Have you ever been so done in, and so in your frustration, in you anger you turn and you say, God that is unfair? You are unfair, God. Can you be sure without a shadow of a doubt that God will never be unfair, that He will be absolutely fair right to the minutous detail? You can be sure my friend. And we’re going to see that as we look at God’s Word.
We’re looking at God. Is He fair? Is God fair? Well, it’s a good question to ask because you know what? You’re going to stand before Him. I’m going to stand before Him. Whether you believe in Jesus Christ or you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you’re going to stand before Him.
Later on in Romans, chapter 14 it says that,
“Christians are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ to give an answer for the deeds done in our body.”
But it also says that in the book of Revelation that,
“The lost people are going to stand before God and they’re going to give an answer also for their deeds.”
They’re going to be judged according to their deeds and they’re going to be cast into the lake of fire, “… where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.” But the degree of that punishment will be determined by their deeds.
It will be determined by the light that they had,
the light that they refused to believe.
Now in Romans, chapter 2, and I want to read verse 12 to you but I want to read verse 11 first. But when we get to verse 12 we’re going to pick up some words that haven’t been used in Romans up to this point. And we’re going to mark those. So I’m going to go a little slow so that you and I get it.
It says in verse 11, “For there is no partiality with God …,” Is God fair? Yes, He’s fair. How fair is He? How just is He? Well, he goes on to say, for all. There is no partiality with God and he’s going to show you how fair He is.
“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”
Now do you realize what two new words we’ve heard today that we need to mark, because remember we want to mark, we want to color-code key words. So what we’ve done is I’ve marked the word sinned and you want to mark the word “sin” and the reason you want to mark “sin” is because it is very key to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s very key to this book. So he’s talked about what sin looks like. He’s talked about how sin behaves. He’s talked about sins disbelief or unbelief, but he hasn’t’ mentioned the word yet. But now he does.
So this is the way I mark sin. I simply color-code it brown. And then he mentions law for the first time. All right now, the law shows us the righteousness of God. And so what I do is I color law yellow but I draw a diagram around law like the two tablets from the Ten Commandments, because when we think of the law we think of the Ten Commandments.
I know people want to get rid of them in some countries and they don’t want to hear them and they don’t want them in courtrooms and they don’t want them in schools, but I want to tell you something. Give up. You cannot get rid of the law. The law is here to stay. Now there’s a way to live with that law and we’re going to see that later.
So you want to mark this, “For all who have sinned …,” color it brown, “… without the law or apart from the law shall also perish without the law.” Now what is he saying?
He’s saying I’m fair. I’m fair. And He says, I want you to know that if you didn’t know the law, if you did not know the commandment, the commandment that “thou shall not steal” or “thou shall not have idols” or that “thou shall not commit adultery” or “thou shall not covet your neighbors wife or house” or that, if you didn’t know that law I want you to know that I won’t judge you by that because you didn’t know it. But you will still perish. Now when you perish and perish means the ultimate judgment, the lake of fire.
So he says, “When you perish because you didn’t know the law then your punishment will not be as great as somebody’s punishment who knew the law.” So watch. He says, “And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”
So I always tell people when you listen when I’m teaching and I’m opening the Word of God, and I never teach without opening the Word of God. So if you ever come to any place where I’m doing a conference or if you ever come to any national convention that we would do at Precept Ministries, bring your Bible.
But I warn them, you have just heard truth. Not that I am loaded with truth but the Bible is loaded with truth. This is the good book we’ve curled up with. All right and it is pure truth. And so when the Bible is explained, you become accountable to it. So really, you want to be very careful what you hear because everything that you hear, you’re going to answer to God for.
But if you’re hearing the Bible whether you believe it or not, you really ought to listen because you really need to be saved, because you’re going to perish anyway. If you don’t hear it, if you do hear it, you’re going to perish if you don’t bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
So he goes on to say, “For not the hearers of the law, not the hearers of the law are just before God …,” They’re not made right before God just because they hear the law. Now he’s in all probability talking to Jews, but he’s also talking to anybody that has been exposed to the Ten Commandments. He’s talking about anybody that has heard the law of God even sitting in church. He’s either talking to Jews, flat out directly to Jews or to hypocrites who profess one thing and live a different way.
So he says,
“For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law will be justified.”
Now we meet this word just and justified here. And we’re going to see it and develop it when we get to chapter 3 in depth. But just or justified means that you are right before God. It means that you have been declared right in God’s eyes. And you know really my friend, that’s all that matters.
So he says, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law.” In other words, just knowing the Ten Commandments and knowing what the law says isn’t going to get it, Jew or Gentile. It is not going to get it. You have to do the law. Now the Jews are going to come back and say, “Whew! I’m safe, I’m safe, I do the law.”
But wait. Let’s keep reading. He says,
“For when the Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves.”
Now you’re going to mark law three times in that verse, but you’re not going to mark a law to themselves. Okay? Because it’s talking about a law, a principle to themselves. Otherwise, he’s talking about the law of God. So what is he saying?
He’s saying if you have never heard the law of God and yet you know in your heart instinctively that it is wrong to steal, that it is wrong to take another mans wife, that it is wrong to not honor your parents and you just know that instinctively, the minute that you know that, then my friend, the minute that you know that then you become accountable to God for that instinct within, for that conscience within.
So he goes on to say, “In that they are a law to themselves …,” verse 15, “… in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”
In other words he’s saying this, that when the work of the law is written in your heart, when you automatically just know that its right, that its right or that it’s wrong then you become a law to yourself and you will be judged by that law. You will be judged by your conscience.
Now he has an interesting thing here. And remember that he talks about men knowing within that there is a God. And when you know that there’s a God, you know that there has to be a right and a wrong. You have that witness within yourself. And what he’s showing is, listen these laws that God wrote down are not really that strange, just as a human being we ought to understand what God says about the law.
So then he goes on to say this. Now remember, is God fair? Is God just? Can He be trusted? It says,
“Their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately, accusing or else defending them on the day, on the day when according to my gospel God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.”
The judgment of God is going to be according to truth. The judgment of God is going to be according to deeds. The judgment of God is going to be according to the gospel, according to what you did with Jesus Christ.
The judgment of God will be fair because it’s according to truth, because it’s according to deeds, and because it is according to the gospel. He’s going to judge the secrets of your heart. And you know, that makes Him fair. That makes Him totally fair.
Because that means that you can’t play the hypocrite. That means you can’t put on a mask and say, oh, I didn’t mean to do that to that person. Oh, I’m sorry, they just took me the wrong way.
Oh no my friend, God is a just God. God is a fair God. He judges righteously. Remember that. Sometimes we sit in judgment of God and we say you know, that’s not right. That is not fair. And one of the things that you and I need to understand is that God judges us by His standards, not by ours. And His standards are always right.
Now what’s happening next in Romans, chapter 2? Well watch what he’s going to do. This time we know for sure that He is going to zero in on His chosen people. He’s going to zero in on the Jew.
Now when I use the term Jew, I want you to know, I am not using it in a derogatory way at all, because if you know anything about the Bible you have to know and understand that God’s people, the Jewish people, are His covenant people. And He will never forsake them. He will never let them go. What He has promised them will surely come to pass.
Let’s see what he says to the Jew. And if you’re Jewish and you’re listening, this is very, very important because so many times what happens is we think that because I am what I am that I’ve got it made with God.
The Muslims that have been acting as terrorists, the Muslims that have been blowing themselves up in terrorist’s attacks think that they are right with God. And they’re not right with God. They don’t even understand who God is.
The Jews, who are keeping the law, think that they are all right with God and they think that they’re all right with God because they’ve kept the law, because they’re a Jew, because they’ve been circumcised.
And so it’s at this point that God turns through the apostle Paul to address the Jews that are at the church at Rome. All right? Now, this is what he says. “But if you bear the name Jew …,” so what to do you want to do? You want to mark the word Jew again. You want to put a Star of David there, a blue star. Now let’s go to verse 17. “But if you bear the name Jew and you rely upon the law …,” now the law are the commandments of God. It’s the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. If you’re relying on the Torah, Gentiles call it the Pentateuch, for the first five books of the Bible.
But he says; “… if you rely on the law …,” so mark that like we’ve marked law, “…and you boast in God and you know His will and you approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law …,” In other words, you say I’m a Jew, I’m keeping the law, I’m boasting in the things that are essential, I know the will of God because I know the Word of God. He says, “… and you’re confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind …,” You look at others and because you are a Jew and you have the Word of God and it belongs to you and you are God’s chosen people, then you are a guide to the blind. He says,”… a light to those that are in darkness …,” And you look at the Goym, you look at the Gentiles and you just say, they’re just living in such darkness. He says, “… a corrector of the foolish …,” You look at those people and you say, what fools they are, “… a teacher of the immature.”
In other words, you’re so mature and you’ve grown so much and you know so much and you keep the law, to the tiniest little jot and tittle. You live by the Talmud in addition to the Torah, in addition to the Tanak, in addition to the first five books of the Bible and in addition to what the Gentiles would call the Old Testament. And you have the Mishnah and you have Talmud and you study it day and night and you seek to live by it. He says, so that you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth.
He says, you therefore, now note how he’s described them. And you know this would be good to take a fine pen and mark a one and a two and a three and a four and you would see everything that he says about them.
They bear the name Jew. They rely on the law.
They boast in God. They know the will of God.
They approve the things that are essential because they’ve been instructed out of the law.
They’re confident that they are a guide to the blind that they are a light to those that are in darkness, that they are a corrector of those that are foolish, that they are a teacher of those that are immature.
They have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth.
He says, “You therefore, who teach one another …,” you’re sitting there, you’re the teacher and you’re teaching one another. You’re the rabbi and you’re teaching the students in your synagogue, he says, “… and you teach another. Do you teach yourself?”
You know this is a good word for any teacher.
It’s a good word for me because I know, I’ve studied the Bible and I know a lot of the Bible, but if I’m teaching others am I teaching myself?
If others are coming under conviction by the Word of God as I teach it, am I coming under conviction by the Word of God if I’m not living accordingly?
So he says, “You …,” he says, “… who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?”
You know when I read that, I cannot help but think that when I was in Steinmaskies in Jerusalem, there are a lot of Steinmaskies, but I was right down on Jaffa Road, right down where they’ve had a lot of terrorist activity, and this was some time ago. But I was in Steinmaskies and I was buying something. I was schlepping my little cart. I had been to the store and I was schlepping my cart and as a matter of fact I left my cart and they were about to haul it away because you don’t leave any package around unattended because they think it’s a bomb. And I looked over, I went to the counter, they were saying you know, is this anybody’s cart and I came and said yes, it’s mine. I am so sorry, I forgot. You know and I’m standing there to pay for the book that I bought in Steinmaskies and next to me is an orthodox Jew with the curls, with the hat, all dressed you know just in his orthodox attire and he is buying a Playboy. I’m standing there. My eyes are falling out. And I’m thinking, God he should not be buying that. Puts it in the bag, walks out, and I said to the clerk, I said, did you see him do that? Did you see him do that? And she said, it happens all the time.
I was so frustrated with myself. I was so angry. I should have said son, you know when you’re older you can get away with things like this, but son, do you realize what you are doing? Do you know what the law says? The law says that you’re not to commit adultery and I want you to know that buying one of these magazines is an adulterous act, because you are looking at these women for lustful purposes. You’re in trouble with God.
And this is what he’s saying. He’s saying, you can’t be the teacher and live contrary to what you’re teaching. He says, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” In other words, are you getting money, are you doing certain things to get money when you really shouldn’t be doing that? “You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God?”
You know the Gentiles that have turned their backs on God and turned their back on this inner witness dishonor God and wrath is going to come on them. Do you think that because you’re a Jew and you know the law and you have the law and you quote the law and you teach the law that you can get away with dishonoring God and not have the judgment come upon you?
If you bear the name Christian and you act like this and you’re into pornography and you’re into these other things, you’re into lying and you’re into cheating and you’re into stealing, you’re blaspheming the name of God. And a just and righteous and fair God who judges without impartiality will hold you accountable.
He says, “Just as it is written …,” and he’s quoting the Old Testament, the Tanak, “… the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” It’s written in the Tanak, not just in the New Testament. “For he says, for indeed circumcision is a value if you practice the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” What does he mean by that?
We need to know, because there are many Jews that believe that if they are circumcised that that is their ticket to heaven. And you know what? It’s not your ticket to heaven, not according to the Word of God. And we’re going to see that. How do we bring today to a conclusion?
We need to stop, curl up with a good book, read what I’ve said again, and know that God judges impartially. Remember that.
