This whole section of Romans
concerns the unbelieving Jews who were erroneously seeking
righteousness, not by faith in Christ, but by their works of
the law. And you know, the whole section
here from Romans 1.18 to Romans 3.20 is a section that shows why we
as sinners, for we have all sinned, remember over in Romans 3.23,
we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, why we all
need the righteousness of God, which is the imputed righteousness
of Christ, the merits of his obedience unto death, in order
to be saved, in order to be justified before God. And understand that
justification is a legal term. It has to do with coming under
the judgment of God's law and either being declared guilty
or not guilty. Being declared either righteous
or unrighteous or righteous. And so the Bible teaches that
there's only one way that a sinner can stand before God. and be
rightly, really, legally declared not guilty and liable to the
just punishment of eternal damnation. There's only one way that a sinner
can stand before God rightly, really, and legally and be declared
righteous in God's sight, which we must be declared so in order
to have a right relationship with God. And that's by God's
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ based upon His blood,
which is His righteousness. That's the only way. Works of
the law will not attain that. And the reason is, is because
God requires perfection. If you're trying to keep the
law in order to be saved, in order to be justified, in order
to be forgiven. Well, I won't say in order to
be forgiven. Hold on, I'll show you why. If you're trying to
keep the law in order to be justified before God, then you must keep
it perfectly. 99 and 44 100% will not do. Now a lot of people would say,
well now that's unreasonable of God to expect perfection. Well, first of all, it's not
unreasonable of God to do so for two reasons. Number one,
God cannot accept anybody on anything less because of who
He is. It's His nature. God cannot be
less than who He is. And God is holy and righteous
and just in all His ways. There's no imperfection with
God. He cannot accept less than perfection. So it's not unreasonable,
it's what he has to do according to his own nature. And he can't
go against his nature. Now he does save sinners, but
not by going against his nature. The second reason it's not unreasonable
is God has freely and fully provided the perfection of righteousness
that he requires in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you look to
him. rest in him for all righteousness. And sinners who don't, who refuse,
their sins are imputed to them, those who go through life in
unbelief and die in unbelief, their sins are imputed to them
and they won't stand. And so look at verse seven, or
look at verse six first. Well, I concluded with this last
time. It says, God will render to every man according to his
deeds. Well, what are our deeds? You
say, well, that's our works. Well, over in 2 Corinthians chapter
five, if you'll just look at that briefly,
it talks about judgment. And it says in verse 10, it says,
for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that
everyone may receive the things done in his body according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. In other words,
that's a declarative judgment that God will make before the
whole universe. And think about it this way,
whether it be good or bad. Now the Bible says there's none
good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. None that doeth good, no, not one. So how in the world
could I stand before God at this judgment, and anything about
me be declared good? Well, the scripture says in Romans
14, we must all stand before God and give an account. Well,
what is my account, my accounting? And what he's talking about there
is this, all who are in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness imputed, They'll be declared, but before
the whole universe, God will declare them to be good, not
based upon their law-keeping, not based upon their works, not
based upon any decision they make, but based solely upon the
imputed righteousness of Christ. And all who stand before God
on their own without Christ, they'll be declared to be bad.
And so look at verse 11 of 2 Corinthians 5. It says, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we're made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Now what is that terror of the Lord? I'll tell you exactly what
it is. It's the terror of standing before God without Christ. Think
about it. Think about it. Think about the
false professors In Matthew chapter 7, 21 through 23, Lord, Lord,
haven't we preached in your name? Lord, haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Think about the terror, the fear, the shame that they
had to hear him say, depart from me, I never knew you, you that
work iniquity. That's the terror of the Lord.
I know this. I'll tell each and every one of you and tell him
myself and everybody that's listening, You have no hope of passing the
test of the law of God, the justice of God, standing before God without
Christ, without being washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness. And so back over here it says
Romans 2, God will render to every man according to his deeds.
What are my deeds as far as being justified before God? My account
is righteousness in Christ. That's what it is. That's my
account. The account books of God's law
in my case has been wiped clean and filled with the beauty of
the Lord. filled with Christ and His righteousness. And so,
but now here's the point now. Now here's what Paul's saying
here. This is why we need the righteousness of God. It's because
of the righteous judgment of God, and here it is. Look at
verse seven. To them who by patient, that means enduring, continuance,
in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal
life. All right, in other words, If
you're seeking salvation by your works under the law, and you
endure, patiently endure, and continue in well-doing according
to the law, which is perfect satisfaction to its precepts,
you'll have eternal life. You'll live forever, if you can
keep the law. You see, the law, the law only
condemns those who break it. And if you break the law, the
law condemns you. Isn't that right? But now if
you can keep it, you're okay. But you notice that term well-doing.
You know, back in Genesis chapter four, that concept of well-doing
has already been well-established in the case of Cain and Abel.
How can I, who am a sinner, who fell in Adam, ruined by the fall,
and who is born dead in trespasses and sins by nature. How could
it ever be said that I get anywhere close to well-doing as far as
the law is concerned, as far as righteousness is concerned?
Well, I can't even come close to well-doing in God's sight
who will render to every man according to his deeds. I can't
even come close to it by my works. And you remember he told Cain,
he said, why are you angry? If you do well, you'll be okay. Well, what is it to do well?
Well, it's to follow God's command. And what does he command? Look
to Christ. Plead his blood, plead his righteousness
imputed. Rest in him, submit to his righteousness. Stop trying to establish your
own righteousness before God in order to be justified. Stop
it. That's self-righteousness. That's
unbelief. That denies the glory of God.
That denies the person and work of Christ. You see that? Well-doing in the Bible for a
sinner is looking to Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. That's when you do well. And
that well-doing is by the spirit of God, by the power and goodness
of God. That doesn't come by your own
free will or your own goodness or your own decision. That's
when God persuades us and makes us willing in the day of his
power to look to Christ. So he says in verse eight, all
right, now if you keep the law, eternal life. But unto them that
are contentious, Now that word contentious means literally self-seeking,
self-assertive, and it's the equivalent of self-righteousness.
It's not just talking about a person who's disagreeable. Now he's
disagreeable to the commands of God. But you know what I'm
saying, when you think about a contentious person, you think
about someone who's always negative, who's always disagreeable, who
can't get along with people, things like it. That's not what
the word contentious means here. It means self-seeking, self-assertive,
self-righteous. So here's what it's saying. A
person, for example, a person could be a pleasant person, a
positive person and get along with everybody and still be contentious
according to this definition if they're seeking righteousness
by works of the law. And so he says unto them that
are contentious and do not obey the truth. Now what truth is
he talking about? He's talking about the gospel. They don't
obey the gospel. And he says, but obey unrighteousness. What is obeying unrighteousness? You say, well, that's somebody
that's immoral. Well, that would include somebody that's immoral,
but he's talking about the Jews, the unbelieving Jews who are
trying to be righteous by their works. He says they obey unrighteousness
because they don't make it. Listen, if your goal is to be
righteous by your works and you fall short, what is that? Unrighteousness. You see, the whole point of this
is we need the righteousness of God in Christ. Righteousness
cannot be found in us or done by us. It's only found in Christ. And so if you're seeking and
think you attain righteousness in any other way, you need to
understand you're obeying unrighteousness. And he says indignation and wrath
will come to them. And that indignation and wrath
is the displeasure of God, but the wrath of God is eternal damnation. And he says in verse nine, along
with that, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth
evil. Remember, doing evil includes
any, when it comes to a salvation, When it comes to righteousness,
when it comes to a right relationship with God, doing evil is anything
less than standing before God washed in the blood of Christ
and clothed in his righteousness imputed. I mean the most moral looking
or sincere person who appears outwardly righteous but who thinks
that God will save him, bless him, reward him based on his
works. See, that's doing evil. Doing evil. So, tribulation,
anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first
and of the Gentile. Now this is important. This includes
both the Jews and the Gentiles. He says in verse 10, he says,
but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good to
the Jew first and also to the Gentiles. So when it comes to
righteousness by the law, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile doesn't
matter. It's simply this. Look at verse 11. There's no
respect of persons with God. The fact that a person is a Jew
doesn't impress God. The fact that a person is a Gentile,
even a religious Gentile, does not impress God. God does not
respond in that way. There's no respect of persons.
Now, when we say there's no respect of persons with God, we need
to understand that that does not necessarily mean that God
does not make distinctions among men and women, among people. For example, God makes distinctions
all the time in creation. I mean, why were you born here
in the United States of America under a family with all the opportunities
that we have and someone else is born in a third world country
going hungry? Why is that? Well, here's what
I do know about that. And basically, I'll tell you
this, I don't know why other than God sovereignly determined
this for his own reasons. But I do know this, the fact
that you and I were born in the United States of America with
all the freedoms and the opportunities that we have had nothing to do
with anything in us or done by us. It had nothing to do with
God looking down through a telescope of time and saying, seeing that,
well, old Bill Parker, now he's going to be a good little boy,
so I'm going to put him in Kentucky, you know, or whatever, or in
Georgia. No. There's no respect of persons
with God. Another example of that is God's
dealing with the Jewish people in history. God made distinction
between the natural descendants of Abraham and the Gentiles when
he chose sovereignly to bring the Messiah, Christ, through
the Israelites. And he gave them privileges that
he did not give other nations, didn't he? We're gonna read,
we'll read some of that in Romans chapter three, when we talk about
who are the true Jews. And then in Romans chapter nine,
he says, think about the privileges that the Jewish nation had under
the old covenant. Why? Well, God says in Deuteronomy,
he said, this is not because you were a great people or more
in number or a better people than the other. It's simply because
God sovereignly out of his will chose to do it. No respecter
of persons. So God does make distinctions,
but those distinctions have nothing to do with him being a respecter
of persons. But here's what the point that
he's making here. The things that impress us about
ourselves and about others, all right, as human beings dealing
with each other, doesn't impress God one iota as far as justification
before God, as salvation. Okay, so he says in verse 12,
here it is. For as many as have sinned without
law, that's the Gentiles, shall also perish without law. Now
he's gonna show they do have a law, but they didn't have the
law of Moses like the Jews did. That's the contrast that he's
making here, or the comparison rather. And he says, and as many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. And it
seems to be saying that people are gonna be judged, those who
stand before God without Christ will be judged according to the
light they had. The Gentiles didn't have the
law of Moses, but they had conscience, and we'll talk about that here
in just a minute. But the Jews had more light. But what did they do with the
light they had? They turned it into darkness.
And that's what he deals with in Romans chapter 9, 10, and
11, how the Jews, they had the word, they had the prophets,
they had the gospel. But what'd they do? Well, they
insisted on seeking righteousness by works of the law. I think
about it today with people in our area. I mean, everybody has
a Bible. You can't get away from it. But
what do they do with it? Do they read it? and pray in
the sense of seeking Christ? Or are they just seeking some
kind of a self-help plan? That's the way most people read
the Bible. They look at the Bible as a self-help plan. Well, it's
not a self-help plan. It's a salvation plan, and that's
by God's grace in Christ. Well, look at verse 13. For not
the hearers of the law are just before God. It's not enough just
to hear. It's not even enough to agree with it. but the doers
of the law shall be justified. How can I be justified before
God by my works? Keep the law. Do and live, disobey and die,
period. That's all you have to do. Well,
we got a problem then, don't we? And it's a big problem. Have you ever committed a sin? Ever! You say, yeah, but I'm
sorry for it. That's not what the law says.
The law doesn't say, keep it, and if you fail, be sorry for
it. That's not what the law says. Sure, we ought to be sorry for
our sins. We ought to be sorrier than we are. But that's not what
the law says. Not the hearers, but the doers. There's the bottom line. Now,
what do we need? We need the righteousness of
God. We need the grace of God. We need the mercy of God. We
need Christ. We need his blood to wash us
clean from our sin. We need his righteousness imputed
to stand before God. And from that, that's where we
get life. Well, look at verse 14. He says, for when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, that is the law of Moses, do by nature,
as they're naturally born, the things contained in the law.
That doesn't mean they keep the law perfectly now. But they have
laws, these having not the law, the law of Moses, are a law unto
themselves, verse 15, which show the work of the law written in
their hearts. Now what is the law written in
their hearts? It tells us, their conscience. Now what is the conscience? The conscience is our moral compass. The conscience is the seat of
judgment within our minds. And he tells it, their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing
or else excusing one another. When somebody is accused of doing
wrong or someone is excused for not doing wrong, that shows their
moral compass. That's in them naturally, okay? Now the problem with our moral
compass, our natural conscience and our natural moral compass
is that that moral conscience, that conscience is just as fallen
as we are. Our standards are way lower than
God's standards, even in our natural conscience because we
fell in Adam and were born dead in trespasses and sins. Now turn
to Hebrews chapter 10. See, when God saves us by his
grace and gives us life from Christ, not only does he cleanse
us and our persons, he cleanses our minds and our consciences.
And how does he do that? Well, look, it says in verse
19 of Hebrews 10. Now listen to this. He says,
having therefore brethren, boldness, and that word boldness means
liberty, free access, to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
There's the grant. See, it's all by the blood of
Christ. That's his righteousness. Anytime you see the blood of
Christ, the blood of his cross, it's talking about the righteousness
of God that he accomplished through his redemptive work. He says,
by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated, Christ hath
newly made, For us, through the veil, that is to say his flesh,
verse 21, having an high priest over the house of God, now look
at verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart, a true heart
is a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, that means looking
to Christ, that's our assurance is that Christ is our hope, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses our conscience, and that happens when the Holy Spirit
brings us to see that we're sinners, and that it's impossible for
us to be justified before God, to be righteous in God's sight
based on our works, because we're sinners, and that if God ever
gave us what we deserved and what we've earned, it would be
eternal damnation. In other words, he sets the standard
in our new conscience, sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Now
go back to Romans chapter 2. The point that Paul's making
here is that just because the Gentiles didn't have the law
of Moses doesn't mean that they were total anarchists or antinomians. They had laws to govern society. You know, they put people in
jail, they let people out, they had trial courts, all of that.
Some sense of justice, even though, just like the Jews, they perverted
it, it was fallen, but they had laws by which God holds them
accountable. But here's the point, and then
we'll conclude with verse 16. In the day, you might notice
that parenthesis there, when he says, If you go back to verse
12, look at verse 12. He says, for as many as have
sinned without law shall also perish without law. And as many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. And then
jump down to verse 16. In the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men. Now, what are the secrets of
men? Well, that's what I can't see about you and what you can't
see about me. Remember David prayed, forgive
me of my secret sins. You know why David prayed that
way? Because he knew that God could see even the secret sins.
God knows it all. I often tell people, I said,
that thought that just shot through your mind, I didn't hear it,
I didn't see it. Might be a good one, might be
a bad one, I don't know, but God knows, doesn't he? And he
will judge the secrets of men by Jesus. You know, here's a
person who's moral, who's religious. Well, what is he thinking? What
is his motive? What is his ground of salvation? So you can't see that unless
he expresses it. That's why we confess with our
mouths, see? And he says God's gonna judge
the secrets of men, how? By Jesus Christ according to
my gospel. Now that's the same as what Paul
wrote back in, preached back in Acts 17 31. when he says,
God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and that
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead. You see what Paul's saying there,
the gospel tells us that we're sinners, God is holy and must
punish sinners, and the only way sinners can get out of this
mess is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and if you don't
have him, see, then whatever is hidden about you to men is
open and aboveboard to God. Without Christ, there's nothing
but eternal damnation. You must have a righteousness
that equals His. And the only way we can have
a righteousness that equals Christ is by God's grace through the
imputation of His righteousness to His people.