There are two great dangers,
both for preachers and for those who hear the preacher. Two great
dangers that must be avoided. Two great dangers by which Satan,
the subtle deceiver of men's souls, destroys multitudes. The first is the danger of a
profession of faith without the possession of faith. A profession of life without
the possession of life. Paul warns us not to eat and
drink unworthily of the Lord's table, thereby eating and drinking
damnation to ourselves. To take up a profession of faith
without the work of God the Holy Spirit convincing you of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. To take up a profession of faith
without being born again by God the Holy Spirit and practice
religion is the continual eating and drinking of damnation to
your soul. Nothing so hardens men against
the gospel as the presumption of life when there is no life,
the presumption of faith when there is no faith. Therefore,
we studiously, diligently, rightly avoid trying to persuade folks
to make a profession. We avoid doing so. You, often
many of you have spoken to me, called me, written to me, come
by the office and chatted on more occasions than one, and
you will bear me witness. I don't do anything to try to
get someone to profess faith in Christ. I don't do anything. I send you to seek the Lord. That's your responsibility. That
you must do. But there's another danger. Another
danger, both for preachers and for those who hear them. And
that is the danger of indifference to your responsibility. The danger of neglecting to press
sinners to close with Christ. The danger of neglecting to tell
men and women that they must seek the Lord. You must believe
on the Son of God. The danger of not pressing upon
men, pressing upon women their responsibility to believe. I know folks use God's sovereignty
as an excuse for that, and man's depravity as an excuse for that. Understand something. God's sovereignty
and your depravity have nothing to do with your responsibility. I chose my words deliberately.
God's sovereignty, election, predestination, reprobation,
has nothing to do with your responsibility. And your inability has nothing
to do with your responsibility. God holds you responsible. to believe on his son. God holds you responsible to
respond to his gospel by faith in his son. God holds you responsible
to come to Christ, to trust Christ, to seek the Lord. And that you
must do. That you must do. You say, Pastor,
how can that be? Take that up with God if you
dare. Take that up with God if you dare. God's word is, you
shall find me when you seek me with all your heart. I often
think about a story I read from Mr. Spurgeon many years ago about
a farmer back in the days when farmers would take their crops
to town and sell everything at one time, and that would be their
livelihood for the year. This farmer was married to a
believing woman, a woman who worshiped God and prayed for
him regularly, and he had no time for God or the things of
God. And he came home after selling his crops, and he stopped by
the barn to do some stuff, and then he came in in the evening
and got ready for dinner, and he reached for his wallet that
had his whole livelihood for the next year, and it was gone.
You can imagine his panic. He was terrified. He had lost
everything. And so he started retracing his
steps. And the last time he remembered having it was as he was going
into the barn. And so he went back to the barn
and he tore the place upside down, went through the hay, went
through the loss, just tore it upside down and finally found
his wallet and was greatly relieved. Sometime later, he began to attend
the services with his wife. And he began to express concern
for his soul and said, I want to know the Lord. I've been seeking
him, but I can't find him. And she said, if you'll seek
him like you sought your wallet when you thought it was lost,
you'll find him. Seek me with all your heart and
you'll find me. That's what God said. That's
what God said. Open your Bibles now to Romans
chapter two. I'm going to be preaching to
you today from Romans chapter two, verses one through 11. My
subject is without excuse. I want you who are here without
Christ, without life, without faith in Christ to understand
you are altogether without excuse. There comes a time when God Almighty
turns the light out in a lost soul and shuts the sinner up
in the darkness of reprobation. He does so in strict justice.
He does so because the sinner refuses to walk in the light
God has given him. Be warned, my friend, be warned. There comes a time when God Almighty
turns the light out in a lost soul and shuts sinners up in
the darkness of reprobation. Many, many years ago, Brother
Ralph Barnard, preaching from the words of our Lord in Luke
chapter 11, take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee
be not darkness. Take heed that the light which
is in thee be not darkness. Barnard preached a message from
those words. He entitled it when the lights
go out on the road to hell. There is a time when the lights
go out on the road to hell. And when God turns out the lights,
you can't see. I don't know that I've ever spoken
more sobering words. There comes a time when God turns
out the lights on the road to hell. And if God turns out the
lights, you will never see. You will never see. Our Lord
Jesus said, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while
you have the light. best darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
If a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there's no
light in him." The fact is, as we have read the first chapter
of Romans together repeatedly, God speaks to all men. He so
speaks to men that he tells us in Romans 1 20, they are all
without excuse. That's what we're told in this
first chapter of Romans in many ways. And that's what we're told
again in the second chapter of Romans. In Romans, the first
chapter, the Holy Ghost declares that the heathen, even those
who have never heard the gospel, Those who are utterly unfamiliar
with the Word of God, even the heathen, are utterly without
excuse. Because if the heathen walked
in the light God gave them, God would give them more light. But
rejecting the light God gives them, God shuts them up in darkness. God gives me in the light of
creation, declaring His power and His Godhead. And God gives
me in the light of conscience, so that as the prophet said,
Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is
the way, walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand and
when you turn to the left. But when a man will not hear
what God speaks, when a man will not walk in the light God gives
him, God sears the conscience and God takes away the light.
And therefore they're utterly without excuse. Not only do men
refuse to walk in the light God's given, fallen men everywhere,
you included, me included, Fallen men everywhere change the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man. Men do everything they can to
make them a God that will pacify their consciences, a God like
themselves. Therefore, God gives them up. God gives them up. God gives them up. What a sobering word. God turns the lights out on them
on their road to hell. The lights that should have lit
the way to God. The lights that should have lit
the way to eternal life. The lights that should have lit
the way to Christ in salvation. are turned out forever, and the
obstinate, reprobate rebel is shut up in darkness. And if God
shuts you up in darkness, you're as sure for hell if you were
already there. Three times we're told in the
first chapter of Roman, God gave them up. First, he gave them
up to uncleanness, to beastly indecency. God gives men up to
their own depravity. Second, he gives them up to vile
affections so that men engage in sodomy and such perversity. And then third, he gives sinners
up to a reprobate mind. But there's another group in
this world, another group of people without excuse, a group
whose unbelief and sin is even more vile, more base, and more
excuseless than the pagan idolaters and sodomites we have seen described
in Romans 1. I'm speaking to some here today
in that group. You who despise the light of
the gospel, You court reprobation in doing so. You court the wrath
of God. You court everlasting damnation. As you spurn the gospel of God's
free grace in Christ, you kiss the flames of hell. The Lord God says, seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Did God say that? Is that what
God said? Hear it again, Isaiah 55 verse
6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." I've often used just this illustration,
but I don't know a better. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power, the right, the authority to become the sons
of God. to become the children of God.
To those who received Him, to them the Son of God gives the
right, the power to be the sons of God. And the word received,
the word that is translated received in John 1, 12, is the word we
would use when we speak about taking something. There's another
word that's translated received in the scripture, which means
to receive passively. That water or that glass received
some water and the water didn't do anything. The glass didn't
do anything. It was poured into it. So many women must be born
of God, receiving God's grace. And that's done passively. That is to say, the dead sinner
is made alive by God, the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, he would never
seek the Lord. He would never receive the Lord.
He would never believe on the Lord Jesus. But the sinner is
responsible to receive the water, like this. I'm about to receive
some water, Alan. You want some? Just take a drink. Now it's mine. It's mine. It's in me. It's mine. It can't be taken from me. Understand
that? So you must receive Christ. You
must seek Him. You must take Him by the hand
of faith. As God gives faith, you will. In that message Mr. Barnard preached,
when the lights go out on the road to hell, he told a story
about a man in a town just outside of Houston, Texas, where he was
preaching, a fellow by the name of Dutch. He owned a local saloon.
And he was a very likable fellow and had a lot of influence with
young folks especially. And the young pastor of the church
where Barnard was preaching said to him, said, this man has had
such profound influence on so many, I've been begging God to
save him. And I have arranged for folks
from our congregation, while you're here these two weeks,
to go every hour, somebody would go into that saloon and witness
to that man concerning his soul. And they did. every hour for
two weeks. Every hour for two weeks. Every
hour the saloon was open, somebody in the congregation went to witness
to the man, the pastor included. Finally, he got Brother Barnard
to go and try to witness to it. And they walked in and the man
said, I want to hear no more. I want to hear no more. Get out
of here and never speak to me again about Jesus Christ. I will
not hear it again." And the passenger, brokenhearted and shocked, he
said, all right, we'll leave you alone. And Barnard finished
the meeting and flew back to Winston-Salem and got a call
about the time he got home. The next morning, 4 o'clock in
the morning, Dutch, the saloon owner, was seized with a heart
attack, rushed to the hospital, and he called for the preacher. Had somebody to call and had
the preacher to come. They told the man he was dying.
And two minutes before the preacher got there, Dutch, the saloon
owner, went to hell because of his obstinate rebellion. because of his obstinate unbelief,
because he willingly said, I will not hear of Jesus Christ. He's in hell today. God does
give men up. And when he does, they're without
excuse. That's my subject. I'm here to
show you from the word of God that if you refuse to trust Christ,
If you refuse to believe on the Son of God, you're without excuse. If God turns the lights out on
you, when you wake up in hell, it will be completely and totally
your fault. You'll have no one to blame but
yourself. Keep your Bibles open here at Romans 2, verses 1 through
11. Pray. Oh, God help you to pray. Pray that God will speak to you
by his word. Pray that God won't give you
up. Pray that God will give you a heart to seek him. Pray that
God will give you life and faith in his darling son. In these
11 verses of inspiration, God the Holy Ghost directed the Apostle
Paul to denounce the Jews distinctly. The Jews who professed to be
God's people, and claimed to live righteously by the law. He condemns them in exactly the
same terms of condemnation and justice as he had used to denounce
the Gentiles, the heathen, in the first chapter. These Jews,
refusing to trust Christ, rejected far greater light and brought
upon themselves far greater condemnation than the Gentiles. But there
are no Jews here as far as I know this morning. but the text is
vibrant for you. You see, as it was with these
Jews, so it is with you who yet believe not on the Son of God. Here are four things by which
I pray God will be pleased to open your heart and bring you
to Christ. I've got four barbed arrows. And I'm taking aim as carefully
as I can for your heart. Skip Redfelter, if you know God,
I want you to know you know him. If you don't, I want you to know
you don't. I pray God will speak to you
now by his word. Here's the first thing. Look at Romans chapter 1, verses
1, 2, and 3. Or chapter 2, rather. Therefore, thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. Whosoever thou art that judgest.
For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For
thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that
the judgment of God is according to truth. against them which
commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Now this is what the
Spirit of God is telling us. Your hypocrisy, your pretentious
self-righteousness, your pretended goodness, shall be your everlasting
ruin if God doesn't save you from it. Your hypocrisy, your
pretentious self-righteousness, your pretended goodness, your
religion will be your everlasting ruin if God doesn't save you
from it. In the preceding chapter, Paul
had described the state of idolatrous pagans. It now passes on to religious
people, people who, while they reject the righteousness of God
in Christ, and choose to pretend to live
after law. They reject the righteousness
of God in Christ to which the law and prophets bear witness.
And they look for salvation in their own godly heritage, their
parents being the sons and daughters of Abraham, or their parents
being the sons and daughters of good Baptist preachers and
missionaries. They trust in their heritage,
their observance of religious ceremonies, their keeping of
the commandments, their outward morality as righteousness before
God. And in this chapter, Paul shows
us that the just judgment of God is the same against the Jew
and the Gentile. It is the same against the irreligious
and the religious, for all have sinned. Look at verse 17. Behold,
thou art called a Jew, and rest us in the law, and make us thy
boast of God." You're called a Christian, and you rest in
the law, and you make your boast of God. You're called a saint,
and you rest in the law, and you make your boast in God. You're
called a believer, but you rest in the law. You make your boast
in God. Verse 23, thou that makest thy
boast of the law, that is, of your obedience to the law, of
your keeping the law, of your living by the law, through breaking
the law dishonorest thou God. Pretend to keep the law. I had
a fellow, I've always had this whenever, no matter where I go,
especially when I go to Europe, I had a fellow across from me
this other night, just this very thing about living by the law,
living by the law. Your pretense dishonors God. Your pretended righteousness
dishonors God, and it'll damn you. Verse 28. For he is not
a Jew, he is not a child of Abraham, he is not one of God's covenant
children, he is not a believer, he is not a Christian, which
is one outwardly. Outward religion won't do you
a speck of good. Paul calls it bodily exercise
that profiteth little. Won't do you a speck of good
without Christ. Neither is that circumcision.
Neither is that circumcision. That is to say, you are not God's
people. You are not clean, which is outward
in the flesh. Outward circumcision never made
anybody righteous. Outward circumcision never made
anybody clean in soul. Outward circumcision never made
anybody clean in heart. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. The Jews quickly condemned the
Gentiles. God, I thank you. I'm not a woman. I'm not a dog. I'm not a Gentile. Bless God, I ain't like other
people. Self-righteous religionists quickly
condemned others, just like the Jews condemned Gentiles. This
Paul condemns. not judging and condemning sin
and idolatry. Clearly, you read the first chapter
and Paul identifies sin as sin and idolatry as idolatry. He's
not saying it's wrong to condemn sin and idolatry, but rather
judging and condemning men, judging and condemning others for the
very things you do inwardly, if not outwardly. God save me
from such hypocrisy to which every man is prone. The fact
is, we are as guilty and utterly inexcusable as the most barbaric
heathen who ever drew breath in New Guinea or in Turkey. Look
at Romans chapter three, verse 19. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Verse 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now, this is what Paul's
telling us in these first three verses. When you condemn the
sins of others and are guilty of the same transgressions, you
condemn yourself and you're inexcusable. The law says don't commit adultery.
And boy, I don't do that. You won't catch me down in the
red light district. But if you look on a woman and
lust after her, you do. That's what the Lord said in
Matthew 5. The law said don't kill. Don't kill anybody. And that's
right. That's right. Oh, I wouldn't
do that. You won't catch me brawling with
folks and shooting folks. No, sirree. No, sir. But if you're
angry with your brother without excuse, you have. And by your
own mouth, you shall be judged. Isn't that a strange thing? God
tells us in this book, we're going to be judged by God's law.
Paul said, you're going to be judged by my gospel. And our
Lord said, by your own mouth, you will be judged. By your own
mouth. God's judgment, you see, is according
to truth, not appearance, not words, not a profession. God
judges men always according to truth. God looks on the heart. It's easy for you to impress
me, and it's easy for me to impress you if we're of a mind to do
so. but you're not going to impress God. He's not fooled by you turning
over a new leaf. He's not fooled by you reforming
your life. He's not fooled by you getting
baptized. He's not fooled by you joining the church. He's
not fooled by you going to Bible college and becoming a preacher.
No, sir. God judges according to truth. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die, because God has no respect for persons. He will
by no means clear the guilty. The believer, the child of God,
those who are born again, those who trust the Lord Jesus are
freed from sin and freed from condemnation and freed from all
possibility of condemnation because they are freed from sin and altogether
righteous. You see, we who believe have
fulfilled the law. We have perfectly obeyed God
in unison with His Son, as one with His Son. And we died under
the curse of the law with His Son, in unison with His Son.
Paul said, as you quoted a little while ago, I am crucified with
Christ. Let me read it to you quite literally.
I was crucified with Christ. When he died, I died in him. And all who died in him died
in him who died for them, that we should not henceforth live
unto ourselves, but unto him that died for us and rose again.
Look at Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, by the sin and fall of one man, Adam,
the whole human race was made sinners. So by the obedience
of one, by the obedience of the last Adam, by the obedience of
Jesus Christ, God's son under death, many, many, the whole
of God's elect shall be made righteous. Moreover, the law
entered that the offense might abound. God sent his law to show
you your sin. God sent his law not for you
to live by it, that was never his intention. God sent his law
not to make you good, it can't do that. God sent his law not
to give you hope, but to give you a ministration of death,
showing you your need of Christ. The law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign, watch it now, through righteousness,
through the very truth and righteousness of God unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord. If you vainly imagine that by
your outward show of goodness and righteousness, religious
morality and decency, you'll escape the judgment of God, you're
deceived. God's judgments are true and
righteous. God looks on the heart, not the
outward appearance. Except you trust the Lord Jesus,
you shall forever be damned. Trust Him, and you shall forever
be saved. All right? Here's the second
thing. Look at verse 4. By despising the goodness of
God, you're treasuring up wrath. against the day of wrath. Or despises thou the riches of
his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, but after
thy hardness and impenitent heart Treasures up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God. Oh, how good God has been to
you. How good God has been to you. How good God has been to you.
You could have been born in one of those tribes in the jungles
of New Guinea. You could have been born under
the darkness of papacy. You could have been raised in
the blindness of Islam. You could have been raised in
the darkness and blindness of Judaism. But God has put you
in a place whether you have all your life long been under the
influence of the gospel of his free grace. Oh my soul, what goodness. God put you in a house where
you have a mother and a father who pray for you, bring you to
hear his word and seek your good. God put you in a wedding, in
a marriage where you have a husband that seeks the Lord. God put
you in a house where you have a wife who walks with God. Oh,
how good God's been to you. You have heard, you people in
this congregation, men, women, and children, I have seen to
it for 34 years, you've heard the very best preaching there
is in this world from the very best of God's servants around
the world. The very best. You've heard faithful
men, every faithful man I can find, if I can, I bring him here
to preach the gospel to you. You've heard the word of God
all these years, and yet many of you still harden your heart
and stubbornly despise God's great goodness, refusing to trust
the Lord Jesus. By your willful, obstinate unbelief,
God says here, this is what you're doing. Oh, preacher, I wish you'd shut
up and leave me alone. Oh, preacher, shut up and leave
me alone. You stop your ears. and you treasure
up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation
of the righteous judgment of God. Hear what God says to that. Oh, sinner, harden not your heart
against God. If you could hear what I'm saying,
you'd beg God You beg God not to give you a hardened heart. Harden not your heart as in the
day of provocation and in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
He repeats the same thing, harden not your heart as in the provocation
and in the day of temptation in the wilderness. You saw how
those Jews, those Jews who sold the brazen serpent, those Jews
who had manna day and night for 40 years, those Jews who had
everything provided for them, their shoes never wore out, their
clothes never wore out, not for 40 years. You saw how God protected
them, how God guided them all those years and they hardened
their hearts. God says, don't harden your heart
like they did. While it is said today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. Again, he limiteth
a certain day, saying in David, today, after so long a time,
as it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 for a
minute. 2 Corinthians 5. This is what I'm saying to you. Bow to Christ the Lord. Stack
arms and surrender to the Son of God. Be reconciled to God. Verse 17, 2 Corinthians 5. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have
passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation.
He sent us to proclaim reconciliation, and to urge you to be reconciled.
What's this? To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God. Quit fighting God, for
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. We then, as workers
together with him, beseech you that you receive not the grace
of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in an accepted time, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. All right, look back at our text,
verse 6. Here's the third thing. God always deals with sinners
in strict justice. God always deals with sinners
in strict justice. Who will render, that is God
will render, to every man according to his deeds? To them who by
patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life. That is those who seek Christ. But unto them that are contentious
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation,
and wrath, that's what they'll have. Tribulation and anguish
upon every soul of man that doeth evil. to the Jew first and also
to the Gentile, to the religious fellow and to the irreligious
fellow, but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh
good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. In the day of
judgment, God will deal justly with every person according to
his deeds. Every man will have to answer
for himself in all that he's thought, and all that he's said
and all that he's done. Sammy, if I could make folks
hear that, I could make folks tremble. What you've done, I don't have to answer for that. What you've fought, You say it. We're going to have
to answer to God. And God will show no partiality
to anyone. Those who trust Christ, seeking
the glory of God in Him, the honor and immortality that's
in the God-man, those who trust Christ the Savior, shall have
eternal life by the just judgment of God, because in Christ they
fully deserve it. Those who despise the gospel,
You who refuse to trust Christ shall be forever damned, damned
and justly damned. And in your damnation, you will
eat the fruit of your own way. You'll know it, all hell will
know it, and all heaven will know it. You will eat the fruit of your
own way. Number four, look at verse 11. There is no respect of persons
with God. God is no respect of persons. God is no respect of persons. What on earth does that mean?
God is no respect of persons. God doesn't pay any attention
to who you are. God doesn't pay any attention
to the money you got in your bank account. God doesn't pay
any attention to your respectability in society. God doesn't pay any
attention to what family you came from. God doesn't pay any
attention to what you've done as far as your goodness is concerned. God doesn't pay any attention
to it. He laughs at it. It's a stitch in his nostrils.
God's no respect to persons. God never respects any man for
anything except one man. Just one man. God has respect
to the God man, his son. And before the world was, God
had respect to a people in his son. in union with his son, and
favored them as his own, loved them with an everlasting love,
embraced them, and accepted them in the beloved. God has respect
to all who trust his son. And in the day of judgment, oh,
what a mercy it will be in that final day of accounting, which
Paul calls the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God, to have a perfect all sufficient righteousness in which
to stand before God in union with his son. What mercy, what mercy to stand
before God accepted in the beloved. And what terror, what terror,
what indescribable terror shall seize upon the damned who stand
before God naked, with no righteousness, no atonement,
no salvation, no Savior, no mercy, no hope. Oh, may God the Spirit
convince you that there is more in Christ Jesus to save than
there is in sin to condemn, and give you life and faith in His
Son, Come to Christ and live forever. Destise him and be forever damned. God help you to believe on his
side. Amen.