It appears to me that when the
chapters, the chapter divisions were made of the Bible, that
they were made in this letter at least, that we might observe
the order of Paul's introduction. He used the remainder. He introduced
himself to the church at Rome, and then he used the remainder
of what we have as a remainder of that chapter. to declare that
the Gentiles, who did not have the written law of God, were
guilty of sin. And now with chapter two, he
will declare that the Jews, who did have the written law of God,
were also guilty of sin. If you look in chapter three
and verse nine, he said, what then, are we better than they? No, and no wise, for we have
before proved or charged both Jews and Gentiles that they are
all under sin. Both charged, both Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles in what we have
in the first chapter of the book of Romans, or the letter of Romans,
and now the Jews in this second chapter. That begs the question, what
is sin? What is sin? The Jews are guilty of sin, who
had the law of God. Gentiles are guilty of sin, who
did not have the law of God. What is sin? Actually, I heard
that one of the smaller children in our congregation recently
asked that question. What is sin? That's a good question,
isn't it? What is sin? And I'm afraid that
many, even adults, if they were asked that question and tried
to answer it, they would speak about sins, plural. They'd have a hard time really
answering correctly, what is sin? Well, I have a definition here
for us tonight that is from one of the churches that came out
of the Reformation. Sin is the corruption of the
nature of every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring of
Adam. Sin is the corruption of nature. We all come into this world with
a nature, and it is a sinful nature. It is a nature that is
corrupted because of sin, which we have inherited. Bishop Rowell gave this definition. Sin, in short, is that moral
disease which affects the whole human race. of every rank and
class and name and nation and people and tongue, a disease
from which there never was but one born of woman that was free. Need I say that one was Christ
Jesus our Lord. How did sin come into this world? We know that God created man
In his own image, that was a moral image, he was created upright. As the writer of Ecclesiastes
said, he was created upright, but he sought out many inventions.
How did sin come into God's creation, that is, enter into mankind? Well, the apostle Paul tells
us in Romans chapter 5 in verse 12, by one man, by one man. By one man, sin entered into
the world. And how is righteousness going
to come upon men? By one man. That man, of course,
the first man, the first Adam, by him, sin entered into the
world. And all of his descendants, and
we're all descended from Adam, all of his descendants, we inherited
that corruption of nature. But the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he is the one who brought in righteousness. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse
4, the apostle said, sin is the transgression of the law. Sin then consists of doing, saying,
thinking or imagining anything that is not in perfect harmony
with the law of God. Now, let's look at these few
verses tonight where Paul begins to show that the Jews were guilty
of sin. The purpose, of course, is to
bring all. Again, we see this in chapter
three, the purpose of showing that the Gentiles were guilty
of sin, the Jews were guilty of sin, the purpose is to bring
all the world guilty before God. To shut every mouth, every mouth. To shut every mouth and all men
be declared guilty before God that we might look to Christ
for salvation. Verse 1 of chapter 2, therefore,
Paul expresses his conclusion before he gives his argument.
Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doeth the same
things. The reasoning seems to me to
be like this, that in judging others, you also, what Paul is
saying, in judging others, you also condemn yourselves as you
are guilty of the very same sins. Therefore, you are without excuse. The Jews as a whole, as a whole,
someone wrote this down, they would have given a hearty amen
to what Paul said about the Gentiles in chapter one. I mean, they
would have said, amen, that's true. Preach on, preacher. They looked upon the Gentiles
we know as dogs. They had no trouble. recognizing
that the Gentiles were sinners, but they didn't see that about
themselves. One writer called the Jews, the
censoriousness of the Jews, their national pastime. Their national
pastime was to look down on other people, other nations, to be
critical of them and judgmental of them. And the reason, of course,
was because they failed to see that the law is spiritual. They just saw the law is do this
or not do this, and as long as you didn't do those things outwardly,
then you were clear. They didn't take into consideration
or they didn't know that the law is spiritual. When he says
here, thou that judgest, our Lord said something about that,
didn't he? If you look back in chapter seven
of Matthew, in what we call the Sermon on the Mount, he said
something about this matter of judging. Chapter seven of Matthew, verses
one through three, judge not. that you be not judged. For with
what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what
measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why
beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye? So easy,
isn't it, to see the sin of others, the failures of others? Our Lord
said, the mote, the tiny speck, it's so easy to see that tiny
speck that is in someone else's eye and fail to see that there's
a two by four in your eye. Why beholdest thou the mote that
is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam, the
beam that is in thy eye? One thing the apostle emphasizes
here, if you go back to chapter two of Romans, but we are sure, I like to read
the letter of Romans many times, and we know And we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. We have a lot of those, but here
we have a sure. We are sure. And we are sure. I'm sure tonight. You're sure
tonight. We are sure that the judgment
of God, different, different now from our judgment, We are
sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against
them which commit such things. We make our judgments based upon
what we observe, what we see. But we can only see that which
is outward. God's judgment is sure, it's
true. We're sure of this, his judgment
is true because he can look at the heart. Remember, he taught
that to Samuel, didn't he? He sent Samuel to Jesse's house
to anoint one of his sons to be king. You read about this
in 1 Samuel. And the first son of Jesse came
before him. I think his name was Eliab. And
Samuel made a judgment. Boy, that's him. That's him. He was basing his judgment on
the height of this man, evidently. Because Saul, who was being replaced,
had been head and shoulders above everyone else in Israel, I guess
Samuel got the idea to be a king, he had to be very tall. And this
first son was tall, and he was a very handsome man. And Samuel
just, that's him. That's the king. Get the all
out, and God said, no way, no way. Why? Because Samuel, you're
looking at the outward. I look at the heart. That's what
the scripture says there that God told Samuel. The Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Paul says, but
we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth,
not according to a man's nationality, not according to whether he's
a Jew or a Gentile. No, God's judgment is according
to truth. The soul that sinneth, the scripture
says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Those who trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ know Him as their Lord and Savior.
Being in union with Him, we have fulfilled the law, and we've
also suffered its penalty by being in union with Christ. He's the head, and we're members
of His body. This is a truth that is so important,
isn't it? It's so important that we get
a hold of and recognize the union that has existed between God's
elect and Christ as their head, as their surety, as their savior
from all eternity. This union. He's a head and we're
members of his body. And when he died, When he was
crucified, we were crucified. And when he was buried, we were
buried. When he arose, we arose. When he ascended, we're seated
with him, the scripture says in Ephesians chapter two, in
the heavenlies. This union that exists between
Christ and his members. Verse 3, and thinkest thou this,
O man, that judgeth them which do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Knowing
that God's judgment, as he said in verse 2, is according to truth,
and is not just according to appearance, I mean, on Sunday
morning we can put on a good appearance, and put on our Sunday
clothes, our Sunday best, and we look pretty good. God's judgment
is according to truth and not just appearance. And knowing,
listen, as we know that all men are guilty before God because
we are all sinners, then how does anyone hope? How does anyone
hope to escape the judgment of God who doesn't have A perfect
righteousness, and that perfect righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ. I heard recently of a message
of a brother preached about the burial of Christ. He brought
out a point that I never had heard and never had thought of
before. But when our Lord left that tomb, his body walked out
of that tomb, he left that robe or winding sheet. Remember Joseph
of Arimathea and Nicodemus took his body down from the grave
and they wrapped that body as was the custom of the Jews. And
it says with a hundred pounds of ointment. They anointed his
body. But the point that I'd never
thought of before was he left that. He left that winding sheet
there. What is that picture to us? His robe of righteousness. He's
left us. He's given unto us, right? Those
of us who are part of his family, his people. We have a robe of
righteousness, and that robe is the righteousness of Christ. Verse 4, despises thou the riches
of his goodness. That's important. Brother Henry
Mahan in his Bible Sunday School class lesson brought this out
at the very beginning of his comments. It's important to see
who Paul is writing this about, to whom he's speaking here. That's
very important. That's one of the rules of Bible
interpretation, isn't it? given you those rules before.
You see, who's speaking, who the word is spoken to. This word
is spoken especially to the Jews. Despises thou, who's he talking
to? He's talking to the Jews. Despises
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,
These were descendants of Abraham. These Jews, they were descendants
of Abraham. And they had received so many
blessings, so many natural blessings, but they became presumptuous. And it amounted to them despising,
Paul accuses them of despising God's goodness. God's been patient,
God's been forbearing with thee and kind with thee, but you've
despised this goodness and this forbearance, this long suffering
of God. It should have led you to repentance,
but it didn't. It should have moved them to
seek the Lord in repentance, repentance and faith, but rather
they were hardened in unbelief. There's a verse in Ecclesiastes
which says this. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Man does something and
he thinks, well, God didn't strike me dead. Must be okay. Must be all right. Because sentence against an evil
act is not executed speedily. In other words, immediately when
a person does commit a transgression against God, because God doesn't
just slam him right then with judgment. He thinks, must not
be anything wrong with that. Listen, one of the lessons that
All of us here tonight, we should be reminded of and especially
take knowledge of. We should never base our relationship
to God on outward circumstances. That's a big mistake. Some people,
well, I must be a child of God because God has blessed me so
much. I've got so much. I've got a
big bank account, and I've got a nice home. Surely I must be
a child of God. Not necessarily. We should never
base our relationship to God based on outward circumstances. Well, I'm sick, and I've been
sick for a long time. I must not be saved. No, no. Don't base your relationship
to God on outward circumstances. You say, well then what must
it be based on? Upon the word of God. Always
upon the word of God. Not upon God's dealing with you
in this world. There's many people that have
the riches of this world who do not have God's blessing, his
spiritual blessings upon them. They may think, they may believe,
but that's a mistake. They may believe that they're
God's children. They're experiencing God's goodness,
and they are experiencing His goodness in these outward things. But just like these Jews here,
Paul accuses them of despising. How did they despise the goodness
of God, the forbearance of God? They didn't use these things
to seek after the Lord, to look to Him, to trust in Him. Verse
five, but after the hardness and impenitent heart treasures
up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God. God's judgment And yes,
there is going to be a judgment. Scriptures are very clear. Read
about it in Revelation chapter 20. You read about our Lord spoke
about the judgment. God's judgment is a righteous
one and it will always be according to strict justice, always. We know that it is only through
Christ That justice, strict justice, as only a righteous God would
give, strict justice. You know, as parents, and we
have a tendency to overlook things. And that's good in some ways,
no doubt. God doesn't. When God judges,
it's strict. justice, an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth. That's strict justice. The only
way justice and mercy may come together is through Christ, through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That psalm, or that word in the
psalm says, mercy and truth are met together. Truth, absolute
truth. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Mercy and truth have met together. Where do they meet?
There's only one place, at the cross, in the person of Jesus
Christ. Mercy and truth. God will be
absolutely just and at the same time show mercy to those who
are in Christ. Peace, righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. Those who are saved are saved
because they are righteous. Not in themselves, I understand
that. They're made righteous through
the righteousness of Christ. But that it's just that they
be sentenced to eternal life, eternal blessings with God. Why? Because they're righteous. in the righteousness of Christ.
And those who are sentenced to eternal damnation, it's just
why, because of their sins. Verse six, who will render to
every man according to his deeds? Charles Hodge, one of the Presbyterian
writers and commentators from Princeton University, Princeton
Theological Seminary. It's amazing, isn't it, that
many of those, they call them Ivy League colleges, Harvard,
that they were started by men to train men for the ministry.
And many of them were excellent. in their doctrine. We might not
agree with them on everything, but Charles Hodge made this comment
on this verse. The wicked will be punished on
account of their works and according to their works. The righteous
will be rewarded not on account of, but according to their works. You say, well, how do you understand
that? Well, look with me in John chapter
5 and the words of the Lord Jesus. In John chapter 5, our Lord speaks,
we know, of two resurrections, a spiritual resurrection and
then a physical resurrection. We're looking tonight at the
physical in verse 26. For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,
and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because
He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his
voice and shall come forth, all they that have done good unto
the resurrection of life. Now, are they going to come forth
in a resurrected life because of their good works? Of course
not. Of course not. It'll be because
of Christ, won't it? But at the same time, those who
have experienced the grace of God will have good works, will
be identified by good works. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto what? Good works, which God hath before
ordained, that we should walk in them. These that are raised
to eternal life, it's not because of their good works, But because
they were saved by the grace of God, they have good works.
If any man be in Christ, the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. A person who is saved doesn't
live The same lifestyle that they lived when they were lost,
when they were in their sins. Doesn't mean they're perfect,
we saw that this morning. Doesn't mean they have sinless
perfection, I'm not saying that, but God's children live differently. You remember that old saying,
if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, It's a duck. It's a duck. If a person, if
his life is like those who've never experienced the saving
grace of God, it's probably because he hasn't experienced the saving
grace of God. There's a difference. Verse seven. Them who by patient continuance
and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. Those words there describe one person. Those words describe one sort
of person. Who are they? Those who have
faith and perseverance. They seek for glory of God, the
glory of God in Christ, the honor which abides in Christ, the immortality
in Christ, and the resurrection of life. These words here describe
God's people. To them who by patience, continuance,
and well-doing seek for glory, We don't seek for our glory,
we seek for His glory. Honor, we don't seek for our
honor, all the honor goes to Him. Immortality, that is, eternal
life, it comes to us through Christ. Verse eight, but unto them that
are contentious. And do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. Matthew Henry said
those who will not bow to his golden scepter will certainly
be broken by his iron rod. 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 of the Gentile, but glory, honor
and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also
to the Gentile, for there's no respect of persons with God. A Jew or Gentile guilty of sin
will have God's wrath poured upon him. Likewise, a Jew or
Gentile in Christ will experience God's mercy, for he's no respecter
of persons." You know, that's what Peter said when he went
to the house of Cornelius, wasn't he? God sent him. Remember how he had that vision,
that sheet was let down? Those men came from the house
of Cornelius, and Peter went with them, and he went into that
house, went into that Gentile's house, and the Spirit of God
fell upon those people. And Peter recognized, they've been saved just like
us. They've received the Spirit of God just like us, us Jews. And that's what he said, God
is not a respecter of persons. I pray that the Lord would bless
our thoughts tonight, these thoughts and words. I know that a person has to know he's a sinner. before he ever sees his need
of a savior. And scripture is very clear that
we begin with this truth here in Romans, that the Gentiles
were guilty of sin, and so were the Jews, showing eventually
that a person might be justified by faith in Christ, by his works. We're going to observe.