The Day of Reckoning

 Romans 2:1-5. "The Day of Reckoning" Safe Haven Community Church. Sunday July 17th, 2022. Romans 2:1-5. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man-you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself-that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (ESV) In the classic book by Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he says that he bases his approach to people-management on the premise that others rarely admit to having done anything wrong and that it is therefore pointless to criticize them. A favorite example from the book is a saying of Al Capone, the Chicago gangland leader who for years was the Federal Bureau of Investigation's "Public Enemy Number One." Capone was as sinister as they come, a hardened killer. But he said of himself, "I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them to have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man." Carnegie's point, is that people habitually attempt to excuse their wrong behavior. If as hardened a man as Al Capone thought well of himself, how much more do the normal, "morally upright" people of our society think well of themselves! This is why Romans 2 was written. In Romans 1, Paul has shown that the human race has turned away from God in order to pursue its own way and that the horrible things we do and see about us are the result. No one wants to admit that, however. So, instead of acknowledging that what Paul said about the human race is true, most of us make excuses, arguing that although Paul's description may be true of other people, particularly very debased individuals, it is certainly not true of us. "We know better than that," we say. "And we act better, too." In the second chapter of Romans Paul is going to (correct) us of these erroneous ideas. (Boice, J. M. (1991-). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, pp. 201-202). Baker Book House.) No one can understand or appropriate salvation apart from recognizing that they naturally stand guilty and condemned before God, totally unable to bring themselves up to God's standard of righteousness. In this, no person is exempt. The outwardly moral person who is friendly and charitable but self-satisfied is, in fact, usually harder to reach with the gospel than the reprobate who has hit bottom, recognized their sin, and given up hope. Therefore, after showing the immoral unbeliever their lostness apart from Christ, Paul now proceeds with great force and clarity to show the moralist, that trusts in their good works and not Christ for salvation, that, before God, they are equally guilty and condemned. In doing so, in Romans 2:1-5, the Apostle Paul presents three principles by which God will judge sinful humanity on The Day of Reckoning. He does so on the basis of: 1) Knowledge (Romans 2:1), 2) Truth (Romans 2:2-3), and 3) Guilt (Romans 2:4-5). God will judge sinful Humanity on The Day of Reckoning on the basis of: 1) Knowledge (Romans 2:1). Romans 2: 1. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. (ESV) Therefore refers to what Paul has just said in the last half of chapter 1, and specifically to the introductory statement: in Romans 1:18-19. 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them (ESV). Typically, people have no trouble agreeing that those who are guilty of "big sins" like murder and rape and treason deserve judgment-even death. However, that God's wrath should fall on those guilty of such "lesser sins" as envy or arrogance does not seem quite right to most people. (Think of) school-age children who want to justify participation in an activity of which (their parents would) not approve. The children's most common reasoning is, "But everybody's doing it." (That is the answer we parents used to use too-and still do.) "Nobody's perfect!" "To err is human, to forgive is divine." Or as the philosopher Heine said in a moment of now-famous cynicism, "God will forgive ... it is his trade." Such thinking suggests that since we are human we are under moral obligation to sin, and that God is under moral obligation to forgive us. Inherent in the common thinking that because everyone is doing it, it is not so bad-as long as we do not commit the "biggies" we will be okay-is the assumption that God does not mean what he says or say what he means. This problem is twofold: first, people do not understand God's holiness, and, second, we do not understand our own sinfulness (Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven (pp. 50-52). Crossway Books.) That is why now in Chapter 2 or Romans, the Apostle Paul begins to address the outwardly moral people, and he says, you also have no/are without excuse, every one of you who judges/passes judgment. As becomes clear in Rom. 2:17, he was speaking primarily to Jews, who characteristically passed judgment on Gentiles, thinking them to be spiritually inferior and even beyond the interest of God's mercy and care. But every one of you encompasses all moralists, including professing Christians, who think they are exempt from God's judgment because they have not sunk into the pagan, immoral extremes Paul has just mentioned. The implication in the opening verse is that a Jewish auditor, heartily endorsing the verdict rendered concerning the Gentiles, fails to realize his own plight. True judgment rests on the ability to discern the facts in a given case. If one is able to see the sin and hopelessness of the Gentile, one should logically be able to see themselves as being in the same predicament. (Harrison, E. F. (1976). Romans. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, p. 28). Zondervan Publishing House.) Paul's initial argument is simple. To judge/pass judgement on another, he points out, you condemn yourself, because you obviously have a criterion by which to judge, meaning that you know the truth about what is right and wrong before God. Even the unbelievers know the basic truth of God's "eternal power and divine nature" through natural revelation (1:20). They also have a sense of right and wrong by conscience (2:15). The Jew, however, not only had both of those means of knowing God's truth but also had the great advantage of having received His special revelation through Scripture (3:2; 9:4). Not only that, but almost all Jews of Paul's day would have known something of Jesus Christ and of His teaching and claims even though they would not have believed He was the promised Messiah. Such knowledge would have made them still more inexcusable, in that their greater knowledge of God's truth would have made them more accountable to it (see Heb. 10:26-29). The moralists who condemn others' sins are filled with their own iniquities which demand judgment by the same standard. Please turn to Matthew 7 It was not simply that those who are judgmental are wrong in assessing the moral standing of others but that they also are wrong in assessing their own moral standing. You who judge practice the same things, Paul insists. The self-righteous make two grave errors: they underestimate the height of God's standard of righteousness, which encompasses the inner as well as the outer life (which is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5), and they underestimate the depth of their own sin. It is psychologically true that people tend to criticize in others those negative traits of which they themselves are guilty. Psychologists call this "projection." Nothing blinds a person more than the certainty that only others are guilty of moral faults. Luther noted that while "the unrighteous look for good in themselves and for evil in others ... the righteous try to see their own faults and overlook those of others" (Romans, 36 as cited in Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, p. 88). Broadman & Holman Publishers.). It is a universal temptation to exaggerate the faults of others while minimizing one's own. This is the danger that Jesus warns of so clearly in Matthew 7 Matthew 7:1-12. "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 6 "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. 7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (ESV) * The kind of judging both Jesus and Paul referred to was not a sane appraisal of character based on conduct but a hypocritical and self-righteous condemnation of the other person. That is why in only a few verses down here in Matthew 7, Jesus told his followers to watch out for false prophets (v. 15), who are to be recognized by their fruit (vv. 16-20). That would be difficult, to say the least, apart from determining which actions are moral and which are not. Evaluation is not the same as condemnation. It is hypocritical and self-righteous condemnation that one must avoid (Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, pp. 88-89). Broadman & Holman Publishers.). Illustration: Do these people think, perhaps, that because the hour of the final accounting has not yet arrived, they can afford to ignore the divine warnings? "God's judgment is justly pronounced," that is, it is ever in line with absolute truth and justice. That is by no means always the case with respect to human evaluations. There was a little boy once who came to his father and said: "Dad, I'm six feet tall," When his father asked him how he had arrived at this conclusion, he replied, "I found a stick as big as myself, and I divided it into six equal parts, calling each part a foot. That makes me just as tall as you are: six feet." We smile about the argumentation of the little fellow, but do we not often make ourselves guilty of similar reasoning: measuring ourselves and others by our own measuring rod? The result is often a too favorable estimate of ourselves, and a too harsh judgment of others. The point Paul makes is that in the final analysis human judgments, whether about ourselves or about others, do not count. God's judgment, on the other hand, is inescapable: (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Vols. 12-13, p. 89). Baker Book House.). God will judge sinful Humanity on The Day of Reckoning on the basis of: 2) Truth (Romans 2:2-3) Romans 2:2-3. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man-you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself-that you will escape the judgment of God? (ESV) Know translates oida, which carries the idea of awareness of that which is commonly known and obvious. As Paul has already pointed out, even the unbelieving Gentiles acknowledge that "those who practice such things [the sins listed in Rom. 1:29-31] are worthy of death" (v. 32). Surely then, the more spiritually enlightened Jews referred to here in Rom. 2:2 know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. Everything God does is, by nature, right and according to the truth. Paul declares, "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar," (Rom. 3:4), and, "There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!" (Rom. 9:14). God is not capable of doing that which is not right or saying that which is not true. David declared that the Lord "does sit on the throne judging righteously.... He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity" (Ps. 9:4, 8). Another psalmist exulted that God "will judge the world in righteousness, and the people in His faithfulness" (Ps. 96:13; cf. 145:17; cf. also Isa. 45:19). There is always distortion in human perception, but never any in God's. Human judgment is based on prejudice and partial perception; God's judgment is based on the truth-he judges on the basis of the facts about what we do. We only know in part, but God knows fully. Whereas our judgment of others is imperfect and partial, his is perfect and impartial (Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., & Wilson, N. S. (1992). Romans (p. 42). Tyndale House Publishers.). Now Paul says in verse 3: Do you suppose, O man-you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself-that you will escape the judgment of God? Logizomai (suppose) carries the idea of calculating or estimating. (It is related to the English term logic.). The moralist falsely calculates their own sinfulness and guilt. Donald Grey Barnhouse gives a contemporary and forceful paraphrase of this verse: "You dummy-do you really figure that you have (figured) out an angle that will let you go up against God and get away with it? You don't have a ghost of a chance." Dr. Barnhouse continues by commenting, "There is no escape. Do you understand? No escape-ever. And this means you-the respectable person, sitting in judgment upon another fellow creature, and remaining unrepentant yourself" (Donald Grey Barnhouse. Expositions of Bible Doctrines, vol. 2, God's Wrath [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953], p. 18). The hypocritical, self-righteous man who will judge/passes judgment upon those who practice the sinful things that they themselves practice brings greater judgment on themselves. God not only judges such an individual for those evil practices but also for their hypocrisy in the self-righteous judgment of others. Such people "are like whitewashed tombs (Jesus said) which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness" (Matt. 23:27). "You are foolish and self-deceived," Paul says, "if you think that you will escape the judgment of God." To reject the Son of God immediately brings upon a person the judgment of God, and the only verdict here is guilty. As John explains in 1 John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (ESV) It should be as the hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, expressed it: "Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o'er the erring ones, Lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save". (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42, pp. 43-44). Thomas Nelson.) Please turn to Hebrews 12 If a people cannot escape their own judgment, how can one escape divine judgment? If we are forced to condemn ourselves, how much more will the infinitely Holy God condemn us? Comparing the ancient Israelites (who heard God speak through Moses from Mount Sinai) to those who hear the gospel of Christ (which comes from heaven), the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 25 declares: Hebrews 12:25-29. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken-that is, things that have been made-in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV) * Because the Israelites refused to listen to God when He spoke to them on earth in regard to His law, that generation perished in the wilderness. How much more accountable, then, will those be who disregard the infinitely greater message of the gospel? Therefore, Gratitude and worship are due in light of salvation. Acceptable worship takes into account (in reverence and awe) God's holiness and His position as a judge to whom alone worship is due (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2384). Crossway Bibles.) Illustration: It has been told that nomadic tribes roamed ancient Russia much as the First Nation's peoples once roamed North America. The tribe that controlled the choicest hunting grounds and natural resources was led by an exceptionally strong and wise chief. He ruled not only because of his superior physical strength but because of his utter fairness and impartiality. When a rash of thefts broke out, he proclaimed that if the thief were caught he would be punished by ten lashes from the tribal whip master. As the thefts continued, he progressively raised the number of lashes to forty, a punishment that everyone knew he was the only one strong enough to endure. To their horror, the thief turned out to be the chief's aged mother, and speculation immediately began as to whether or not he would actually sentence her to the announced punishment. Would he satisfy his love by excusing her or would he satisfy his law by sentencing her to what would surely be her death? True to his integrity, the chief sentenced his mother to the forty lashes. But true also to his love for his mother, just before the whip came down on her back he surrounded her frail body with his own, taking upon himself the penalty he had prescribed for her. In an infinitely greater way, Christ took the penalty of His people's sin upon Himself. The only way any person, no matter how outwardly moral and religious, can escape God's judgment is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, receiving in faith the provision He made on the cross by His paying the penalty all deserve. Finally, for this morning, we can see that God will judge sinful Humanity on The Day of Reckoning on the basis of: 3) Guilt (Romans 2:4-5) Romans 2:4-5. 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (ESV) Here the Holy Spirit, through Paul, affirms that God judges on the basis of a person's true guilt, guilt that is common to every human being, including those, such as ancient Jews, who considered themselves exempt because of their high moral standing, their religious affiliation, or any other external reason. The apostle first warns his readers not to presume/think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience. The famous commentator Matthew Henry wrote, "There is in every willful sin a contempt for the goodness of God." Every intentional sin takes lightly and presumes upon God's kindness and forbearance and patience. To presume/think lightly of translates kataphroneō, which literally means "to think down on" something or someone and to underestimate the true value. It therefore often had the connotation of disregarding or even despising. For the people of God, it seemed that the more gracious God was, the more they presumed upon or spurned His grace (cf. Hos. 11:1-7). It is easy to mistake God's patience for approval of wrong living. Self-evaluation is difficult, and it is even more difficult for us to expose our conduct to God and let him point out where we need to change. But as Christians we must pray constantly that God will show us our sins, so that he can remove them and heal us. Unfortunately, we are more likely to be amazed at God's patience with others than humbled at his patience with us (Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., & Wilson, N. S. (1992). Romans (p. 45). Tyndale House Publishers.). Without exception, every person who has ever lived has experienced the kindness and forbearance and patience of God. Every breath a person takes and every bite of food they eat is by the kind provision of God. God is the only source of goodness, and therefore everything good and worthwhile a person has is from the gracious hand of God. God's own kindness, properly manifested in His children for it is one among the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in them when they are led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). When Paul speaks of the goodness of God in Romans 2, he is not thinking of this as having to do primarily with what God is in himself, but as having to do with God's actions toward us. This may be why we the (rendering) of the Greek term chrēstotēs (later, chrēstos) as "kindness" rather than "goodness," (some translations speak) (Boice, J. M. (1991-). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, p. 210). Baker Book House.). Forbearance comes from anochē, which means "to hold back," as of judgment. It was sometimes used to designate a truce, which involves cessation of hostilities between warring parties. God's forbearance with humanity is a kind of temporary divine truce He has graciously proclaimed. God does not punish the sinner immediately after they sin. He holds back his final judgment and thus gives the sinner an interval in which they can repent and turn to God. But the important thing to notice about this word is that it points to a truce, not a peace. It is temporary. It implies a limit. If the sinner does nothing but sin, if they reject the invitation to repent (cf. Eccl. 8:11), then in due course they must face God with all their sin about him. God's forbearance is wonderful, and eloquent of his deep concern for people. But it is not forgiveness. God's forbearance is a kind of patience (makrothumia), which was sometimes used of a powerful ruler who voluntarily withheld vengeance on an enemy or punishment of a criminal. Until the inevitable moment of judgment, God's kindness and forbearance and patience are extended to all humanity, because He does not wish "for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). Kindness refers to the benefits God gives, forbearance refers to the judgment He withholds, and patience to the duration of both. For long periods of time the Lord is kind and forbearing. That is God's common grace or providence that He bestows on all. The psalmists rejoiced that "the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord" (Ps. 33:5), that "the loving-kindness of God endures all day long" (Ps. 52:1), that He gives "His wonders to the sons of men" (Ps. 107:8), that the Lord is "good and does good" (Ps. 119:68), and that "the Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works" (Ps. 145:9). (Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 112-113). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.). The purpose of the kindness of God is not to excuse people of their sin but to convict them of it and lead them to repentance. Metanoia (repentance) has the basic meaning of changing one's mind about something. In the moral and spiritual realm it refers to changing one's mind about sin, from loving it to renouncing it and turning to God for forgiveness (1 Thess. 1:9). Paul illustrates the life changing reality of repentance in the lives of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV) * The reason why repentance of sin is the core of the gospel message that we preach is because only through repentance of sin is one forgiven of sin and saved from the wrath to come. There is a future day of reckoning, and only those who have truly repented of sin will be saved. How do we best open a door to have this message received? It is through prayer for our hearers they need to see our work of faith, labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (v.3). If we find that there continues a hardness of heart in those we wish to be saved, perhaps it is because they don't first see these elements in our lives in order to then listen to what we say. When our lives match the message, the Gospel comes both in word and power in the Holy Spirit through our faithful conviction. Finally, we see now back in Romans 2:5, the person who, because of their hard/stubborn and an impenitent/unrepentant heart, presumes on God's kindness, forbearance, and patience. This hard/stubborn heart (sklērotēs), is the word from which we get the medical term sclerosis. Arteriosclerosis refers to hardening of the arteries. Such physical hardening is an ideal picture of the spiritual condition of a heart that has become unresponsive and insensitive to God. But the spiritual condition is immeasurably worse than the physical. Hardening of the arteries may take a person to the grave, but hardening of the spiritual heart will take one to hell. Scripture is replete with warnings about spiritual hardness, an affliction which ancient Israel suffered almost continually. Through Ezekiel, God promised His people that one day "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). Jesus reminded His Jewish hearers that "because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives" (Matt. 19:8). When the self-righteous, legalistic Jewish leaders were waiting for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath and thereby give them an excuse to accuse Him of breaking the law, He looked "around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart" (Mark 3:5; cf. 6:52; 8:17; John 12:40). In each instance quoting the Old Testament, the writer of Hebrews three times warns against hardening one's heart to God (Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7). These actions stir up God's wrath, as Paul has already explained in Rom. 1:18, it is signifies God's settled opposition to all that is evil, and not some irrational passion. We should not miss Paul's point that sin will inevitably reap its due reward, and that God will be active in the process (Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 115). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.) Such a person is simply storing up wrath for themselves when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. In explaining our sin in relation to God's wrath, Paul uses a banking metaphor. If we begin to save our money, taking a small portion of each paycheck and putting it in the bank, we are building up, slowly but surely, a treasure; we are saving up for a rainy day. Just so, every time we sin, we add an indictment against ourselves, storing /treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.. Every day that we sin without repenting, we are depositing future wrath into the account of God's judgment (Sproul, R. C. (2009). Romans (pp. 61-62). Crossway.). To stubbornly and unrepentantly refuse God's gracious pardon of sin through Jesus Christ is the worst sin of all. To do so is to greatly magnify one's guilt by rejecting God's goodness, presuming on His kindness, abusing His mercy, ignoring His grace, and spurning His love. The person who does that increases the severity of God's wrath upon them in the day of God's judgment. When God's goodness is persistently taken lightly, the result is certain and proportionate judgment. The day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed refers to the great white throne judgment, at which the wicked of all times and from all places will be cast into the lake of fire, where they will join Satan and all his other evil followers (Rev. 20:10-15). That wrath is thundering down the chasm of history toward the day of final judgment, and one day it must break upon you unless you stand before God in Jesus Christ. Martin Luther began his spiritual pilgrimage by fearing God's wrath and then came to find peace in Christ. But he never forgot the reality of the final judgment, and he always warned his hearers to flee from it to Christ. He said in one place, "The Last Day is called the day of wrath and of mercy, the day of trouble and of peace, the day of destruction and of glory." Luther was right. It must be one or the other. If it is to be a day of mercy and peace for you, rather than a day of wrath and trouble, it must be because you are trusting in Christ (Boice, J. M. (1991-). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, p. 224). Baker Book House.). (Format note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1991). Romans (Vol. 1, pp. 111-123). Chicago: Moody Press.) Closing Hymn: #43. "Great is Thy Faithfulness" (3 verses) Benediction: Give ear, O Lord, to our prayer; listen to our plea for grace. You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to us and be gracious to us; give strength to your servants and look favorably on our humble estate. Through the name of Christ, in whose blood we stand cleansed, We pray. Amen.