,
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest.
For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for
thou that judgest dost the same things. But we are sure that
the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit
such sins. And thankest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do 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 heart treasurest 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 and well doing seek for glory
and honor and immortality, he gives them eternal life. But
unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish
upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also
of the Gentile. 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. The first few verses there, the
first three verses of chapter two, Paul's addressing what we call
today Christians. Now don't be confused in thinking
this only applies to the Jews in Rome 2,000 years ago. It directly
applies to men and women today. It's given directly to what we
call Christians today. Good Baptist folks, good reformed
Baptist folks. clean living people, and specifically
to those that profess to know Christ, the true doctrine, but
in word only. It says there in verse 1, Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the
same things. But we are sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth, against them which commit such
things. And thinkest thou this, and he
addresses that old man that judges them which do such things and
doest the same. He says, think about this, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God. It will not go unpunished,
will it? Look down at verse 17. It says,
Behold, thou art called a Jew and restest in the law, and makest
thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things
that are more excellent being instructed out of the law, and
art confident that thyself art a guide of the blind." These
people are confident, they're sure. They're confident they're
doing the right thing. A guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of
truth and law." They're high-minded and it sounds good. They say some of the right things
and it's according to some of the scriptures, isn't it? They
find themselves superior to brethren. Verse 21 says, "...thou therefore
which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest,
a man should not steal. Dost thou steal?" Steal the Lord's
glory, don't they? Thou say'st a man should not
commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhor'st
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law, saying, I won't do that. I would never act like that.
My brother's doing this thing, but I feel sorry for him. I would
never do those things. They're boasting the law. Through
breaking the law dishonorous thou God. We say it as pretending
to be righteous without a broken heart is blasphemous. And trying
to teach men and women to follow the letter of the law and not
the fulfiller of the law. To tell men and women to follow
the law and not the one who fulfilled it is a crime against God. But Christ's sheep don't worship
outwardly in the flesh, do we? We worship inwardly. Then verse
28, Romans 2.28, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart and the spirit, and not in a letter. Why? Whose
praise is not of men, but of God. The Lord will get the glory
for that, won't He? We see that in the Pharisee and
the public and one stands and which would sound to most people
a wonderful prayer. Lord, I thank you that I'm not
like other men. Lord, I thank you that I tithe.
I thank you I do so many good things and I don't drink whiskey.
And just, oh, it sounds wonderful. Sounds good to the ear, doesn't
it? What'd that publican do? Wouldn't he lift his eyes up
and said, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Condemning outward sin is not
wrong. Paul does a good job of it, these first three chapters,
doesn't he? He's pretty clear about it. But
judging men, condemning the motive of their hearts, that's what's
making someone, it makes themselves an idol. They judge another man. But how can I tell men and women
what sin is and that it's wrong without judging them? That's
a hard task, isn't it? I can't do that. My flesh can't
do that. If I say, hey, what you're doing is wrong, that's
easy to say, but to not judge them, that's impossible, isn't
it? Thankfully, all things are possible with the Lord, aren't
they? The motive. Condemning sin is not just correcting
an error, but it's acknowledging that I'm nothing but sin. Just
telling people I'm hopeless, but I can tell you who I have
hope in. It's having empathy, not just sympathy, feeling sorry
for someone. I've experienced what someone's been through.
What we sang about earlier, if someone was, I mean, a true sinner,
if they come in here in need, I could help them. I could point
them in the right direction. Somebody come in and just needed
some help with little things, I don't know if I could help
you. But if someone came in need, we can have empathy for them
and point them to our Savior. And the motive is not just to
put someone down, but it's the turn of that schoolmaster we
saw Sunday, wasn't it? Get them to Christ. Get them
to the one that can teach them. But does motive matter? God judges
in truth and in the heart, doesn't he? He says motives matter. Turn
over 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel 16.7 But the Lord said unto Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, nor on his height of stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. The Lord don't see what we see.
For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh
on the heart. What should be the object of our motive? Should
we be looking down on other people and saying, you all need to correct
this first. I'm pretty well educated in these things, but you all
need to step it up a little bit. Peter wrote, if any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister,
we serve in any manner. Let him do it as of the ability
which God giveth. That God in all things may be
glorified through Christ. to whom be praise and dominion
forever and ever." At this point, if someone's here to not listen,
if someone listens this ten years from now or a hundred years from
now, this point will either confirm comfort or it will condemn. Who do you want to get the glory?
Do you want to be lifted up? Do you want to be praised and
men to look at you and say, whoa, he did a good job? Or do you
want Christ to get the glory? How do we condemn sin? That's
singular. It's easy to condemn sins. Plural,
how do we condemn sin itself? Turn over to Romans chapter 5. Verse 19 says, For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, and Adam the whole
human race fell. So by the obedience of one, the
second Adam, Christ our Lord, shall many, many, how many is
that? As many as Christ died for. As
many put into him before the earth was founded by God the
Father. And every one of them. Many shall be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered. This
law came that offense might abound. People can see what they were,
acknowledgement of sin. But where sin did abound, grace
did much more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't hold men unto that law.
We show it to them. We show what God requires. God
requires perfection. And we pray that schoolmaster
walks them straightway to the one that can teach them. I tell
somebody, you have to follow, God requires absolute perfection
from conception, from the cradle to the grave, the whole way.
And they say, well, I can't do that. Good. That's good news. Maybe the Lord teaches something.
But we tell them of His grace towards us. And I need to do
this inwardly. I need to do this myself. I need
to examine myself and not others. Myself. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. I'll tell you the truth, I have
you all on my heart almost all day every day as I study. Sometimes
I get a little selfish. I have me on my heart too. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. Examine yourselves. whether ye
be in the faith. Did we tell our brethren that?
Mike, you need to examine yourself. No, we don't do that. Examine
myself. He says it. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates. We would be
reprobates if it weren't for Christ in us, wouldn't we? And
we know this. That old man in us, If the Lord
took his hand off of it, what would I be capable of? But I
trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. God hasn't
let us go, has he? He's kept us here. If you want to look down your
nose on sinners and judge them, if so, you're condemned. Do you
acknowledge your sin and beg for God's mercy? If so, you're
saved. You have eternal life. If you
trust in yourself, your religion, your doctrine, your law-keeping,
you are deceived and you'll perish. But if you trust in Christ alone,
Christ's doctrine, His law-keeping, you have eternal life. As Paul addresses those that
were professing to be believers, look here in Romans 2, verse
4. address those sitting under the
sound of the gospel. Romans 2, 4, Where despisest
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
In the holy providence of our Lord, you and I were not born
in some faraway land, some jungle country. We're not stuck under
paganisms of Catholicism. We weren't locked into that.
We're not in a firm grip of Muhammad. The Lord didn't keep us there.
He may have brought us out of those things, but where does
He have us? Right here. He brought us under
the sound of His Word, didn't He? He's the one that keeps us
there. He's been pleased to put each of us in the earshot of
His Word. What a privilege and gracious gift it is to those
that hear. And what a curse to those that refuse Him. There in verse 5 it says, But
after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. For those people who hear this
good news of Christ, Christ saves sinners and they refuse it. I
don't want to hear it. Don't tell me about that Jesus Christ
again. I've heard you. Leave me alone.
it will be much worse for them in the day of judgment than it
will be for Sodom and Gomorrah. Christ said that in Matthew 10,
and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when
you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of
your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for that city. That's terrifying. But God's servants have a responsibility
to tell men and women to look to Christ. I'm charged with that. We proclaim His victory over
death and sin, don't we? Some people have asked me before,
well, if God's sovereign, wouldn't He just do everything for you?
Well, yes. He told Israel, He said, I'm
going to perform all these works for you, but you're going to
inquire of me. You're going to ask me to do it for you. We have
a responsibility. Brother Harry Graham was one
of those mentors to young Don Fortner. He said, responsibility
is our response to God's ability. But we have no ability in ourselves.
But that doesn't remove our obligation, does it? If I break both my legs
and I have no ability to pay my mortgage, that doesn't free
me from my obligation to pay my mortgage. The bank's not a
friendly lender, is it? It has rules, and it's going
to stick to them, and we wouldn't be surprised at those things.
Why are we surprised if the Lord sticks to the law that He's given? We have a responsibility and
obligation. And some people say they want to address the things
of God with me or other believers. Well, if I have a responsibility
in God's sovereign, how does that work? Who's this and who's
that? The Lord said so. Take it up
with Him. I don't advise that. I wouldn't
recommend that to anyone. But we have an obligation. We
who hear the truth, especially, we have a duty to seek Christ.
We have to seek Him. He'll find those that are lost,
but we're told to seek Him, aren't we? Hebrews 11 says, But without
faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that
seek Him diligently. We seek Christ so I may be found.
And that's what we tell others to do, isn't it? Seeking the
day. Proverbs 29 says, He that being oft reproved, hardeneth
his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and with that without remedy.
I have seen this happen twice in my life. I saw people that
for a long time, a couple decades, they've declared that Christ
is all They were faithful members of the congregation, and they
went headstrong against the pastor. I mean strong. The Lord says,
touch not mine anointed. That means every one of his believers.
That also means the preachers he's put in place. And within
two weeks, the Lord killed him. It happens. He was suddenly destroyed
without remedy. But what do we cry? We cry with
David, don't we? For He is our God and we are
the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today,
if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation
and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. Turn to Him
today. If you know Him and you've been
walking with Him for 40 years, turn to Him today. Harden not your hearts. Bow to
Christ and be reconciled to God. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you, and Christ did, be ye reconciled
to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Keep reading in chapter 6. We
then, since Christ has been made sin for us, we then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the
grace of God in vain. If you've heard this, we pray
it's not in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. He's comforted
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today is that day. I do not know
who God's elect are, but I'll cry in the wilderness. Today
is the day of salvation. Come to him. Back in our text in Romans 2, God always deals with sin in
strict judgment. He does not waver. Romans 2.6,
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, they receive eternal life. But unto them that
are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
what's upon 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 glory, honor, and peace to
every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to
the Gentile. It says there in verse 7, patient,
continuance, and well doing. What does that mean? Does that
mean the people that do good get glory and honor and the people
that do bad? Now turn over to 1 John. We'll see what that well
doing is. We have to do the truth. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. We say that we have fellowship
with Christ and we start looking to our works and we start looking
to things and events and baptisms and everything else. We're lying. And we do not the truth. What
is doing the truth? Believing on Christ. Love the
brethren. John wears that out. As they set up Scott Richards,
he just walks around with arrows and shoots it at his target.
The whole book, doesn't he? Believe on Christ, love the brethren.
Believe on Christ, love the brethren. Our Savior said in John 3, For
everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth
truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God." If we do those good things, not
that men and women think of, but what the Lord says, He wrought
those in us, didn't He? And we'll come to that day and
He'll say, look at all the times you fed me and clothed me, and
say, Lord, I never did that. Our Savior did, didn't He? That's
how real it is, Bob. We're one with Him. I wish I
could get my head wrapped around that. What if these self-righteous
people hear this and they leave? What if those people that sat
underneath the gospel quietly for years and they hear that
and they say, I've had enough of it. I've been here for decades
and I'm leaving. Turn over to, we're still in 1 John, turn to
1 John 2. Verse 19. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be manifest that they were not all of us." It fulfills
the Lord's Word. But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because
you know not the truth. John said, I'm not writing this
because you don't know, but because you do know. and that no lies
of the truth. That fulfills the Lord's prophecy,
doesn't it? Alright, back to our text and
we'll wrap this up. Romans chapter 2, verse 9. Tribulation and anguish upon
every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also
of the Gentile. I had to study that for a while.
That's a pretty short answer. What does that mean? The Jew
first, the religionist first. That's the order that was in
this text, wasn't it? Those that falsely proclaim Christ and put
people back under that yoke of bondage. And then secondly to
the Gentile, to the heathen, to Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse
10 it says, but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh
good. To the Jew first and also to the Gentile. What does that
mean? Well, the spiritual Jew that
knows Christ now Me and you? That's to us. And the Gentile
is the one that doesn't know Him yet. He will. He will know
Him. She will know Him. But it hasn't
come to pass yet, has it? Alright, verse 11. Who does God
respect? For there is no respect of persons
with God. Fourteen times, between the Old
Testament and the New Testament, it references that the Lord is
not a respecter of persons. If He said it once, that would
be good enough for us to obey, wouldn't it? It would be good
enough for us to bow to. But He says it 14 times. We hear
it from the Father. We hear it from the Son. We hear
it from the Holy Spirit, through His prophets, through the ministers. That's something we should strongly
heed. Strongly heed. But what does it mean, no respecter
of persons? God doesn't care what you've done for Him. As
many people say, I've done a lot for God. I've gave up a lot for
God. He doesn't care. Doesn't care how many idols you've
destroyed, how many hungry you've fed, how many people you've baptized,
how many souls you've won to Jesus. There's no such thing
as unconditional love. Listen to me. There's no such
thing as unconditional love. God loves on condition. Condition
of His Son, doesn't He? The Father only loves perfect
righteousness. He's not pleased in my efforts
of simply trying. He demands righteousness, perfection.
And He's only pleased and only loves in and through His precious
Son. Psalm 45 says, Thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above all thy fellows.
That's our elder brother, Christ. The Lord gives that general call
and the effectual call through the same thing. Matthew 3, 7
is the Lord's baptism. It says, And lo, a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
He tells that to the world. The only way you're going to
please God is to go through Christ. He's the only thing that pleases
Him. Does that leave it on me? If
it's up to Kevin to believe, Kevin's in trouble. I might do
okay for five minutes, but then a fly will come through the room. God the Father also gives an
effectual call, which you preach from Sunday, Bob. In Matthew
17, Matthew's account of the transfiguration says, while he
yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold,
a voice out of that cloud which says, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. He says the same thing, doesn't
he? But there's a semicolon. That sentence continues. It says,
hear ye him. When the Lord says, hear him,
you know what you do? You hear him. You may have said
that, Bob. Someone said the reason that
when the Lord raised Lazarus, he says, Lazarus comes forth,
because if he just said, come forth, every human on the ground
would have come out, wouldn't he? All right, in closing, turn
over to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 19 Verse 7 Wherefore now let the fear of
the Lord be upon you. Lord make your sheep honor you
today. Take heed and do it. Do truth. Believe on Christ and
love your brethren. For there is no iniquity with
the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts."
How are we going to get to Him if He doesn't take our gifts
and respect our persons, who we are, who our parents were,
and if we have iniquity in us, we take heed and do it, and we
have fear from the Lord, don't we? I pray tonight and forevermore,
and I know we will. That's a prayer that will be
answered. The Lord will call out His sheep, make them believe
on Christ. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, as we plainly see Your
warnings and what You require, we just see how helpless we are. Thank You for Your Son, Lord.
Allow us to see in part what He's done for us Give us a heart
that's allowed to worship Him. Until that day we can worship
Him as He truly deserves. Make us love righteousness and
hate wickedness, Lord. Conform us into the image of
Your Son. We want to be like Christ. Make
our brethren that don't yet know Him, Lord, call them out. Call
out your sheep. Add to your church daily as you
see fit. Give us the ability to preach Christ clearly. Sinners
can understand. They can see that hope that's
in him. Be with our brethren everywhere, Lord. There's so
many that are suffering, as you know, trials you've sent them.
Comfort them in your Son. Give us the grace to be thankful
for their trials, to remind them to be thankful for their trials
from your hand. Reassure them that they will
always be comforted at the end of it. It's in Christ's name
that we ask. Amen.