God's Law and Judgment
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When I was twenty, I was filling in for my pastor as he was away on vacation. I was excited to preach as this would be the largest congregation I had ever preached in front of. I was working at a bank at the time as a teller and told various people about the opportunity and asked them to come. However, I did not tell a lady in the loans department. She was in her forties at the time, had spent her entire life as far as I could see, living for herself and did not give two cents about God. She had a filthy mouth and spoke about her night life often. I figured that even if I told her about me preaching she would at best not come. At worst harass me about it. Someone told her though. She came to me and asked if it were true. I told her it was and she asked why I hadn’t told her. I told her the truth. I didn’t think she’d be interested and wouldn’t come anyway.
As it turns out, she was the only person from the bank to come. And it was a trek, about a 25 minute drive. She is, till this day, the only person who has ever trusted Jesus due directly to one of my sermons that I know about. I have led others through evangelism efforts, but not directly from a sermon preached. She was bawling as I led her to Jesus. She was one of those persons who had such a dramatic conversion that her entire life changed. The drinking, the smoking, the night-life all stopped in a moment. Her friends did not like the new Brenda, but the peace that came from her new-found Savior, was enough for her.
One day, she came to my window frustrated and she took Jesus’s name in vain. I looked at her shocked. I said, you just took Jesus’s name in vain. Suddenly, the frustration left her face and horror replaced it. She did not know that there was such a thing. She apologized profusely and vowed to never do it again.
Why do I tell that story? For two reasons. Last week, I spoke about us not judging, lest we condemn ourselves. My judgment of this woman was that she would never come to know Jesus. She never seemed to be interested before and why would she be interested now? But I also pointed out that part of Paul’s argument was that it was God who judged in truth, implying we do not.
We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
Literally, Paul wrote that “we know that the judgment of God is according to truth on those who practice such things.” It is not bias. It is not based on lies. There is no partiality with God. We cannot say the same thing about ourselves.
The second reason I told the story is because, as we get into this next part of Romans 2, we will see that what we know, others may not know. The woman at the bank did not even know what it meant to take a name in vain, let alone that one could do it to God or Jesus. So then, how can we as humans, finite in our knowledge and unable to know what others may know or experience, commit them to judgment? Only God can do that. And he does it according to truth and so without partiality.
As we look at Romans 2:12-16, my hope is that we will understand that the future judgment is not by a capricious God who may or may not like you in the moment. It is not based on whether or not you have more good works than bad. God will judge humanity based on whether or not his law was obeyed and will do so according to truth. And we see this as Paul presents three facts about his judgment. So we will, hopefully, come to this understanding as we see that God’s judgment according to his law is plenary. God’s judgment according to his law is proper. And God’s judgment according to his law is public.
Plenary
Proper
Public
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 hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
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 work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Plenary
Plenary
The first fact that Paul presents about the future judgment of God is that it is plenary. Everyone is going to face God’s judgment. And that judgment will be based on his law.
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.
I once heard Thomas Haden Church say that there were two types of people in the world: The Addams Family people and The Munsters people. I’m a Munsters person. Here Paul says there are two types of people in the world. Those who have the law and those who do not have the law. But notice what he said about them both: God will judge them both. Thus, everyone will be judged by God. Yes, those people who live in the middle of the jungle somewhere who have never heard of Jesus will be judged in the end. They will be judged according to God’s law.
We read it last week, but it’s worth remembering what John wrote in
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Every unbeliever will be judged for every sin that he has committed. Every act of rebellion, every swindle, every careless word, every act of abuse, every murder, every rape, every adulterous act, every sin from every person will be called into account and be judged in accordance with truth. Every nation that is in rebellion to almighty God will be judged.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Even churches who turn from the truth to pursue and attract the world will be judged. One needs only look at five of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 and see this to be true.
God’s judgment is plenary. It involves every person who ever lived. Every person will give an account.
Proper
Proper
So far we have seen that God will judge according to his law and it is a plenary judgment involving everyone. But we also see now that God judging according to his law is also proper. Some would say that this isn’t fair. Especially to those who have never heard of Jesus and had the chance to repent. But Paul explained that this was indeed proper as he wrote why everyone will be judged. The idea that it is not fair comes from a misunderstanding of judgment and mercy. We will talk about mercy later on as we go through the letter to the Romans. But as for judgment, we need to understand that people are not simply judged for not believing in Jesus. Only those who outright reject Jesus will be judged for doing so. Those who have never heard of Jesus will not be judged for rejecting him. You cannot reject what you’ve never been offered. But they will be judged for their own rebellion against God and this is proper.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
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 work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
Paul argued that the issue is not the hearing. That’s often what those who say, “That’s not fair” argue. They’ve never heard of Jesus before. That’s true. And I’ll go one more. Many have never heard the Ten Commandments before. They don’t know what God demands of them. But neither Paul nor God see this as a problem. It is still proper for God to judge them according to his law. God doesn’t judge based on whether someone has heard what he commands, but one whether or not someone does as he commands.
Paul explained: when a Gentile, who did not receive God’s oracles, his commandments, his prophets, etc., intrinsically knows they are to do something, it shows that God has put the law upon their hearts. Some laws, though not all laws, are universal, generally those laws are the “love thy neighbor” laws. Did you know that nearly every religion has some form of the golden rule? God spoke to the Jewish people to love their neighbor as they love themselves. Jesus said,
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
But Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Jainism, and nearly every single religion out there has this same law. What does this mean? Does it mean that all religions are the same as so many would claim? Not even close. What it means is that the law of God is in some way written upon the hearts of people from the moment they were conceived. We intrinsically know how we want to be treated. We don’t want people to steal from us. We don’t want them to murder us. We don’t want them to harm us. We want to be told the truth. We want people to be loyal and faithful and trustworthy. As parents, we want our children to respect us and honor us. As children, we don’t want our parents to purposefully annoy us and berate us. These are things that are intrinsic to us. As Jesus said, this is the law and the prophets.
Honor your father and mother, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet. We know these laws without anyone having to tell us them. And yet! knowing these truths, we disobey them ourselves.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
It’s not the hearers of the law that God judges. It’s the doers. And everyone can be a doer of what they intrinsically know, and yet no one does. Why? Because, our nature is to rebel against that which we know. Our nature is to suppress the truth, disobey righteousness and obey unrighteousness. In other words, we obey what we know is not right and ignore what we know to be right. What is known intrinsically to be right is God’s law, written upon the heart and it is that heart’s law that will be judged. In fact, as Paul wrote, the conscience will be the star witness in the proceedings. Did the heart know the defendant ought not take what did not belong to him? It did, your honor. Did he do it anyone. He did.
So those laws, which may not be known and Jesus who they have never heard, will not come up during the judgment. Only that which was put in their hearts that they suppressed, ignored, so they could obey what was wrong. Some would still argue, “But Chris, some cultures or tribes have been taught violence from birth.” And to that I say, yes. Sadly that is true. Parents, tribal leaders, and such have taught their children to suppress the truth in unrighteousness even more than is natural. Still though, even if it is something they’ve been taught from birth, the knowledge is still there and still suppressed. Even in a kill or be killed world, the idea still remains, “I do not want to be killed by someone else; but I am willing to kill someone else.” That goes against the “love your neighbor/golden rule” that is inherent within us.
Thus, if God has put a law within our hearts that is to govern how we live but we refuse to submit to the law, but instead suppress the truth. . . and if God is just and must judge law-breakers, then it is right and proper for God to judge those who have broken his law. Whether that law came in written on a tablet or sheet of paper is irrelevant, so long as it was written upon the hearts of humanity.
It would seem that we misunderstand God’s holiness. We like to focus on the verse that says that God is love and how could a loving God do such a thing. But it was Isaiah 6 that tells us that God is, as R. C. Sproul would say, thrice holy. To say something once is true. To say something twice is emphatically true. To say something three times is emphatically and undeniably true. So for the Seraphim to say that God is holy, holy, holy, tells us something about God’s character. He is emphatically and undeniably holy. All that he does is holy. Every characteristic of God is infiltrated by his holiness. Thus, to say that God is love is true, but because God is holy, holy, holy, then we must see that God’s love is a holy love.
In God’s holiness, unholiness—in every single form and from every single individual—must be dealt with justly. So what does this tell us? It tells us that God in holy justice judges every person, regardless if they had the law on paper or only in their hearts. And he will judge their actions according to the law they have. Anyone who is found in rebellion to that law (whether on paper or in the heart) will be found guilty. Which means, every single one of us will be found guilty, because there is not a one of us who has not suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. There is not one of us who have not transgressed God’s law in some fashion.
This fact that Paul presents, that God is proper in judging every human being by his law, ought to scare us to death. We are on trial for our lives. Lawyers who have clients on trial for their lives hope they get a lenient judge and jury. God is both judge and jury and he is not lenient. He does not let unrighteousness slide. God is just. But he is also the justifier. He extends a hand of mercy to all who will take it. The rebellion must be judged in justice, but those who will put their trust in Jesus Christ, will find that their rebellion has been punished and God’s wrath satisfied. That’s the gospel! That’s God’s radical gospel! It changes everything!
Some may think that there is no possible way that God would receive you. If he even knew half the things you’ve done, he’d be like all the rest and turn you away and want nothing to do with you. But Jesus said,
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
God’s will is for Jesus to securely bring all who come to him home to the Father. He came to do just that. He will see it through to the end. He will not turn you away. He will not cast you out. He will raise you up on the last day. That day when the dead are raised unto judgment, your salvation from God’s wrath is secure. As we read before, to believe in Jesus is to have your name written in the book of life. As if to reiterate Jesus went on to say,
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
In God’s power and will, if and when you come to Jesus it is because God has brought you to him. Jesus accepts everyone the Father brings to him. Not one does he reject and not one is rejected by God, but all receive eternal life. So if you think that Jesus may receive you but the Father will not, know that the only reason you came to Jesus is because the Father brought you to him so that through the Son, you would be reconciled to the Father.
Public
Public
We’ve seen the facts that God’s judging according to his law is both plenary, involving everyone, and proper as everyone has the law in some fashion. But now we come to the question many have. Is the judgment private or public. According to Paul, this will be public.
on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
John wrote
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
The reason so many reject Jesus is because they do not want their secret sins to be exposed. They love the darkness. They love the sins and will not have someone turn the lights on. But in the end, the light will be shone and the secrets exposed and judged. Better to expose them while there is still time to be reconciled to God here on earth than wait and have no chance at reconciliation at the judgment. John painted a picture of what it will be like in the end. When Jesus returns to judge the secrets of men. He wrote,
The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Picture people running and hiding behind a tree in an effort to be overlooked. Suddenly that tree is uprooted and they are exposed. Others run into cellars, but suddenly the cellar doors fly open and it coughs them up. People run to the hills, the caves, anywhere and one by one, their hiding places disappear. There is no where to hide. Those who have not yet been reconciled to God, this is your future. I don’t say that in anger or malice, but in a plea. I am telling you the truth so that you will trust Jesus and be reconciled to God.
But this mortifies some Christians. “If the judgment is public, how will I ever be able to look at so and so again?” I have two thoughts on that. The first is that all of us will have our sins exposed and every one of us will see how horrifyingly rebellious we all were and will be so grateful to the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit for saving our corrupt, depraved selves, that we will not even consider looking at one another with contempt. Secondly, by this time, we will all know that we have no right to judge, but judgment belongs to the Lord.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish Romans 2:12-16, I hope that we have seen that God will judge humanity based on whether or not his law was obeyed and will do so according to truth. He is not a capricious or whimsical God who judges on how he may feel in one moment or another. Nor is he a partial God who perverts justice by showing favoritism toward Jews and not Gentiles or vice versa. God is a holy God who will judge unrighteousness wherever it may be found. And this was the message Paul preached. First to the Jews, as they had more of the truth than the Gentiles and they should have been more ready to receive their Messiah and quicker to believe and be saved. Yet, suppressing the truth, they rejected their Messiah and so the gospel also went to the Gentile, though they were ignorant of the written law and predictions of the coming Christ.
If you are here this morning and are not sure of where you stand with God. Will you be judged or will you be saved? Let me clarify things for you. Jesus, God in the flesh, was born as a human being and faithfully obeyed all of God’s laws his entire life. Not once did he rebel. Not once did he sin. But by God’s merciful plan, Jesus was murdered upon a cross receiving God’s full and just punishment upon himself that stood against every person who is willing to put their trust in him. The Bible tells us that the sins of all who believe are removed from us and placed onto him. He was judged and condemned in our place. But he did not stay dead. He rose to life in power showing he was the Son of God and that the sins of all who believe were punished and removed. We have no debt any longer. If you put your trust in Jesus’s work on the cross and his resurrection, you can know your standing before God. As we saw, anyone who comes to him comes because God sent him to him and he promised to receive every single one and give them everlasting life.
If you have already put your faith in Jesus, then you know how vital these facts are that we’ve seen this morning. They are life-giving! Let them spark within you as a Christian and us as body of believers known as Highland View Baptist Church to be on mission to bring people to Jesus. Our Lottie Moon Christmas offering has been sitting at $185 since early January. Every penny of it is used to win people across the world the Jesus. Perhaps today would be the day that we reach our $400 goal to help our missionaries lead the lost to Christ. But even so, beloved, when we sin, let us not only repent of those sins, but let us rejoice in our Savior. Let us walk in faith to do the works for which we were saved.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.