January 13, 2025 • 46 mins
This episode begins by unpacking the meaning of the word 'gospel,' which translates to 'news that brings joy.' Drawing heavily on the writings of the Apostle Paul, we explore the profound significance of this message, examining its historical context and its relevance for modern believers. Through Paul's teachings and thoughtful reflection, the discussion emphasizes the hope, renewal, and transformative power the gospel offers to those who embrace it.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
The word gospel
translates to news that brings joy.
But this isn't just any news.
A gospel is newsthat changes a life forever.
After being invadedand enslaved by Persia,
Greece won two decisive battlesat Marathon and Souls.
The Greeks sent outheralds, also called evangelists,
(00:23):
to proclaim the good news to the cities.
We have fought for you. We have won.
And now you're no longer slaves.
You're free.
The reality is that we are all slaves.
Slaves to sin and slaves to death.
We are slaves in need of good news.
Enter Jesus, God's son.
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Fully God, fully man.
News that would change our lives forever.
His news was this.
I am the divine come to you to do.
You could not do for yourself.
I will take what you deserveso you can have what I deserve.
You have no idea how much it will cost me.
But you also cannotimagine the depths of my love for you.
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It is a gift that I give freely.
So intent.
Repent from all the waysyou run for me and follow me.
Follow mebecause I am the only way to eternal life.
Follow me because I'mthe savior you've been looking for.
Follow mebecause I have authority over everything.
Yet I have humbled myself for you.
Follow me.
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Because I died on a cross for you.
Because I'm yourtrue love and your true life.
This is my good news for you.
This is my gospel.
That you have been saved by graceand that you are slave
no more for me.
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That is the message of Romans.
That's the gospel.
And we're going to look at the bookof Romans,
for the next few monthsas we go through it as best we can.
Chapter by chapter.
And you're going to see that video overand over, because I want to drive home
the point of what the gospel is.
Basically a synopsisof the book of Romans.
(02:22):
25 years after Paul's conversion to Jesus,
he was traveled on the roadto Damascus to persecute
Jesus followers,and Jesus met him personally.
The resurrected Jesus met himpersonally on the road to Damascus,
and Paul
was transformed, absolutely transformed.
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And from that pointon, had the desire to go to Rome
to explain the gospelto Christians in Rome.
And year after year, thoughhe desired to go for one reason
or another,the Holy Spirit prevented him from going.
And so he decided to write a letterto them
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in the event he couldn't go.
And that letter explaining the gospel
very clearly and very concisely
and very precisely, is what we have in
our Bibles called the Book of Romans.
And I want to, as we go through this,
there was so much in this bookthat we will not get to.
(03:28):
And so I encourage your own reading of it,
your discussion of it.
It's so complete
a work and it's so thoughtful and logical
that way.
Back in the day, many years ago, StanfordLaw required their students
to memorize the firsteight verses of the Book of Romans
(03:50):
as an example of an irrefutable argument
for something that could not be disproven.
It's an amazing writing by Paul.
And so we're going to look at itin the first three chapters.
The book of Romans is dividedinto four sections
the Wrath of God, the grace of God,
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the Plan of God, and the Will of God.
And the first three chapters of Romans
talks about the wrath of God.
And as we go through chapters one and two,
most people would say, it's kind of easy
to see the wrath of Godunderstand it in terms of chapter one.
But chapter two is a little different.
(04:30):
Chapter two dealswith a different group of people
and what it deals with.
Paul dealswith the wrath of God on the humanist,
the wrath of God on the moralist,
and the wrath of God on the religionists.
The The humanist would be chapter one.
Those who think there is no Goddon't don't consider eternity.
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As a reality.
Don't consider what sin is,who best basically as human.
It's justwhatever is good for you is good for you.
You do. You all do me?
Don't judge me.
I won't judge you.
Everything is up to the individual.
Very humanistic.
The moralist says.
You know what? I'm not.
I'm not quite that like them.
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You know, but I'm not really religious.
But I'm a good person.
The religionists would say, well,I'm certainly not like those guys, and
I am a good person, but I'm a good personbecause I'm a religious person.
There would be the ones in church.
They'd be the ones who have a Bibleand read it.
And Paul sets out and says,whether you put yourself
(05:39):
in the camp of the humanist,the moralist, or the religion, ist.
Every one of us is in need of a savior,
and every one of us is guilty of breakingGod's law.
Every one of us steeped in sin,
and even the moreor less in the religious, don't escape
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God's wrath saved by the blood of Jesus,
shed on the cross for the eons of our sin.
When we read chapter one, it's easy
to point the fingerat those who get what they deserve,
especially in the moralistand the religionists.
That's how we think.
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You know what?
You made your choices, major decisions.
You're reaping the results of your life.
I want us to understand something.
When we overly condemn someone's sin,
it's a sign that we haven't condemnedseverely enough
to sin in ourselves.
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I want to be very clear about that
biblically.
Go back to the Old Testamentand look at King David.
He's the king. He,
has a lust problem.
Sees a woman named Bathsheba
takes her. She's married to another man.
Uriah takes her,commits adultery with her.
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She becomes pregnant,and he works out this evil scheme
to have her husband killed.
Goes on with his life.
The prophet Nathan
comes to David and says, David,let me tell you this story.
There was a poor man with onelittle sheep, and he loved the sheep.
And there was a rich manwith a whole flock of sheep.
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And the rich manhad some friends coming over,
and he didn't want to useany of his own sheep for the barbecue.
So he stole the poorman's sheep and barbequed that one.
What should happen to that man?
And David flies off the handle
and says, that's horrible, that's evil.
That man deserved to die.
And Nathan says, David, you're the guy.
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You took one.
See, what David did
there was there was consequenceand ramifications for for stealing.
But it wasn't the death penalty.
And what was going on in David's life.
There was sin in his lifethat he hadn't judged severely enough.
So he severely judged someone else.
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You follow.
So whenever we severely judgesomeone else's
sin, it's probably a sign
that we have injured severely enough
the sin of our own heart.
So we have to be very careful.
And in chapter one, Paul lays out
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God's wrath on the humanist
who lives as though there is no God.
And and he puts it in
terms at the towards the,the middle end of that chapter,
in terms of sexual depravityand what that looks like in the world.
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I pointed you
to unfiltered and unplugged,teaching that I've done on that.
Is homosexualitycompatible with the Bible?
And so all of that's there,and I really dive into that whole issue.
But that's what Paul said.
Look, from the humanistwho says there is no God.
This is where that leads.
In chapter two, he, he,he kind of shifts a little bit
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and he deals with the moralistand the religionists
as good people.
Those of us who think,
I mean, I'm not a Jesus fanatic,but I'm like a fan
and I'm a good person.
And and by my goodness, God and I have
a good understandingand a good relationship.
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That's the moralist.
The religionists would say, well,I, you know, I'm more than a good moral
person, like, like I know the Bibleand I'm in church every week
and by my goodness and my serveand by my by my good religious life,
God and I are good.
And what Paul says
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is that whatever camp you put yourself in,
the humanist,the moralist or the religionists,
if you reject the truthof your own personal sin.
If I were just the truth of my ownpersonal sin, my need for repentance,
your need for personal repentance,and humbly accept the work Jesus did
on the cross, the shedding of his bloodfor the forgiveness of your sin.
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Whether you're a humanistmore or less, or religionists,
we're all equally lost
and deserving of the wrath of God.
And so let's jump into this
to the moralist as good folk.
Romans 1234.
They'll follow along with meon the screen.
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Let me read it from my Bible.
You therefore have no excuse.
You who pass judgment on someone elsefor whatever point you judge the other.
You are condemning yourself because youwho pass judgment do the same things.
Now we know that God's judgment
against thosewho do such things is based on truth.
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So when you,a mere man, pass judgment on them
and yet do the same things, doyou think you will escape God's judgment?
Or do you show contempt for the richesof his kindness, tolerance, and patience?
Not really realizing that God's kindness
leads you toward repentance.
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When Paul
says, you who pass judgmentand what he's saying is based on
what he's talked about in in chapter one,the degradation
of of of of culture, of humanity.
You who pass judgment on them.
He says, be very careful,
because when you pass judgment,
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you do the same things.
Here's what he's saying.
What he was saying is, is,
well, you know, when you say,well, they got what they deserve,
that's on them.
They chose their life.
They made their decisions,
their lives fall apart, being destroyedbecause they're just getting
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what they deserve.
I haven't chose those.
So my life didn't fall apart.
They're getting what they deserve.
He says be very careful.
This is so interesting to me
because I.
I want to caution you, us,
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not to believe in or to say thingsthat I've seen coming out
from moralistic and religious people
in light of the fires in LA.
And you picked up on whatthe more or less, religionists are saying,
some of them.
That there's it'sno surprise that the Golden Globes mocked
God and two days later, the,you know, life is burning. The.
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Please don't say that.
Please don't believe that.
All that happens when if you buy into that
illogic,
all you do is confirm that you are either
a moralist or a religionists
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worthy of God's wrath.
The moralist will say
I might be bad, but I'm not like that.
The religionists will say,I got my issues,
but they're not like those issues.
That deserves God's wrath. Me?
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When Paul says, don't judge.
Most people have heard what Jesus said
in Matthew chapter seven, verse one.
What do you say?
The fullness of the screen for me backthere.
Do not judge or what?
If any of you heard that?
Have you heard that?
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Yeah.
We like that verse, don't we?
The problem is most people, though,they know that verse.
They've not read enough of the Bibleto read verses 15
and 16 of what Jesus also said.
Same chapter.
Couple verses later.
Watch out for false prophets.
They come to you in sheep's clothing, butinwardly are ferocious wolves by their.
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What fruit you will. What?
Recognize them?
How do you recognize bad fruit?
You judge that it's bad.
So on the one hand,Jesus says, don't judge us.
You'll be judge.
On the other handhe says, but you may judge their life,
the fruit of their life,because only by their judging
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the fruit of lifewill you know if they're of me or not.
So here's how I want to unpack this.
When Paul says about judging, here'swhat he means.
We're not to judge for condemnation.
We are to judge for identification.
You understand that there's a difference
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what Paul's talking about here.
Don't judgesomeone else's sin as if you have
the knowledge to condemn or not.
But we do judge for identification.
If someone claims to be a Christ followeror a Jesus follower,
it will show by the fruit of their life.
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And Jesus says,judge that so you will know.
It's interesting that Paul sayshe doesn't.
He doesn't find fault with judging.
What he finds fault is that we haven'tjudged ourselves severely in the first.
It's exactly what Jesus said to.
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He said, don't worry about thethe speck in someone else's.
I take the log out of your own first.
He's it's not about not making judgebecause he says, judge
the fruit of each other.
Judge him not for condemnation,
but for identification.
But first, judge yourself most severely.
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What David failed to do.
You follow?
You okay?
See, this is all pointed to the moralist
who would say, at least I'm not like them.
And when he says hereyou who pass judgment.
You're condemning yourself because youwho pass judgment do the same things.
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And the moralistwould say, I don't do that.
I mean,
there.
I don't do that.
And what the more or less forgets
is how Jesus interpreted the law.
He said, you've heard it say that.
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Don't murder.
Well, I'm telling you, the interpretationof that when you've harbored
hatred in your heart and grudges,
you'vealready committed murder in your heart.
So though your sin doesn'tlook externally like
there's internally it's the same.
Jesus would say, you've heard itsaid, don't commit adultery.
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You said, what I'm telling you is,when you have lusted
and harboredlust in your heart for someone,
you're guilty.
And this is what Paul saying,you who point the finger,
you gotta realize that there'ssomething going on in your own life.
You haven't judged severely enough yet.
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You do the same things,he says, you moralist.
And he asks the question,
do you show contempt for the richesof his kindness, tolerance, and patience,
not realizing that God's kindness leadyou toward repentance?
You see and look just because.
Just because the hammer hasn't fallen yet.
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Don't mistake that
for God's inability to lower itthe hammer,
nor mistake it as God's approval.
He's being kind to you.
And when Paul this these three things
kindness, tolerance and patience,what he's saying is
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God is kind to you towards your past sin.
He's tolerant with youregarding your present sin,
and he will be patient with youabout your future sin.
That's what he's saying.
So he's saying so.
So don't be fooled.
And the thinkinghe doesn't care about your past.
And don't be fooled and think in thinkingthat he's approving of your presence.
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And don't be fooled in thinking he'll havea blind eye about your future sin.
He sees it all.
He knows it all.
But he is kind to youbecause he wants his kindness.
You want you to to recognizethat his kindness is intended to what
lead you to repentance.
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God doesn't want to force you to repent.
He don't want to break you.
So you will. He.
He shows his kindness over our past,present, and future sin.
So that will be led to repentance.
See, it's not a scary thing
to repent when you know that in repentancecomes grace.
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Grace is the undeserved,unmerited favor and blessing.
But we never get to the unmerited
and, favor blessing of God,the grace of God without first repentance.
And you can't.
We can't repeatuntil we acknowledge our sin,
even for the moralist.
You follow?
You okay, so far it's.
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Enough to lead us to repentance.
God does not want to have to break us.
So we'll repent. It was not beyond that.
But please understand,
if you and I have not reapedall we've sowed
the full destruction of our life, behaviorand sin.
It's only because of God's kindness.
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It's only because of his toleranceand his patience.
And he intends us to recognize that,
to lead us to repent.
Please don't miss this.
Read five through 11 for a long sectionhere.
Here's what I want you to.
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I want to make sureyou bring your Bibles with you,
because pretty soon I'm going to startstart putting the verses up here.
It's just too much.
And so you're going to have to followalong with me at some point.
Okay.
So let me justI don't know when I'm going to do it.
I might pull the trigger on that nextweek.
I'm not sure. So just be ready.
If you don't have a Bible, let me know.
And Scott and BrendaMcElroy will buy one for you.
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And, download something on your phone orwhatever, but let me just read verse five.
But because of your stubbornnessand your unrepentant heart,
you are storing up wrath against yourselffor the day of God's wrath.
When his righteous judgmentwill be revealed. God.
And then Paul quotes,from, Psalm and Proverbs.
God will give to each personaccording to what he has done.
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End quote.
He goes on to those who, by persistenceand doing good, seek glory,
honor, immortality.He'll give you eternal life.
But for those who are self-seekingand who reject the truth and follow evil,
there will be rap.
And they verse nine, he says,there will be trouble and distress
for every human being who does evil,both for Jews and Gentiles, don't matter
but glory, honor, and peace for everyonewho does good first for the Jew
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and then for the Gentiles.
And then verse11, For God does not show favoritism.
I'm going to come back to thatin just a minute.
Let me wrap up with for I'mgoing to skip verse 12.
Come back to verse 13 says this, forit is not those who hear the law
who are righteous in God's sight,
but those, but it is those who obeythe law who will be declared righteous.
Let me unpack it. Here's what he's saying.
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He's saying for all you peep,all you good moralists
and even new religionists, he'stalking to us
because of your stubbornnessand your unrepentant hearts.
Stubbornnessmeans when you dig your heels in
and just get obstinateto the truth of sin,
when you just do hisand look like, look, I'm a good person.
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I'm not like that.
It just doesn'tapply to me because they deserve it.
I don't, you're just stubborn.
You refuse to admit
that spirit.
You're just like those people.
And when it when when he saysyou have an unrepentant heart,
it's the heartthat refuses to change its mind.
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You just refuse to change your mind
about your own personalsin, your need of a Savior, he says.
For those of uswho dicker hills in and obstinate
to the truth of sin, and the only wayto forgiveness and salvation, who refuse
to change our mind, he says, we'restoring up wrath for our self.
God's wrath.
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Now let me.
How many of you have ever filled upa water balloon before
you fill the water balloon?
Okay, so Paul never did.
But what he's talking about is this idea.
You fill up a water balloon, and he keepsgoing to keep on, keep filling up.
If you keep it under the nozzle too long,what happens to that water balloon?
It bursts all over you.
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And what he's saying is, isif you continue,
though, God is patient and kind,
you continue to dig your heelsand you continue to refuse
to change your mind about your ownpersonal sin and your need to repent.
That balloon will fill up so much of God'swrath.
It's being contained right now,
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but at some point it will be so full
that wrath will burst all over you.
Oh moral one.
You said you continue to reject the truth,
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the knowledge that his wrath is coming on.
Those who refuse to repent.
God is love,
but his righteousness
means wrath on the unrepentant.
And when he says in
the verses seven, ten, and 13, to thosewho by persistence in doing
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good, see glory, honor, immortality,he'll give you eternal life.
Verse ten, but glory, honor, peacefor everyone who does good.
And then verse 13, for it is not thosewho hear the law who are righteous
in God's sight, but those who obeythe law will be declared righteous.
What he's saying is what we read inJames 122
be doers of the word,not just hearers of it.
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It's not enough to know when they hear.
It's not enoughto give assent to their no.
I agree with everything in the Bible.
What he's saying is you can know itand be a good moral person.
You can knowand be a good religious person,
but until youit become like you do, what's here,
your knowledge means nothing.
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It's got to show up in your life.
And that's whyJesus can say in in Matthew 715 and 16,
you'll know them by their fruit,and you can judge the fruit of a life.
No problem.
Because if they believe in,they say they'll believe it'll show up.
You have the right to judge the fruit.
They don't judge for condemnation.
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That's God's job.
But the moment we say I'm right with God.
We can judge the fruit.
And I love verse 11.
It says, For God does not show favoritism.
Just a little side note
it. God does not show favoritism. I.
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Did you know
that?
What that means is that God listens to youas much as he listens to me.
So it's dangerous to sit up
here on this stooland to have the mic for many reasons.
But one of the reasons is dangerousis because sometimes people
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who are listening to the one on the stoolthink that their prayers
and connection to God is a little bitmore intense and connected than yours.
And that's why.
That's why.And this isn't a shame anybody.
But I just want one supplementin Scripture and and what
it means to be a child of God.
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I've had peopletell me this on Sunday morning,
pastor, I really need you to pray for me.
Why you think
I got some connection to himthat you don't have?
The Bible says right herethere's no favoritism.
He didn't pay attention tomy prayers more than yours.
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Does it make you understand?
I'm saying.
But some people feel as though.
Oh, you're the pastor.
If we can just get past heartbreak.
Let me say this with gentleness.
Although I don't think I can.
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That's an insult to God.
Do you think my prayers are heardmore than yours?
If you have a relationship with Jesus?
So please,
I don't mind praying for any of you,
but please don't insult God
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and put me in that position
where you think you need to come to churchand ask me to pray for you.
I'm almost to the point.
When people ask me, I tell them no.
Pastor, you pray for me? No.
Well.
We got so many good prayersin this church.
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We have people in this churchwho would. If.
If you have a need.
Listen, if you ever need, you pray.
You've got direct access to God.
The Holy Spirit is your advocateand your intercessor.
But beyond that,we got people in this church
who would love to come to your homeand pray with you.
I mean little people.
They would love to meet with you and pray.
People would love to visit.
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When you go, someone in your familygoes to the hospital.
Let us know. We got people who show up.
Every first year, every
month,
people after the service.
You make us a decision.You need to pray about something.
We got people like.
That God didn't show favoritism.
He listens.
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Have I said enough about that?
All right.
Okay.
Then go back to verse 12and then 14 and 15.
First 12 says it's
all who sent the Paul is so brilliant.
He writes like a lawyer,especially in Romans.
And so this is going to sound like lawyerease.
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Okay.
And sometimes here's the, here'sthe danger for all you brilliant people.
Sometimes you're too brilliantfor simple people like me.
And Paul is one of those.
And so I'm going to read this
and you might get lost in it,will come back and explain.
But here's what it's all who standapart from the law will also perish.
Apart from the law, and all who sinnedunder law will be judged by the law.
Verse 14 indeed, when Gentileswho do not have the law
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do by nature things required by the law,they are a law for themselves,
even though they do not have the law,since they show that the requirements
of the law are written on their hearts,their conscience is also bearing witness
and their thoughtsnow, accusing, now even defending them.
You got it.
Here's what he's saying.
This addresses the question.
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If any of you have ever wondered,
well,what about people who don't have the law?
What about peoplewho've never read the Bible?
What about peoplewho've never heard the name of Jesus?
What about them?
If you ever wondered that.
No. You need to do a little bit more deepthinking in your life.
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This addresses the questionwhat about those who just don't know?
Are they going to be condemned?
Well, how can they ever be saved?
They've never been.
So here, here's what Paul saying.
For those who know the law,
who know the standard of God
and who disobey it,
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they show themselves to be lawbreakers.
You follow me so far, so all of usfall in that group, that category.
We're without excuse. We've heard it.
We know it.
And we'll be judged by it.
And that judgment from God
will be just a law breaker and guilty.
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Now, for those who have never heard this,who don't know this,
what Paul is saying is, though,they don't have the written law,
they have the law of God on their hearts.
In other words.
They know at some level
right and wrong, moral and immoral.
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Every human does. We're born with it.
It's God's lawthat's embedded in our hearts.
Even without the written one.
There's enough within us put there by God.
Shadows of his lawto know what's right and wrong.
Let me give you an example.
And it's very crass,but let me just give you this example.
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It's called the moral law.
Every culture throughout history,
from the beginning of time, inno culture has it ever been
moral to kill
little children for pleasures sake.
Now there have been cultureswho have killed kids,
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but never simply for pleasure and joy.
Why? Because there's a moral law writteninto the heart of humanity.
And what Paul is saying is,if that's the only law you have,
you will break your own moral codeat some point.
He's saying, for God's perfect law,
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there's no way we can obeythe perfect law 100% of time.
And if we can't obeythe perfect 100% of time,
there's no waywe can even obey our own personal law.
Are you saying God's law is written
on the hearts of thosewho have never heard of the law enough?
So when they violate their own conscienceof right and wrong,
they are judged guilty.
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You follow me.
You follow me.
So Paul would say we're all guilty.
You got the law. You're just by guilty.
You don't have the law.
You're just by the God's law writtenon your hearts, which is conscience.
You're still guilty.
None of us are without excuse.
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And if you're still hung up onthat whole idea about those
who don't have the Bible,if you're really that concerned about it,
the Bible also say,then you have to go tell them.
And if you haven't donethat, you're broken.
God's law still guilty.
(33:27):
Ephesians three.
Verses 17 and following.
Now if you call yourself a Jew,now he's talking to the.
That was all directionsto the moral person.
Now, I was talking to the religion. It
you call yourself a Jew
if you really if you rely on the lawand brag about your relationship to God,
if you know his will
and approve of what a superior,because you're instructed by the law,
(33:51):
if you are convinced that you are a guidefor the blind, a light for those
who are in the dark, an instructorfor the foolish, a teacher for infants.
Because you have in the lawthe embodiment of the knowledge of truth.
You then who teach others,don't you teach yourself first.
What he's saying is, if your confidence
and your relationship with Godis based on your religious behavior.
(34:17):
If you're good at doing the things
you think, your goodness is a guidefor those who aren't good,
you think you area light for people who are in darkness.
If they would just look at you,you think that you can instruct those
to do the religious things you do.
Said you really want to.
You really want to try to think
(34:39):
your relationshipwith the father on your own religiosity.
You think you're that religious.
He says youwhy don't you teach yourself first?
Do you see how he keepsturning the tables?
Look at the mirror. Look at the mirror.
Look at the mirror.
(35:00):
And I will tell you this
when he says, you who teach others,do you not teach yourself first?
I truly do endeavor that whatever
I preach to you, it'sbecause I've preached it to me.
I truly do try to teach myself first.
(35:22):
And it says,
you who preach against stealing,do you steal?
You say thatpeople should not commit adultery.
You commit adultery.
You abhor idols.
Do you rob temples? Youwho brag about the law?
Do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
As it is written, watch this.
God'sname is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you.
(35:43):
Again he he turns it internal.
It says, you know what the word says?
Says, don't steal.
But you live with so much envy.
Like like
if you could take what belongsto someone else, you would in your heart.
You don't. The law says don't murder.
(36:04):
But you know those grudgesyou're still holding.
You haven't forgiven.
And you says
because you claim to bethis religious person, but it hasn't.
You haven't changed and you haven't becomea new creation because of that,
society and culture makes fun of God.
(36:25):
Because of us.
Romans one and two is tough,
Who can escape it?
None of us.
And then he goes on in verses25, 20, 27, I won't go into all of this,
(36:47):
but he he deals with for thefor the religionists, the Jew.
They show their religion by circumcision.
And so he says, look,if you're jumping through the hoops,
but you haven't changed in here,
all the hoopsyou jump through religiously don't matter.
And actually, thosewho haven't jumped through the hoops,
but here, they've changed itas if they have jumped through the hoops.
(37:10):
So the hoops are goodonly as much as they show
that in here has changed, that.
Let me let me go through, verse 21and I wrap the chapter on top of this.
A man is not a Jewif he is only one outwardly.
Nor is circumcisionmerely outward and physical.
No, a man is a Jewif he is one inwardly, and circumcision
(37:31):
is circumcision of the heartby the spirit, not by the written code.
Such a man'spraise is not from men, but from God.
What he's saying is this
the external things are important
as they expressan internal inward transformation.
(37:52):
So all the religious stuff is important
only as they reflectthe change that's happened the inside.
And until the change has happened,the inside,
we stand condemned before God.
That's what he's saying.
And all the religious stuff in the world.
(38:13):
Won't get us away from the wrath of God.
That's why Paul was saying, Galatians 615.
Neither circumcision nonsensein all the religious hoops you could jump.
They don't mean anything.
What counts is the new creation.
Every one of us,
(38:33):
the humanists, the moralists,the religionists,
the new creation of saying, father,I agree,
I'm a sinner
and I've broken your law
and that meansI deserve judgment and wrath,
and I cannot be right with you
(38:56):
except through faith in Jesus.
What he did on the cross,
dying and raising for my sin.
The new creation.
So here we all stand.
(39:17):
The humanist who is reaping
the destructionof their sin and repentance.
Here we all stand.
The moralist
who remains separated from God
because they think they're at least betterthan them.
The religionists
who believes that their religious behavior
(39:39):
equates to a relationship with the father
without repentance.
The humanist,
the moralist, and the religionists.
We stand condemned.
But thanks be to God.
(40:01):
Because of his grace
that he has made the only way possible
to escape the wrath of God and experience
a new life of freedom
and new life of salvation.
The fact is, every one of us, no matter
the camp, humanist, moreor less religious, need a savior.
(40:25):
And it's only through faith
in Jesus repentance of our sin
and accepting himas the leader of our life.
Now that we can find salvation,
Romans one and two is bad news.
Grace is coming,
but grace is only amazing
(40:48):
because of the bad news that precedes it.
And grace is amazing
because by the grace of Godthat we can, through faith,
have a relationship with the fatherbecause of the son.
So all of this wrath.
(41:09):
Won't apply to us.
God has done everything he can
to keep us from helland to keep us from his wrath.
He's done everything.
He can't do anything morethan what he's already done.
And part of what he's done is
given us a freewill to accept it or to reject it.
(41:33):
And that,my friends, is the beauty of love
and the power of faith.
The best thing you canI could do this morning
is to agree with God about His Word.
I admit I'm a sinner.
I confess my sin to you.
I accept your forgiveness
(41:55):
and the free gift of eternal lifethrough Jesus.
And in the midst of all that bad news
that is the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ,
propelled by the grace of God.
(42:16):
But we cannot get to this
until we've dealt with that.
And so I want to invite you this morning.
Deal with that
and live in this.
I want you to pray with me.
(42:40):
God, you are a good God
who can mean your goodness.
You have been kind andpatient and tolerant with us.
Given us time and
time and time and opportunity
to realize your love,to agree with your word,
(43:00):
and to come to you in faith.
You're so merciful and you're so gracious.
I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would openour hearts and our minds to understand
the love of the father.
Father, there are some this morning,
(43:21):
thoughwe've tried to be good moral people,
though we try to be good, religiouspeople are realizing that it's not enough
and that only faith in you, Jesus,
in your work on the crossand your resurrection is enough.
And father,
there are people turning to you right now.
(43:42):
Thank you that you are you sure?
No favoritism. And you hear their prayers.
So, friends,I would invite you in this moment
to agree with God.
To confess before him in your heart.
God, I admit it.
I'm a sinner.
(44:03):
I've tried to be good.
I've tried to be religious.
And I realized this morning
that that's not enough.
And in faith,
I accept you.
Jesus,
as the forgiver of my sin.
Through your death
(44:26):
and the guarantee your of eternal life
through your resurrection.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
I accept you, Jesus,as the leader of my life.
And then say, father, help me now
(44:48):
to grow as a Jesus follower,
to understand more fully what it means
to follow you all the days of my life.
Tell him.
Say thank youthat you've rescued me from hell.
You've delivered me from wrath.
(45:08):
Let me walk
to the liberationof your mercy and your grace.
Father, I pray over
us that those of us who have madethat decision have an experience.
Your mercy and grace would live as peoplewho give mercy and grace
to those around us,
that the world wouldn't blaspheme
(45:29):
or make fun of you because of us.
That your reputation will be raised
in the eyes of this world,
the eyes of this community,the eyes of the ranchos,
because we've been so transformed
and the new creations.
Jesus, we love you.
Help us to love you more.
(45:50):
In your name I pray. Amen.
Listen, I love you.
You are doing a great job going through
some very difficult chapters.
Pardon for punch it
because what's at stake is too important.
So we're not pulling punches.
You've done a great job
being with us in chapters one and two.
(46:12):
We're going to come to the end of Paul'sexponential God's
wrath and get into God's grace.
And it is gloriousand fun and beautiful and everything.
But we got to deal with this stuff first.So good job.
Good on you.
Here's my homework for you.
Read chapter two againas if it is a mirror for you,
and read chapter three,because that's what will be next week.
(46:34):
Stay with us.
Stay in this.
You're going to be okay.
And it's going to get really funreal fast.
You understand?
Understand?
I love you, and I'm proud of you.
Let's keep going through this together.
And we're going to sing aboutGod's amazing grace. Right?
That's what we need. Thank you. Brian.
The word gospel
translates to news that brings joy.
But this isn't just any news.
A gospel is newsthat changes a life forever.
After being invadedand enslaved by Persia,
Greece won two decisive battlesat Marathon and Souls.
The Greeks sent outheralds, also called evangelists,
(00:23):
to proclaim the good news to the cities.
We have fought for you. We have won.
And now you're no longer slaves.
You're free.
The reality is that we are all slaves.
Slaves to sin and slaves to death.
We are slaves in need of good news.
Enter Jesus, God's son.
(00:45):
Fully God, fully man.
News that would change our lives forever.
His news was this.
I am the divine come to you to do.
You could not do for yourself.
I will take what you deserveso you can have what I deserve.
You have no idea how much it will cost me.
But you also cannotimagine the depths of my love for you.
(01:08):
It is a gift that I give freely.
So intent.
Repent from all the waysyou run for me and follow me.
Follow mebecause I am the only way to eternal life.
Follow me because I'mthe savior you've been looking for.
Follow mebecause I have authority over everything.
Yet I have humbled myself for you.
Follow me.
(01:29):
Because I died on a cross for you.
Because I'm yourtrue love and your true life.
This is my good news for you.
This is my gospel.
That you have been saved by graceand that you are slave
no more for me.
(01:57):
That is the message of Romans.
That's the gospel.
And we're going to look at the bookof Romans,
for the next few monthsas we go through it as best we can.
Chapter by chapter.
And you're going to see that video overand over, because I want to drive home
the point of what the gospel is.
Basically a synopsisof the book of Romans.
(02:22):
25 years after Paul's conversion to Jesus,
he was traveled on the roadto Damascus to persecute
Jesus followers,and Jesus met him personally.
The resurrected Jesus met himpersonally on the road to Damascus,
and Paul
was transformed, absolutely transformed.
(02:44):
And from that pointon, had the desire to go to Rome
to explain the gospelto Christians in Rome.
And year after year, thoughhe desired to go for one reason
or another,the Holy Spirit prevented him from going.
And so he decided to write a letterto them
(03:04):
in the event he couldn't go.
And that letter explaining the gospel
very clearly and very concisely
and very precisely, is what we have in
our Bibles called the Book of Romans.
And I want to, as we go through this,
there was so much in this bookthat we will not get to.
(03:28):
And so I encourage your own reading of it,
your discussion of it.
It's so complete
a work and it's so thoughtful and logical
that way.
Back in the day, many years ago, StanfordLaw required their students
to memorize the firsteight verses of the Book of Romans
(03:50):
as an example of an irrefutable argument
for something that could not be disproven.
It's an amazing writing by Paul.
And so we're going to look at itin the first three chapters.
The book of Romans is dividedinto four sections
the Wrath of God, the grace of God,
(04:10):
the Plan of God, and the Will of God.
And the first three chapters of Romans
talks about the wrath of God.
And as we go through chapters one and two,
most people would say, it's kind of easy
to see the wrath of Godunderstand it in terms of chapter one.
But chapter two is a little different.
(04:30):
Chapter two dealswith a different group of people
and what it deals with.
Paul dealswith the wrath of God on the humanist,
the wrath of God on the moralist,
and the wrath of God on the religionists.
The The humanist would be chapter one.
Those who think there is no Goddon't don't consider eternity.
(04:55):
As a reality.
Don't consider what sin is,who best basically as human.
It's justwhatever is good for you is good for you.
You do. You all do me?
Don't judge me.
I won't judge you.
Everything is up to the individual.
Very humanistic.
The moralist says.
You know what? I'm not.
I'm not quite that like them.
(05:17):
You know, but I'm not really religious.
But I'm a good person.
The religionists would say, well,I'm certainly not like those guys, and
I am a good person, but I'm a good personbecause I'm a religious person.
There would be the ones in church.
They'd be the ones who have a Bibleand read it.
And Paul sets out and says,whether you put yourself
(05:39):
in the camp of the humanist,the moralist, or the religion, ist.
Every one of us is in need of a savior,
and every one of us is guilty of breakingGod's law.
Every one of us steeped in sin,
and even the moreor less in the religious, don't escape
(06:02):
God's wrath saved by the blood of Jesus,
shed on the cross for the eons of our sin.
When we read chapter one, it's easy
to point the fingerat those who get what they deserve,
especially in the moralistand the religionists.
That's how we think.
(06:22):
You know what?
You made your choices, major decisions.
You're reaping the results of your life.
I want us to understand something.
When we overly condemn someone's sin,
it's a sign that we haven't condemnedseverely enough
to sin in ourselves.
(06:45):
I want to be very clear about that
biblically.
Go back to the Old Testamentand look at King David.
He's the king. He,
has a lust problem.
Sees a woman named Bathsheba
takes her. She's married to another man.
Uriah takes her,commits adultery with her.
(07:07):
She becomes pregnant,and he works out this evil scheme
to have her husband killed.
Goes on with his life.
The prophet Nathan
comes to David and says, David,let me tell you this story.
There was a poor man with onelittle sheep, and he loved the sheep.
And there was a rich manwith a whole flock of sheep.
(07:30):
And the rich manhad some friends coming over,
and he didn't want to useany of his own sheep for the barbecue.
So he stole the poorman's sheep and barbequed that one.
What should happen to that man?
And David flies off the handle
and says, that's horrible, that's evil.
That man deserved to die.
And Nathan says, David, you're the guy.
(07:54):
You took one.
See, what David did
there was there was consequenceand ramifications for for stealing.
But it wasn't the death penalty.
And what was going on in David's life.
There was sin in his lifethat he hadn't judged severely enough.
So he severely judged someone else.
(08:16):
You follow.
So whenever we severely judgesomeone else's
sin, it's probably a sign
that we have injured severely enough
the sin of our own heart.
So we have to be very careful.
And in chapter one, Paul lays out
(08:37):
God's wrath on the humanist
who lives as though there is no God.
And and he puts it in
terms at the towards the,the middle end of that chapter,
in terms of sexual depravityand what that looks like in the world.
(08:58):
I pointed you
to unfiltered and unplugged,teaching that I've done on that.
Is homosexualitycompatible with the Bible?
And so all of that's there,and I really dive into that whole issue.
But that's what Paul said.
Look, from the humanistwho says there is no God.
This is where that leads.
In chapter two, he, he,he kind of shifts a little bit
(09:19):
and he deals with the moralistand the religionists
as good people.
Those of us who think,
I mean, I'm not a Jesus fanatic,but I'm like a fan
and I'm a good person.
And and by my goodness, God and I have
a good understandingand a good relationship.
(09:41):
That's the moralist.
The religionists would say, well,I, you know, I'm more than a good moral
person, like, like I know the Bibleand I'm in church every week
and by my goodness and my serveand by my by my good religious life,
God and I are good.
And what Paul says
(10:03):
is that whatever camp you put yourself in,
the humanist,the moralist or the religionists,
if you reject the truthof your own personal sin.
If I were just the truth of my ownpersonal sin, my need for repentance,
your need for personal repentance,and humbly accept the work Jesus did
on the cross, the shedding of his bloodfor the forgiveness of your sin.
(10:25):
Whether you're a humanistmore or less, or religionists,
we're all equally lost
and deserving of the wrath of God.
And so let's jump into this
to the moralist as good folk.
Romans 1234.
They'll follow along with meon the screen.
(10:46):
Let me read it from my Bible.
You therefore have no excuse.
You who pass judgment on someone elsefor whatever point you judge the other.
You are condemning yourself because youwho pass judgment do the same things.
Now we know that God's judgment
against thosewho do such things is based on truth.
(11:06):
So when you,a mere man, pass judgment on them
and yet do the same things, doyou think you will escape God's judgment?
Or do you show contempt for the richesof his kindness, tolerance, and patience?
Not really realizing that God's kindness
leads you toward repentance.
(11:26):
When Paul
says, you who pass judgmentand what he's saying is based on
what he's talked about in in chapter one,the degradation
of of of of culture, of humanity.
You who pass judgment on them.
He says, be very careful,
because when you pass judgment,
(11:48):
you do the same things.
Here's what he's saying.
What he was saying is, is,
well, you know, when you say,well, they got what they deserve,
that's on them.
They chose their life.
They made their decisions,
their lives fall apart, being destroyedbecause they're just getting
(12:08):
what they deserve.
I haven't chose those.
So my life didn't fall apart.
They're getting what they deserve.
He says be very careful.
This is so interesting to me
because I.
I want to caution you, us,
(12:28):
not to believe in or to say thingsthat I've seen coming out
from moralistic and religious people
in light of the fires in LA.
And you picked up on whatthe more or less, religionists are saying,
some of them.
That there's it'sno surprise that the Golden Globes mocked
God and two days later, the,you know, life is burning. The.
(12:56):
Please don't say that.
Please don't believe that.
All that happens when if you buy into that
illogic,
all you do is confirm that you are either
a moralist or a religionists
(13:16):
worthy of God's wrath.
The moralist will say
I might be bad, but I'm not like that.
The religionists will say,I got my issues,
but they're not like those issues.
That deserves God's wrath. Me?
(13:41):
When Paul says, don't judge.
Most people have heard what Jesus said
in Matthew chapter seven, verse one.
What do you say?
The fullness of the screen for me backthere.
Do not judge or what?
If any of you heard that?
Have you heard that?
(14:02):
Yeah.
We like that verse, don't we?
The problem is most people, though,they know that verse.
They've not read enough of the Bibleto read verses 15
and 16 of what Jesus also said.
Same chapter.
Couple verses later.
Watch out for false prophets.
They come to you in sheep's clothing, butinwardly are ferocious wolves by their.
(14:25):
What fruit you will. What?
Recognize them?
How do you recognize bad fruit?
You judge that it's bad.
So on the one hand,Jesus says, don't judge us.
You'll be judge.
On the other handhe says, but you may judge their life,
the fruit of their life,because only by their judging
(14:46):
the fruit of lifewill you know if they're of me or not.
So here's how I want to unpack this.
When Paul says about judging, here'swhat he means.
We're not to judge for condemnation.
We are to judge for identification.
You understand that there's a difference
(15:07):
what Paul's talking about here.
Don't judgesomeone else's sin as if you have
the knowledge to condemn or not.
But we do judge for identification.
If someone claims to be a Christ followeror a Jesus follower,
it will show by the fruit of their life.
(15:28):
And Jesus says,judge that so you will know.
It's interesting that Paul sayshe doesn't.
He doesn't find fault with judging.
What he finds fault is that we haven'tjudged ourselves severely in the first.
It's exactly what Jesus said to.
(15:50):
He said, don't worry about thethe speck in someone else's.
I take the log out of your own first.
He's it's not about not making judgebecause he says, judge
the fruit of each other.
Judge him not for condemnation,
but for identification.
But first, judge yourself most severely.
(16:12):
What David failed to do.
You follow?
You okay?
See, this is all pointed to the moralist
who would say, at least I'm not like them.
And when he says hereyou who pass judgment.
You're condemning yourself because youwho pass judgment do the same things.
(16:34):
And the moralistwould say, I don't do that.
I mean,
there.
I don't do that.
And what the more or less forgets
is how Jesus interpreted the law.
He said, you've heard it say that.
(16:54):
Don't murder.
Well, I'm telling you, the interpretationof that when you've harbored
hatred in your heart and grudges,
you'vealready committed murder in your heart.
So though your sin doesn'tlook externally like
there's internally it's the same.
Jesus would say, you've heard itsaid, don't commit adultery.
(17:17):
You said, what I'm telling you is,when you have lusted
and harboredlust in your heart for someone,
you're guilty.
And this is what Paul saying,you who point the finger,
you gotta realize that there'ssomething going on in your own life.
You haven't judged severely enough yet.
(17:38):
You do the same things,he says, you moralist.
And he asks the question,
do you show contempt for the richesof his kindness, tolerance, and patience,
not realizing that God's kindness leadyou toward repentance?
You see and look just because.
Just because the hammer hasn't fallen yet.
(17:59):
Don't mistake that
for God's inability to lower itthe hammer,
nor mistake it as God's approval.
He's being kind to you.
And when Paul this these three things
kindness, tolerance and patience,what he's saying is
(18:22):
God is kind to you towards your past sin.
He's tolerant with youregarding your present sin,
and he will be patient with youabout your future sin.
That's what he's saying.
So he's saying so.
So don't be fooled.
And the thinkinghe doesn't care about your past.
And don't be fooled and think in thinkingthat he's approving of your presence.
(18:45):
And don't be fooled in thinking he'll havea blind eye about your future sin.
He sees it all.
He knows it all.
But he is kind to youbecause he wants his kindness.
You want you to to recognizethat his kindness is intended to what
lead you to repentance.
(19:05):
God doesn't want to force you to repent.
He don't want to break you.
So you will. He.
He shows his kindness over our past,present, and future sin.
So that will be led to repentance.
See, it's not a scary thing
to repent when you know that in repentancecomes grace.
(19:25):
Grace is the undeserved,unmerited favor and blessing.
But we never get to the unmerited
and, favor blessing of God,the grace of God without first repentance.
And you can't.
We can't repeatuntil we acknowledge our sin,
even for the moralist.
You follow?
You okay, so far it's.
(19:50):
Enough to lead us to repentance.
God does not want to have to break us.
So we'll repent. It was not beyond that.
But please understand,
if you and I have not reapedall we've sowed
the full destruction of our life, behaviorand sin.
It's only because of God's kindness.
(20:13):
It's only because of his toleranceand his patience.
And he intends us to recognize that,
to lead us to repent.
Please don't miss this.
Read five through 11 for a long sectionhere.
Here's what I want you to.
(20:33):
I want to make sureyou bring your Bibles with you,
because pretty soon I'm going to startstart putting the verses up here.
It's just too much.
And so you're going to have to followalong with me at some point.
Okay.
So let me justI don't know when I'm going to do it.
I might pull the trigger on that nextweek.
I'm not sure. So just be ready.
If you don't have a Bible, let me know.
And Scott and BrendaMcElroy will buy one for you.
(20:55):
And, download something on your phone orwhatever, but let me just read verse five.
But because of your stubbornnessand your unrepentant heart,
you are storing up wrath against yourselffor the day of God's wrath.
When his righteous judgmentwill be revealed. God.
And then Paul quotes,from, Psalm and Proverbs.
God will give to each personaccording to what he has done.
(21:18):
End quote.
He goes on to those who, by persistenceand doing good, seek glory,
honor, immortality.He'll give you eternal life.
But for those who are self-seekingand who reject the truth and follow evil,
there will be rap.
And they verse nine, he says,there will be trouble and distress
for every human being who does evil,both for Jews and Gentiles, don't matter
but glory, honor, and peace for everyonewho does good first for the Jew
(21:42):
and then for the Gentiles.
And then verse11, For God does not show favoritism.
I'm going to come back to thatin just a minute.
Let me wrap up with for I'mgoing to skip verse 12.
Come back to verse 13 says this, forit is not those who hear the law
who are righteous in God's sight,
but those, but it is those who obeythe law who will be declared righteous.
Let me unpack it. Here's what he's saying.
(22:03):
He's saying for all you peep,all you good moralists
and even new religionists, he'stalking to us
because of your stubbornnessand your unrepentant hearts.
Stubbornnessmeans when you dig your heels in
and just get obstinateto the truth of sin,
when you just do hisand look like, look, I'm a good person.
(22:24):
I'm not like that.
It just doesn'tapply to me because they deserve it.
I don't, you're just stubborn.
You refuse to admit
that spirit.
You're just like those people.
And when it when when he saysyou have an unrepentant heart,
it's the heartthat refuses to change its mind.
(22:46):
You just refuse to change your mind
about your own personalsin, your need of a Savior, he says.
For those of uswho dicker hills in and obstinate
to the truth of sin, and the only wayto forgiveness and salvation, who refuse
to change our mind, he says, we'restoring up wrath for our self.
God's wrath.
(23:07):
Now let me.
How many of you have ever filled upa water balloon before
you fill the water balloon?
Okay, so Paul never did.
But what he's talking about is this idea.
You fill up a water balloon, and he keepsgoing to keep on, keep filling up.
If you keep it under the nozzle too long,what happens to that water balloon?
It bursts all over you.
(23:28):
And what he's saying is, isif you continue,
though, God is patient and kind,
you continue to dig your heelsand you continue to refuse
to change your mind about your ownpersonal sin and your need to repent.
That balloon will fill up so much of God'swrath.
It's being contained right now,
(23:49):
but at some point it will be so full
that wrath will burst all over you.
Oh moral one.
You said you continue to reject the truth,
(24:10):
the knowledge that his wrath is coming on.
Those who refuse to repent.
God is love,
but his righteousness
means wrath on the unrepentant.
And when he says in
the verses seven, ten, and 13, to thosewho by persistence in doing
(24:34):
good, see glory, honor, immortality,he'll give you eternal life.
Verse ten, but glory, honor, peacefor everyone who does good.
And then verse 13, for it is not thosewho hear the law who are righteous
in God's sight, but those who obeythe law will be declared righteous.
What he's saying is what we read inJames 122
be doers of the word,not just hearers of it.
(24:54):
It's not enough to know when they hear.
It's not enoughto give assent to their no.
I agree with everything in the Bible.
What he's saying is you can know itand be a good moral person.
You can knowand be a good religious person,
but until youit become like you do, what's here,
your knowledge means nothing.
(25:15):
It's got to show up in your life.
And that's whyJesus can say in in Matthew 715 and 16,
you'll know them by their fruit,and you can judge the fruit of a life.
No problem.
Because if they believe in,they say they'll believe it'll show up.
You have the right to judge the fruit.
They don't judge for condemnation.
(25:37):
That's God's job.
But the moment we say I'm right with God.
We can judge the fruit.
And I love verse 11.
It says, For God does not show favoritism.
Just a little side note
it. God does not show favoritism. I.
(26:00):
Did you know
that?
What that means is that God listens to youas much as he listens to me.
So it's dangerous to sit up
here on this stooland to have the mic for many reasons.
But one of the reasons is dangerousis because sometimes people
(26:21):
who are listening to the one on the stoolthink that their prayers
and connection to God is a little bitmore intense and connected than yours.
And that's why.
That's why.And this isn't a shame anybody.
But I just want one supplementin Scripture and and what
it means to be a child of God.
(26:41):
I've had peopletell me this on Sunday morning,
pastor, I really need you to pray for me.
Why you think
I got some connection to himthat you don't have?
The Bible says right herethere's no favoritism.
He didn't pay attention tomy prayers more than yours.
(27:03):
Does it make you understand?
I'm saying.
But some people feel as though.
Oh, you're the pastor.
If we can just get past heartbreak.
Let me say this with gentleness.
Although I don't think I can.
(27:24):
That's an insult to God.
Do you think my prayers are heardmore than yours?
If you have a relationship with Jesus?
So please,
I don't mind praying for any of you,
but please don't insult God
(27:45):
and put me in that position
where you think you need to come to churchand ask me to pray for you.
I'm almost to the point.
When people ask me, I tell them no.
Pastor, you pray for me? No.
Well.
We got so many good prayersin this church.
(28:06):
We have people in this churchwho would. If.
If you have a need.
Listen, if you ever need, you pray.
You've got direct access to God.
The Holy Spirit is your advocateand your intercessor.
But beyond that,we got people in this church
who would love to come to your homeand pray with you.
I mean little people.
They would love to meet with you and pray.
People would love to visit.
(28:27):
When you go, someone in your familygoes to the hospital.
Let us know. We got people who show up.
Every first year, every
month,
people after the service.
You make us a decision.You need to pray about something.
We got people like.
That God didn't show favoritism.
He listens.
(28:48):
Have I said enough about that?
All right.
Okay.
Then go back to verse 12and then 14 and 15.
First 12 says it's
all who sent the Paul is so brilliant.
He writes like a lawyer,especially in Romans.
And so this is going to sound like lawyerease.
(29:08):
Okay.
And sometimes here's the, here'sthe danger for all you brilliant people.
Sometimes you're too brilliantfor simple people like me.
And Paul is one of those.
And so I'm going to read this
and you might get lost in it,will come back and explain.
But here's what it's all who standapart from the law will also perish.
Apart from the law, and all who sinnedunder law will be judged by the law.
Verse 14 indeed, when Gentileswho do not have the law
(29:32):
do by nature things required by the law,they are a law for themselves,
even though they do not have the law,since they show that the requirements
of the law are written on their hearts,their conscience is also bearing witness
and their thoughtsnow, accusing, now even defending them.
You got it.
Here's what he's saying.
This addresses the question.
(29:54):
If any of you have ever wondered,
well,what about people who don't have the law?
What about peoplewho've never read the Bible?
What about peoplewho've never heard the name of Jesus?
What about them?
If you ever wondered that.
No. You need to do a little bit more deepthinking in your life.
(30:17):
This addresses the questionwhat about those who just don't know?
Are they going to be condemned?
Well, how can they ever be saved?
They've never been.
So here, here's what Paul saying.
For those who know the law,
who know the standard of God
and who disobey it,
(30:37):
they show themselves to be lawbreakers.
You follow me so far, so all of usfall in that group, that category.
We're without excuse. We've heard it.
We know it.
And we'll be judged by it.
And that judgment from God
will be just a law breaker and guilty.
(30:57):
Now, for those who have never heard this,who don't know this,
what Paul is saying is, though,they don't have the written law,
they have the law of God on their hearts.
In other words.
They know at some level
right and wrong, moral and immoral.
(31:20):
Every human does. We're born with it.
It's God's lawthat's embedded in our hearts.
Even without the written one.
There's enough within us put there by God.
Shadows of his lawto know what's right and wrong.
Let me give you an example.
And it's very crass,but let me just give you this example.
(31:42):
It's called the moral law.
Every culture throughout history,
from the beginning of time, inno culture has it ever been
moral to kill
little children for pleasures sake.
Now there have been cultureswho have killed kids,
(32:03):
but never simply for pleasure and joy.
Why? Because there's a moral law writteninto the heart of humanity.
And what Paul is saying is,if that's the only law you have,
you will break your own moral codeat some point.
He's saying, for God's perfect law,
(32:23):
there's no way we can obeythe perfect law 100% of time.
And if we can't obeythe perfect 100% of time,
there's no waywe can even obey our own personal law.
Are you saying God's law is written
on the hearts of thosewho have never heard of the law enough?
So when they violate their own conscienceof right and wrong,
they are judged guilty.
(32:44):
You follow me.
You follow me.
So Paul would say we're all guilty.
You got the law. You're just by guilty.
You don't have the law.
You're just by the God's law writtenon your hearts, which is conscience.
You're still guilty.
None of us are without excuse.
(33:07):
And if you're still hung up onthat whole idea about those
who don't have the Bible,if you're really that concerned about it,
the Bible also say,then you have to go tell them.
And if you haven't donethat, you're broken.
God's law still guilty.
(33:27):
Ephesians three.
Verses 17 and following.
Now if you call yourself a Jew,now he's talking to the.
That was all directionsto the moral person.
Now, I was talking to the religion. It
you call yourself a Jew
if you really if you rely on the lawand brag about your relationship to God,
if you know his will
and approve of what a superior,because you're instructed by the law,
(33:51):
if you are convinced that you are a guidefor the blind, a light for those
who are in the dark, an instructorfor the foolish, a teacher for infants.
Because you have in the lawthe embodiment of the knowledge of truth.
You then who teach others,don't you teach yourself first.
What he's saying is, if your confidence
and your relationship with Godis based on your religious behavior.
(34:17):
If you're good at doing the things
you think, your goodness is a guidefor those who aren't good,
you think you area light for people who are in darkness.
If they would just look at you,you think that you can instruct those
to do the religious things you do.
Said you really want to.
You really want to try to think
(34:39):
your relationshipwith the father on your own religiosity.
You think you're that religious.
He says youwhy don't you teach yourself first?
Do you see how he keepsturning the tables?
Look at the mirror. Look at the mirror.
Look at the mirror.
(35:00):
And I will tell you this
when he says, you who teach others,do you not teach yourself first?
I truly do endeavor that whatever
I preach to you, it'sbecause I've preached it to me.
I truly do try to teach myself first.
(35:22):
And it says,
you who preach against stealing,do you steal?
You say thatpeople should not commit adultery.
You commit adultery.
You abhor idols.
Do you rob temples? Youwho brag about the law?
Do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
As it is written, watch this.
God'sname is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you.
(35:43):
Again he he turns it internal.
It says, you know what the word says?
Says, don't steal.
But you live with so much envy.
Like like
if you could take what belongsto someone else, you would in your heart.
You don't. The law says don't murder.
(36:04):
But you know those grudgesyou're still holding.
You haven't forgiven.
And you says
because you claim to bethis religious person, but it hasn't.
You haven't changed and you haven't becomea new creation because of that,
society and culture makes fun of God.
(36:25):
Because of us.
Romans one and two is tough,
Who can escape it?
None of us.
And then he goes on in verses25, 20, 27, I won't go into all of this,
(36:47):
but he he deals with for thefor the religionists, the Jew.
They show their religion by circumcision.
And so he says, look,if you're jumping through the hoops,
but you haven't changed in here,
all the hoopsyou jump through religiously don't matter.
And actually, thosewho haven't jumped through the hoops,
but here, they've changed itas if they have jumped through the hoops.
(37:10):
So the hoops are goodonly as much as they show
that in here has changed, that.
Let me let me go through, verse 21and I wrap the chapter on top of this.
A man is not a Jewif he is only one outwardly.
Nor is circumcisionmerely outward and physical.
No, a man is a Jewif he is one inwardly, and circumcision
(37:31):
is circumcision of the heartby the spirit, not by the written code.
Such a man'spraise is not from men, but from God.
What he's saying is this
the external things are important
as they expressan internal inward transformation.
(37:52):
So all the religious stuff is important
only as they reflectthe change that's happened the inside.
And until the change has happened,the inside,
we stand condemned before God.
That's what he's saying.
And all the religious stuff in the world.
(38:13):
Won't get us away from the wrath of God.
That's why Paul was saying, Galatians 615.
Neither circumcision nonsensein all the religious hoops you could jump.
They don't mean anything.
What counts is the new creation.
Every one of us,
(38:33):
the humanists, the moralists,the religionists,
the new creation of saying, father,I agree,
I'm a sinner
and I've broken your law
and that meansI deserve judgment and wrath,
and I cannot be right with you
(38:56):
except through faith in Jesus.
What he did on the cross,
dying and raising for my sin.
The new creation.
So here we all stand.
(39:17):
The humanist who is reaping
the destructionof their sin and repentance.
Here we all stand.
The moralist
who remains separated from God
because they think they're at least betterthan them.
The religionists
who believes that their religious behavior
(39:39):
equates to a relationship with the father
without repentance.
The humanist,
the moralist, and the religionists.
We stand condemned.
But thanks be to God.
(40:01):
Because of his grace
that he has made the only way possible
to escape the wrath of God and experience
a new life of freedom
and new life of salvation.
The fact is, every one of us, no matter
the camp, humanist, moreor less religious, need a savior.
(40:25):
And it's only through faith
in Jesus repentance of our sin
and accepting himas the leader of our life.
Now that we can find salvation,
Romans one and two is bad news.
Grace is coming,
but grace is only amazing
(40:48):
because of the bad news that precedes it.
And grace is amazing
because by the grace of Godthat we can, through faith,
have a relationship with the fatherbecause of the son.
So all of this wrath.
(41:09):
Won't apply to us.
God has done everything he can
to keep us from helland to keep us from his wrath.
He's done everything.
He can't do anything morethan what he's already done.
And part of what he's done is
given us a freewill to accept it or to reject it.
(41:33):
And that,my friends, is the beauty of love
and the power of faith.
The best thing you canI could do this morning
is to agree with God about His Word.
I admit I'm a sinner.
I confess my sin to you.
I accept your forgiveness
(41:55):
and the free gift of eternal lifethrough Jesus.
And in the midst of all that bad news
that is the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ,
propelled by the grace of God.
(42:16):
But we cannot get to this
until we've dealt with that.
And so I want to invite you this morning.
Deal with that
and live in this.
I want you to pray with me.
(42:40):
God, you are a good God
who can mean your goodness.
You have been kind andpatient and tolerant with us.
Given us time and
time and time and opportunity
to realize your love,to agree with your word,
(43:00):
and to come to you in faith.
You're so merciful and you're so gracious.
I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would openour hearts and our minds to understand
the love of the father.
Father, there are some this morning,
(43:21):
thoughwe've tried to be good moral people,
though we try to be good, religiouspeople are realizing that it's not enough
and that only faith in you, Jesus,
in your work on the crossand your resurrection is enough.
And father,
there are people turning to you right now.
(43:42):
Thank you that you are you sure?
No favoritism. And you hear their prayers.
So, friends,I would invite you in this moment
to agree with God.
To confess before him in your heart.
God, I admit it.
I'm a sinner.
(44:03):
I've tried to be good.
I've tried to be religious.
And I realized this morning
that that's not enough.
And in faith,
I accept you.
Jesus,
as the forgiver of my sin.
Through your death
(44:26):
and the guarantee your of eternal life
through your resurrection.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
I accept you, Jesus,as the leader of my life.
And then say, father, help me now
(44:48):
to grow as a Jesus follower,
to understand more fully what it means
to follow you all the days of my life.
Tell him.
Say thank youthat you've rescued me from hell.
You've delivered me from wrath.
(45:08):
Let me walk
to the liberationof your mercy and your grace.
Father, I pray over
us that those of us who have madethat decision have an experience.
Your mercy and grace would live as peoplewho give mercy and grace
to those around us,
that the world wouldn't blaspheme
(45:29):
or make fun of you because of us.
That your reputation will be raised
in the eyes of this world,
the eyes of this community,the eyes of the ranchos,
because we've been so transformed
and the new creations.
Jesus, we love you.
Help us to love you more.
(45:50):
In your name I pray. Amen.
Listen, I love you.
You are doing a great job going through
some very difficult chapters.
Pardon for punch it
because what's at stake is too important.
So we're not pulling punches.
You've done a great job
being with us in chapters one and two.
(46:12):
We're going to come to the end of Paul'sexponential God's
wrath and get into God's grace.
And it is gloriousand fun and beautiful and everything.
But we got to deal with this stuff first.So good job.
Good on you.
Here's my homework for you.
Read chapter two againas if it is a mirror for you,
and read chapter three,because that's what will be next week.
(46:34):
Stay with us.
Stay in this.
You're going to be okay.
And it's going to get really funreal fast.
You understand?
Understand?
I love you, and I'm proud of you.
Let's keep going through this together.
And we're going to sing aboutGod's amazing grace. Right?
That's what we need. Thank you. Brian.
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