joy that we can come and sing how great thou art and that you love people like us Father, what a blessing that we truly are in Christ, that our union is in Christ, Lord, that we are in communion with him and into fellowship with him. And we thank you and praise you for what you have done in our lives, Lord. I praise you that we are able to come Here Lord today and and worship you and I just ask father that you Would be pleased with our worship Lord in our singing our giving and in the preaching of your word Father now, I just ask that you would help me As we go through this next section of your word Lord that it would be clear that it would be understood that we would see the beauty and glory of what Christ has truly done for us and Father, that we would have understanding. Please come and convict us where we need to be convicted. Lord, save those who need to be saved. Father, we also ask your mercies upon those who are traveling. We ask your mercies on those who are home healing. And we ask your mercies on those who are here today healing. And we just praise you for those who are here today that our healing lord that what a testimony is to your mercy and to your grace and to your love for your children so father we just ask that this would glorify you in your name amen So we've been kind of going through this section of you know of God's judgment God's wrath If you haven't been here we started in verse 18 through of chapter 1 through verse 32 talks about man's utter depravity how far man has fallen from worshiping the creature rather than the Creator to our perversions sexuality to just utter rebellion against everything and Then we hit chapter 2 where we have where we have seen God's perfect judgment That his judgment is absolutely perfect because he is absolutely perfect. And last week, we saw that he judges with no impartiality. There is no favoritism with God. And we've read these verses, Acts 1034 says, So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality. and then in Galatians 2 6 it says and from those who seem to be influential what they were makes no difference to me God shows no partiality and we saw last week that this partiality is that God will judge the unbeliever according to their works their deeds that they do and he will judge the believer according to the works that they do after we've been saved And so now that brings us to Romans 12, 12 through 16. But I want to read from 1 through 16 because it gives us context and it keeps us in the context. And that's what we have to do. We have to remember that Paul's thought process is in Romans 118 and it goes to 321, his process of his thinking through. So let's start with 2, 1. He says, therefore, You are without excuse. This is after he goes through the whole depravity of man. He says, You are without excuse, O man, everyone who passes judgment. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same thing. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you presume this, O man, who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and does the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will repay to each according to his works, to those who by perseverance and doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality, eternal life. but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and anger. There will be affliction and turmoil for every soul of man who works out evil of the Jew first and then of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearer of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law naturally do the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a lot of themselves, in that they demonstrate the works of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. On the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. So today again we see two groups that God shows no partiality to. We see those without the law and we see those under the law. Those without the law, that's the Gentiles. That's the rest of the world as Paul is talking to Jew and Gentile and they will perish without the law. Now we see this in Romans 2 12 for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law meaning this word perish. It means It means to die. It means to destroy. This doesn't mean annihilation. It doesn't mean that you will completely not exist anymore. That you've been annihilated. That's not what Paul is saying here. He is saying that those that will perish, they will die. Their disobedience, they will die a spiritual death. They will be in hell. They will be conscious. what is happening to them they will be conscious of the wrath of God and Jesus taught in Matthew 10 28 and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell This is the one we're supposed to fear is God because he can perfectly do this. We're not to fear man because all man can do is destroy the body, but God can do both body and soul in hell. And Jesus also in Matthew 13, 42 says, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is what hell is supposed to be like, where there is weeping and this gnashing of teeth. There will be this constant cry of rebellion against God in hell. It will not be a pleasant place whatsoever. Those are without the law. They will perish without the law. Then those under the law will be judged by the law. This is the Jew. Now, why will they be judged by the law? Well, they were the ones that first had the law, right? When we go back into Exodus, this is what God gives to Moses, is the law, and he takes it to the Israelites. They were the first one to have God's written word, essentially. They had what God said to them. In Romans 3, 1 and 2, Paul says this, and what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way, to begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. They had the Word of God. They had the Torah. The Bible hadn't been written yet. And this was specifically for the Jew. The Canaanites didn't have it. The Jebusites didn't have it. The Amorites didn't have it. The Philistines didn't have it. But the Jews had it. They had God's written law of what God wanted them to do. What do you want them to be obedient to? They had the sacrificial laws. They had the ceremonial laws. They had the jubilees. They had all the laws and what God wanted. Romans 9 3 puts it this way for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers my kinsmen now this is he's talking about the Jews according to the flesh they are Israelites and to them belong The adoption the glory the covenants were theirs within the law the giving of the law was theirs the worship of God because of his word and the promises to them belong the Patriarchs where we get? Abraham Isaac and Jacob and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ Jesus was a Jew He came from the tribe of Judah who is God overall blessed forever. Amen. They had it and They knew what God wanted. They knew what God required. And they had this. And they will be judged by the law. Because they knew the law. Listen to Deuteronomy 27, 26. Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say amen. They were commanded to do them. And in Galatians 3.10, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by the things written in the book of the law and do them. They were to be obedient to them. It was their guideline. Paul writes, he writes that it's not the one who just hears the law, but it's the one who does the law is the one who's justified. They were to be doers of the word, just not hearers of the word. That was what they were supposed to do. In Deuteronomy 4.1, Moses puts it this way. And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes, this is a law, and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them. that you may live and go in and take possession of the land. In Deuteronomy 5, 1, And Moses summoned all of Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. And in Deuteronomy 6, 3, Here therefore, O Israel, be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your father, has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey. They had the law. They were to not only listen to them, but they were to do them. They were to be obedient to what God told them to do. Now, how does that look for you and I? Well, we can be very superficial Christians. Very superficial Christians. I want you to hear this and understand this. Coming today or coming to church and hearing the word at church can just make you superficial. Listening to a sermon or listening to podcasts can make you superficial. Going to a Bible study and listening to the Bible study can make you superficial. Listening to Christian music can make you superficial. None of these make you a true believer. They just make you a very good listener of the Bible and listener of the Word. Notice Jesus says those who hear my voice. There's a difference between listening and hearing. We can be good listeners but never hear a single thing that's said. Do you hear what is said? We can do all these things. Churches are full of them, right? Churches are full of people that just think they come on Sunday and they've done their thing. I'm good with God because I've come on Sunday. I went, I sang, I gave, I listened. Churches are full of them. They are full of people that think they're safe from the judgment of God that is coming. and they're really not safe. They deceive themselves. That's what James says when they deceive themselves in James 1, 22 through 25, he says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. By looking in the mirror, he judges himself by the man in the mirror. This is what he does. He deceives himself. I go to church. I look in the mirror. I go to church. I go to Bible study I listen to Christian music and then he walks away. He's the judge of himself because he looks in the mirror He doesn't look at the perfect law of God and sees that that is what will judge him Not what's in the mirror. Jesus talks about this in his preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. He talks about the one who does and the one who doesn't. In Matthew 7, 21 through 27, Jesus puts it this way. Not everyone who says to me, this is the scariest passage in the Bible, according to me. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does, who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your names and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Then Jesus goes on to say everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell when the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house But it fell and great was the fall of it Brothers and sisters, it's just Jesus simple words Not everyone who calls me Lord Will enter the kingdom of heaven But only those who do the will of my father. I mean think about that Think about the things that that people say like they said we we prophesize in your name Lord. I I preached in your name. I taught in your name We did all these great works in your name we gave to the missions we did this we did that all in your name and then Jesus says but I never knew you You see, brothers and sisters, it's not who we think we know, it's who knows us that matters. Being a doer of the word, that is what matters. You see, the storm that Jesus talks about, the storm that Jesus talks about, that's Him. He's coming. He's the storm that's coming. Where are you rooted? Are you rooted on the rock so when the storm comes, when he comes, you hold? Or are you in the sand? And when that storm of him coming will devour you? It's where we're rooted, it's what we're doing. We're rooted because we are doers of the word. Now what does this mean, doers of the word? This is for Jew and Gentile alike. It means we come to God in repentance. We hear the message preached. We hear Christ proclaimed. We hear Christ crucified for the sinner. and we come in repentance because we hear Christ call us, because we feel the Holy Spirit move us, we know he's regenerated us, we confess our sin, we repent. This is being a doer of the word. Galatians 3.24, so then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. We realize we cannot keep the law perfectly. We can't keep any of it perfectly. God's righteous law is impossible to keep perfectly, unless you're God himself. That is what Jesus is. We realize this. For whoever keeps the whole law, in James 2.10, but fails in one point, has become guilty of it all. Oh, well, I don't covet, but did you lie? Yes. Well, then you're guilty of the whole thing. Well, I don't lie. Yeah, but do you have another God before any other God? Oh, yeah, I do have an idols. Well, then you're guilty of the whole law. You have to keep it perfectly every single bit perfectly. Those who are obedient to Christ, when we are doers of the word, we're obedient of Christ because of our love for Christ. First John tells us that he first loved us. That's why we love him. In John 14, 15, he says, if you love me, you will keep my commands. my commandments John 14 21 whoever has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him we have to remember that it's not the doing it's not being a doer that justifies us We do because we already are justified. Christ has done all the justifying work on the cross. We have been declared righteous before God. We are just before him. We are no longer guilty before him. And that is our motivation to go and be a doer of the word. And it was the same for the Jews, as we will see in chapter 4, where it was by faith we were justified. Abraham was justified by faith. It was the same thing. Nothing's changed, brothers and sisters. They were to be doers of the Word because of what God had done for them, likewise with us. But the Gentiles, because they had the law, we have the law, we have the written word of God. But the Gentiles didn't have it at that time. So they could easily come up with an excuse. We don't have the law. We didn't have it. What do we do when we don't have it? You can't hold me accountable, God. I didn't have your Bible. I didn't have your Torah. I never had the ability to read your word. How can you hold me accountable? How can you judge me with no partiality when I didn't have what the Jews had? That's a great question. And Paul has a great answer. Listen to Romans 2, 14 and 15. He says, for when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the works of the law is written on their hearts. So then, why are the Gentiles then condemned? Why are they under God's perfect judgment? Why are they under God's wrath? Four things, quickly. They have a knowledge of the law. That's what Romans 2 14 says for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires They are a lot of themselves, even though they do not have the law. They know the law They have a natural revelation of who God is and we saw that in Romans 1 18 through 20 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them. This is the ones without the law. What can be known to them is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, mainly his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. So the Gentile can come and say, God, I didn't have your law. I had no knowledge of your law, no knowledge of who you were. And he's going to look and say, did you open your eyes? Did you look around? Did you see what was going on when we just even simply look at one another? We are God's design. We are created in him image. Every one of us bear his image. Every baby that's born bears his image. By nature we know this. They not only know because of their knowledge of the law, but their behavior. Their behavior, again, 2.14, from when Gentiles, who do not have a law by nature, do what the law requires. By their nature, they do this. Think about the unbeliever. They can do what's right. They can be generous. They can be kind. They can be gentle. They can be loving. They can do these things. They are people who do not steal. They do not murder. They do not commit the physical act of adultery. They can write the good on there. Oh, I don't do that. Well, I don't covet. I don't covet my neighbor's wife or my neighbor's truck or my neighbor's donkey, depending on where you live. They can be this way, the unsaved, right? The unbeliever can be this way. But what this proves is that the work of the law is written on their hearts. When they do the very thing that the law says to do, it proves that the works of the law are written on their hearts. Third, we see that there is a conscience. In Romans 2.15, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. There's a conscience, this moral conscience of right and wrong, a Jiminy Cricket. Right? Everybody knows Pinocchio. Right? He had this little cricket dude, Jiminy Cricket, and that was his what? His conscience. Right? Telling him what was right and what was wrong. We all have that. That's in us. We're born with that. We don't have to develop that. But what can happen is the conscience can become seared. That's what Paul talks about in first Timothy four one. He says now the spirit expressively says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. who forbid marriage, require abstinence from food that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. And in Titus 1.15, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. We know that, right? We have family members that know what's right, what's wrong. They're not believers. This is what Paul is writing. The unbeliever is under God's perfect judgment because God's made it evident to him what is right and what is wrong. That's what it is. Their thoughts show that they are guilty. They have the capability to think through stuff. Man has the capability to think through what is right or what is wrong. We can decipher things. We can figure puzzles out. We can do these things. The unbeliever knows that lying is not good, but honesty is. Right? The unbeliever knows that helping people in need is a good thing. They know that child abuse is no good. They know that if they're married that sleeping with someone else's spouse is not good. They know that spousal abuse is not good. And these are four reasons that will condemn them. That's what Paul writes. They're not innocent because they didn't have the law, but because of their very actions by nature, they do what the law says. Therefore, they become the law unto themselves. And they will be judged perfectly, just like the Jews who had the law. There is no one that will escape God's judgment. The unbeliever and the Jew alike. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Everyone's missed the mark. And in Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. Therefore Romans 2 16 on that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets the secret men by Christ He will judge the secret of the man's heart what you and I Think we can cover up what the unbeliever thinks he can conceal within his heart to keep secret on that day of judgment Will be revealed and will be brought out. I Can you imagine that? Because I know I can go from 0 to 150 of being wicked like that. I can have a wicked thought like that. So fast. I can have a wicked thought. And God knows that. You might not know that, but God knows that. He searches all hearts. He knows what's in your heart. He knows what's in the unbeliever's heart. He knows your heart. And He understands every plan and thought of your heart. This should scare the dickens out of us. I don't know where they get dickens. But anyways, that's what we, this should scare us that he knows the depths of our heart. Even David in Psalms 139 says this, Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down, when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my paths and my lying down and are acquainted with all of my ways This is the omniscience the all-knowingness of our God He knows when we sit down when we lie up. He knows every word on our tongue before we even say it This should be frightening for the unbeliever Because this is what you will be judged for Every careless word that you say and it should be frightening for the believer because we know how wicked we can be Jeremiah 1710 I the Lord search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways according to the fruit of his deeds I Again, just more concrete evidence of the word saying what God does when he searches the heart And God will judge all of this with his judge his perfect judge Jesus will be the perfect judge in Acts 10 42 it says and he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead And in Acts 17 31 again because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man Whom he has appointed and of thus he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead This is Jesus the perfect righteous judge 2nd Timothy 4 1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is judge the living and the dead by the appearing of his kingdom judge perfectly by Jesus Christ. So brothers and sisters we can see through the scriptures that God's judgment is perfect. He shows no partiality Paul mainly here he is in these verses from 118 to 216 that we're looking at he's talking about the unbelieving world He's talking about the heathen. He's talking about the pagan. He's talking about the one who is unsaved that this is the state that they are in and that God's wrath is over them and ready to devour them. This is why as we sit here today as believers, the gospel is so precious to us. This is why Jesus is so marvelous and so excellent because this is who you and I were We were the ones who worshiped the creature and not the Creator We were the one who? Delved in this sexual perversion stuff. We were the ones who presumed upon God's goodness and kindness This is who we were but that's not who we are now I We are the ones who see that God's wrath has been poured out on Christ and we praise him because it wasn't poured out on us. We see that Christ took the whole cup of God's wrath on that cross for our sin. We worship the Creator now and not the creature. We have conviction over sin because the Holy Spirit lives in us. We have a repentant heart. We no longer presume on the goodness and kindness of God, but we see his goodness and his kindness in the death of Christ. This is who we are now. This is the good news of the gospel. The gospel tells you and I that we are no longer condemned because Jesus was condemned. That you and I are no longer affected by the power of sin or the penalty of sin. That's what Christ has done on the cross. He took the power of sin away. He took the penalty of sin away. The unbeliever sits under both of those. He has no power to escape sin. That's all he knows how to do is sin. And the penalty of sin is still there. The wages of sin is death. But for us, it's the second part. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. That's where we are. Because He paid that price for us. We are no longer under the power or penalty of sin. We are children of God. We are heirs of the kingdom. We are brothers with Christ This is who you are brothers and sisters. This is your identity if you are in Sunday school This is who you are. You are a child of God You are a saint of his you are a holy one. Do you still sin? Yeah, you still sin, but it doesn't change how God sees you he sees you as he sees Christ and This is who you are. You are a saint. You are a holy one. You are justified, sanctified, redeemed, reconciled and glorified. This is where you are. This is who you and I have become because of the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we're obedient to who to what he calls us to do. Because we are his children. And finally, we await the return of Christ. This is at home. This isn't home. Oh, will we stand at the judgment seat of Christ? Yes, brothers and sisters, we will. We saw that last week. We will stand before Christ as judge for what we have done in the works of the body. But we will still enter heaven. because of what he has done, because he has given us the gift to repent, he's given us the gift of faith, and he has called us to himself. Don't forget we are his bride. That is who we are. When we have friends and family members that are not believers, we should be praying unceasingly for them. We should be praying all the time for them. Pray without ceasing for them. Because of these verses that we've gone through, God's righteous, perfect judgment will fall upon them. and his wrath will not be kindled. It will be a burning, hot, white wrath that will be continually poured out on them in hell for eternity. But for the believer, it is grace and mercy. It is compassion. It is the love of God and Christ Jesus that will be poured out in us Amen Let's pray Lord. Thank you again For who we are Thank you for your love for us Thank you for your goodness to us Lord. Thank you for your warnings in Scripture Thank you, Lord, for inspiring the Apostle Paul to write such a tremendous letter, Lord, to show us the utter depravity of man and your perfect judgment on them. Father, thank you for saving us from our depravity. Thank you for saving us from your wrath, from your condemnation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Father, may he become even more precious to us today as we see that he has drank that full cup of your wrath for us. In your name.