Amen, so last Sunday morning, we talked about Romans chapter 1, we focused on the first
half of the chapter, and it really laid down some fundamental doctrines about Jesus Christ
and the Gospel and just the basics of our Christian faith, and then on Sunday night,
we talked about the second half of Romans chapter 1, which talked about just kind of
the worst kind of people, reprobates, people who've been given over by the Lord to a reprobate
mind and is men burning with lust toward other men, and so we went through all that
last Sunday night, and in Romans chapter 2, he kind of picks up with that same thought
in verse number 1, because he starts out with the word therefore, which is obviously connecting
to what he just said, and so just a quick review of what he just said is, he was talking
about these reprobates, these men who lust after other men, women with women, these perverts,
and he says in verse 29, they're filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers,
we're in chapter 1 verse 30, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors
of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God that they
which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them, and then we're going to roll into this next thought, therefore, because
of that, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for whereth thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same things, and so
here's what the Bible is saying.
In Romans chapter 1, we just talked about kind of the dregs of humanity here, and it's
pretty easy for people to look at the worst, most vile, wicked people and to think like,
well, I'm not like them, you know, I'm not that bad, and so what the Bible is basically
showing us here is that even if you condemn the worst people, you know, you're also kind
of condemning yourself as well because of the fact that you do some of the same things
that those people do.
Now obviously, you're not a reprobate, you haven't been getting over to vile affections,
you're not lusting after the same gender or something, but what does the Bible say?
They're filled with all these other sins, and that's the kind of stuff that even normal
people will do.
So for example, you know, let's say, disobedient to parents.
You know, that's one that a lot of people are guilty of, probably all of us, I would
say every single one of us disobeyed our parents at some time when we were growing up.
It'd be kind of hard to believe that there's a kid who never disobeyed their parents ever,
besides baby Jesus, all right?
Everybody has done that, and we could go down the list and find other things.
There have been times when we were proud, now obviously we weren't haters of God, but
we've been proud, we might have broken a covenant or broken an agreement that we made
with someone, there could have been times when we boasted.
So what the Bible's teaching us, and the main argument that the Apostle Paul's going to
be driving at as we go from chapter 1 to 2 to 3, is showing that everyone is a sinner
and everyone is guilty before God.
Not just the worst people, but that even quote-unquote good people, or people that
we would look at and say outwardly they're a good citizen, good neighbor, good guy to
work with, you know, they are not perfect, they are also a sinner.
And so what he's saying is, you know, you are also without excuse.
Because in chapter 1 he talked about these really wicked people being without excuse,
but then he says, you know, you're without excuse, the one who's judging them, you know,
you're also condemning yourself because you do some of these same things, or you take
pleasure in those who do these things.
But verse 2 is so important.
Because what a lot of people do is they'll take chapter 2 verse 1 and try to use it to
just negate everything that was just said in chapter 1.
Which is such a foolish way to read the Bible.
If God just spent verse after verse after verse talking about how super wicked these
people are and condemning them, they're vile, they're evil, and they're so bad.
And then it's like, oh, just kidding.
I mean, is that what he's really saying in chapter 2 verse 1?
No.
It's stupid.
Oh, they're just like everybody else.
They're just the same as everybody else.
And in fact, anybody who's against them is bad.
That would make no sense, but that's literally what I've heard people do with chapter 2 verse
1 because they're not actually reading the context and actually getting the full thought.
That's why verse 2 is so key, because he says we are sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them which commits such things.
So just because we're pointing out something wicked and sinful, and we're sinners too,
that doesn't negate the fact that in the sight of God, these people are super wicked.
You know, we're sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which
commits such things.
You know, our judgment could be flawed, but God's judgment is right and perfect.
And so if the Bible says that adultery is wicked, murder is wicked, whatever, you know,
it's wicked.
And even if the preacher who's saying it or the Christian who's saying it is not perfect
themselves, we're still sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them
which commits such things.
And so verse 2 is sort of like a disclaimer so that somebody doesn't take verse 1 and
just say, oh, let's just never bring up how bad these people are.
Let's just never condemn anyone.
Let's just never preach against sin, you know, because we don't want to be a hypocrite.
That's not what the Bible is saying.
What the Bible is getting at here is that even if you're not some horrible psychopath,
you're still a sinner because you do some of the things that they do.
You do some of the same things that they do and you might even take pleasure in those
who do them.
So then it says in verse 3, and thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such
things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
This is like when we knock on somebody's door and they say, well, I think I'm going to heaven
because I'm a pretty good person and I haven't really done anything that bad.
So they're ready to condemn the people who have done something that bad.
People say, okay, well, murderers and rapists and just, you know, criminals, drug dealers,
you know, really bad people, they are going to hell, but they think that they're going
to heaven because they haven't done anything that bad.
You have to excuse my cough this morning.
I promise it's not coronavirus.
It's just, it's, yeah, it's a long story.
But anyway, um, what was I saying, uh, thinkest thou this, O man, at the door, verse three,
you know, who says like, well, I haven't done anything that bad, you know, that thou shalt
escape the judgment of God because you do some of those things, even if it's something
as quote unquote small as being prideful, boasting, disobedient to your parents or breaking
a covenant or whatever.
You know, any of these things, even just being full of envy, you know, even just desiring
things that belong to other people, which is almost ubiquitous in our society in the
United States of America today.
You're not going to escape the judgment of God just because you didn't do anything that
bad.
Okay.
That's what he's saying.
And he says in verse four, or despises now the riches of his goodness and forbearance
and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
And this is very similar to what we see in second Peter chapter three, verse nine, where
the Bible says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but
as long suffering to us word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance.
And so what the Bible is saying is that just because God doesn't just immediately cloud
up and rain on you because of your sins doesn't mean that you should think that you're just
getting away with it and that you're going to escape the judgment of God.
Like, well, hey, I committed fornication and nothing happened.
Okay.
But guess what?
A lot of times God's judgment doesn't come right away.
Sometimes it comes later.
And so the Bible is saying, don't think that you're going to escape the judgment of God
just because of God's goodness and forbearance and long suffering, just because God is patient
and merciful and doesn't just immediately just strike you dead when you go out and do
these things.
Don't think you're going to escape the judgment of God is what the Bible is saying.
Because what you need to realize that the goodness of God leaded thee to repentance.
Okay.
That basically God wants all men to be saved.
You know, God is patient with people because he wants, if they're unsaved, he lets them
keep living on this earth and he's patient with them because he wants them to eventually
get saved.
Or if, you know, someone is saved and they're a Christian and they're committing sins, you
know, God is patient with them because he wants them to get right.
He wants to give them a chance to be, uh, you know, restored into fellowship and so
forth.
And so we don't want to misinterpret God's long suffering and forbearance as, Oh, God's
letting me get away with it.
You know, God doesn't think it's a big deal.
And then it says in verse five, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasure
ist up unto thyself, wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God who will render to every man according to his deeds.
Now Romans chapter two is a chapter that we need to be very careful to understand in the
context.
Okay.
We started out in chapter one talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ and who Jesus is
and just some basic things and about how salvation is by faith.
That was laid down right away that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it and that the just shall live by faith.
That was established.
Then we started talking about these really horrible, vile, reprobate people and how they
got that way.
Then we get into chapter two and it's like, but guess what, even if you're not as bad
as they are, you know, it's easy to point the finger at them and judge them and condemn
them.
And then you realize that you also are a sinner and that you're also liable of being judged
by God.
And so he's explaining that and saying that just because you get away with it for a time,
you know, eventually a reckoning is going to come due.
Then he starts to talk about basically how people who do right are going to be rewarded
for the right that they do and that people who do evil are going to be rewarded for the
evil that they do.
And here's what you have to understand is that in chapter two, he sort of makes an argument
that says that if you keep God's commandments, you'll be saved.
But then in chapter three, he's going to explain that no one keeps God's commandments and
therefore everyone is doomed and the only way to be saved is by believing in Jesus.
But false teachers and people, they could just grab something from chapter two and I've
seen a Roman Catholic do this.
There was like a Roman Catholic pamphlet that I got in the mail and they took some of these
verses from Romans two out of context and they said, see, you know, you get eternal
life by keeping the commandments.
Okay.
You know what?
If you keep all the commandments perfectly, you're not going to go to hell.
How could God send you to hell if you kept all the commandments perfectly?
What would you be going to hell for?
Because the whole point of going to hell is to be punished for your sins and every single
person is a sinner.
That's why without Jesus, every single person would go to hell.
And so you don't want to just pull a verse out of context without reading the whole section
here.
Chapter one flows into chapter two flows into chapter three and you can't really understand
chapter two fully until you get to chapter three and he explains the problem with this
idea of salvation by keeping the commandments.
You know what I would say to that is good luck with that.
Yeah, I mean, I mean literally, I witnessed to a guy yesterday and he said, and I was
telling him, hey, salvation is by faith.
You just have to believe in Jesus.
That's what saves you.
Because this guy was saying like, well, you know, I was raised a little bit Christian,
but I don't really practice it.
I'm just kind of, you know, and I told him, I said, well, you know, the important thing
is just make sure that you're believing on Jesus for salvation, that you, you're fully
trusting Christ, his death, burial and resurrection.
And this guy said to me, well, you know, and keep the 10 commandments, right?
And I said, well, if we have to keep the 10 commandments, then none of us is saved because
every single one of us has broken God's commandments.
And so I think what people are failing to understand is that theoretically, if you keep
all of God's commandments perfectly, you'll go to heaven, except that's impossible.
Therefore your only hope is to get forgiven by Jesus by putting your faith in the blood
of Jesus.
And this is where people get mixed up with the rich young ruler, where the rich young
ruler comes to Jesus and says, you know, uh, oh, what good thing should I do to inherit
eternal life?
And he tells the guy, well, you know, keep the commandments and he says, well, you know,
I've kept all the commandments from my youth up.
And Jesus just told the guy in the, in the breath before that, because the guy says,
good master, what good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And he said, why call us now me good?
There's none good but one and that's God.
And of course, Jesus Christ is good because Jesus Christ is God.
But the thing is this guy after Jesus just told him no one is good except God is like,
I've kept all the commandments from my youth up.
So what else do I need to do?
What's next?
What's the next step?
What lack I yet, you know, and then what is, what does Jesus show him?
He says, okay, well, here's what you need to do now.
You know, sell what you have and give to the poor and take up your cross and follow me.
And he goes away weeping because he had great riches and he loves money.
And so the guy's not as perfect as he thought he was because he's greedy and he loves money
and he's not actually rich toward God.
He's just into amassing wealth for himself.
So here's the thing about that.
You know, that answer of yeah, if you keep the commandments, you'll live is the same
thing that we're going to see here in Romans chapter two, except that it's impossible.
Okay.
And Romans chapter three is all about how it's impossible and how there's no one righteous.
Everybody's a sinner and both Jews, Gentiles, everybody's condemned and therefore everybody
needs to be saved through Jesus.
It's the only way to go to heaven.
You cannot go to heaven by being good because you're not good.
You cannot go to heaven by keeping the commandments because you don't keep the commandments and
no one does.
There's not a just man upon the earth that do a good and sin is not.
So the Bible says in verse seven to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek
for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, 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 do with evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile, but
glory, honor and peace to every man that work a good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile
for there's no respect of persons with God is saying, look, God is going to reward everyone
according to their works.
The good will be rewarded for the good and the evil will be rewarded worded for the evil.
But here's the thing though, no one is good in and of themselves.
No one keeps the commandments.
That's what's going to be explained in chapter three and that's going to be continued on
chapters four and five as well.
So you got to read the whole Bible, you got to read the whole book, you got to get the
whole context.
And so we as Christians, we're saved not by our works, not by keeping the commandments,
but because we have put our faith and trust in Jesus because we have believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Now that we're saved, God will reward us for the good that we do as well and we will receive
rewards when he comes and he will give every man according as his work shall be.
Whereas the unsaved will of course be punished with an eternity in hell and they will be
punished according to the works that they did.
Only the bad works will count against them.
Only the good works will count for us because all our sins are totally forgiven and all
of the good deeds of the unsaved are totally ignored and they get judged based on the sins
that they've done.
And so that's the way that works.
So Romans chapter number two, it says in verse 11 that there's no respect of persons with
God for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.
So again, what he's getting at here is that everybody is a sinner and that's what he's
going to ultimately come to in chapter three.
But here in chapter two, he's saying, look, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile,
you're still a sinner who's condemned and needs to be saved through Jesus.
Because he says in verse 13, not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
of the law shall be justified.
But again, don't take this out of context and say, oh, you know, justifications by doing
the law.
He's going to tell us later that by the works of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight.
Why?
Because we're all sinners.
But the idea here is that just being a Jew and having all these commandments and all
these laws that you supposedly abide by isn't enough to get you into heaven because you're
not doing it.
You're not actually following everything.
Do you think that there's any Jew in this world today that's following the Torah and
the mosaic law perfectly?
Absolutely not.
They're not even close.
Okay.
And so he's saying a being a hearer of the law doesn't justify you.
It's being a doer that would make you just.
And since you're not keeping the law perfectly, what does the Bible say?
Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point, he's guilty of all.
And so it's not enough to just do your best.
And when we're out knocking doors, preaching the gospel we built, that's what we hear.
Well, you got to try.
You got to do your best.
You know, you got to at least give it a shot.
That's not what the Bible says.
You have to keep the commandments, okay?
But we're all sinners.
We all come short.
That's where we get the grace of God by believing in Jesus in order to be saved.
And so the Bible says that the Jews aren't getting a pass just because they have the
law.
Okay.
And in fact, that would make them more liable and more guilty because under whom much is
given of him shall much be required.
That'd be like saying, oh, well, this person is going to go to heaven because they go to
church or they grew up in a Christian home.
No, they better make sure that they receive Christ as their personal savior and not just
rely on the fact that they grew up in a Christian family or went to church.
They have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves.
And the thing about that is that if they don't, if anything, they will be held more accountable
because they had so many opportunities and they were in church and they were called a
Christian and yet they did not take care of that.
They'll be even more punished.
Okay.
And it's the same thing with the Jews.
You know, they were given the oracles of God.
That's the advantage that they have as a Jew according to chapter three verse one.
And they squandered that they're going to get a greater punishment than the Gentiles
who don't know God.
And so he says in verse 14 for when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves.
Now what does that mean when it says, you know, the Gentiles, they don't have the law,
but by nature they do the things contained in the law.
Well think about it.
Let's say you have some Gentiles and they don't have the Mosaic law.
They're not thinking about 10 commandments, but don't you think that they probably would
say it's wrong to kill people?
It's wrong to commit adultery with another man's wife.
It's wrong to steal somebody else's stuff.
So what are they doing there by nature doing the things contained in the law even though
they don't have the law because that stuff is just ingrained in us as human beings.
We all as human beings instinctively know murder is wrong.
Even an atheist would say murder is wrong.
It's not because of religion.
It's not because of Moses, not because of God.
It's just obviously murder is wrong.
Obviously stealing is wrong.
The adultery is wrong.
And so that's what the Bible is saying.
You know, they, they do by nature of the things contained in the law.
And it says in verse 15, they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another.
I mean, they still judge right and wrong.
They, they, you know, condemn certain things.
They condone certain things, but this is without having the written word of God or 10 commandments
or the law of God.
They just instinctively have the work of the law written in their hearts be through the
conscience that every human being has.
And it says in the day when God should judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according
to my gospel, behold, thou art called a Jew and rest is in the law and make us thy boast
of God and knowest his will and approve is the things that are more excellent being instructed
out of the law and are confident that thou thyself are the guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness.
And this is kind of tongue in cheek.
He's like, wow, you know, you Jews are really hot stuff.
And you know, he understands cause he used to be there because he was a big shot in the
Jews religion before he got saved.
And so he understands how they think.
And he's saying like, oh, you know, you're this guide of the blind.
You're a light to them which are in darkness.
You're this Jew.
You rest in the law.
You make your boast in God.
Verse 20, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge
of the truth and the law.
But what he's getting at here is, you know, you Jews, you think you're so spiritual and
you're so righteous, but guess what?
You guys are sinful.
And in fact, you guys are so sinful that the Gentiles look at you guys and are actually
disgusted by how sinful you guys are and they actually end up blaspheming your God.
When they see that you're running all the pornography in Los Angeles, California and
they see that you're running human trafficking rings and that you're doing all this predatory
lending and they see you doing all this stuff, you know, it actually disgusts people who
aren't even Jewish, okay?
I'm kind of bringing that up to date a little bit because, you know, Los Angeles isn't really
on Paul's mind here.
But the Bible says here, you know, thou therefore which teacheth another, because you're this
teacher of the law, teacheth thou not thyself?
Thou that preacheth to man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Thou that sayeth to man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?
Thou that abhor recitals, dost thou commit sacrilege?
And so notice how verse 22 is kind of bringing us full circle back to verse number one, isn't
it?
Because in verse number one, it was talking about, you know, basically being a little
bit hypocritical where you think, well, these people are sinners, but I'm okay.
You know, Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer and Adolf Hitler, you know, those people are
in hell, but I'm okay.
And he's saying, well, you know what, you do some of the same things that those guys
do.
Even though you haven't done the worst possible things, you've done some of these other things
that they do as well, which makes you guilty before God.
Because even all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
the Bible says, and we've all lied before.
And so now he's kind of coming full circle to that thought, saying that the Jews are
actually being hypocrites because they talk so much about the law and they're so big on
the Torah and they really hammer that, but yet we don't see them living a lifestyle to
back that up.
We see them living a wicked life, even though they make this boast in the law.
And again, you know, there's no glory in having the law if you're not keeping the law.
And he says that they're basically known to, you know, steal, commit adultery, commit sacrilege.
Verse 23, thou that makest thy boast to the law through breaking the law dishonors thou
God, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written.
For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law, but if thou be a breaker of
the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
So he's saying that if you're physically circumcised, but you're not keeping the rest of the law,
that doesn't make you righteous.
You know, you're still sinful.
You're coming short.
And then he says, therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, should
not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision and should not uncircumcision, which is by
nature if it fulfilled the law, judge thee who by the letter and circumcision does transgress
the law?
For he's not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart
and the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of man, but of God.
And I want to just jump forward to one verse in chapter three, verse nine.
It says, what then?
Are we better than they?
No, in no wise, and here's the key, and this is a reference to chapter two.
He says, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin, as
it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
So when did he prove that the Jews are under sin?
Well, we just read it, how they make their boast in the law, but they don't actually
keep the law.
And you know, Jesus actually said this too while he was on this earth.
It's not like Paul is teaching something contrary to what Jesus said.
Jesus said, none of you keep the law in the Gospel of John.
He made that statement, none of you keep the law.
And here's the thing about this.
It says here, we before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin.
Where did he prove that the Gentiles are under sin?
And the answer to that is in verse 12 of chapter two, when it says, for as many as have sinned
without law, who is that?
Is that the Jews or the Gentiles?
It's the Gentiles, right?
Because they don't have the Mosaic law, they don't have the law of God.
And so, as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.
And so that's where he can say, we before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're
all under sin.
And that's the whole point of chapter two is saying, look, it's not just the worst people,
these horrible reprobates that are guilty before God, but it's every single person that
is guilty before God.
And that's also why it says in verse number, let's see, chapter three, where he says that
all the world may become guilty before God.
I lost my place.
What verse is that?
Somebody help me out.
19, yeah.
Now we know that what things so ever the law saith it, say to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
That's the idea in chapter two is like, it's not just the worst people, but all the world
is guilty before God.
The judgment of God is upon all sinners, whether they're Jew or Gentile, whether they're circumcised
or uncircumcised, it doesn't matter.
Anyone who is a sinner is going to be punished for their sins.
But the good news is that through Jesus Christ and the fact that he already died on the cross
for our sins, shed his blood, he was buried and rose again.
Our sins can be forgiven and forgotten.
And as far as the east is from the west, so far will God separate us from our sins.
He'll put all our sins behind his back.
Our sins and iniquities will he remember no more.
That's what salvation is.
And so when you actually read and understand Romans chapter two, the idea of being saved
by works or keeping the commandments is absurd.
And it always just kind of blows my mind when people say this to me, like, like, who are
you fooling?
Who are you kidding?
Like when they say, well, you know, keep the commandments or here's what always cracks
me up too when they say, oh, oh, how do you be saved?
Well, you just have to live like Jesus.
Well, good luck with that.
Like like, so here's a, here's, here's a person who's totally without sin.
The greatest human being who has ever lived on this earth, who's perfect in every way,
tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
And say, I'll just live like Jesus.
You just got to live like him.
Oh, is that all?
That's great.
When do I start?
That's crazy.
But you know what?
This is the spiritual blindness that is upon the unsaved.
They can't even understand how dumb that is and how foolish that and how it makes no sense
to sit there and say, well, live like Jesus and you'll be saved.
Keep the commandments and you'll be saved.
No one could meet that standard.
And so here's what you'll find.
You'll find that people who believe in this workspace, salvation or salvation by keeping
the commandments, they set the bar for righteousness really low because they're basically saying
that's where it takes to get into heaven.
So you have to bring it down so that all the people that they like are going to heaven
and then, you know, but they put the bar in a place where like Charles Manson and Adolf
Hitler aren't going to make the cut.
Okay.
But you know what though is that in fact the bar is extremely high in the Bible where God
demands perfection and says that if you keep the whole law and you're defending one point,
you're guilty of all and that God has hundreds and hundreds of commandments and very strict
standards.
Those of us that are actually saved, you know, we acknowledge God's high standard of righteousness
and we strive for that high standard of righteousness and that's what we're growing toward and striving
for.
And we know though that we're never going to quite achieve it in this lifetime are we?
Now we can clean up our lives.
We can be better this year than we were last year.
And obviously if we love the Lord, we're going to want to keep his commandments and we want
to do right.
We want to receive rewards.
We don't want to receive chastisement for our sins.
And so yeah, we can get better and grow and we can achieve higher levels of righteousness
and goodness in our lives.
But we know that the standard is Jesus and that he is way beyond us and we're never going
to hit that standard.
Right?
You know, we just keep trying and we just keep trying to do better, but we're never
going to get there.
Okay.
And the point is that we are actually preaching a high level of righteousness because we're
not tying it to salvation because we know that salvation is a free gift and that we're
already saved just by believing in Christ and that whether we try to achieve that level
of righteousness or not, we're still saved.
You know, I could never go to church again and I'll still go to heaven.
I could walk out here and never set foot in another church for the rest of my life and
I would still be saved and I would still go to heaven.
I could never read my Bible again and I'd still go to heaven because I'm not saved by
works.
I'm not saved by going to church, reading my Bible, praying, doing good deeds.
You know, whether you go to church on Sunday night or whether you go to the bar on Sunday
night is not the deciding factor for whether or not you're saved.
It is whether you have fully trusted the Lord Jesus Christ or say it's whether you've believed
on his death, burial and resurrection as your way to heaven.
That's what determines whether or not you're saved.
Okay.
And if you've believed on Christ, there's nothing you could ever do to lose your salvation.
Nothing could separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
He's given us eternal life.
We shall never perish.
We shall never come into condemnation.
We've been passed from death unto life.
He will say to the unsaved someday, depart from me.
I never knew you, but here's the thing.
If we go out and live a life of sin, there's a consequence for that, but it's not hell.
The consequence for that come on this earth whom the Lord loveth, he chaseneth and scourges
every son whom he receiveth.
And so you're going to face consequences in this life for your sins.
You're going to be punished on this earth in this life.
If you go out as a Christian and do a bunch of sinful things, I'm not saying you're going
to get away with it.
I'm not saying there's no consequence.
It's just the consequences are here and now, not in heaven and hell because heaven and
hell is based on whether you're not, whether or not you believe in Jesus.
Okay.
And so it's that simple is that we end up preaching a higher standard standard of righteousness,
but we're saying, hey, shoot for that standard because you love God.
Not because, oh, I'm scared I'm going to hell so I need to clean up my act.
No, we, we serve God not out of fear of hell because I'm not afraid of going to hell cause
I'm not going.
So then what would cause me to keep God's commandments?
Number one, because I love God.
Number two, because I want to be a good testimony for other people because I want to help them
to be saved and I want them to take me seriously and if they see me living a wicked life, the
name of God is going to be blasphemed among the Gentiles through me and I don't want that
to happen.
So I want to have that good testimony.
Number three, I don't want to receive that chastisement.
I don't want God scourging me, so I want to do the right things.
And number four, I want to earn rewards when I get to heaven.
So there are a lot of reasons to keep the commandments, but getting to heaven is not
one of them because I'm already going to heaven because I've believed in Jesus.
And that's why it's so ironic, but you'll run into these people who say, well, you can't
just live however you want and go to heaven and they're literally living however they
want.
I mean, I remember I, I worked at a pizza place when I was a teenager and this guy is
just drinking, fornicating, whatever, he's Roman Catholic.
And then I'm, I gave him the gospel and he's like, no, you can't just live however you
want.
And I'm thinking like, here I am, I'm not fornicating, I'm not drinking, I'm actually
going to church and following the Bible, I'm not perfect, obviously.
And then you who are just constantly out doing these big sins of drunkenness and fornication
are telling me, hey, you can't just live however you want.
It's ironic, but why does that so?
Because basically if you believe that salvation is my work, you have to set the bar super
low and start justifying fornication, justifying drinking, justifying all the things you do
and basically saying that they're not sins.
This isn't a sin, this isn't a sin, because you have to claim that you don't, and, and
then the things that you admit are sins, you're going to go to some guy in a dress and tell
him about that and then he's going to have you say some Hail Marys or whatever and fix
everything.
It's garbage.
Okay.
But isn't it ironic that, that fundamentalist Baptists and Evangelical Christians who believe
that salvation is free, isn't it interesting that the denominations and churches that believe
that salvation is the freest and the easiest actually live the strictest?
Isn't that interesting?
Because you think that like, oh, you know, if salvation is totally free and it's not
by commandments, not by works, that basically we would be the loosest living people ever
because we just know we're going to heaven and, but isn't it ironic that churches like
ours and many other churches that are preaching the gospel, isn't it interesting that the
same people who preach hard on sin and are strict about things are the same people that
are saying salvation is free.
Basically it's like, I don't have to go to church to be saved, but I'm going to go three
times a week.
Meanwhile some Catholics are like, you have to go to church to be saved.
He goes like twice a year or something.
Maybe once a week, probably twice a year, five times a year.
Well you got to go to church because you got to go see the priest and say, yeah, it's been,
you know, uh, 19 months since my last confession or whatever.
Okay.
It's ironic, but it makes sense when you realize that if you're going to believe salvation
by works, you're gonna have to really lower the bar and make it like really easy to hit
that standard.
Whereas we make the standard super high, but we've just come to terms with the fact that
we don't hit it.
And you know what that's called humility.
Humility that sits there and says, Hey, I'm not God.
I'm not Jesus.
I mean, what kind of audacity is it to say I live like Jesus?
Wow.
You that, I mean that's pretty prideful and arrogant to think that you're actually living
a life on par with the life of Jesus Christ.
Who do you think you are?
It's crazy, right?
We're humble and say, you know what?
We're guilty.
We're centered.
It's only by the grace of God that we're saved and it's of the Lord's mercies that we're
not consumed.
Great is his faithfulness.
His mercies are new every morning.
We're constantly relying on the mercy and grace of God.
We're constantly praying and saying, God, I know I don't deserve this, but can you help
me out?
You know what I mean?
Like we're, we're constantly coming to God humbly versus an attitude that says, well,
I'm a pretty good person.
I haven't done anything that bad, you know, and since I'm living like Jesus and keeping
all the commandments, I think I'll go to heaven.
You see the difference there?
And so Romans chapter two, the key message from start to finish is the judgment of God
upon all sinners, right?
The judgment of God on all sinners, regardless of how good they are or how bad they are.
Jew, Gentile, circumcised, God's judgment is upon all sinners.
You don't have to be a reprobate to be going to hell, okay?
All sinners are under the judgment of God, but the good news is that the free gift of
salvation is available to all.
And so the book of Romans is so powerful because it sort of builds this case, you know, starting
chapter one to chapter two, chapter three, and it builds this logical progression that
gets us to salvation by faith.
You know, first he just out of the gate said it's by faith, but then it really drives it
in in chapter three after he lays this foundation in chapter two, because here's the thing,
you know, it's hard to understand salvation until you understand the condemnation.
Because if somebody said, I got saved, you know, the obvious question that would come
to mind is like saved from what?
So you know, it's saved from God's judgment upon sin, God's wrath upon sin, and ultimately
that culminates in going to hell when you die.
And so Romans chapter two is a chapter that could be easily misunderstood if taken out
of context, but when it's nestled in there between chapters one and three, it gives a
powerful truth about the fact that God's judgment is upon all sinners.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, and I pray that this sermon was informative
and helpful, Lord, and I pray that none of us would be prideful and arrogant.
And Lord, it's so easy for us to look at the worst scum and pat ourselves on the back
because we're not Charles Manson or something.
But Lord, instead of looking at the worst reprobates and comparing ourselves to them,
we should compare ourselves to you and the standard set in your word, and we would all
be humble and realize that we all come short.
And Lord, if anybody here this morning is not saved, I pray that they would put all
of their faith and trust in Jesus before it is eternally too late.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.