After last week's lesson, a few
of us were down here talking about this chapter in the lesson,
and Gary Faulkner made the statement. He said, Paul is shutting every
door but one until we're shut up to Christ. And that's exactly
what he's doing. Last week, Paul shut the door
on the heathen, showing us the heathen are totally depraved.
They ignore the light of nature that God's given them. By their
actions, they show they hate God. And they hate men. Now,
in this chapter, chapter two, Paul's going to begin to shut
the door on the Jew, on the religious person. They're just the same. They've got the same nature.
They're maybe somewhat different outwardly, but inwardly, they're
totally depraved, too. They show by their actions, they
hate God and they hate men, too. These religious Jews of Paul's
day, that Paul knew, religious people of our day, they reject
the righteousness of Christ. because they think their righteousness
is good enough. The Jews, they claim their relationship
to Abraham instead of seeking a relationship, a union with
Christ. They claim their obedience to the law instead of looking
for the, seeking the obedience of Christ. They claim their obedience
to the mosaic and ceremonial law rather than submitting themselves
to the obedience of faith. And where Paul's going with all
this is to the conclusion that there's no difference between
the Jew and Gentile. There's no difference between
men of any race, creed, color, background, religion, whether
you're religious or whether you're heathen. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. That's where he's heading. He
showed us how he shut the door on the heathen. Now, here in
chapter 2, he starts talking about the religious people, the
Jews. He says in verse 1, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judges. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the
same things. Now, you know, the Jews are famous
for passing judgment on the Gentiles, the Gentile dogs. They're heathen. You know, they say the Gentiles
don't have the law. They don't obey the law. But
you don't want to make this applicable to our day. The Jews did do that
without question. But when Paul talks about the
Jews, we can apply this to religious people of our day. You know,
religious people talk about their people in their community, the
heathen, the people, well, you know, they don't go to church.
They don't do the things that we do. They don't tithe. They
don't do this, that, and the other. They don't go to, you
know, the Christmas morning services or whatever, you know. They're
so sinful. It's so awful they do those things. Well, that's
just what these Jews did. They condemned the Gentiles for
how sinful they are. Yet Paul says, you do the same
things. The things you condemn them for,
you do the exact same things. You're just as sinful. You break
the law daily, too. Now, you're outwardly religious,
so when you break the law outwardly, you kind of do it in secret.
You do things to cover it up. But in your heart, there's absolutely
no difference. It doesn't matter whether you
are religious on the outside. If you clean the outside up a
little bit, the inside is still defiled and full of dead men's
bones is what our Lord says. Your heart is still totally sinful.
We've got the same heart, the same nature. Now, these religious
people, the Jews and religious people of our day, they do have
some advantages. They have the law. They have
the scriptures. But they misused the law. God
gave them the law, but they misused it. Look over Romans chapter
3, just over one page. The law wasn't given so that
we could have a way to be righteous. Here's why the law was given
in Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that whatsoever that
we know that what things soever the law saith that saith to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. That's why the law was given
so we see that we are guilty and that we are shut up to Christ
to beg mercy from him because we're guilty. And the Jews, they
condemned the Gentiles for being idolaters, and they were. But
I ask you, how many times throughout Israel's history did they turn
to idolatry? Dozens and dozens of times they
would turn to idolatry. Almost immediately after leaving
Egypt, the Lord miraculously delivered them from Egypt. As
they were leaving, the Egyptians were giving the children of Israel
their gold and silver and things and telling them to go. They
get out in the wilderness a little ways and they take all that gold
and silver and melt it down into an aisle to worship. Almost immediately
they turn to idolatry, doing the very thing that they condemned
the Gentiles for. And these religious people will
be judged for the very same things that they condemned the heathen
for. Look back in John chapter 5. This is what our Lord told
these same religious people that Paul's talking about here. In
John chapter 5, verse 45. He says, do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There's one that accuses you.
Even Moses, in whom you trust, their own words will judge him. The very standard by which they
judge the Gentiles, that's what they're going to be judged by.
So, Paul tells him, you're inexcusable. Now, he's not excusing the heathen.
Both the heathen and the religious person are inexcusable. But the
Jew, the religious person, is even more inexcusable because
they sinned against greater light. The heathen are inexcusable because
they sinned against the light of nature. The Jews are inexcusable
because they sinned against the light of the law. They sinned
against a greater light. But again, I want to make this
applicable to you and me right here today. How will we be judged? By the light of the gospel, even
a greater light than that of the law. If anyone is without
excuse, it's us who hear the gospel so often. Isn't that true?
We're told plainly, week after week, how sinful we are, that
there's no hope in us. We're told weekly how the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. We're told every week
that life, forgiveness of sins, salvation, righteousness is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you run to Him. You go to
Him and beg for mercy. He delights to show mercy to
sinners. Run to Him. Beg Him for mercy. Come to Christ
and find in Him all you need. And if we don't do that, we are
without excuse, aren't we? Well, verse 2 here in our text,
Romans 2. But we're sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them which commit such things. God's judgment is
not like the judgment of men. You know, judgment of men is
if there's somebody we like, somebody we admire, somebody
we love, a family member. If an influential person would
come before us to be judged, they always get preferential
treatment, don't they? That's the way our court system works.
The more money you got, the more preferential treatment. Seems
like the better sense of justice you may get. But God's judgment's
not like that. God's judgment is done in exact
truth. He doesn't look on the outward
appearance to judge. Look back in 1 Samuel chapter
16. Here's a striking example where
God doesn't look on the outward appearance. In 1 Samuel 16, this is where
Samuel is coming to the house of Jesse. He's going to anoint
one of Jesse's sons to be the king. And Samuel is dead. And
Jesse starts bringing his sons before Samuel. 1 Samuel 16, the
oldest comes, the oldest of Jesse's sons. And it came to pass when
they were come that he looked on Eliab, and he said, Surely
the Lord's anointed is before him. Look at this fellow, he's
big, he's strong, he's handsome, he's so tall. But verse 7, the
Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the
height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord
seeth not, as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And who is it that
the Lord chose as king? David. A man after God's own
heart. He looked on the heart. That's
the way God's judgment is. He doesn't judge based on reputation
or because of who you're related to. His judgment is in truth. And because his judgment is in
truth, every sin, regardless of where it's found, will be
punished, will be judged eternally. That's what scripture says. The
soul that sinneth shall surely die. God will by no means clear
the guilty. His judgment is done in truth.
He will never clear the guilty. Well, then what hope is there
for any son of Adam? If the soul that sinneth will
surely die, if God will never clear the guilty, what hope is
there for any son of Adam? We're all guilty. We're all totally
sinful. There's nothing we can do to
please God. What hope is there? It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look over Romans 8, verse 1.
Now compare, God will by no means clear the guilty. The soul that
sinneth shall surely die. Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's where
our hope is, in the Lord Jesus Christ. True believers, those
who are in Christ, will never face condemnation. And it's not
because God's just going to overlook our sin. He's not just going
to pass it by because He can't do that, can He? His judgments
are done in truth. And in truth, God pronounces
everyone who's in Christ not guilty, free from condemnation,
free from punishment. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was made sin for His elect. And He put that sin away through
the sacrifice of Himself. He was punished as our substitute. God, in truth, declared Christ
to be guilty. And he did that because God,
in truth, made Christ guilty. And in turn, in truth, God's
judgments are done in truth. He declares his elect to be not
guilty because he made us not guilty in Christ. All his judgments
are done in truth. Now, verse 3, he says, I thinkest
thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and
doest the same? that thou shalt escape the judgment
of God? Now, since God's judgments are
done in absolute truth, since God sees things as they are,
he looks straight into the heart, he can't be deceived. And since
all men are totally sinful, how can any of us hope to escape
God's judgments? God will only accept perfection,
but how can someone as imperfect as we are expect to escape? See, the religious person, they
judge the heathen. But they don't judge themselves
or their religious friends the same way. They certainly don't
judge by what's in the heart. All they can see is the outward
appearance. And if they judge the heathen
and they expect the heathen to be condemned for breaking God's
law, what Paul is saying is how can you hope to escape judgment
when you're just as guilty? You're absolutely as guilty.
The law is spiritual and it's a spiritual breaking of the law
in our hearts and our attitudes and our desires. So verse 4,
he says, or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance. Now here's human nature, especially
religious human nature. Men despise the riches of God's
goodness. And that word despise means more
than just to hate. It means to think little of.
Men think so little of God's goodness because of the riches
of it. Isn't that awful? That is so
backward. We despise the riches of God's
goodness. And here's why. God's goodness
is so abundant that men think little of it. You know, I don't
think much of dirt. I don't put much value on dirt
because I've got plenty of that. I can go dig up all that I ever
want out of my backyard. You can buy it cheap. I put a
lot of value on gold because it's scarce. I don't have any
of that. I mean none. So I put a lot of value on it
because of the scarceness of it. God's so good to men. They despise it. They think little
of His goodness. God's been so good to men who
live on this earth with physical blessings. And to these religious
people, these Jews, you think of the benefits they had. They
were the only people on the face of the earth that had the priesthood.
The only people that had the temple. The only people that
had the sacrifices. The only people who had the law.
The only people that God sent the prophets to. The riches of
his goodness. He gives people today access
to his word. This word can be found anywhere. I mean, it's so abundant. That's
God's goodness. And even though we misuse it,
God keeps being good to this earth. And that goodness does
not lead people to repent. By nature, not left to ourselves,
it hardens us in our sin. It doesn't ask God to forgive
us for our sins. It hardens us in our sin. Men
end up thinking because God is so good, with the abundance and
riches of his goodness to us, we think we deserve it. We come
to expect it. And God's forbearance, the riches
of His forbearance, He doesn't destroy us immediately. He's
able to forbear. And instead of being thankful
that God doesn't just strike us down, what do we do? Well,
we don't ask God for eternal mercy. We don't thank Him for
sparing us for the moment. Because our sin's not judged
immediately, we think it never will be. We despise, we think
little of His forbearance. And why do men do that? We'll
look at verse 5. Because after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the
day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
who are rendered to every man according to his deeds. The reason
that we despise the riches of God's goodness and the riches
of His forbearance is we have a hard, impenitent heart, a stubborn
heart that will not change, that won't Ask God for forgiveness. Don't ask God for mercy. It's
a spiritually dead, hardened heart. It's a hard heart that's
not affected by God's goodness. It's not affected by his forbearance. It's so hard, God's mercy doesn't
affect it. That's the very reason the Lord
gives his people a new heart, a heart that is affected by his
mercy, that is affected by his grace, that is affected by his
goodness. That new heart is led to repentance. That old hard heart can't be
driven to repentance. The new heart is led to repentance. The goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance. You're not driven to repentance.
You're not driven to Christ because, well, you know, He didn't force
you to your knees. You fall on your knees before
Him and beg for mercy. You fall before Him and worship
Him. That new heart is led willingly
But that old hard heart couldn't be driven there. And because of the hardness of
men's hearts, and this is talking about religious people now, they
treasure up pride for themselves. It's like saving up for retirement.
You know, you save up, you treasure that up, so one day you can retire
and have money to, you know, store and live on after work.
But this is not treasuring up money. Something good for themselves
to be used in their old age. They're treasuring up, they're
storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment. And God's wrath
isn't like men's wrath. You know, our wrath is filled
with passion and emotions, anger. But God's wrath doesn't come
from passion. It's not come from an emotion.
It's a holy hatred of sin that's against His nature. It's something
that's a violation of His nature. And that sin is equal. whether
from the heathen or from the religious person. That sin is
equal, the wrath is equal from the equal hatred from God. And
God's judgment is called a righteous judgment. God's judgment in that
day of judgment, that His day of wrath, will be right. God will be equally just in damning
the unjust and bringing the redeemed to glory. The eternal life with
Christ. He will be equally just. The
redeemed won't be brought to glory because the Lord played
some kind of shell game and hid their sin. The damned are guilty
and the redeemed are not guilty. His judgments are done in truth.
He will be equally just in sending the unjust to hell and bringing
the justified to glory. Equally just. It's a just judgment. And Paul says everyone will be
judged according to their works. That's some statement, isn't
it? That we'll be judged according to our works? Well, Job asked,
how can he be claimed as born of a woman? How is it possible
that a man can be justified before God? How is that possible? Well,
you know the answer. I'm not telling you something
you don't know. It's in Christ. We'll be judged for our works.
Now those outside of Christ will be damned because their works
are evil. The best of our works are evil
and God will be just and damning them. But if we're in Christ,
Christ's works have been imputed to us. His works have been imputed
to me. His works have become my works
just like my sin became his sin. His works became my works. His
obedience became my obedience and God says I'm justified. Because his works became my works. And that's done in truth. Now,
that's not just a shell game. That's not just, you know, it
looks like that way. We're going to pretend like it
was that way. It's done in truth. Now, punishment for sin will
be universal. It'll fall on everyone, the heathen
and the religious person. Punishment will be universal.
But it won't be equal. Look back at Matthew chapter
11. Punishment will be universal, but it won't be equal. In Matthew chapter 11, verse
20, Then began he to upbraid the
cities where most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, They would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it should be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you. There's going to be different
levels of tolerable. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted
unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty
works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom. Now we talked about them last
week. If the mighty works which had been done in Sodom, that
had been done where you live, It would have remained until
this day. They would have repented. But I say unto you, it should
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day, in the
day of judgment, than for thee. Punishment will be universal,
but it won't be equal. But listen, the reward will be
equal. The reward is the Lord Jesus
Christ being made just like Him. be with him eternally. And everyone who enjoys that
reward, that equal reward, will be there based on the works,
the righteousness, the obedience, and the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're children of Abraham. And
what did God tell Abraham? I am your exceeding great reward.
The reward will be equal, even though punishment will not be.
Now, verse 7, back in Romans chapter 2, to them who by patient
continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,
eternal life. They'll receive eternal life.
Now, these people are people who've been given faith in Christ.
God's given faith in His Son. And they seek, because God's
given them faith in Christ, they truly seek the glory of God in
Christ. They're not looking for the fading
glory that comes from the flesh. They seek the glory of God that's
in Christ. You know, I've been looking this
weekend at all the candidates that are running for president,
and they're all in the news, and there's a certain amount
of glory that comes with this, you know, and people love them
and respect them. They get their name in the picture
in the news, everybody's interested in what they're saying. Can you
remember anybody but the two candidates that ran for president
last year? The glory's gone. It's fading glory. I can't remember
one. I hardly remember who run and
lost. It's fading. The glory is so
fickle. But the glory that's of God in
Christ is eternal. That's what the believer seeks.
They seek the honor that's in Christ. Not the honor that's
in the flesh that comes from men, but the honor that's of
God in Christ. And they seek immortality. Now,
they're not looking not to die. There comes a time in every believer's
life they're very ready to die. I'm probably not all that ready
right this very moment, but there's coming a moment when I will be. We're not seeking to stay on
this earth. I'm telling you right now, the last place I want to
stay a real long time is here on this earth. I'm mighty tired
of it already. What they're looking for is immortality
and the resurrection, to be conformed to the image of Christ. in the
likeness of Christ. David says, that's when I'll
be satisfied. You see, because their desire
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all my desire, all my hope,
everything I want. It's not just immortality, live
forever, because everybody's going to live forever, aren't
they? The question is, will it be in the presence of Christ?
Or will it be in the absence of the presence of Christ? The
presence of Christ is paradise. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise." Wherever that place was, I don't know. But I know
what made it paradise. With me. Our Lord said, with
me. And hell is the absence of the
presence of Christ. Wherever He's not, that's hell. And these people of faith, Paul
describes them by patient continuance. The life of a believer requires
patience. Just be patient. Look over in
Galatians chapter 6. It's hard to be patient. In Galatians 6 verse 7. Be not deceived, God's not mocked,
for whatsoever a man soweth actually also reap. For he that soweth
to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that
soweth through the Spirit shall the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And let us not be weary in well-doing." Now don't be weary, don't run
out of patience in well-doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we think not. Just be patient. Things don't
look good now. A lot of times we get so riled
up for the things we see going on around us. We run out of patience
and we see the enemies of Christ seeming to prosper. Don't be
weary in well-doing. With patient continuance, you'll
receive the reward of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now verse 8, 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. See, the punishment for sin is
going to be universal. Paul says to the Jew first, maybe
because they're more responsible, but also to the Gentile. Now,
it'll be universal. And sin is described as not obeying
the truth. Because they don't obey the truth
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, they obey unrighteousness. They won't obey the righteousness
of God, so God gives them over to obey unrighteousness, to be
the servants of sin. They can say, well, we reject
Christ. We will not have this man reign over us, and we won't
be his servants. But that doesn't mean you're
free. You're going to obey somebody, either unrighteousness or Christ,
the truth. The gospel is a command that
is to be obeyed. Come unto me. It's not an invitation. It's a command. Now, it sounds
like an invitation if you've got that new heart that's affected
by His goodness. That's God's goodness that He
tells anyone, come unto Me. Come unto Me and drink if you're
thirsty. Come unto Me if you're weary and heavy laden. But that's
a command. To come to Him. And these people, they will not
obey the truth. They're contentious. They're
argumentative. They're describing Scripture
as those who strive with our Maker. They strive about words
to no profit. They're contentious. They will
fight to the end for a victory for themselves. But they're not
fighting for the truth now because they don't obey the truth. They're
fighting for a victory for themselves. They're so contentious, they're
so discord among the brethren. And God's wrath will fall on
them and scripture says bring anguish of soul both to the Jew
and the Gentile. There's the other side. There's
the opposite end of the spectrum. Salvation and glory and honor
comes to both the Jew and the Gentile too. Anguish of soul. God's wrath falls on Jew and
Gentile because there's no respect of persons with God. And His
mercy and grace falls on the Jew and the Gentile too. And
not because one's better than the other. Because there's no
respect of persons with God. Look at verse 10. 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." God's wrath falls on Jew and Gentile. His mercy,
His salvation falls on Jew and Gentile because there is no respect
of persons with God. The only person that God respects,
that He has any respect to or is his son, Jesus Christ, the
man, Jesus of Nazareth. That's the one that God has respect
for. And those in him, he has respect
for them. They have mercy and grace. They
have glory, honor and peace. Because there's no respective
persons judged in Christ or outside of Christ. Now, God's love distinguishes,
doesn't it? God's election distinguishes.
He chooses some and passes others by. But that distinguishing love,
that distinguishing elections, not because of us. It's not because
of anything we've done or we haven't done. It's not because
we're better than anybody else. We're all totally worthless.
Completely sinful. God's love distinguishes because
of His sovereign choice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of
who He has respect for. There's no respect of persons
between the sons of Adam. But he has great respect. He
spoke from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. His respect is in his son. Everything's
in his son. That's why we're told go to him.
Go to him. All right. Well, we'll pick up
there next week.