The Great Divide

Romans 2:6–11 ESV

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

INTRODUCTION

FAIRNESS

Justice - Fairness. From the time you are

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JUDGMENT WITH ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES

The first thing that we pick up from this passage, is that the subject we’re dealing with here, is JUDGMENT. In fact, as you carefully look at v. 6-11, you see that there’s a very clear structure here.

Oh friend, when you read Scripture, read it carefully, look at the context and pick up the clues God gives you in His Word. I don’t mean ‘look for HIDDEN meanings’ - that you can only find if you figure out some kind of formula - like if you take the Greek letters and find the numerical equivalent of those letters and add up the numbers of the letters in the word - you’ll figure out the name of the Dragon in Revelation .... You’ve heard the theories of meanings hidden in the Bible that you can only figure out if you decipher the secret code ....

No, God doesn’t hide meanings for a select few to discover - and then make money writing books about. God gives His meaning plainly in the text.

In places like Romans 2:6-11. Look at the way the text is laid out: It’s a ‘chiasm’ - literary device - where you have a series of parallels in the text. In our passage you have parallel points being made at the beginning and the end; then there’s another parallel after the first point and before the last point - that’s a ‘B’; then there’s a third one in between. So verse 6 is about judgment, so is v. 11. That’s ‘A’. Then verse 7 is about the reward for doing ‘good’, and look at v. 10 - the reward for everyone who does good’. So those 2 verses are B. Then v. 8 points to the consequences of living a self-seeking life - wrath and fury. And in the very next verse, verse 9, points to the consequences for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ So verses 8-9 are ‘C’.

See how the passage fits so carefully together. And Paul makes his main point on the outside edges of the passage: v. 6 and v. 11 - the beginning and the end.

Romans 2:6: “He will render to each one according to his works.”

Romans 2:11, “For God shows no partiality.”

So the main point that Paul is trying to make here is that God will judge every single person … FAIRLY … According to what that person has done in life.

Remember who he’s talking to in this second chapter of Romans? He’s talking to Jews. He’s talking to the morally upstanding believers of his day. These are the people who’ve grown up in godly homes, they’ve come to worship every week - they heard the Old Testament read and every week, they give their tithes at the synagogue ...

These are the people who keep their noses clean and look at the outside world and say, “SEE those sinful pagains out there - they’ve got no respect for God, they’re following false religions, living in depravity - celebrating evil.”

So when Paul is pointing out in chapter 1, from verse 18 to the end of the chapter - how the pagan Gentiles are living right now, with God’s wrath hanging over them … these God-fearing Jews are cheering:

“You tell them, Paul! They’re gonna be sorry when God’s judgment REALLY falls!”

Last week we saw how Paul turns his attention to these very people at the beginning of chapter 2 - and says: “Not so fast. Be careful what you cheer for … because I’m talking to you, too.”

Verse 1, “You have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourelf, because you the judge, practice the very same things.’

You may not sin in the same WAY the Gentiles do … worshiping idols, living in sexual perversion … but don’t think that makes you guiltless. Remember the list in chapter 1:29-31 .... Your pride, your jealousy over what your neighbor has, your gossip, your stirring up quarrels around you .... these seemingly ‘little’ sins make you every bit as guilty before God as those pagan outsidrs you look down your spiritual noses at. And, v. 5 goes further .... ‘Your unrepentant heart is packing away more and more wrath against you like a squirrel stocking up his cupboards for the winter.”

You can hear the response of the clean-living Jews with the great bloodlines right about now: “Wait a minute! We’re God’s people! My dad was the chairman of the synagogue building committee and my mom taught Sabbath school class every Saturday! Abraham was my ancestor … so was Moses - remember? God gave him the tablets of stone with the law on it that you had written with God’s own finger.”

That’s where our text comes in: verse 6. At the end of your life’s road, Paul says there’s a PAYDAY. There’s judgment.

Verse 6, “He will render to each one according to his works.” And verse 11, “For God shows no partiality.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter if you were born a Jew or an Iranian, or a Canadian or Ethiopian or Japanese .... You will be judged - NOT by your ethnicity or color of your skin … but according to your works.

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2 WHAT THIS JUDGMENT LOOKS LIKE

Let’s look at what this judgment looks like. Verses 7-10 explain God’s judgment - and Paul says that there are 2 DIFFERENT rewards for 2 DIFFERENT KINDS of people.

First, notice the 2 types of people: not Jew or Greek, not faithful churchgoer or member of regular member of Bedside Baptist … but -

Romans 2:7, “… to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality … AND, v. 10 (remember they’re parallel verses): “… everyone who does good ...”. Every single human being who has ever lived falls into one of two groups and that’s the first group, right there - ‘Everyone who does GOOD’.

And the second group - Romans 2:8, “… those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness ...”. And verse 9, “… every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.”

So - 2 different types of people: those who do good things and those who do evil.

And, SECOND - notice what their payday looks like. For those who do good things - verse 8, “(God) will give eternal life.” Verse 10, “… glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good ...”

And for those who do bad things - the end of verse 8, “There will be wrath and fury” .... v. 9, “.... Tribulation and distress”.

Now this isn’t just a one time payday - that you can just grit your teeth and hope for a little more time to turn things around … this is an eternal destiny that brings eternal life for some, as v. 8 tells us .... and ETERNAL tribulation for all the rest. That’s the message of this text. It’s the message of Jesus:

Sheep and the Goats.

And so far, this passage sounds like something that could come out of every single do-it-yourself religion that the world has ever known. A Muslim could read this, a Mormon, a JW, a

Judgment by works .... that’s what you see here. What in the world does this have to do with Christianity?

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3 THE GOSPEL FOCUS

Right about now, some of you are listening, looking at the text and you are low in spirit - your confidence is shattered.

That’s probably a good place to be … for a time of sober self-evaluation. But don’t stay there.

FIRST of all - if you are a religious person .... your confidence in life - your hope for good things wehn you die - is based on how well you do … then you aren’t safe.

Or if you paid a prayer at a camp or in a Sunday School class when you were 10 or 16 .... but now that decsion for Jesus is a fire-insurance policy that you keep in your back pocket while you live as you please today. The Bible says that eternal life is for those who obey the truth and are patient in well doing and who does good. So let me ask you a question upon which your eternal destiny hangs:

“What’s your confidence in thinking that it will go well with you when you stand before the holy God on judgment day?”

SECOND - there are others of you and right now you’re thinking to yourself:

“I do love Jesus .... I’ve surrendered myself ot Him as my Savior and the Lord of my life … but oh, how crumy a job I’m doing of following His lead.”

“If perfect obedience is the standard … if I’m being judged by my works .... what hope do I have?!

And .... actually, while you’re thinking about how ‘NOT’ perfectly good you are … what about this:

Doesn’t this kind of judgment contradict the very message of the Good News of Jesus? The REFORMATION was driven by the recovery of the message, long obscured and overgrown with weeds - the message of Justification by FAITH … that we are saved by FAITH ALONE - apart from works. So is Paul saying that Luther and Calvin and the rest of the Reformers who gave their lives for their doctrine … were they all wrong?!

No, it wasn’t a mistake. Let’s look at a few verses right here in Romans that affirm the Reformers had it right.

Romans 3:28 “For we hold that one is justified by faith .... apart from the law.”

Romans 4:5, “And to the one who does not work but BELIEVES in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”

Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified BY FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So, either Paul is contradicting himself, WITHIN the SAME letter, or our text this morning is NOT saying that you work your way to God’s reward. Paul wasn’t a fool - he doesn’t contradict himself. God’s Word doesn’t contradict itself.

Well then, HOW DO MY GOOD WORKS RELATE TO AN ETERNAL REWARD?

So what’s Paul trying to get at in vv. 7-11?

Some people say - Paul is saying that God WOULD save people if they had perfect obedience, but since nobody does … nobody CAN earn it - - - so we’re forced to the cross to accept the finished work of Jesus there. And that’s true … but that’s not the point HERE. Look at v. 7. Paul doesn’t say that God ‘WOULD give eternal life.’ It says He ‘WILL’ give eternal life and the flip side, in v. 8, “there will be wrath and fury for those who disobey.”

I would suggest to you this morning, that what Paul means here, is that God means what He says. And if He says that he WILL give eternal life and glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good … He means it.

BUT! Your good works and mine aren’t the FOUNDATION for God’s reward. They are the BASIS for God’s reward. In other words - God isn’t a Divine Pop machine - you put enough ‘Good Work coins’ into the machine and out pops a can of ‘Eternal life’. That’s not what happens.

Verse 6, “He will render to each one …” NOT BY the measure of his works, but: “… ACCORDING to his works.”

What God’s Word is saying here is eternally important - so let’s make sure we understand what Paul is saying here!

God gives eternal life to those who patiently persevere in obedience and faith. NOT because they PERFECTLY obey … but becauset hey belong to Jesus Christ and that saving faith in Him transforms them … it takes the very people who once OOZED with selfish rebellion against God - the very people defined by v. 8 .... takes them and transforms them into people who are now living with a new purpose. They’re pursuing GLORY -

Hear this friend: A Christian does GOOD things - They don’t do them to GET saved. Good works are not a bucket of water carried on the head. You’ve seen the women in certain parts of the world without running water in the homes - they’re walking along a roadway, carrying the family’s water supply on their heads. That’s heavy! Christians don’t carry their good works like those heavy buckets of water.

No - the good works that Christians do is water that bubbles up from inside because they can’t help it - you’ve got a river of life flowing up, from the inside -out.

That’s what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For THIS COMES FROM THE LORD, WHO IS THE SPIRIT.”

You’re wondering how I can say that. Did I just make that up to release the pressure on you to obey perfectly if you want the glory of heaven … because I want to make things easy for you? No - we get a hint of what I’m saying right in our context. Look at Romans 2:4-5, (end of verse 4): “… God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? BUt because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself ...”.

In other words - if you had a repentant heart - not PERFECTION, but true repentance … then you would escape God’s wrath. God is rich in kindness … NOT a scorekeeper. You don’t NEED repentance and you don’t NEED God’s kindness, if perfect obedience is the key to open heaven’s locked door.

The implication is that if you keep on repenting when you fail … then you keep on getting God’s kindness and forgiveness … and you get life.

MY LIFE IS BUILT ON THAT HOPE.

Now, take a look a few chapters over, in Romans 8:12-13, “So then, brothers (and sisters) we are debtors, not to the flesh to LIVE acording to the flesh ...”.

Stop right there - “LIVE according to the flesth” - Paul’s talking about living here - not stopping in for a visit -at a place you have no business going to … he’s talking about “LIVING” here - making it your home address.

Verse 13, “For if you LIVE according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

This is an issue of eternal death nd eternal life .... just like in chapter 2, and Paul is saying that if you want life … you’re going to have to fight a battle against the deeds of teh body. You’re going to have to do battle against sin. And in every battle, you’re going to get knocked down. You’re not going to drop your enemy with one punch every single time.

But the good news is that you don’t fight alone. This is not a fight to prove how good you are to God … this is fighting, the text tells us, “BY the Spirit” - with the power of God in you … and the Spirit is IN you - because you’re already saved.

Romans 8:29-30, “For those

That’s what 2:7 is saying

The Bible doesn’t say that the perfect get glory ad honor and peace and immortality. Verse 7 says those who by ‘PATIENCE well-doing seek it.’ I love that word ‘patience’. It’s NOT the patience of putting up with someone else’s frustrating junk … this is the patience of perseverance. This is the patience of Captain America. One of my favorite super-heroes is Captain America. If you know the story, you remember that Steve Rogers is his real name. And Steve Rogers was anything but superhero material physically. He was a little, awkward, scrawny guy who was desperately trying to get into the Army to go fight for his country in WW 2. He kept gettting rejected. Finally he got his way into boot camp and things were going exactly the way you would think they would go. He was next to useless. Every drill he came in last, every hand to hand combat exercise, he got thrown into the dirt. He was forever on his face in the mud. But he never stayed there. And that was the key. He kept getting up. He was ‘patient’ in seeking his goal. And he ended up transformed into a super hero.

And that’s the kind of patience Paul is talking about. You belong to Jesus Christ - you know you do - you trust him, you love him, you want to serve him … but oh how you stumble. Oh how you fall. Oh how you find yourself forever on your face in the mud looking up at everyone else’s boots.

But you don’t stay down. You repent and you get up out of the mud, and you keep on fighting the good fight of faith. You aren’t one of those people who can say, “I’m never even tempted to sin” You can’t truthfully sing, “And Now I am happy all the day!” Not at all. Every day is a fight. But you do fight. And that’s the key. You endure the trials, you persevere when you have nothing left in the tank. When your world around you is falling apart - and the worst part of the world is in your own heart …you keep on getting up out of the mud. You keep repenting of your sin - even after the 10 thousandth time .... because you want it - you want glory and honor and immortality.

And do you know how you are able to get up? Because the Holy Spirit of God has moved in to your life and He won’t leave you on the ground. You belong to Jesus, Christian. And the fact that you got up out of the mud yesterday and this morning .... is because the