Now, so far here in our study
in Romans, we've seen the Apostle Paul shutting the door, every
door, every excuse, every hope, so that every son of Adam, whether
they're Jew or Gentile, whether they're heathen or religious,
is shut up to the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope. And
he's pretty well done that. He shut the door on both the
Jew and the Gentile. He kind of continues in that.
In that vein, in these verses here in our lesson this morning,
in verse 12, he says, For as many as have sinned without the
law shall also perish without the law, and as many as have
sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Now, God's justice,
His punishment against sin, is going to fall wherever sin is
found. We saw that last week. There's no respect of persons
with God. And the heathen, the Gentiles,
They sinned against the law, even though they never had the
written law of God. They sinned against the law.
And they're going to be judged. God will judge them and condemn
them, but not by the written law of God. They'll still be
condemned, but he's not going to use the written law of God
to condemn them. And he'll be just in doing so.
And the religious person, the Jew, they sinned even though
they did have the written law. And God will use his written
law to judge them and condemn them. And just like we saw last
week, their punishment will be more harsh because they've sinned
against greater light. In these next verses, Paul's
going to show that God will be just in all of his dealings.
He'll be just in condemning the Jew that had the written law,
and he's going to be just in condemning the Gentile that never
did see God's written law. Look at verse 13. For not the
hearers of the law are just before God, But the doers of the law
shall be justified. Now the Jews, the religious people,
they thought they had eternal life simply because they had
the scriptures and they read the law and the prophets. But
that's not so. Look back in John chapter 5.
Talking to these very leaders of the Jews, the religious leaders
of the Jews, this is what our Lord told them in John 5 verse
39. He says, search the Scriptures,
or you do search the Scriptures, you read the Scriptures, and
here's the reason why, for in them you think you have eternal
life. And they are they which testify
of me, and you will not come unto me, that you might have
life. And the reason that they didn't go to Christ, that they
might have life, is they thought they were justified. because
they had the Law and the Prophets. And they read the Scriptures,
they read the Law and the Prophets, and they thought that was good
enough. That's why they didn't come to Christ, that they might
have life. And salvation is not simply in reading the Word. Salvation
is not in memorizing the Word. Salvation is in believing the
Word. Believing the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not simply in hearing about Him. It's not hearing facts about
Him or memorizing facts about Him. It's believing Him. And having the law, hearing the
law, reading the law, memorizing the law, as the Pharisees did,
were able to quote the most minute details of that whole Mosaic
law. That didn't make a person righteous.
The only way a person, a son of Adam, can be righteous is
to do the law, to do all of the law, to not miss any bit of it. The law is, there's so many commandments,
I don't know how anybody could remember them all. But in a sentence,
here's what the law says, do and live. Do it, do it all, and
you'll live. If you can do the law, you'll
be justified. But disobey and die. And this obedience has to be
perfect, both inward and outward. You can't even desire sin. It's
not just that you overcome it and may not actually commit it
outwardly. You can't even desire it inwardly. You can't even think
about sin. That's what the Lord told the
Pharisees. He said, he who desires a woman
in his heart has committed adultery already. It came from the inside. And this obedience to the law
has got to be both perfect inwardly and outwardly. See, people can
understand the law. You don't have a problem reading
and understanding it. We just don't have a nature that's
capable of doing it. And the command of the law is
not to understand it, but to do it and live. So basically
what he's saying is, no son of Adam, because of our nature,
can be justified by doing the law. We can't do it. And God
didn't give the law for the people to think about it. He didn't
give the law for the people to talk about it and talk about
all the intricacies of it and how many steps you can take on
a Sabbath day. God didn't give the law for that. He gave the
law for people to do it. And the same thing's true with
the gospel. God didn't send his son to become a man and produce
a perfect righteousness so that we can sit back and admire the
beauty of his righteousness. He didn't send his son to produce
a perfect righteousness so that we can debate when that righteousness
might be imputed to those who believe. God sent His Son to
produce that righteousness. He sent His Son to this earth
so we would believe Christ our righteousness. That's why He
came. He didn't send His Son to be sacrificed in front of
the whole world for the sins of His elect so that we'd admire
how effective the blood is. He didn't send His Son to be
made sin and to be Suffer and die under the wrath
of God and the hatred of man. So we could debate. Well, is
that the moment we're justified? Is that the moment that the blood
applied? Or is it some other point? He didn't send his son
for us to look at those things. He sent his son that we would
look to him and believe him and cling to him as a sacrifice for
our sin. That's why he's sending. James
said, don't just be hearers of the Word now. Don't just be hearers
of the Gospel. Be doers of the Word. Well, how
can you be a doer of the Word, a doer of the Gospel? It's by
believing the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that simple. And we can't
be justified by doing the law or keeping the law ourselves
because the law demands perfect obedience in order to have eternal
life. Gil said this. He said, demands
inward holiness and outward obedience. And you know that's exactly what
a believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the righteousness
of Christ through faith in Him. Inward holiness and outward obedience
through faith in Him, by believing Christ. Now verse 14, that deals
with the Jews, the religious person. Now verse 14, the Gentiles. But when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law, not the written law, are a law unto
themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Now here's how
God will be just in condemning the heathen who never had God's
written law. They never saw it, they never
heard it, yet God will be just in condemning them. Because they
have the equivalent of God's law written on their hearts.
The law of nature that's in them is in perfect agreement with
God's written law. And the heathen have sinned against
the law of nature that's written on their heart. That's why God
will be just in condemning them. And the actions of natural man
prove we have the law written on our hearts. It's just amazing. You look at people, every culture
across history, across the world. When men make laws to govern
themselves, isn't it amazing how closely those laws resemble
God's law, the Ten Commandments, even though they've never seen
them? Every society knows it's wrong to murder someone. Every
society knows they have laws against stealing something that
belongs to somebody else, don't they? Every society knows it's
wrong to lie, and they generally create laws that'll punish you
if you lie under oath in the justice system. Every society
knows it's wrong to commit adultery. Now, they may be like our society
and not have a specific law against it, but if you do that, it's
grounds for divorce and you'll get treated worse by the justice
system because you committed adultery rather than your spouse.
Our laws just naturally match the law of God. Why is that?
Because we have God's law written on our hearts. God put it into
men to know the difference between right and wrong. That's why men
can either excuse one another or accuse one another because
they know the difference between right and wrong. And the heathen,
when they stand against that law, just show God's just in
condemning them. Now, I thought about this this
week. This just shows that the symptoms and the depravity of
human nature. This is the awful, wretched deadness
of man's natural heart. God's law is written on our hearts
and on our conscience, but we don't love the law. God put his
law in us and we hate it and rebel against it and sin against
it. That's why God gives his people a new heart, a new nature. David in the Psalms several times
He says about how I love thy law. He said in Psalm 119, verse
163, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. Well, how did that happen? How
did David come to love the law of God? That doesn't happen naturally
to man, does it? Well, a great change had to take
place. Look over in Hebrews chapter 8, and we'll see that change.
Where did that come from? Where did it come from that the
believer, like David, loves God's law? Hebrews 8, verse 10. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind, and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. God's going to put
His law into a new mind. He's going to write His law on
a new heart. A heart that not only knows God's
law, because the first heart you're born with knows God's
law. The new heart God gives loves
it. Loves His law. Loves Him and
loves His law. And the heathen, who've never
had God's law, they sin against the law that's in their heart,
against their own conscience. You know, their own conscience
is going to bear witness against them. The conscience tells them
they've broken God's law. That's why a lie detector test
works. You know, they hook you up to all those sensors And they
ask you questions and they take the readings for when they know
you're telling the truth. And when you lie, the readings are
different. Because your conscience tells
you that you lied and creates a physical reaction. Because
your conscience tells you you're telling a lie. Now over the course
of time, our conscience can become sealed, can't it? And maybe the
witness, to a certain degree, is not as loud, is not as clear
as it once was, but it's still there. And that machine might
not be able to pick it up, but God can. God knows everything. When our girls were little, Janet
was a human lie detector test. They'd tell her something and
she'd sit down in front of them and she'd say, now look Mom in
the eye and tell me. And she'd know every time if
they were lying or telling the truth. Because their conscience
gave them away. She could just look in their
eye. Sometimes you don't even have to look in their eye. They're
like, you know. Where'd that nervous reaction
come from? The conscience. God put that
in the hearts of all men. Their conscience gives them away.
But you know the conscience of a believer is clear. Why is your
conscience clear? We still sin. Every day, every
minute, every second, we still sin. Largely, we see our sin. We hate our sin. But our conscience
doesn't condemn us if we're a believer. Because our conscience isn't
bearing witness of our actions. The believer's conscience is
bearing witness of Christ. Oh, yes. I sin and I hate it. Oh, how I hate it. But Christ,
my substitute, for my sin away, and put it away through the sacrifice
of himself. It's a whole different story
if your conscience is telling you about you or telling you
about him. The believer's conscience is
clear. I'll show you that in Hebrews chapter 9. We studied
this just not so long ago. Hebrews 9 verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. The believer's conscience can
be clear. It is clear. But without Christ, the conscience
will bear witness against us. Now, the law of Moses will be
witness against the Jews. We looked at that last week when
the Lord told the Pharisees. He said, I don't condemn you.
Moses, whom you love, will judge you and condemn you. The writings
of Moses, the law, will condemn you. But you know, the conscience
will also bear witness against a religious person. They might
act pious. They might act very religious
and righteous to men outwardly. But their conscience always tells
them they haven't done enough. They can never rest. The reason
they can never rest, the reason they always have to do more,
is because the conscience tells them they haven't done enough
to please God. Both the law of Moses and their
conscience will bear witness against them. If you look over
in John chapter 8, I'll show you a striking, clear example
of this. John 8, verse 3. And the scribes and the Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they saying to him, Master, this woman was
taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded
us that she should be stung. See, they knew what the law said,
that such should be stung. But what sayest thou? And this
they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stooped down And with his finger wrote on the ground,
as though he heard them not. And when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without
sin among you, let him cast a stone of her, first cast a stone of
her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And
when they heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, their
own conscience bore witness against him, they went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest even unto the last. And Jesus was
left alone, and the woman standing in the midst, their own conscience
bore witness. They knew the law. The law bore
witness against them, and their conscience did. And there's that
woman left alone. See verse 10? And when Jesus
had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? And she said, No man, Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no
more. Why did he condemn her? Because
in short order, he's going to stand condemned for her. She
was taken into very active adultery, and I'm sure that bothered her
the rest of her life. But why was her conscience clear?
Because her substitute stood condemned for her. God Almighty
said unto her, I don't condemn you." Her conscience is clear. And this just shows the holiness
and the wisdom of God. He is just in all of His dealings
with men. Whatever it is He does is just. And in that day of judgment,
everyone, no matter who they are, will confess that God was
just in His dealings with men. If He damns me, if He damns the
unrighteous, when He does, He's just. And when he brings his
elect, the eternal glory with him, he'll be just in doing so. Both ways. Because as we read
this last week, his righteous judgment is always done according
to truth. Now verse 16. Now there's been
this parenthetical statement here. Verse 13, 14, 15. So let's
take those out and look back at verse 12. For as many as have
sinned without the law shall also perish without the law,
and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the
law, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ, according to my gospel." This is the day that God's appointed
when he's going to judge the world. He'll judge both the heathen
and the religious person. They'll all be judged. Look over
in Revelations chapter 20. There's no, you know this, that
this day of judgment is approaching, the day that God's appointed.
In Revelation 20, verse 12, John writes, And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And
the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in And death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them. And they were judged, every man according to their
works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And whichever
way God deals, that dealing in that day of judgment is going
to be just. And Paul says God will judge
the secret things. And that day, everything is going
to be open and transparent. Nothing is going to be hidden.
Even the most secret things that men have hidden, hidden from
other men. And sometimes the things we even hide from ourselves,
you know, we kind of suppress and put those things down. Maybe
we lie to ourselves often enough we finally, you know, believe
it and forget those things. They become secret to us. David
talked about delivering me from the secret sins. All those sins
will be open. There will be no more secrets.
It will be transparent. And God will expose both the
external and the internal guilt of men. Look over in Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. Both internal and external guilt. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13. Now let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every
work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good
or whether it be evil. Now that's a very scary thought,
isn't it? To have every secret thought and action be brought
into judgment? But the believer doesn't fear
that. The believer doesn't fear judgment. You don't fear judgment.
Why not? That's a scary thing to read
about, isn't it? We don't fear judgment because
Christ our substitute has already been judged and condemned for
us. He already suffered the full
penalty of the law for us, so we don't fear judgment. And our
judge will be the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over in Acts chapter
17. Our Lord said, he said, all judgment
is given to the Son. He's going to be the judge. And
Acts 17, verse 31. Because he hath appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man,
by Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised him
from the dead. That man, Jesus Christ, is going
to be the judge. Now our Lord Jesus came to earth
the first time as a humble man, born to poor parents, just nobodies. He came as God's lamb who was
led silently to the slaughter. He willingly, for his people,
silently was led to that slaughter. But the second time he comes,
it's not going to be in meekness. It's not going to be as a lamb.
He's going to come as he is, as the Almighty. the eternal
judge of heaven and earth. And that's more assurance for
the believer. That's not reason to fear. That's more assurance
for the believer. Our judge is going to be the
one who took our place as our substitute. Who knows better
than him that debt's been paid? That's our judge. He knows that
debt's been paid because he's the one who paid it. And that's
what the gospel declares. Paul calls it, my gospel, according
to my gospel. Now, just back in verse 1 of
Romans chapter 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be
an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. Now, just a page
over, he's calling my gospel. That's a big statement, isn't
it, to call God's gospel my gospel? Well, it's his gospel. Because
God gave it to him to preach. And if you think about it for
very long, everything we have, everything we call ours, belongs
to God already. Every physical possession that
we have, things we call mine, are things that are on loan from
God. He owns them. The rancher who's got that big
herd of cattle out there, he brands them all. His brands,
those are my cattle. Their laws against stealing them,
they're my cattle. They don't belong to Him. The
Lord said that cattle on a thousand hills are mine. They're mine.
They're on loan to that rancher, but they belong to the Lord.
All our food belongs to Him. He's the Lord of the harvest.
Every beast of the forest is mine. You go out hunting a deer,
that's the Lord's. It belongs to Him. Everything
we use Everything we see belongs to the Lord. The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof. And every spiritual blessing
that we call ours belongs to Him. Our righteousness is His
righteousness that He gave us. We call it my righteousness because
He gave it to us, but it's His, isn't it? He gave it to us. Our
name is His name. John read it just a week or two
ago there in Jeremiah. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called the Lord our Righteousness, Jehovah Sid Kenyon.
And over just a few pages, we read this is the name wherewith
she shall be called Jehovah Sid Kenyon, the Lord our Righteousness. His name has become my name.
No longer do I bear my shameful name. I bear His name. His glorious
name because He gave it to me. His people are my people. Ruth
told Naomi, don't ask me to leave you. Wherever you go, that's
where I'm going to go. Where you live, that's where
I'm going to live. Your people will be my people. Because your
God's going to be my God. His people are my people. You're
my people. You're my family. Because you're
His. The gospel is our gospel because
God gave it to us. And what a blessing to be able
to call the gospel of God my gospel. My gospel is the gospel
that declares how God can be just and holy and remain who
He is and justify a sinner, a wretch like me. My gospel is the gospel
of mercy. It's the gospel of grace. It's
the gospel of peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. My gospel is the
gospel of freedom. It's not the bondage to the law. It's freedom in Him, His loving,
willing bond servants. My gospel is the gospel of life
in Christ. It's not the gospel of the death
of the lost. It's life in Him. My gospel is the gospel of freedom
from the grave. Freedom from the fear of death.
Because Christ, my substitute, suffered death for me. He took
the power of death away. He took the sting of death away
when He suffered death for me. And He took the power of the
grave away. He lay in the grave for three days. But he arose
victorious, and he walked out. And when he walked out, he opened
the way for everyone in him. We don't fear the grave. It has
no hold over God's people, because Christ conquered the power of
the grave for us. That's our gospel. My gospel
is the gospel that reveals God's Son, God's precious Son, His
only beloved, begotten Son, as a substitute for sin. This gospel
reveals God's Son as the righteousness of His people. This gospel reveals
to sinners, to sinners who are wretched, who have no hope in
themselves, this gospel reveals Christ as the Savior of sinners. My gospel is good news for sinners,
isn't it? All right. Well, I hope that
will bless you.