As you close out your reading
of Romans chapter one, those awful sins that are mentioned
here, some sins of the heart, sins of action, are generally
the things that religious people accuse or look upon in others. For example, the Jews who were
under the law, who were very religious, who tried to be very
moral people, sincere and dedicated, would look upon the sins that
are described in the latter part of Romans chapter 1 as being
exclusive to the Gentile nations and how they acted. You know,
when we look at that, it's said, you know, talked about like in
Romans 129, that fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
envy, backbiters, haters of God, and even before that, talking
about the sin of homosexuality, sin of sodomy. But then in chapter
two, the Apostle Paul shows something that is really shocking to most
people. And that is this, that our efforts
in trying to avoid the sins that Paul listed in Romans chapter
1, our efforts to keep the law, our efforts to try to be moral
people, still will not save us. Still will not wash away our
sins. and still will not make us righteous
before God. And that's what the point of
Romans chapter two is, when he goes into it, verse one. Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself, for thou judgest, thou that judgest,
doest the same things. Now, think about that. As you read Romans chapter 1
and you go down and you look at those awful sins that are
listed there, don't lose sight of the root of all sin that's
mentioned back up in Romans 1.18. Look at that again. It says, for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Now that's the
root of all sin, holding the truth in unrighteousness, that's
unbelief. And that describes all men and
women fallen in Adam, all by nature, born dead in trespasses
and sins. That refers to, that describes
the worst segments of society, but it also describes the best
segments of society who are in unbelief. It describes the most
immoral and the most moral in unbelief. It describes the most
irreligious and the most religious in unbelief. You understand that.
See, this is why the gospel is so offensive to the natural man. That's why he hates the light.
Because he looks at these sins that Paul listed, that the Jews,
for example, normally accuse the Gentiles of doing, and the
gospel says, well, based upon the righteous judgment of God,
you're no better off. It takes, yeah, the law of God
condemns an adulterous Samaritan woman in John chapter four. But the law of God also condemns
religious Nicodemus in John chapter three. And that's the whole issue of
Paul as he's presenting his case here as a skillful prosecutor.
And think about this in your lesson here. The following verses,
his emphasis is on the fact that our attempts to keep God's law
and obey God cannot make restitution for our sins, cannot satisfy
the justice of God against our sins, and it cannot make us righteous
before God. Now, when you see passage, thou
art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art judgest. Now, we all
judge. You remember we dealt with that
in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter seven. Judge not that
you be not judged. And of course, what kind of judgment
is he talking about there? Well, he's talking about self-righteous
judgment by which people accuse others and excuse themselves.
For example, you see somebody in society who has committed
some heinous crime, and you say, well, I know that person is lost
and probably going to hell. All right? Well, here's the issue. What makes me think that I'm
not lost and that I'm not going to hell? Why would I excuse myself? You say, well, because I'm not
like that person. Remember the Pharisee in Luke
chapter 18? He said, I thank God, God I thank thee that I'm
not like other men. I'm not like this old publican.
I don't cheat and steal from people. I give tithes fast twice
in the week. This is what I do, this is what
I don't do. He condemned himself. Because
he's expecting God to save him and to bless him and to justify
him based upon what he's not doing and what he's doing. Instead
of one thing, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
this is why we need the righteousness of God. So wherein you judge another?
Now I've judged people lost and I've judged myself saved. But
what's the difference? Well, my salvation has absolutely
nothing to do as far as attaining it or maintaining it. My justification before God,
it has absolutely nothing to do with my works, what I do,
what I don't do. It is totally the work of Christ,
His righteousness imputed. Totally, not partly. It's not that he died for me,
but it's no good unless I seal the deal. That's self-righteousness. You see what I'm saying? And
so, when he says, you condemn yourself, for wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, he's talking about self-righteous
judgment. I know there are people who are
lost. The Bible says that. We're not to receive them into
the fellowship of faith. But what's the basis? What's
the point of judgment? What's the standard? They don't
believe the gospel. They don't believe in Christ.
He that believeth not shall be damned. I can tell you right
now, if you're not washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness, where does that leave you? And that's all by
the grace of God. That's not by your works or my
works. Now, given that, does that mean, well, it doesn't matter
what we do? No, it doesn't mean that at all. That's a stupid
argument. When people say, well, if that's
the case, I'll just go sin like I want. No, no. That's another matter. Paul's
talking about how sinners are made righteous before God. And here's what he says, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it, the Jew first
and the Greek also. And he says, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. Now that's what I need. That's
what you need. That's what the Jew needs. That's what the Gentile
needs. That's what the immoral person needs. That's what the
most religious person that ever walked the earth needs. He needs
the righteousness of God. And he says, for thou that judgest,
doest the same things. He's not saying there that you're
engaged in the same type of behavior necessarily. Because you're not. I mean, the Jew could look at
the Gentile and the Jew could say, well, I'm not a homosexual.
Or I don't go out and rob banks or kill people. It has already
been settled in the scriptures long ago that sin begins in the
heart, now doesn't it? And sin is transgression of the
law, isn't it? And what does the law say? Summarize
the law in two commandments, remember? Love God perfectly,
love your neighbor as yourself. Now man's law doesn't say that.
Man's law doesn't require you to love God perfectly. And man's
law doesn't require you to love your neighbor as yourself. Now
man's law requires you to not harm your neighbor, not steal
from your neighbor, but it doesn't require you to love your neighbor
as you love yourself. That's God's law, see? So that's
what we're talking about, how we stand under God's law. So
whether I can say, well, I'm not a homosexual or I don't go
out and rob banks and I don't kill people physically, If I
break God's law, what am I? I'm still a sinner. I'm still
a sinner. And if I'm a sinner, then my
only hope of getting out from under the wrath of God is His
grace in not imputing my sins to me. That's my only hope. My only hope is the grace of
God in imputing Christ's righteousness to me. That's my only hope. And
I don't have any other hope. Should I try to be the best and
the most moral person I can be? Of course, but that's not gonna
make me righteous, and if I judge anyone to be lost, to be under
the wrath of God because of their sins, as far as the ground of
their salvation, then I don't do any, and judge myself to be
otherwise, to be out from under the wrath of God because of my
obedience, I'm in the same boat they're in. Now that's an eye-opener. And
that's what people don't want to hear. That's the light that
exposes our deeds to be evil. And that's what he's doing. Look
at verse two. He says, but we are sure that the judgment of
God, now that's the key, is according to truth against them which commit
such things. Here's God's righteous judgment. So understand here, now he's
not talking about man's judgment. Now, I've often said this, and
I say this in a certain context, and I've been challenged on it
because there are people who don't make the distinction between
what context we're talking about. You've heard of the doctrine
of total depravity. Well, what is? It teaches that
we all fell in Adam and were born totally depraved. Well,
what is the evidence of being totally depraved? Does that mean
that we're all homosexuals, we're all perverts, we're all just
anarchists? Do we all go out and try to kill
each other? No, no. The essence of total
depravity can be found, well, I've got several verses that
I could go to there, but look at Romans chapter three across
the page in verse 11. Romans 3 and verse 11. And here's
the essence of total depravity. This describes people who are
totally depraved. Now he'd already said there's
none righteous, no not one, that is in ourselves. But he says
there is none that understandeth. That's total depravity. We don't
understand who God is by nature now. We don't understand who
God is. We don't understand who we are.
We don't understand the way of righteousness, the way of salvation
by nature. As long as you don't understand
that, that means you're totally depraved. You say, well, wait
a minute. I'm not a homo. I'm not this, that, or the other.
That's not what total, that, listen, those people are totally
depraved. But here's the essence of it that kills all of us, that
condemns all of us in that state. And it says, it goes on, it says,
there's none that seeketh after God. If you're not seeking the
true and living God, that's total depravity. You may be seeking
religion. You may be trying to keep the
Ten Commandments. You may look down on all the
perverts of society, which you should. But if you think that
the difference between you and them is your works and that makes
you righteous before God, you're not seeking God. Those who seek
God seek God as he reveals himself in his word. And God's wrath comes down upon
anybody who holds the truth in unrighteousness. Go on, verse
12. They are all gone out of the
way. What way? God's way. God's way is the only way. And
his the way is the way of his grace through Christ. Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Now here comes a preacher. And
he says, I'm a Christian. Christ is my way, but there are
other ways. That's total depravity, my friend.
Did you see that? That's a totally depraved man
speaking. You see, if we're saved by the grace of God, we know
there's one way. and not other ways. He says,
they are together become unprofitable. That means their efforts will
not profit them. He says, there's none that doeth
good, no not one, that is in the sight of God. So when he talks about you do
the same thing, or verse two over here, Romans 2.2, we're
sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against
them which commit such things. What was he talking about? He's
talking about those things which leave us unprofitable, that are
not in the way of God. We're inexcusable. The condemnation
of all to whom sin is imputed, Jew and Gentile, is the righteous
judgment of God. This is the way God judges things.
You hear me quote all the time, Acts 1731. We'll see it again
today. that God has appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained, in that he hath given assurance unto
all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. The statement
that I made that I've been challenged on is I'll say this, that in
the eyes of men, this is what I'm talking about. As we look
at things on this earth, as we compare ourselves with ourselves,
Total depravity doesn't mean that everybody in our eyes is
as bad as they could be. That's the statement. And somebody
challenged me on it and said, well, wait a minute, we're all
as bad as we could be in God's eyes. Well, I'm not talking about
God's eyes. I'm talking about as we look at each other. You're
walking down the street and you come upon old Nicodemus and he's
a pillar of society. He's a member of the Sanhedrin.
He's on the court. He's in religion. And then you
walk on down the street and you see the Samaritan woman who's
been married how many times? Five times or so. And they're
now living with a man. And you say, well now, there's
a big difference between Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Isn't
that right? And in our eyes, we say, well
now, are both of them totally depraved? You may say, well,
Nicodemus isn't as depraved as the woman. Well, no, wait a minute.
In God's eyes, and that's what we're talking about, the righteous
judgment of God, see, here's what God says in his judgment
of things. Oh, Nicodemus is no better off
than the woman at the well as far as attaining righteousness
before God. Now, that's what we, by nature,
don't want to bow to. When we talk about people who
hold the truth in unrighteousness, do you believe that truth that
I just spoke? If you don't, you're holding
it in unrighteousness. Isn't that true? You say, well,
I'm just not going to accept that Nicodemus at least is not
closer to the kingdom. You know, if you really want
an eye opener, go over to Matthew chapter 23, and I think it's
verse 15. where he's talking about the religious Pharisees
and their proselytizing, trying to get Gentile converts, encompassing
sin land to get converts. Remember what Christ said they
were doing? Making those converts twofold
more the children of hell than they were. Why is that? Well, think about it. Who are the hardest people that
we've ever had to witness to? Those who have a false assurance
of religion. They're the hardest people. Who
were the most adamant enemies of Christ? The religious elite. Isn't that right? He had dinner with sinners and
publicans. But the Pharisees wouldn't dare
sit down and eat with him. In fact, they accused him. Look at the kind of people your
master eats with. Remember what he said? He said
the physician, he didn't come to heal the well. The righteous,
he didn't come to call the righteous to repent, but sinners. He came
to save sinners. Paul said this is the faithful
saying of which is worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. That's what
we are. You say, well, now wait a minute. I'm not like those
immoral Gentiles and that ought to count for something. It counts
for nothing as far as attaining or maintaining righteousness
before God. And that's what people do not
want to hear. But you know what? That's the righteous judgment
of God. How do I know that? From His
Word here. We're sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them which commit such things. And then look at
verse 3. He says, And thinkest thou this,
O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same? that thou shalt escape the judgment
of God? Do you really think that you're
going to escape the judgment of God? That Pharisee in Luke
chapter 18, he knew that that publican deserved God's judgment. And you know what? You want to
know something? He was right. And the publican knew it too.
That's why he prayed, God, be merciful. To me, the sinner,
I need mercy. I know that if God were to give
me what I deserve and what I've earned, it'd be damnation. That's
it. And I'm talking about right now
as I stand behind this pulpit. You see, salvation and justification
before God is not a matter of what we earn or deserve. It's
a matter of God's grace in Christ. And that's it. It's His mercy
in Christ. It is righteousness imputed,
the righteousness of God, the righteousness of another. That old Pharisee was right in
condemning the publican as far as based on his works. Where
he messed up is justifying himself based upon his works. The judgment
of God is according to truth. So when we judge others to be
lost and deserving of God's wrath because they're sinners, do we
think that we're any better? Do we think that we shall escape
the judgment of God? If we do, we're only fooling
ourselves. What does that say to us? Our
only hope is Christ. I need the righteousness of God.
How about you? That's what I need. I need Christ.
Look at verse four. He says, now listen to this verse.
Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance. When you think about God's goodness, God's forbearance, look at your lesson on this.
This is really important. God is rich in goodness and forbearance
and long-suffering. You know what that means, don't
you? Well, you can think about it this way. It rains on the
just and the unjust. All right? We have all been recipients
in some way or another of God's goodness, even physically. And God's forbearance God's tolerance,
God's patience, his long-suffering. Basically what he's talking about
is that God puts up with a lot from all of us. He even puts
up a lot from the non-elect. Romans 9 teaches us. If God wasn't good and forbearing
and long-suffering, this world would have been shattered out
of existence when Adam fell. And of course we know why this
world continues to exist. Ultimately it's for his glory
and the salvation of his people, his elect in Christ. How do we
know that the last one of Christ's sheep has not been called into
the fold? I'll tell you how I know, because
we're here. Maybe that last sheep is a lost
sheep here in Albany, I don't know. Maybe it's in Africa, maybe
it's somewhere else, Australia, I don't know. But I know when
that last sheep is called into the fold, that's when he's coming
again. That's when this world will be burnt up. But we've all
been recipients of this. And what it does, what man, now
listen to this, what man self-righteously does, he self-righteously makes
a judgment about himself concerning his relationship with God. In
other words, it's kind of like, I'll give you the extreme of
it. Well, I must be doing something good or God wouldn't have given
me all this good stuff. That's the kind of attitude.
Now, a lot of people today won't say it that way, but that's their
kind of attitude. You know, I hear all the time,
you know, I go through a checkout line or something, they always
say, have a blessed day, you know. Well, every day I have
is a blessed day. I mean, if I fall down and die
today, it's a blessed day. for the people of God, isn't
it? But people have the attitude that, well, because I have so
many good things, well, I must be doing something right. Or
if they do something bad and God doesn't strike them dead
at the point, you know, somebody says, well, you know, God ought
to throw lightning down on you today. You know, but God doesn't
do it. Well, that's God's forbearance and God's long-suffering, that
kind of thing. But do you know what all those good, forbearing,
long-suffering things are intended to do in the light of truth? To bring us to repentance. How
so? To bring us to realize that whatever
good God gives me, however patient God is towards me, however long-suffering
God goes on with me, I don't deserve one degree of it. I haven't earned one degree of
it. That's what all those things
are intended to do. God is good, but he's also just. He must punish all sinners to
whom sin is imputed with his just wrath. That's the wrath
of God. And if any of us, Jew or Gentile, appear before God
at judgment without perfect righteousness, we will perish in our sins in
spite of all the good things that we've had here on earth.
In spite of all the forbearance. Methuselah, boy, the Lord was
long suffering and forbearing with Methuselah. He lived 969
years. And then he died. Do you think in his 969 years
he did anything to merit God's favor? Do you think in his 969
years he did anything to earn God's blessings? Do you think
in his 969 years, and every one of us would say that every year
that Methuselah lived was a gift from God, wouldn't we? I don't
know what shape he was when he died, you know, if he was hurting
or if he was in the picture of health and just died. God took
him. Do you think in Methuselah's 969 years he did anything to
make himself righteous before God? With all that goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering? No. No. I don't know about Methuselah's
state when he died, but it seems to indicate that he didn't die
in the Lord. He doesn't. And he died. But all of this is meant not
to cause us to think that God is so good to us that he'll simply
let us off the hook. It's kind of like the attitude
somebody says, well, God has been so good to me, I know that
he will receive me, he will accept me. He'll let me off the hook
for my little shortcomings. Those good things are given to
bring us to repent, to cause us to seek the Lord who He really
is and His righteous judgments and bring us to repentance. Again,
Acts 17, 31, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent
because He 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. Look at verse four, verse, look
here. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance, verse five, but after thy hardness and impenitent
heart treasurest unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Now that hardness
and impenitence of heart, where is it? How does that manifest
itself? Holding the truth in unrighteousness.
In other words, if I don't agree with what God says here about
His righteous judgments in spite of all the so-called blessings
that I've received and goodness that I've received from God and
forbearance and longsuffering, if I don't believe that when
it comes to righteousness, I'm no closer than the woman at the
well or people like her, that's impenitence. That's hardness
of heart. That's storing up wrath against
the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God. If I insist
on judging things and having things my way instead of taking
sides with God against myself, that's impenitence. A person can, in religion, appear
to be the most humble person you've ever seen and still be
hard of heart and impenitent before God. Until a sinner is
brought to see his sinfulness and the fact that he has earned
nothing and deserves nothing but condemnation and that his
only hope is Christ and his righteousness imputed, he's impenitent and
hard of heart. No matter how he appears to us
or to himself. And then he caps it off, verse
six, who will render to every man according to his deeds. Now
I'm gonna stop because I've run out of time, but I'll pick up
there next time. For God to render to every man
according to his deeds has to do with what state we're in. whether or not we're in Christ
and we're judged in Him, or whether we're in ourselves judged according
to our works. And those deeds that a sinner
stands before God and without Christ will be judged to be bad,
as according to 2 Corinthians 5, and we'll look at that next
time. But here's what, the judgment
of God's people is as they stand before God in Christ washed in
his blood and clothed in his righteousness.