WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.839 He's apparently someone who's lost. I belong 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.719 to Jesus. That's the group of people that Paul 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:11.560 Romans to. In chapter one he says to his readers, 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:15.800 and you also are among those who are called to 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:19.559 belong to Jesus Christ. And we belong to him 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:23.100 not just for now, but forever, for eternity. 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:28.280 We're looking today in Romans chapter 2 at verses 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:35.200 1 through 16. The last part of chapter 1, which 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.740 we looked at last week, we saw the justice of 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:44.179 God's wrath being revealed against pagans, those 00:00:44.179 --> 00:00:49.520 who are openly immoral and degenerate in their 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:56.000 living. Our text today deals with the moral sinner, 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.359 instead of the immoral sinner. That is, this 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:04.099 is the self -righteous one, the do -gooder, as 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:08.980 someone puts it, who condemns the immoral while 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:15.159 excusing his own guilt. Probably the Jew is directly 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.079 in mind in these verses, but not exclusively. 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:21.719 Certainly when we come to verse 17, he's talking 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:26.459 to the Jews, he addresses them. And most commentators 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:28.859 think that he's probably referring to the Jews 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:32.500 in the verses that we'll read today. But what 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:35.519 is said here does not refer exclusively to Jews 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.680 because self -righteousness is an attitude that 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:46.519 is known among Jews and Gentiles. We want to 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.060 keep in mind, too, as we read our text, that 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:52.400 the theme of this part of Romans is not salvation. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:56.439 We are not learning in these verses how we can 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:59.180 be saved. We are learning, rather, how badly 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:02.719 we need to be saved. The theme in these verses 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:07.519 is that of sin, and particularly God's judgment 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.479 upon sin. You will notice that the theme of the 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:15.159 judgment of God is found several times. in our 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:17.120 text today as we'll read it. You follow along 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:21.860 please as we begin reading in verse 1. You therefore 00:02:21.860 --> 00:02:26.039 have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone 00:02:26.039 --> 00:02:29.979 else. For at whatever point you judge the other, 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.060 you are condemning yourself because you who pass 00:02:34.060 --> 00:02:39.240 judgment do the same things. Now we know that 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:42.860 God's judgment is against those who do such things. 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:47.800 is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:51.719 judgment on them, and yet do the same things, 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:55.000 do you think you will escape God's judgment? 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:59.300 Or do you show contempt for the riches of His 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:04.259 kindness, tolerance, and patience? Not realizing 00:03:04.259 --> 00:03:07.199 that God's kindness leads you toward repentance, 00:03:08.379 --> 00:03:11.319 but because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:15.889 heart, You are stirring up wrath against yourself 00:03:15.889 --> 00:03:18.949 for the day of God's wrath when his righteous 00:03:18.949 --> 00:03:23.909 judgment will be revealed. God will give to each 00:03:23.909 --> 00:03:27.349 person according to what he's done. To those 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:30.129 who by persistence in doing good seek glory, 00:03:30.349 --> 00:03:32.789 honor, and immortality, he will give eternal 00:03:32.789 --> 00:03:36.210 life. But for those who are self -seeking and 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:39.469 who reject the truth and follow evil, there will 00:03:39.469 --> 00:03:42.960 be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.080 distress for every human being who does evil, 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.539 first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. But 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:52.039 glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:55.939 good, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. 00:03:56.219 --> 00:04:00.340 For God does not show favoritism. All who sin 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.000 apart from the law will also perish apart from 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.199 the law, and all who sin under the law will be 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:10.469 judged by the law. For it is not those who hear 00:04:10.469 --> 00:04:13.550 the law who are righteous in God's sight, but 00:04:13.550 --> 00:04:16.189 it is those who obey the law who will be declared 00:04:16.189 --> 00:04:21.790 righteous. Indeed when Gentiles who do not have 00:04:21.790 --> 00:04:25.370 the law do by nature things required by the law, 00:04:25.870 --> 00:04:28.509 they are a law for themselves even though they 00:04:28.509 --> 00:04:31.689 do not have the law, since they show that the 00:04:31.689 --> 00:04:33.850 requirements of the law are written on their 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:38.439 hearts, their consciences, also bearing witness, 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:42.680 and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:46.839 them. This will take place, that is, this judgment 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:50.379 will take place on the day when God will judge 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:54.839 men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:59.339 declares. This is a heavy theme that we look 00:04:59.339 --> 00:05:01.680 at this morning. It's one that Satan does not 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:05.319 appreciate, to say the least. as we talk about 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:09.459 the judgment of God. But it's a significant theme 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:12.180 and one that all of us need to understand. I'd 00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:14.439 like for us to bow in prayer and ask the Holy 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:18.139 Spirit to be our teacher. Lord, as we come to 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:23.420 your inerrant revelation and look at these verses 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:29.339 which deal with this important topic, I pray 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:32.750 that you will be our teacher. There are things 00:05:32.750 --> 00:05:36.370 here that we could never grasp on our own. And 00:05:36.370 --> 00:05:39.009 I pray the Holy Spirit will quicken this tongue 00:05:39.009 --> 00:05:44.149 and the ears of each of us so that we may understand 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:50.209 your burden for us today. In Jesus' name I pray, 00:05:50.649 --> 00:05:57.069 amen. What is taking place in this part of Romans 00:05:57.069 --> 00:06:01.699 is God proving the worldiness of all men for 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:06.899 his judgment. The text before us today teaches 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:11.920 us several principles of God's judgment. You'll 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.339 find those principles listed on the outline you 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:16.259 received in your worship folder this morning, 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:18.620 and I encourage you to follow along on that list 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:23.459 as we think about them. The principles of God's 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:27.879 judgment, what are they? How will God judge? 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:34.160 Well, we see at least five principles here that 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:38.019 we want to examine. The first principle is this, 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:41.019 and it's found in verses one through four. God's 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:46.300 judgment is according to what? To truth. That's 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:50.660 right. Man's judgment is not, very often, according 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:55.019 to truth. But God's judgment can be nothing else 00:06:55.019 --> 00:06:57.959 but according to truth, because he is truth. 00:06:58.350 --> 00:07:00.689 Now there are four simple facts about this that 00:07:00.689 --> 00:07:03.509 we see in these four verses. The first fact is 00:07:03.509 --> 00:07:07.050 this, that this judgment according to truth is 00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:10.050 certain. I want you to notice he says in verse 00:07:10.050 --> 00:07:14.870 2, we know that God's judgment is based on truth. 00:07:16.230 --> 00:07:18.329 We know a couple of things here. First, that 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:24.269 God's judgment is coming. Secondly, that God's 00:07:24.269 --> 00:07:27.709 judgment when it comes will be according to truth. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.439 That will be the manner of its execution. It 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:38.259 will be based on reality, not fairy tales. We 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:42.120 know this. This is the same verb that we find 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:45.019 in chapter 8, verse 28, in that familiar verse, 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:48.480 for we know that all things work together for 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.379 good to them that love God, to those who are 00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:52.800 the called according to his purpose. We know 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.319 that, don't we? Just as surely as we know Romans 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:01.500 8, 28. We should know Romans chapter 2 when it 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:04.199 says we know that God's judgment is coming and 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:08.459 that it's according to truth. A lawyer who is 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:12.519 arguing his case before the judge is limited 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:17.120 by the judge to the facts. If he gets straying 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:19.699 off in some direction the other attorney can 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:23.939 object and the judge can call the attorney who's 00:08:23.939 --> 00:08:27.560 speaking back to the facts of the case. Because, 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.079 you see, the judge and the jury are not interested 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.340 in peripheral things. They will make their decision 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:36.059 on the truth. What are the facts of the case? 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.539 And you see, that's the way God's judgment is. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:43.200 When He judges each of us, it will be according 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.340 to the facts. Not according to our intentions. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.039 Not according to what we wished had happened. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:55.019 But God's judgment is based upon truth. What 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:58.580 did happen? What is the truth? What is the reality 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.519 of this person's life that will be revealed at 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:05.740 the judgment seat? The second fact I notice about 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:09.500 this judgment according to truth is that it therefore 00:09:09.500 --> 00:09:15.039 leaves every man inexcusable before God Because 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:19.720 all are guilty of the same sins before him. He 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:24.700 says you Have no excuse you who pass judgment 00:09:24.940 --> 00:09:28.679 on someone else. For whatever point you judge 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:32.379 the other, you are condemning yourself because 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:35.679 you who pass judgment do the same things. That 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.919 does not mean they do the same identical acts 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:42.460 necessarily, but they do the same kinds of things 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:45.899 as mentioned here in chapter 1 in that rather 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:49.519 gross list of sins that we examined closely last 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:53.620 week. He says, you who judge the immoral pagans 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:57.269 because of their degradation. Aren't you able 00:09:57.269 --> 00:10:00.049 to see that you yourselves are guilty of similar 00:10:00.049 --> 00:10:04.149 sins? If you have enough knowledge of right and 00:10:04.149 --> 00:10:07.789 wrong to condemn them, then you have enough knowledge 00:10:07.789 --> 00:10:10.350 to know that you're sinners too and need to repent 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:14.169 of your sins. So when you condemn them, you are 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:18.309 condemning yourself. That's his point. All men 00:10:18.309 --> 00:10:22.929 are inexcusable before God. Oh, we are a nation 00:10:22.929 --> 00:10:27.070 and a people who love to use excuses. We do it 00:10:27.070 --> 00:10:29.990 at school. We do it at church. We do it at home. 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:34.190 We do it with the bank. We do it at work. Wherever 00:10:34.190 --> 00:10:38.129 we are, we use excuses. When it comes to God, 00:10:38.210 --> 00:10:41.730 there are no excuses. The facts of the case will 00:10:41.730 --> 00:10:44.929 be laid out before Him, and we will not be able 00:10:44.929 --> 00:10:48.269 to frame any excuse on our tongue. The problem 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:51.470 is that so many sinners live in a dream world, 00:10:52.210 --> 00:10:56.009 and they think that somehow when they stand before 00:10:56.009 --> 00:10:58.370 God, God will condemn others who've sinned, but 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:02.590 He'll somehow let them by. But that is a fantasy. 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:07.529 That is not reality. The reality is that all 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:10.169 of us are inexcusable as sinners before God, 00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:13.470 whether we are immoral or we are immoral. We 00:11:13.470 --> 00:11:18.740 are still sinners who need to be saved. A third 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:21.139 fact that I see about this first point, that 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:24.639 God's judgment is according to truth, is this, 00:11:24.700 --> 00:11:28.620 that there's no place for escape from punishment. 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.159 He says in verse four, do you show contempt for 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:39.460 the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience? 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.759 Not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:49.070 repentance? You see, God's patience does not 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:51.169 mean that we're going to escape judgment. In 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:54.610 fact, in verse 3 he says, So when you a mere 00:11:54.610 --> 00:11:58.669 man pass judgment on them, yet do the same things, 00:11:59.269 --> 00:12:02.389 do you think you will escape God's judgment? 00:12:02.830 --> 00:12:04.769 There are people who think that because God is 00:12:04.769 --> 00:12:07.529 long -suffering, that somehow God is allowing 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:10.590 them to escape punishment. Such is not the case. 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:14.970 There is no escaping the judgment of God. One 00:12:14.970 --> 00:12:17.960 of the commentators, has suggested that there 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.539 are four ways that we may escape punishment in 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:25.460 this world. For example, one way is that the 00:12:25.460 --> 00:12:30.200 offense or the crime not be discovered. A person 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:33.659 is not punished then, obviously. Barnhouse tells 00:12:33.659 --> 00:12:36.799 about a time in his early ministry. I think he 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.879 was only 19 years of age at the time when he 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:42.700 was preaching in a meeting somewhere in Pennsylvania, 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:47.269 I believe. And after the service, a lady came 00:12:47.269 --> 00:12:49.330 up to him and asked that she might have a private 00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:51.230 time with him the next day. And so he went to 00:12:51.230 --> 00:12:53.710 her house at the appointed hour. And she began 00:12:53.710 --> 00:12:55.690 to pour out to him something that she had kept 00:12:55.690 --> 00:12:59.370 secret for decades. She was an old woman at this 00:12:59.370 --> 00:13:02.490 point. When she was a young woman in a boarding 00:13:02.490 --> 00:13:05.490 house, there was a man there who had mistreated 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.629 her. And one night when he came in drunk into 00:13:09.629 --> 00:13:13.259 his room, she went into his room. while he was 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:16.279 in his drunken stupor upon the bed and turned 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.659 the gas on and then put a rug up against the 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:24.820 door and waited until he was dead. The authorities 00:13:24.820 --> 00:13:28.059 thought he had committed suicide in his drunkenness, 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:31.940 but the fact was she had killed him. Her crime 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:34.179 was not found out until this time when she was 00:13:34.179 --> 00:13:38.220 confessing it to this evangelist. She had never 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:40.120 been punished for it. Why? Because the crime 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:43.519 was never discovered until that time. How many 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.600 crimes are there that have never been discovered? 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:48.580 And people escape punishment because of that. 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:51.980 Another reason a person may escape punishment 00:13:51.980 --> 00:13:57.299 is because of the statute of limitations. The 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:59.399 time runs out when he can be held accountable 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.480 by the court or he may get out of the court's 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.679 jurisdiction. He may be held accountable in the 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.820 state of Minnesota, for example, but go to another 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:10.240 state where he can't be held accountable, or 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.360 go to another nation where he can't be brought 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.320 back. So you see, in that way though, he may 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.220 commit a crime. He may escape because of a time 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:21.620 limitation or because of getting out of the jurisdiction 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:25.679 of the court. A third way that it's possible 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:29.279 to escape punishment is for a mistake to be made 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:33.450 in the legal process. And therefore, on the basis 00:14:33.450 --> 00:14:37.190 of a technicality for a person to escape punishment 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:41.830 of which he's worthy. In this age, this is much 00:14:41.830 --> 00:14:45.690 too common, isn't it? People escape the punishment 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:47.889 they deserve because of some small error that 00:14:47.889 --> 00:14:50.309 was committed either in the arrest or in the 00:14:50.309 --> 00:14:54.230 process of trial. And finally, a person may escape 00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:58.970 punishment if he somehow escapes custody, perhaps 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:03.980 he escapes prison, and then flees. He is able 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:06.100 then to escape the punishment that was pronounced 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:10.000 upon him, which he deserved. But I want you to 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:11.899 notice that those are the only ways a person 00:15:11.899 --> 00:15:15.159 can escape punishment, and none of them applies 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:19.480 to God's judgment. If we think about the offense 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:21.740 not being discovered, we should remind ourselves 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:23.980 that there is no crime that God does not know. 00:15:25.460 --> 00:15:28.379 Every crime against His holiness, that is, every 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:31.940 sin that has ever been committed in deed or word. 00:15:32.979 --> 00:15:38.059 is known to God. We can't escape on that account. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.200 If we think that somehow we will get beyond the 00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:44.120 jurisdiction of God, just where in the universe 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:48.059 do we think we're going to go? He's the eternal 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:51.379 God. Are we going to go beyond the limit of a 00:15:51.379 --> 00:15:56.940 time statute? And then if we think a mistake 00:15:56.940 --> 00:15:59.100 is going to be made in the legal processes we're 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:00.960 brought before God, we're fooling ourselves. 00:16:01.370 --> 00:16:03.750 because God's judgment is according to truth. 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:09.070 No mistakes made. And then do we think that somehow 00:16:09.070 --> 00:16:13.309 we're going to escape the eternal fires of damnation 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:17.090 and be free from them and escape into God's universe 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:22.610 and hide? That's a foolish thought. You see there 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:26.309 is no possible escape from the judgment of God 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:29.620 and that's why in Hebrews 2 It says, how shall 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:35.340 we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Then 00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:37.279 there's a fourth fact that we see about this 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:40.200 judgment that's according to truth, and that 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:44.779 is that it is preceded by God's goodness. God 00:16:44.779 --> 00:16:48.860 does not strike the sinner quickly. God is a 00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:52.080 God of mercy and of patience and of long suffering. 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:57.610 He tolerates sinners. giving them opportunity 00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:03.669 to repent. God's judgment, which does eventually 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:08.029 come, is preceded by His kindness. That word 00:17:08.029 --> 00:17:10.869 kindness or goodness there refers to God's moral 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:14.109 goodness. You know, God is good to all men. He's 00:17:14.109 --> 00:17:16.990 good to believers, yes. But He is good to all 00:17:16.990 --> 00:17:20.589 men. In His providence, He cares for the sinner 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:25.440 as well as the saint. And then it says that not 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:29.420 only is he kind, but he is tolerant. The word 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:33.339 there means that he holds back. He delays what 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:38.059 should come because of his tolerance with sinners. 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:43.279 And then he uses the word patience. Patience 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:47.579 is similar to tolerance. It means slowness in 00:17:47.579 --> 00:17:51.279 a vinging wrong. And he says that God is rich 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.579 in these things. God does not dribble out his 00:17:55.579 --> 00:18:00.799 kindness, but God pours it out of his riches. 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:04.900 It is an inexhaustible storehouse of kindness 00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:10.119 and patience and long -suffering. But men refuse 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:13.440 this. God intends for the goodness to lead man 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:18.559 to repentance, but does it do it? No. It only 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.400 brings him to greater ingratitude, it seems. 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:26.470 Man refuses to repent in the face of God's goodness. 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:29.430 And in verse 5 he goes on to say, because of 00:18:29.430 --> 00:18:31.809 your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, 00:18:32.150 --> 00:18:34.789 that's the response of man to God's goodness 00:18:34.789 --> 00:18:39.049 and God's kindness and God's patience. It is 00:18:39.049 --> 00:18:42.710 stubbornness. It is hardness of heart. It is 00:18:42.710 --> 00:18:48.309 a rejection of God's mercy. James Stifle says, 00:18:48.650 --> 00:18:52.150 The blackest sin is not righteousness violated, 00:18:53.710 --> 00:18:59.890 but mercy despised. And that's the sinner. The 00:18:59.890 --> 00:19:03.970 one who shows contempt for, who looks down upon 00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:09.190 the goodness and the patience of God. Someone 00:19:09.190 --> 00:19:12.930 also said to despise mercy is to condemn one's 00:19:12.930 --> 00:19:16.390 own soul. Why is that? Because there is no way 00:19:16.390 --> 00:19:20.009 of salvation apart from mercy. And when one rejects 00:19:20.009 --> 00:19:22.509 God's mercy, he is left only to God's judgment. 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:25.730 That's the point here. God's judgment is according 00:19:25.730 --> 00:19:29.190 to truth. The second principle of judgment that 00:19:29.190 --> 00:19:32.490 we see is found in verse 5. That the judgment 00:19:32.490 --> 00:19:37.150 of God is accumulating because of stubbornness. 00:19:37.910 --> 00:19:42.549 That is, as man rejects the mercy and the kindness 00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.849 of God, he simply accumulates and piles up the 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:48.980 wrath of God. He doesn't escape it at all. He 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:52.400 is simply putting it away. The picture here is 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.079 like someone who saves for a rainy day. It's 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:00.500 like a person who puts away money for retirement, 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.720 looking up to that day when he will need it in 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.460 order to live. So every chance he gets, he's 00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:09.920 putting some in a savings account or in the IRA 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.940 and insurance policy, and he stores it up a little 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:15.640 bit at a time so that then he'll get what's coming 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.990 to him. But you see, that's the picture here. 00:20:19.789 --> 00:20:23.809 When a person despises the mercy of God, all 00:20:23.809 --> 00:20:27.930 he is doing is storing up God's wrath, tucking 00:20:27.930 --> 00:20:30.890 it away into his life until that day come when 00:20:30.890 --> 00:20:34.329 he'll get what's coming to him. It's an awful 00:20:34.329 --> 00:20:38.569 picture. Failure to repent and stubbornness of 00:20:38.569 --> 00:20:41.970 heart, the ignoring of God's goodness leads to 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:46.720 accumulated, multiplied judgment. It is a piling 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.799 up of the wrath that is due. Dr. Barnhouse calls 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:55.900 these people the misers of God's wrath. And how 00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:59.960 aptly that describes what is said here. That 00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:02.779 day that's in view is the day of the final judgment 00:21:02.779 --> 00:21:09.859 of God. He says you are storing up wrath against 00:21:09.859 --> 00:21:14.000 yourself for the day of God's wrath. when his 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.759 righteous judgment will be revealed. There are 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.240 those who have the idea that when a sinner dies, 00:21:20.420 --> 00:21:24.119 that God immediately judges him. Now there's 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:26.380 a sense in which that is true because when a 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:33.380 sinner dies, he is immediately confined in Hades, 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:39.319 in torment and suffering, in fire. But he has 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:43.230 not yet faced his judgment. He is simply confined 00:21:43.230 --> 00:21:47.569 there waiting for judgment to come. Because judgment 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:50.630 will come upon all sinners at one day. That doesn't 00:21:50.630 --> 00:21:54.349 mean 24 hours, but it means one event, one period. 00:21:54.910 --> 00:21:58.049 And when is that? Well, read about it over in 00:21:58.049 --> 00:22:00.750 Revelation chapter 20. It's called there the 00:22:00.750 --> 00:22:05.690 great white throne judgment. It's a time of judgment 00:22:05.690 --> 00:22:08.930 that comes completely at the end of history. 00:22:10.950 --> 00:22:13.730 After everything has been done that's going to 00:22:13.730 --> 00:22:17.009 be done in time, God brings sinners before him 00:22:17.009 --> 00:22:21.890 for judgment. Question. Why does God do that? 00:22:23.609 --> 00:22:27.309 Why doesn't God judge each person the moment 00:22:27.309 --> 00:22:33.470 he dies? The answer is, because even after a 00:22:33.470 --> 00:22:36.890 sinner dies, he continues to store up wrath for 00:22:36.890 --> 00:22:43.880 his day of judgment. How is that? Take for example 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:49.339 the infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler. Let's suppose 00:22:49.339 --> 00:22:52.940 that God gave him his final judgment in 1945 00:22:52.940 --> 00:22:57.200 when he committed suicide in that bunker in Berlin. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:01.380 Would Hitler have gotten what he deserved at 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:07.099 that point in time? No. Because the suffering 00:23:07.450 --> 00:23:11.109 and the wickedness that he created and oversaw 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:13.930 is still being played out in the world today. 00:23:15.930 --> 00:23:18.430 And so God is waiting until every bit of that 00:23:18.430 --> 00:23:21.230 wickedness has taken place so that at the end 00:23:21.230 --> 00:23:24.769 of time, Adolf Hitler can stand before him and 00:23:24.769 --> 00:23:30.430 receive the full measure of his judgment. The 00:23:30.430 --> 00:23:32.869 same is true of the drunken father, for example, 00:23:33.950 --> 00:23:37.289 who mistreats his wife and children. and leads 00:23:37.289 --> 00:23:41.230 them in the wickedness and sin. His judgment 00:23:41.230 --> 00:23:44.349 does not come at the end of his life, nor of 00:23:44.349 --> 00:23:47.490 his children's lives, but at the end of time 00:23:47.490 --> 00:23:50.529 when the full wickedness of his drunkenness and 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:53.869 his sin can be measured out as it impacted every 00:23:53.869 --> 00:23:58.829 succeeding generation. And the storehouse of 00:23:58.829 --> 00:24:01.470 God's wrath at that point will be opened up and 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:05.250 all of it will come out on him. You see, that's 00:24:05.250 --> 00:24:10.089 the judgment of God. It is accumulating every 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:13.109 day of the world, every day of history. It piles 00:24:13.109 --> 00:24:16.190 up as though a man were storing away treasure. 00:24:17.289 --> 00:24:21.589 A man stores away wrath when he rejects and despises 00:24:21.589 --> 00:24:26.210 the mercy of God. Each lost sinner will spend 00:24:26.210 --> 00:24:28.890 eternity reviewing again and again the whole 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:32.630 picture of his life because it will all be brought 00:24:32.630 --> 00:24:38.559 before him. the regrets, the things missed out 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.400 on, the deeds done of wickedness, all of these 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:48.039 will haunt the sinner in hell forever. How many 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:50.579 are deceived, thinking somehow they're going 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:53.980 to get by, that surely though God will have to 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:56.539 condemn others because of sin, they have not 00:24:56.539 --> 00:25:01.779 sinned enough to be sent to hell. My friend, 00:25:02.059 --> 00:25:06.079 one sin. One sin is enough to send a person into 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.339 hell. One sin is an offense against the holiness 00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:14.519 of God, and God cannot allow one sin in His presence. 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:18.180 The fact is that none of us are guilty of but 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:22.599 one sin, but of multiplied, multiplied sins that 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:25.240 accumulate through our lives and through the 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:31.329 lives of our descendants. A third principle of 00:25:31.329 --> 00:25:34.410 judgment is found in verses 6 through 11, where 00:25:34.410 --> 00:25:36.410 he says that the judgment of God is according 00:25:36.410 --> 00:25:40.990 to works. It's important for you to understand 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:45.029 that these verses do not teach that we are saved 00:25:45.029 --> 00:25:49.490 by works. One could take some verses out of context 00:25:49.490 --> 00:25:52.849 here and teach that, but he would be violating 00:25:52.849 --> 00:25:55.049 the principle of the interpretation of God's 00:25:55.049 --> 00:26:00.299 Word. Notice that he says, God will give to each 00:26:00.299 --> 00:26:03.440 person according to what he's done. To those 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:06.660 who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:08.460 honor, and immortality, he will give eternal 00:26:08.460 --> 00:26:11.039 life. Now some people would say, well it means 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.299 there if I do good and I seek glory and honor 00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:15.420 and immortality, God's going to give me eternal 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:20.420 life because of that. That's not the point. What 00:26:20.420 --> 00:26:25.240 he's talking about here is the fruit. of a genuine 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:27.880 salvation experience. He's dealing here not with 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:31.500 the inward presence or absence of faith. He's 00:26:31.500 --> 00:26:34.400 dealing with the things done. You see that? He's 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:36.460 talking about the works. God's going to judge 00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:40.079 according to the works of a person's life. A 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.819 person is saved by faith. It's an inner thing. 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:46.839 But that's not the point here. The point here 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.200 is that sin will be evidenced by the works of 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:52.559 a person's life. And God will judge according 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:56.099 to those works. And he's talking about the totality 00:26:56.099 --> 00:26:58.579 of a person's life, not the incidents that may 00:26:58.579 --> 00:27:02.700 occur in it. God is interested in the direction, 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:06.660 in the bent of a person's life, not the occasional 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:09.619 acts. Let me give you a couple of examples of 00:27:09.619 --> 00:27:13.440 that. If God were to judge David on the basis 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:18.119 of his adultery, his deceit to cover that up, 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:24.200 and his murder, then David would be lost. But 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:26.539 you see, God knows that the bent, the direction 00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:31.519 of David's life was not described by those events 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:33.779 that took place, but rather by a heart that sought 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:37.319 after God. He did not live perfectly, none of 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:40.460 us do. There were incidents in his life that 00:27:40.460 --> 00:27:45.440 were sinful and tragic. But God judged David 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.599 because the direction, the bent of his life was 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.900 toward God. Why was that? Because he had trusted 00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:54.319 in the Lord. And most of the works of David's 00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:56.519 life were works of righteousness and praise to 00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:59.000 God, though there were incidents that were a 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:03.519 disgrace. He would be judged according to the 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:05.940 works, the totality of the works of his life. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:09.160 On the other hand, let's take Judas, for example. 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:14.359 Judas gave to the poor, but that was not the 00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.259 direction and the bent of his life. The direction 00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:20.539 of his life was covetousness. He was a thief. 00:28:21.099 --> 00:28:25.619 He betrayed Christ. And so the direction of Judas' 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:29.400 life was one of disobedience, away from God, 00:28:30.220 --> 00:28:32.220 although he did something good like give to the 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:35.460 poor occasionally. It's not the incidence that 00:28:35.460 --> 00:28:38.299 God is judging, it's the totality of the life, 00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:43.299 the accumulation of the life. The character as 00:28:43.299 --> 00:28:45.940 well as the conduct is brought before God and 00:28:45.940 --> 00:28:49.980 God judges according to works. Really, what is 00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:52.980 taught in these verses is simply this, that when 00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:55.440 the Lord is in a person's life, it makes a difference 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:58.799 in how he lives. And that difference is seen 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:01.819 in the works. If he is not in a person's life, 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:03.980 then his life will be self -seeking. He will 00:29:03.980 --> 00:29:07.380 reject truth and follow evil. Consequently, he 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.519 will receive wrath and anger and trouble and 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:13.839 distress. On the other hand, when the Lord is 00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:17.539 in a person's life, when a person is saved, Then 00:29:17.539 --> 00:29:20.099 it says he will persist in doing good. That doesn't 00:29:20.099 --> 00:29:23.920 mean he'll be perfectly good, but he will persist 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:25.799 in doing good. That is, the direction of his 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.119 life will be one of continuing in righteousness, 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:32.640 though he may fall and sin occasionally. He'll 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:35.599 be one who will seek glory and honor and immortality, 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.119 and God will give him eternal life. Why? Because 00:29:38.119 --> 00:29:41.119 of his works? No, because he's trusted Christ, 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:43.220 and Christ is in the life making a difference. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:49.019 We are living in a day when People make a cheap 00:29:49.019 --> 00:29:52.119 profession of faith, and some of them pray and 00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:53.960 ask Jesus to come into their heart, whatever 00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:56.400 that may mean to them. Then they go out and live 00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:59.059 like the devil. And they say, what difference 00:29:59.059 --> 00:30:02.680 does it make because I asked Jesus into my life? 00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:08.000 A person who has that kind of an attitude is 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.339 probably not saved, whatever his outward profession 00:30:11.339 --> 00:30:15.640 may have been. The works of a person's life evidence 00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:19.200 what's truly inside. A person who professes to 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.200 be a Christian and who looks back to some day, 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.559 perhaps as a child, and he prayed some prayer, 00:30:24.259 --> 00:30:27.980 who lives an immoral, adulterous life and persists 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:30.880 in that kind of a life, is a person who is deceived, 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.779 thinking he's saved. He's not saved. Because 00:30:34.779 --> 00:30:37.259 when Jesus Christ is in the life, he transforms 00:30:37.259 --> 00:30:40.220 it. The direction of the life is different. The 00:30:40.220 --> 00:30:44.380 works of the life are righteous. though he may 00:30:44.380 --> 00:30:48.180 occasionally sin, as I've said. That's what God 00:30:48.180 --> 00:30:51.019 is judging, the totality of the life, the works 00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:54.440 of the life. It makes no difference if one is 00:30:54.440 --> 00:30:57.660 Jew or Gentile, that's not the point. The point 00:30:57.660 --> 00:31:03.000 is the works of the life and what those works 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:05.759 evidence is the presence or the absence of Christ. 00:31:07.660 --> 00:31:10.599 There's a fourth principle as we move ahead quickly. 00:31:11.069 --> 00:31:15.970 in verses 11 to 15, which is simply this, that 00:31:15.970 --> 00:31:21.190 God's judgment is apart from partiality. In other 00:31:21.190 --> 00:31:24.269 words, the outward religious standing is insignificant 00:31:24.269 --> 00:31:28.690 with God. He says God does not show favoritism. 00:31:30.210 --> 00:31:34.349 God is not concerned whether one is Jew or Gentile. 00:31:35.509 --> 00:31:39.769 All will be judged, although by different standards. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:43.460 Now what do I mean by that? Well, simply this. 00:31:43.619 --> 00:31:47.539 A man is judged by God according to the light 00:31:47.539 --> 00:31:51.579 that he has. The Jew, because he had the law 00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:54.400 of Moses, will be judged by the law of Moses. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.740 The Gentile who did not have that law will be 00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:01.759 judged by the light that he did have. And what 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:04.619 light is that? Well, he clarifies that. He says 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:07.789 it's the light of their conscience. verses 14 00:32:07.789 --> 00:32:10.750 and 15 are parentheses, kind of giving some insight 00:32:10.750 --> 00:32:14.569 into what he said previously. And he says that 00:32:14.569 --> 00:32:16.829 a Gentile who does not have the law of Moses, 00:32:16.869 --> 00:32:20.029 who knows nothing about the Ten Commandments, 00:32:20.369 --> 00:32:24.650 still has written upon his heart the basic difference 00:32:24.650 --> 00:32:28.230 between right and wrong. And he's answerable 00:32:28.230 --> 00:32:30.829 to God for the decisions that he makes. Sometimes 00:32:30.829 --> 00:32:33.769 his conscience will excuse him. Sometimes it 00:32:33.769 --> 00:32:38.720 will accuse him. But he will be judged according 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:42.359 to the light that he had. And that's why all 00:32:42.359 --> 00:32:45.259 men are accountable and without excuse before 00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:49.539 God. Because whether a man has the law of Moses 00:32:49.539 --> 00:32:52.980 or the law of conscience, he cannot live up to 00:32:52.980 --> 00:32:57.259 that law perfectly. You see, God set the standard 00:32:57.259 --> 00:33:01.019 so high, that of perfect righteousness, so that 00:33:01.019 --> 00:33:03.339 he could show us how greatly we need forgiveness 00:33:03.339 --> 00:33:07.579 and mercy. That's why the law was given to bring 00:33:07.579 --> 00:33:14.680 us to Christ. God's justice is blind. What do 00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:17.880 I mean by that? Have you ever seen justice as 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:24.079 she is depicted? She is seen as a lady. I often 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:26.940 wonder why that is, but then who am I to question 00:33:26.940 --> 00:33:31.819 those things? A lady who holds a balance in her 00:33:31.819 --> 00:33:37.200 hand and she is blindfolded. The blindfold does 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:42.299 not represent ignorance. The blindfold means 00:33:42.299 --> 00:33:44.799 that she is unable to tell whether the person 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:50.819 before her is wearing rags or silk, or whether 00:33:50.819 --> 00:33:54.339 that person is a Jew or a Gentile, to bring it 00:33:54.339 --> 00:33:57.640 into the context of our passage here. All that 00:33:57.640 --> 00:34:01.039 person is interested in is justice. The judge 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:03.279 wants justice, and you see that's where God is. 00:34:04.060 --> 00:34:07.579 Whether Jew or Gentile, God's judgment is just. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.699 It is apart from any partiality. There is no 00:34:11.699 --> 00:34:14.440 difference with God. When we stand before God, 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:17.400 my friend, the label of Baptist or Catholic or 00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:20.019 Lutheran or whatever makes absolutely no difference. 00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.719 God's judgment is impartial. There are some people 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:26.760 who think because they're of one stripe or another 00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:29.019 that they have an extra inch in heaven. Don't 00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:33.960 you believe it? Entrance into heaven is not gained 00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:37.440 by denominational title. Entrance into heaven 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:40.960 is gained by mercy and grace that is received 00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:48.000 by faith. And then finally we see that God's 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.659 judgment applies to secret things, verse 16. 00:34:52.699 --> 00:34:55.679 He says this will take place on the day when 00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:59.440 God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ. 00:34:59.789 --> 00:35:02.409 And so we learn that it's not just the outward 00:35:02.409 --> 00:35:05.889 works that are brought up at the judgment, it's 00:35:05.889 --> 00:35:10.210 also the secrets of a person's life. The hidden 00:35:10.210 --> 00:35:13.869 things are brought out. Or a person may think 00:35:13.869 --> 00:35:16.550 that he will stand before God and boast, I have 00:35:16.550 --> 00:35:21.570 never committed adultery. And so God will open 00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:24.909 the book of secret things and search out the 00:35:24.909 --> 00:35:30.099 lustful looks and desires. Jesus said, a man 00:35:30.099 --> 00:35:32.920 who looks on a woman to lust after her has committed 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:37.780 adultery in his heart. He's guilty of adultery. 00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.579 A hidden thing. No one would know that. But God 00:35:41.579 --> 00:35:43.840 will point it out at the judgment. It'll be exposed 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:47.760 for everybody. A person may think to stand before 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:50.820 God and say, I have never stolen a thing in my 00:35:50.820 --> 00:35:54.079 life. And yet God will open the book of secret 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.320 things about that individual. and will show the 00:35:57.320 --> 00:36:01.780 covetous desire and the envious spirit. Invisible, 00:36:01.780 --> 00:36:05.119 you see, to us. Not seen outwardly, but God sees 00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:08.059 it and God will expose it. That's what it means 00:36:08.059 --> 00:36:13.920 here. The hidden things, the things that we hide 00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:18.860 behind, hide down in our lives, behind the masquerade, 00:36:18.940 --> 00:36:21.940 those things God will bring up and set in the 00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.769 open for all of heaven to see. And a man will 00:36:25.769 --> 00:36:29.550 be judged according to his secret things as well 00:36:29.550 --> 00:36:33.369 as his outward works. You see, God's judgment 00:36:33.369 --> 00:36:38.110 doesn't miss a thing. We shouldn't think it's 00:36:38.110 --> 00:36:42.769 strange that God is able to do that. We, by our 00:36:42.769 --> 00:36:45.190 puny little inventions, are able to see secret 00:36:45.190 --> 00:36:49.420 things. We have organs in our bodies that we've 00:36:49.420 --> 00:36:51.440 never seen, but we can get an x -ray machine 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:53.679 and take a look inside our bodies and see the 00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:57.000 hidden things, can't we? A pilot of an airplane 00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:59.019 can fly through a cloud and though he can't see 00:36:59.019 --> 00:37:01.539 anything there inside that cockpit except his 00:37:01.539 --> 00:37:04.380 instruments, the radar enables him to see what's 00:37:04.380 --> 00:37:06.539 all around him. So he sees the storm ahead of 00:37:06.539 --> 00:37:09.659 that other airplane. It sees the hidden things. 00:37:10.260 --> 00:37:13.150 Sonar. tells us what's on the ocean floor, though 00:37:13.150 --> 00:37:15.769 we cannot plumb those depths with our eyes. It's 00:37:15.769 --> 00:37:19.929 hidden to us, but we see it. And so it is, my 00:37:19.929 --> 00:37:22.730 friend, with God's judgment. It is hidden to 00:37:22.730 --> 00:37:26.329 men, but nothing is hidden to God. All things 00:37:26.329 --> 00:37:29.250 are made manifest before the eyes of him with 00:37:29.250 --> 00:37:33.710 whom we have to do. That is God's judgment. Now 00:37:33.710 --> 00:37:36.070 I want you to notice that it's Jesus Christ himself 00:37:36.070 --> 00:37:39.980 who is the judge. Over in John chapter 5, he 00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:43.199 explains why he is the judge. It's because he 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:47.599 is the son of man. Jesus liked to use that title 00:37:47.599 --> 00:37:53.500 for himself, the son of man. And what it emphasizes 00:37:53.500 --> 00:37:57.619 is the fact that he is a man, a perfect man, 00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:03.780 as well as God. And it will be as sinless, glorified 00:38:03.780 --> 00:38:08.809 man that he will stand on the judgment seat and 00:38:08.809 --> 00:38:12.170 judge men. There will be no man who will be able 00:38:12.170 --> 00:38:14.909 to say, but you don't understand what I went 00:38:14.909 --> 00:38:18.349 through, because you see Jesus was tempted in 00:38:18.349 --> 00:38:21.409 every way like sinners, and yet he was without 00:38:21.409 --> 00:38:28.130 sin. He will judge as a man, sinless, glorified 00:38:28.130 --> 00:38:34.070 man. All men will someday see him face to face. 00:38:35.309 --> 00:38:39.429 And whether we see him as judge or as savior 00:38:39.429 --> 00:38:42.650 depends upon what we do with him in this life. 00:38:46.389 --> 00:38:49.409 When your eyes close in death, will you see him 00:38:49.409 --> 00:38:54.469 as your savior welcoming you home? Or will your 00:38:54.469 --> 00:38:59.190 eyes behold one who will be your judge? You make 00:38:59.190 --> 00:39:06.099 the decision. If you are here today without Jesus 00:39:06.099 --> 00:39:10.340 Christ as your Savior, and your attitude towards 00:39:10.340 --> 00:39:13.599 God's goodness and God's mercy is one of spite, 00:39:15.860 --> 00:39:20.760 one of resistance, one of contempt, then let 00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:24.039 me give you a suggestion. If you are putting 00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:28.699 off God, if you are rejecting God's wooing to 00:39:28.699 --> 00:39:35.610 you, then let me make give you some advice. My 00:39:35.610 --> 00:39:37.889 advice to you would be to live it up in this 00:39:37.889 --> 00:39:42.829 life and to go out and sin all that you can. 00:39:44.289 --> 00:39:47.429 As it says, some place to eat, drink, and be 00:39:47.429 --> 00:39:51.829 merry for tomorrow you die. My advice to you 00:39:51.829 --> 00:39:53.869 is to make the most of this life because, my 00:39:53.869 --> 00:39:57.690 friend, that's all there is for you. Because 00:39:57.690 --> 00:40:00.050 after this life comes judgment and separation 00:40:00.050 --> 00:40:05.099 from God. and hopelessness in hell. And if you're 00:40:05.099 --> 00:40:07.239 going to have any joy in your existence at all, 00:40:07.380 --> 00:40:09.780 that little pleasure you have for a season had 00:40:09.780 --> 00:40:12.280 better be enjoyed in this life because there's 00:40:12.280 --> 00:40:18.440 nothing coming except judgment. Think about that. 00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:22.320 And then see if you want to continue despising 00:40:22.320 --> 00:40:25.500 God's mercy by which he's pleading with you to 00:40:25.500 --> 00:40:29.079 come to the Savior. God's judgment is according 00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:32.309 to absolute justice. so that we will see how 00:40:32.309 --> 00:40:39.030 great our need is for mercy. Someday we will 00:40:39.030 --> 00:40:42.949 meet Him and we do well now to prepare. Again, 00:40:43.070 --> 00:40:47.230 Donald Gray Barnhouse tells the story of an occasion 00:40:47.230 --> 00:40:49.909 when he was a young man and hearing an evangelist. 00:40:51.010 --> 00:40:53.030 He does not remember the name of the evangelist 00:40:53.030 --> 00:40:55.369 nor most of what he said, but there was one statement 00:40:55.369 --> 00:40:57.349 that the evangelist made that stuck in his mind. 00:40:58.430 --> 00:41:01.489 The evangelist was preaching away using the text 00:41:01.489 --> 00:41:04.230 from Amos that says, prepare to meet thy God. 00:41:06.150 --> 00:41:08.409 And the one statement in his message that stuck 00:41:08.409 --> 00:41:11.849 with Barnhouse through the years was this, the 00:41:11.849 --> 00:41:15.510 greatest reason you should prepare to meet your 00:41:15.510 --> 00:41:22.150 God is because you must meet your God. When you 00:41:22.150 --> 00:41:26.510 meet him, how will it be with your soul? Let's 00:41:26.510 --> 00:41:31.079 pray. God, we thank you that in mercy and kindness 00:41:31.079 --> 00:41:38.880 and in riches of patience you deal with us. We 00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:43.460 thank you that you lead us to repentance. God, 00:41:43.480 --> 00:41:45.599 there are some who are listening to my voice 00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:49.719 today who are resisting or perhaps who have neglected 00:41:49.719 --> 00:41:53.539 to this point this matter of their soul salvation. 00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:58.760 Help that one or those few here today to understand 00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:04.440 the dire danger of their soul, the eternal damnation 00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:08.519 that waits as they now store up wrath to be revealed 00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:14.300 someday. God, how thankful I am that the blood 00:42:14.300 --> 00:42:17.420 of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all 00:42:17.420 --> 00:42:21.860 sins. So whether in our deeds or in our secret 00:42:21.860 --> 00:42:26.389 things, Those sins are forever washed away and 00:42:26.389 --> 00:42:28.650 can never be brought to the account of the Christian. 00:42:30.849 --> 00:42:33.889 I rejoice today in that truth and praise you 00:42:33.889 --> 00:42:37.949 for it. But for that one whose record is still 00:42:37.949 --> 00:42:41.949 stained deeply with sin, I pray today that there 00:42:41.949 --> 00:42:44.469 will be repentance and faith in Christ that will 00:42:44.469 --> 00:42:48.949 save that one. In Jesus' name, amen.