Is God's Judgment Fair?

main argument - All people stand guilty, only a changed heart saves. - God will judge us based on the knowledge we have, but all have enough knowledge to condemn not to save. Hving the law is not enough because we fail to keep it and are condemned. what we need is a changed heart.

argument for the people - we all know our guilt so ask God to change you

Gospel - If the sign of the covenant is a matter of the heart we need to ask Jesus for a pure heart.

Matthew 12, Matthew 15

Intro

Imagine you have two students in the same class.

One of the students grew up in a home with no books, no tutors, and almost no formal education. He still fails the final exam. The teacher doesn’t lower the standard just because he had less opportunity. He is graded according to what he did know and how he used the knowledge he had.

The other student grew up with private tutors, the best textbooks, and constant reminders of the material. He also fails the final exam. Having more knowledge and better resources does not help him—it actually increases his accountability. His greater knowledge only makes his failure more serious.

Both students stand condemned by the same standard of justice: they are graded according to the light they received.

Then the teacher offers something neither student can earn: a complete change of heart and mind so that they can actually pass—not by trying harder with the same old heart, but by receiving a new one.

“Having the degree (or the Law) does not automatically mean you know more or live better. Sometimes the person with less formal advantage ends up seeing more clearly. But in God’s courtroom, both the credentialed and the uncredentialed are still judged by what they actually did with the light they received.”

what is needed is a new heart. We may think it unfair that God judges the way that he does, Is God being fair in Judgeing the way that He does? for he sees passt the hypocrasy and the walls we put up and looks to the heart of the matter.

2:12-16 - We all know we are guilty

Point Intro

First Paul shot down Idolatry, people that are focused on the creation rather then the creator. Even people who add both Jesus and the creation in to cover all their bases. they are guilty of going against the good news of the gospel.

out of this came the second great lie, moralism. people thinking they are good enough to get their way into heaven. Like profs that grade on a curve, you think that God will take into acocunt your good deeds when you have not given your life to Him. Even believeing the teaching that Hell doesnt

after this there are a couple of things left before Paul gets into the one true way that we may become righteouss. One of them is the idea that as a jew, you could get into heaven automatically by following the law of God, being descended from Abraham. and the other side of that, what about those who have never had the law of God?

God’s judgement is fair, no matter hwat side of the coin you are on, because we are all guilty.

Romans 2:12–13 CSB

12 For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

This grows out of the previous verse, that God shows no partiallity. Think of it this way, that God’s Judgement is according to the light people have.

There are those who do not have the law, who did not know all that God required, they will peris and be judged veen though they did not have the law of God. There are those that did know, they will be judged accordingly held to a higher standard but yet still judged. Whether you have the law or not, you will perish because you have sinned.

The gentiles who did not know the law are guilty of breaking the law still and are therfore guilty of breaking it. No one can claim they have kept the law perfectly. you may be a doer of the law, but as we have seen no one can even keep it perfectly. We have the instructions, we know what to do but we fail at keeping it and therfore need something more.

( talk about the medical reciepts audt we had - I missed the email saying we owed money, yet I was still at fault because they did notify me even if I failed to see iot for that) My ignorance of the audit was no excuse for not doing what the law required of me.

The Law of God was simply too demanding and their ability to keep that law was woefully inadequate. Everyday, many “good” Catholics and Muslims and Mormons enter into an eternity of punishment because they lacked the right rules and the ability to keep them. But likewise, many “good” Jews enter punishment as well though they heard the correct Law. Because it matters only if they actually keep the Law, Paul says. To prove his point, Paul raises the example of a Gentile who knows nothing of the Law of Moses, yet instinctively conforms his life to the Law’s requirements 

Romans 2:14–16 CSB

14 So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them 16 on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

This goes back to the idea that what can be known about the God and His divine power can be seen in the world around us. We all are guilty and we know it whether we admit it or not.

Gentiles, without the law, are in the same position as the jews for they show they know God to a certain extent.

Jews will be held to a higher standard because they have the law, Gentiels do not have the law and will be held lower but still guilty. the only way to be saved by the law is to perfectly follow the law.

Even without the written Mosaic Law, Gentiles sometimes “do by nature the things of the Law.” This shows that “the work of the Law is written on their hearts.” Their conscience acts as an internal witness, accusing or defending them. On the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of people through Christ Jesus “according to my gospel.” This is not saying Gentiles can be saved by obeying their conscience. The larger argument is that everyone fails the standard they have been given.

the basic requirements for the law is stamped on our hearts. The point is fairness: God judges according to the light given. Jews cannot claim the Gentiles get a free pass, and Gentiles cannot claim ignorance. None of us can claim ignorance. There are people, like the theologian Karl Rahner, who claim that God will judge people based on the knowledge they have been given, so some people can iessentially be given a free pass because they just didnt know better and they did the best they could. But here it is clear that we are all without excuse as we have learned.

You have been given the knowledge and we will be held accountable

God judges all people fairley, those with more knowledge like the jews who had the law wil be held to a higher standard, those that have not been given the law will be held to a lower standard but stil be held accountable. But how is that fair? Giod tells us that he has given us all a conscience, something written on our hearts that tell us we are all guilty. But in many cases what do people do? They don’t listen to that little voice. And because they don’t listen to that voice, they have what we call a guilty conscience. Their conscience is now accusing them. It’s testifying to them that what they’ve done and perhaps what they continue to do is wrong. Yet so often, even then they keep right on doing it. 

think of those who grew up in the church and still do wrong. I was guilty of that. I didnt listen all that well to the pastor, or my parents and failed to uphold the standard God had set out like we all have. we lal need to get to the point that we are all guilty, we have been given the knowledge we need and have failed to uphold it. God’s judgement is therfore fair. This is key to start embracing the message of the gospel. We are in need of it.

2:17-24 - We say one thing and do another

We have seen how God can judge someone who may not have been given the word of God, but what about those who seem to practice the law perfectly, or so it may seem. Can you be good enough. Can you be told to go do good, go say certain things and then God will absolve you as if by those very deeds you may be saved from your own depravity?

Romans 2:17–24 CSB

17 Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law— 21 you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal? 22 You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Boasting on the law is empty when you are a hypocrite. the moralist/Jew has no excuse. Having the Law and teaching it does not equal keeping it. Hypocrisy is the issue.

Did you know that it is possible to go to church your whole life, cook for potluks, teach sunday school, go through all the right motions and not even have a right relationship with Jesus? You might go through the motions like this when others are watching and do the same thing you preach not to do when no one else is looking?

Paul is focusing on Jewish nomianism as his example, but this description would apply equally to every law-keeping religion. Other systems of nomianism simply change the nouns in that sentence  Or we could say, “You who bear the name ‘Muslim' and rely upon the Qur’an and boast in Allah.” Or “You call yourself ‘Mormon’ and rely on the Book of Mormon and boast in Moroni” In all cases, it’s conceit and self-righteousness.

Has the presence of the law in the lives of the Jewish people in itself produced righteoussness? We say we do the right things, do good things but do we fulfill them all the time?

Paul quotes in v.24 from Isaiah 52:5 where the prophet described this very behavior in his day Israel was blaspheming God before the Gentile nations (who lacked the Law) by their failure to keep the Law So if God declares that those who fail to keep His law are blasphemers, then what prospect did those Jews have of reaching Heaven? Wasn’t their eternal future in jeopardy though they attempted to keep the Law? What does that say about our prospects for the same?

if we where to write a resume in a sense to God to apply for heaven what would we put in it? went to church most of my life, fed the hungry, gave to the poor, helped at bible camp? would that earn us a place amongst the saints in Glory?

Sincerity + religious identity + knowledge of the Law + outward rituals are not enough. We know thisBut

2:25-29 - How is your heart

Having the law will beof now advantage to you if you fail to keep it. Nor is trying to remain in ignorance of it because evben then the law of god is written on our hearts. even if we claim to not have been given the word of God. We all stand under the judgement of God. what we need then is a changed heart.

Romans 2:25–29 CSB

25 Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

Paul, for one, is not saying obedient Gentiles replace ethnic Israel as “true Jews” in a replacement-theology sense. The point is that external markers without heart reality count for nothing before God. Genuine membership in God’s people has always required a transformed heart (faith that produces obedience).

the theme of lacking the glory of God, the emptiness of external advantages without internal reality, and the call to heart transformation—truths that prepare the way for justification by faith and the Spirit-empowered life that follows.

Our identity has no advantage if it has not affected our hearts.

If the sign of the covenant is a matter of the heart we need to ask Jesus for a pure heart.

In short: religious identity, knowledge of Scripture, and outward signs are gifts, but they cannot save. God looks at the heart. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ produces the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit that makes someone truly belong to God’s people.

how then have you responded to the light of Jesus you have been given?

application - for those that grew up in the church - you have been given the knowledge and therefore will be held accountable accordingly.

Sincerity + religious identity + knowledge of the Law + outward rituals are not enough. You may be sincere, but you are not sinless. Everyone still falls short and needs the grace of Jesus. This is not just about Jewish people—it applies to any religious person who trusts in their heritage, knowledge, or practices instead of a heart changed by God.

So on Hell’s death row we find murderers seated next to those who hate and those who use profanity and those who call another a fool

If calling someone a fool is a disqualifying offense for heaven, then who can qualify?

Clearly, systems based on personal performance aren’t going to make us righteous enough

If anything, they simply expose our sin and leave us more vulnerable to judgment

And so we must look for another solution, a changed heart.