ROMANS 2:1-16 GODS FAIR JUDGMENT2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 2:1-16 Gods Fair Judgment

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

Here in Romans chapter 2, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 16 and talking about God's fair judgment. Now, the past couple weeks we've been looking at, in chapter 1, the revelation, first of all, of the gospel or the righteousness of God that's found in the gospel.

But Paul spent a lot of time in chapter 1 talking about the wrath of God being revealed. And we saw that again last week as God's wrath is in the process. It's currently being revealed. But this revelation of the wrath of God, if it's just revealed...

If it's just known or seen but not executed, then it's kind of pointless. And so what we see now as we head into chapter 2 is the execution of the wrath of God. So it's not just revelation that we know about the wrath of God, but Paul now is going to be talking about the execution of the wrath of God in, well, what we would call judgment. I was thinking about it in this way.

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I let him know that he was in the wrong spot. He shouldn't be in that lane. He shouldn't be in that spot if he's on a bike and riding in traffic. Well, as I instructed him about, you know, that his position was not that correct, Kim looked at me and said, you know, I don't think he heard you. Was I supposed to roll down the window? And...

I'm sure you're familiar with that, right? I was giving him instruction, correcting him, but he couldn't hear me. You ever do that with other drivers? You know, you're yelling at the other drivers and they can't hear you. That's kind of the way I think about it. You know, when you're yelling at the other drivers, that's your wrath being revealed, right?

But there's no execution of that, or at least there's not supposed to be. You know, when there is, we call it road rage. Unless the person is a Christian, then we call it road wrath, right? And so you pay them back for, you know, the mistake that they made or the error that they did. And that's not what we're to be doing, right? But so there's the distinction between, you know, the revelation of the wrath, but then the actual judgment for the sin or for the error of

That's not something we're to participate in as far as traffic is concerned. But as far as God is concerned, there's the revelation of his wrath.

But then there's the execution of his wrath in what we would call judgment. And that's what Paul's talking about here in Romans chapter 2. And so we're seeing the completion of this thought as he's been talking about the wrath of God being revealed. And so I'd like to read for you Romans chapter 2, 1 through 16. I know it's a long portion, but read along in your Bibles and pay attention to what Paul has to say about God's fair judgment.

In verse 1 it says,

And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.

Verse 12.

For as many as have sinned without law also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves."

Here in Romans chapter 2 verses 1 through 16, we're seeing Paul discuss God's judgment and

And the judgment of God is fair, it's right, it's just, and there's no one who will experience the judgment of God and disagree with that. We will all recognize when God's judgment is administered that it is the exact right judgment that is due. And so we're going to look at God's fair judgment this evening, and there's four points I'd like to highlight for you as we work our way through this passage.

The first point is found in verses 1 and 2, and that is that you are not a fair judge. As we talk about God's fair judgment, we first of all need to understand that we cannot judge like God does. Our judgment is not fair as God's is.

Once again, looking at verse 1, he says,

Now he starts out here in verse 1 with the word therefore. And I'm sure you've heard it said before. It's worth saying again. Whenever you see the word therefore, you need to find out what it's there for. This is the continuation or conclusion of a thought that Paul has been talking about.

Sometimes because the Bible is split up in chapters and verses, we kind of miss out on the context and the flow of thought that is going on from the writers. Those chapters and verses were added later, but this is the continuation of what Paul has been talking about all the way, if you would back up to chapter 1 verse 16, where Paul says, "...I'm not ashamed of the gospel."

And he talks about the revelation of the righteousness of God that's found in the gospel. And that's why he's not ashamed of it, because it's the power of God unto salvation. And from there, he begins to talk about the wrath of God being revealed.

And the wrath of God is revealed to everyone. It's revealed in the expression of all of these sinful behaviors that Paul deals with there in Romans chapter 1. In the final few verses of the chapter, he lists quite a few things in verse 29.

He talks about mankind or people being filled with unrighteousness and immorality and wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, and unmerciful.

Now he lists all those things and he says those who do them, they know the righteous judgment of God that those who practice, those who continue in those things deserve death, but they continue to do them and they also approve others who practice them as well. And so Paul is making the point that mankind knows about the wrath of God and the righteous judgment of God, but mankind still lives in disobedience because

and approves and honors those who disobey, those who defy God. And so then he goes on now into verse 1 to say, "'Therefore you are inexcusable.'" Because we know about the wrath of God, because we know that the righteous judgment of God, he says, "'Therefore you are inexcusable.'"

Now, as he says you, we could take this a few ways. He could be talking to pretty much all of humanity. He could be speaking to each individual. He could be speaking to anyone who thinks that they are good. He's specifically talking about those who judge. And so it seems that Paul is talking to those who think of themselves as being fairly good. Those who would look at that list that Paul gives there in chapter 1 and say, I

Yeah, you're right. There's a lot of people doing all those kinds of things, and I'm really glad that I'm not one of those people. There's that kind of person. There are times when we have that kind of heart, that kind of perspective, where we're looking at others and thinking, yes, they deserve judgment, and I'm thankful that I am not like that. Remember the

Time that Jesus talked about the prayer of the Pharisee and the prayer of the tax collector, right? And the tax collector just beat his breast before God and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. But the Pharisee prayed and said, God, I thank you that I'm not doing all kinds of wicked things, that I'm not an evil person, and that I'm not like this tax collector. I thank you, God, that I'm so good and not like all those other bad people. And we can have that kind of mentality, right?

Whether we've known the Lord or haven't known the Lord, there's this thing that we think about ourselves. We think we're pretty good. But that puts us in a place of judging others. And what Paul says is, you are inexcusable whoever you are who judge. If you're putting yourself in that place, then you are inexcusable. This word judge, literally it means to divide or to separate or to make a distinction between

And that's kind of what's going on here. Whenever we judge in this way, we're making a distinction. We're making a division. You're bad. I'm good. Or you could also judge the other way. You're good. I'm bad. But it's this division, this separation, coming to a decision about somebody. And when you divide, when you judge this way, you're deciding that you're better. Paul says you're inexcusable.

because you do the same things that you're looking down upon them for. He says, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. You see, you're really proud of yourself because, well, you're not as bad as those other people. But Paul says, in reality, you do the same things. The details might be a little bit different, but

But essentially, you sin in similar ways. You sin in similar situations. A good example of this from the scripture is King David. You remember when Nathan came to David? David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. And then because she became pregnant, he brought her husband Uriah back from the battle and

to try to get him to sleep with his wife so that it would look like, you know, nothing wrong happened. But Uriah wouldn't do it. And so David came up with a plan to kill Uriah. And so he sends him back into the battle and Uriah is killed. So David marries Bathsheba and it seems like everything's okay. Nobody really notices. David thinks, okay, it's covered, taken care of. Nobody suspects anything.

But about a year later, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David because God wanted to deal with this sin that David had committed. It needed to be dealt with. It had to be dealt with. And so Nathan comes to David and gives David this story and says, hey, David, there was this rich guy in your kingdom. He had many flocks. He was very wealthy and he had some guests come. But instead of feeding his guests with his own flocks,

He sent his servants next door to the poor guy. And this poor guy only had one little lamb. And the lamb was not just, you know, out in the field, but the lamb was his pet. You know, the lamb was with him all the time. But the servants took that lamb from the man and that became the meal for his guests.

And David became very upset. It tells us in 2 Samuel chapter 12 that David's anger was aroused greatly against that man. And he said, that man shall surely die. Death sentence for that man who took the lamb. And he'll have to restore fourfold for the lamb because he did this. And so David's anger stirred up. And then Nathan points to him and says, David, you are the man.

It's a parable, David. You're the one who stole somebody else's lamb, even though you had many flocks. David was quick to accuse, to condemn, to judge this guy. And he was greatly aroused in his anger against him. But he himself had committed the same thing and had done actually much worse. And that's the reality for all of us.

When we judge others for their sin or for their evil, we think, well, it's much worse than ours. David was much more upset about this man's taking the lamb than he was about his own acts of committing adultery and then murder. And so you and I are not fair judges because we do the same things as those that we would judge.

And we convince ourselves that we have great reasons for our sin, and that's why it's not as bad as their sin. It causes our judgment to be skewed. It's distorted. It's not accurate. We are not fair judges because, well, we practice, we do the same things that we would judge others for. I like the way that New Living Translation puts verse one. It says it this way. You may think you can condemn such people.

We do the very same things. We say they're wicked, but we don't recognize that we are wicked as well.

And so he goes on in verse 2 to say, but we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. So here's the contrast. The judgment of God is according to truth, but your judgment, my judgment, is not according to truth. God's judgment is fair because it's according to the standard of truth. It's perfect, but your judgment, my judgment,

is skewed by my own sinfulness. It's skewed by my own perspective. It's skewed by the fact that I don't even have all the information. We're not equipped to judge other people because we can't see the whole story. But God, who sees everything, who judges according to truth, he is a fair judge. And so when we judge, we don't use the right standard, the correct standard. It's like using a tape measure that isn't based on

on anything. Well, this much is an inch, and then later on, this much is an inch, and then back to this, and then back to that, and it's back and forth, and you try to use that to do some measurements, you're going to come up with some crooked furniture. It's skewed in the same way. God's standard is true. It's perfect. It's according to truth, but ours is according to our skewed and limited perspective. We are not fair judges.

But God uses an absolutely perfect standard. And that takes us then to verse 3 and 4 for our second point, and that is that God will fairly judge you. So we're quick to judge. It's easy for us to look at others and judge, but we need to flip it around and remember, God's going to judge you, and it's going to be according to truth, and it's going to be absolutely fair. Verse 3 says this,

And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? This is kind of heavy stuff that Paul is saying here. Do you really think you're going to escape, he says? You're judging others for what they're doing, but you're doing the same things? You think you can get away with that when you judge people and say that they are wrong, yet you're also doing wrong?

wrong? Do you think that you can get away with that? Do you think you will escape the judgment of God? When you judge others, Paul says you're acknowledging that you know the difference between right and wrong. You're declaring, I can determine what's right and what's wrong, and what that person over there is doing, that's wrong. And so you're acknowledging, I can tell the difference between right and wrong, and yet you continue to do wrong, and

Already testifying against yourself, I know how to tell right from wrong, but I keep doing wrong. He says, do you think you can escape the judgment of God? In other words, you will not escape. Now people think that they escape the judgment of God because of the delay. There's a delay for the judgment of God. It's not executed immediately. That's what he says in verse 4. He says, or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering?

He says, basically, you have two options. Either you think that you can escape the judgment of God, or you despise the goodness of God. When you judge others, but you yourself continue to do wrong, you're going to be judged.

Either you think you can escape and you think you can get away with it, or you despise God's goodness. This word goodness, it talks about the nature of God, the character of God, the grace of God. It refers to the mellowing of whatever may have been harsh or severe. There's an easiness kind of implied in this goodness or like an easygoing nature.

You can think about it this way. You know, there's those people that you really want to make sure you don't get them angry, right? You don't want to offend them because when you wrong that person, well, there's this immediate, this harsh response. You bump into Javier accidentally, he spills his coffee and then bam, he smacks you down. Immediate, harsh response. He doesn't really. But then you bump into Jake and he spills his coffee and he's like, hey, no problem. It's cool.

There's that easygoingness versus that harsh response, right? And when he talks about the goodness of God, that's kind of what he's talking about. There's this kind of easygoing. There's this mellowing of this harshness. Now, not to say that God won't judge severely, but there's this delay. There's this God is able to put up with quite a bit. And you can bump into him really hard, and he's not...

going to respond immediately and smack you over the head. So he says, do you despise the riches of God's goodness? Do you despise his goodness and keep taking advantage of him? So then you start pushing Jake around because he doesn't fight back. Do you take advantage of God by continuing in sin, continuing to judge, continuing to violate God's word because you don't experience any immediate harsh reaction? He says, do you despise God?

The riches of his goodness and then forbearance. The word forbearance, it talks about self-control, restraint. I think the word restraint is a good word as far as the picture, you know. It's like God's holding himself back. He's totally fair and just and it would not be unjust or unfair for him to deal with you in your sin right now.

It wouldn't be unjust for him to just wipe anybody out because, well, we deserve it. But there's restraint that God applies to himself. He holds himself back in delivering the judgment that is deserved. And so Paul says, do you despise his restraint? And so you keep taking advantage of him because he's restraining himself and holding himself back? Or do you despise his long suffering? This is the idea of patience.

It's a self-restraint of the mind before it gives room to action or passion. These words go hand in hand. God is good. He is patient. He is forbearing, long-suffering, holding himself back, not immediately executing his judgment. Do you despise these things or do you think that you will escape? Those are your two options. If we live in sin,

If we continue to practice sin, it's one of those two things. Either we think we're going to escape, or we despise the goodness, the patience, the forbearance of God. He says, look, if you despise this, you don't understand that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

The whole point of God restraining himself and holding himself back and not executing judgment immediately is because, well, he's giving us opportunity to repent. And so the wrath of God is being revealed. It will be executed, but there's an exception. There's an escape of the judgment of God, but it's not found by anything that we can do. There is a way of escape and it's called repentance, right?

It's about believing in Jesus, turning from sin to follow him. And that's the only way of escape. It's only an escape, by the way, because on the cross, he received the judgment that we deserve. So it's not that the judgment will not be executed. It has been executed and it's been placed upon Jesus. And so believing in Jesus...

we get the way of escape through repentance so that we don't have to experience the wrath of God, the judgment of God for our own sinfulness because that was executed upon him. The goodness of God leads you to repentance. The goodness of God gives you opportunity to repent. God doesn't strike us down immediately because he wants us to have an opportunity to turn and get right with him and receive repentance.

The forgiveness that comes because Jesus received our penalty, our judgment. Again, I like the New Living Translation of verse 4. He says, Can't you see that?

Do you see that God is good to you? He is kind to you. He's tolerant. He's patient. He puts up with so much because he wants you to have the opportunity to turn to him. As Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3, he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, as we look at these things, I realize we're a group of believers this evening. We're a gathering together of believers here on a Wednesday evening.

And yet I would share these things with the same passion and boldness because, well, even as believers, we get caught up in sin. And sometimes we pursue a life of sin. And we try to keep our religion, you know, going. We try to keep up the outward things. But behind the scenes, maybe not even always behind the scenes, but there's this pursuit. There's this continuance in sin.

And you need to know this is a serious issue. When we are judging others, but continuing in our own sin, we're inexcusable and there's no escape. We can't continue in that lifestyle. Listen, God's patient with you. And sometimes we think that God is accepting of our sinfulness. God understands my situation. He understands and he's okay with it. And we could say, see, because...

Nothing's really happening. God hasn't shown me that he's really opposed to this because of his goodness and his restraint and his long suffering. He's giving you chance. He's giving you opportunity to repent, to turn and get right. He's giving you a way of escape. But if you don't turn to him in repentance, then there is no way of escape and you're inexcusable and you will experience the judgment of God.

And so I share these things, even though we're believers, because, well, there is frequently those who are practicing sin, those who are continuing in things that they know are not of God, and yet within our midst. But also, I share these things, because as we're talking about the book of Romans and the gospel of Jesus Christ, it takes us back to chapter 1, verse 16, where Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

because it's the power of God unto salvation. Listen, these things are important for us also because as we understand the judgment of God that each one of us deserves, but not just us, but each person around us deserves, then it should stir up within us a boldness regarding the gospel of God so that like Paul, we are not ashamed of the gospel because it's the only way of escape for

for people to escape the judgment that they deserve, it's only found in the gospel. And so there needs to be this unashamedness for us of the gospel because you who judge others but do the same things are inexcusable and will not escape the judgment of God. And those outside of the church, those all around us in the world who judge others but do the same things are inexcusable and will experience the judgment of God.

The only way of escape is found in the gospel. And so God is going to fairly judge you and all those around you. And so we must not be ashamed of the gospel. Well, moving on into verses 5 through 11, we find the third point, and that is that God will fairly judge according to your actions. So God's going to fairly judge you, and what's he going to use? Well,

First, we see Paul says he's going to judge you according to your actions or according to your deeds. In verse 5, he says, So he's saying, if you despise the goodness of God and don't understand that the goodness of God leads you to repentance...

then because your heart is hard, because you're impenitent or you're not repentant, then what you're doing is you're treasuring up for yourself wrath. Your heart's hard. You refuse to repent. And so you're treasuring up wrath. Sometimes we are mistaken in looking at the delay of judgment and thinking that's an indication of reduced judgment.

Yeah, God's not so concerned about this issue, this sin, this practice. It's not so bad. We think that it's reduced because it's delayed. But Paul says, no, delayed judgment is an indication of increased judgment. Judgment is treasured up or stored up. God is forbearing. He is long-suffering. He's self-restraining, but he's not forgetting judgment.

He's not just sweeping it under the rug and then he's never going to deal with it. All that sin is, well, it's going to be remembered. And the wrath of God for every sin is stored up. You think of the, for some reason I'm forgetting his name all of a sudden, Uncle Scrooge, was it? Diving into his treasure, right? Stored up treasure, right?

Think about that. For every wrath that we deserve, for every sin, it's like a coin in that vault, and it's being stored up. None of them are missing. None of those coins of God's wrath are missing, but they're being stored up, treasured. And then when that judgment comes...

So you have the revelation of the wrath of God, and so all those coins are there. And then now when God delivers on that wrath, when he executes the judgment, every single coin, every single sin will be paid for. The wrath of God, the righteous indignation of God for every sin will be paid for. Not one is forgotten. Not one is missing. Not one is cast aside.

It's like a picture of water building up behind a dam. And every drop is there. It's just being built up and stored up and stored up. But then at some point, the dam will be breached. It will open. And all that water will come pouring out. In the same way, he says, if you're despising the goodness of God, not recognizing that God's goodness is an opportunity leading you to repentance, then

Well, then what will happen is you will have stored up all this wrath and then you will receive it on that day of judgment. He says in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Wrath is currently being revealed. We talked about that last week, but we're just getting glimpses right now. The wrath of God, we haven't even begun to see the fullness of the wrath of God. Just little tiny snapshots we get pictures of.

It's being revealed, but not in its fullness. But on the day of wrath, on the day of judgment, the full revelation of the wrath of God will be revealed. And that's when all the wrath will be unloaded. And so there's no sin that is forgotten. There's no sin that will not be paid for, except there's the one way of escape, and that is turning to Jesus. Because then when you turn to Jesus, you

then you get the benefit of escaping that wrath because, well, all the wrath that you deserved for every sin that you commit, past, present, future, the wrath of God appropriate for that sin was administered upon Jesus. It was executed upon Jesus. He received that wrath. He received that penalty on our behalf.

And so the only way for us to not receive the wrath is for us to believe in Jesus and turn to him and acknowledge that he received the wrath on our behalf. But if we don't do that, well, we'll experience the wrath ourselves. And in verse 6, he says, God will render, God will give what's appropriate to each one according to his deeds or according to his actions.

And that's the problem because we all do things that deserve God's judgment. Every single one of us, we do things that deserve God's judgment. Sometimes we like to pretend ignorance. And Paul's actually quoting here from Proverbs chapter 24 verse 12, which says, if you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does he not know it?

And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? You can pretend ignorance. Well, I didn't know this was sin. I didn't know this was bad. I didn't know this was evil. But Solomon says, don't you think God, who knows your heart, he weighs your heart? Don't you think he understands what's really going on? The one who keeps your soul, the one who gives you life, don't you think he knows what's really going on?

Yes, he does know, and he will render to each one according to his deeds. And so pretending to be ignorant is not effective. We will each receive the penalty that we deserve for every sin, for every mistake. Verse 8, but those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil,

the Jew first and also of the Greek. So I skipped verse seven, huh? Verse seven, eternal life to those by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor, and immortality. So he tells us here in verse seven, God's gonna render to everyone according to his deeds. Now, he says there's the option of receiving eternal life. But as we talk about eternal life, you gotta understand there's two ways to have eternal life.

The first way to have eternal life is to live an absolutely perfect life from the very beginning. And so if you've made any mistakes in the past, you've already failed. You can't approach God and have eternal life on the basis of living a perfect life. Even if it was from here on out, you know, just be perfect from here till you enter into eternity, then we would still fail. We couldn't live up to that.

And so God will render to each one according to his deeds. If you had lived and could live an absolutely perfect life, then you could have eternal life that way. By patient continuance, doing good, seeking for glory, honor, and immortality. That's the first way to have eternal life. The second way to have eternal life is to believe in Jesus. But Paul's saying here, if you could live an absolutely perfect life, then you would have eternal life.

Or, in verse 8 and 9, he goes on to say, or if you do evil, so if you don't live a perfect life, well then, well then you'll receive indignation and wrath and tribulation and anguish. So you can receive eternal life or you can receive wrath, tribulation, indignation, and anguish. This is what's stored up for every soul of man who does evil. If you do good perfectly, you

you have eternal life. If you do not do good perfectly, then this is the other camp. You do evil. And remember the standard is truth and perfection. So do you do evil? Do you make mistakes? Do you violate God's law? Yes, you do. We all do evil. That's the point. And so we deserve indignation and wrath and tribulation and anguish. We deserve, every one of us deserves these things from God.

And God will render to each one according to his deeds. He goes on to say, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Now, this is not God playing favorites, not partiality, but it's order. This is the order that he has set. But each one will be dealt with according to his deeds. It's accountability for, well, what they have received from God as well.

Because the Jews did have great privilege from God in receiving the word of God and being the people of God. And so they're first in line to be judged according to their deeds. They're first in line to be judged, to experience wrath because of the blessings that they had received. You know, as we talk about Jews, a lot of times in the New Testament, it's easy for us going back to verse one to think, yeah, I'm real thankful. I'm not like those Jews.

The New Testament, man, they really missed it. But you know, it's easy for us as Christians, especially for those who've been around for a while. We're not that much different than the Jewish people of Paul's day in a lot of ways. And it's very easy for us to be condemning of others, just like the Jews were condemning of others, thinking, hey, we're good and those guys are bad. And yeah, Paul, you're right. Those guys are bad and we're good. We don't do those things. And it's easy for us to have that same mentality, right?

And to miss out on the reality of what Christianity is really all about. And so they are held to a, well, they're not held to a higher standard. It's the same standard, but they're held accountable because they've received much more. And in the same way, I would suggest that you and I as believers and the blessings that we have and the scriptures that we have and the freedoms that we have, we are held accountable to those things to a greater degree. We know the truth. And so if we

are pursuing evil. Well, God's going to render to each one according to his deeds. He says in verse 10, And so again, he flips it back. So if you do good, then you get glory, honor, and peace. But here's the problem. Who's the one who does good, who works what is good? Paul will tell us in a

He says, they have all turned aside. They've together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. So yes, if you do good, you get glory, honor, and peace. But there's none who does good. You see, Paul's making the case that every one of us needs a savior. And that's why it's so important to not be ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation.

doing good isn't the power of God unto salvation because none of us can do good. None of us does good. And we can think highly of ourselves and convince ourselves that we are good, but we are not good. And God's going to deal with us according to truth, according to his perfect standard and render to each one according to our deeds. And so we need to make sure that we're not trying to please God or approach God on the basis of our goodness and our good works and how much better we are than other people.

In judging them and thinking highly of ourselves. In verse 11, he says, Again, just this reminder. God judges fairly, perfectly, rightly. There's no partiality. The Jews of Jesus' day and Paul's day thought they could live however they wanted because they were Jews. We're Jews. We can do whatever we want because, well, we're God's chosen people. And so we don't have to pay attention to

how we live, we can do whatever we want. When John the Baptist was speaking to the religious leaders in Luke chapter 3 verse 8, he says, "'Bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, "'We have Abraham as our father. "'For I say to you that God is able to raise up children "'to Abraham from these stones.'" Their pride was, we have Abraham as our father. And John the Baptist says, "'You need to bear fruits of repentance.'" But they thought, we don't need to bear fruits of repentance because Abraham's our father.

And again, this is where we can see these parallels between the Jews of the New Testament and Christians today. Because they're Christians, or those who claim to be Christians at least, who need to bear fruits worthy of repentance. But they think to themselves, they say, well, I prayed that prayer. I go to church. I read the Bible. They think that because of those things, they don't need to bear fruits worthy of repentance.

But that's not the reality. There's no partiality with God. It doesn't matter if you go to church. It doesn't matter if you're a descendant of Abraham. Each one will be judged according to their deeds. And so there's the same judgment for all, Jew and Gentile, men and women. I was thinking about that today, and that kind of like made me a little bit uncomfortable. Like it's one thing for us to beat up a dude, but that God would treat the ladies the same way, the same judgment? Yeah.

Yes. There's no partiality with God. It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or you're some unknown person. It doesn't matter whether you go to church or whether you don't. There's no partiality. And that's the point. Again, that's what Paul's trying to make us understand. We all deserve judgment.

The wrath of God is being revealed and we deserve every bit of it. We're only seeing glimpses now, but the rest of it is coming. And again, this is why we must turn to Jesus Christ and walk with him and live with him. But this is also why we must not be ashamed of the gospel because everyone around us deserves God's judgment and they will receive every bit of wrath that they deserve without partiality.

It doesn't matter if it's sweet aunt so-and-so or whatever. That penalty is deserved and will be given without partiality. Do not be ashamed of the gospel because it's the only way of escape. Well, finally, in the verses 12 through 16, we see the fourth point. And this is that God will fairly judge according to your knowledge.

He says in verse 12, for as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. As many as have sinned without law will still perish. So now Paul is talking about those who have the law and those who don't have the law. He's talking about Jews and Gentiles. And he's saying that judgment will be applied fairly to

to those who have the law and to those who don't have the law. Again, the Jews had received the law of God. They had this extra privilege and they're extra accountable for it. But that doesn't mean that those who didn't receive the law get away with anything. They will still perish, Paul says. Those who don't have the law will still perish. And those who have the law will be judged by the law. The point is that the law is not needed for there to be fair judgment.

on the Gentiles. You know, there's the classic argument that people bring up about the guy, you know, in Africa who's never heard the gospel, that kind of thing. And Paul's saying, the law is not necessary for that person to be judged. The law is not necessary for any person to be judged. They can receive the judgment apart from the law and they will perish without the law.

Those who have the law will be judged by it. And he's going to come back to this back in the next verses of Romans chapter 2, and we'll deal with that next week. But he goes on to this parenthetical thought in the next few verses. He says in verse 13, "...for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified."

So he says, those who have the law will be judged by the law. And the law is not about hearing. The law is about doing. So not having the law isn't sufficient. You have to do it. And if you do the law, well, then you'll be justified. But again, the problem is we cannot do the law because we fall short. And so having the law isn't sufficient. Doing the law would be sufficient, but none of us do the law.

But since we have the law, he says, we'll be judged by the law. He goes on in verse 14 to say, for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. So those who have the law will be judged by the law, and you don't do the law, so you're going to receive full judgment. And those who don't have the law, but they demonstrate that they know right from wrong, he says, they're a law to themselves.

In verse 15, he says, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and between themselves and their thoughts, accusing or else excusing them. And so even those who do not have the revealed law of God or word of God, he says, even them, they have the law. It's written on their hearts. They have their conscience and they know right from wrong and they don't,

live according to their own knowledge of right and wrong, even though it's reduced, even though it's lesser information than what's revealed in the law of God. Even this lesser information that's revealed in the heart of the Gentile, of the unbeliever, they don't live up to that because there's things that they know are wrong and yet they do them. I know you've experienced that. You know there's things that are wrong and yet you've still done them.

You don't measure up to your own sense of right and wrong. And that's why Paul says, everyone will experience the judgment of God, whether you have the law or not. There's sufficient evidence against you with your own conscience, with your own heart, knowing right from wrong to receive the judgment of God. And so he says, you're going to be judged.

Now, you kind of have to go back to verse 12 in order to get into verse 16. In verse 12, he says, as many of us sinned without law will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. Verse 16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

the verses in between are kind of parenthetical thoughts that Paul throws in. But he says, there's going to be this judgment for those who don't have the law and those who do have the law in the day that God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. So Jesus is the one who administers the judgment. He told us this in John chapter 5, verse 22. He says, the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.

And so we're going to stand before Jesus and he's going to judge us. Those who have the law, those who don't have the law. And it's going to be according to the secrets of our hearts. It's going to be according to the truth. It's going to be absolutely fair. And every bit of wrath that is deserved must be paid out, must be given. Jesus will make sure of that. Jesus is the judge. Jesus also is the standard by which we'll be measured.

We can feel real good about ourselves when we measure ourselves against each other. But that person's not the standard. Jesus is the standard. And if you don't measure up, then you will receive every bit of wrath that is deserved. And Jesus will make sure of that. Unless, unless Jesus is your savior. And that's why Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because the righteousness of God is revealed. The wrath of God is being revealed because

And the judgment, the execution of that wrath is going to take place. And it's going to be full. And it's going to be permanent. It's going to be eternal. And so I'm not ashamed of the gospel, Paul says, because it's the way of escape. It's the power of God unto salvation. Jesus will judge. It will be according to everyone's deeds. And that's why we need the Savior. That's why we need to walk with the Lord, to not mess around with sin, to not continue in sin.

Because sin deserves the righteous judgment of God, and it will be given. But in turning to Jesus, he receives. There on the cross, he received that penalty, every bit of wrath that you and I deserved. It's going to be paid out one way or the other. That's why the gospel is so important. The worship team is going to come up and close us in a couple songs. You guys can come on up. Usually at this time, we have the time of ministering to one another.

Over the past few weeks, we've been really focusing on doing that individually, ministering to one another. There'll be opportunities in the weeks ahead to do that corporately. But the Lord put something different on my heart for this evening, and that is for us to have a time of prayer. Here's what I'd like you to do. We're going to worship the Lord. During this time, you can worship and you can pray on your own between you and the Lord. But in between the songs, Kim's going to give you an opportunity. She's going to break

after the first song and give you an opportunity to pray out loud that we would all be able to agree with you and participate in your prayer. And here's what I would ask you to pray. One of two things. You can pray for someone who needs to respond to the gospel. You don't necessarily have to mention them by name if you're not comfortable with that, and that's okay. But if there's someone on your heart as you're thinking about and reading through

this judgment that will be administered according to everyone's deeds, and you don't want them to experience that judgment, this is a good opportunity for us to pray for them, that they would receive the gospel, that they would turn to Jesus. And so it might be someone who refuses to glorify God, as we saw last week, or someone who thinks they're okay, and they're judging others and saying, I'm not as bad as those people, but they don't realize that

They do the same things. Or maybe someone who's treasuring up wrath, despising the goodness of God, and storing up for themselves judgment that will be given. We need to pray for them. And so after the song, you can have an opportunity and you can pray for those who are in that situation. Or secondly, I would say we could pray for opportunity to share the gospel. And maybe God is stirring it up in you to pray for you or to pray for

our church or someone specific on your heart you want to pray for harvey to have opportunity to share the gospel or someone else then lift them up before the lord and we'll agree with you and so they're going to lead us in a song and in between the songs they'll break and give us opportunity and so be bold and be led by the lord please limit the prayers to these particular things in response to what god's been speaking to our hearts this evening let's worship the lord together

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.