- 00:01
- No one is saved by works, right? Right. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
- 00:07
- So why is it that the book of Revelation says that we will be judged by our works if works do not save us?
- 00:14
- There's a good answer to that question when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text. A five -minute
- 00:20
- Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In Romans 2, verses 6 -11,
- 00:27
- God will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience in well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
- 00:39
- But for those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
- 00:47
- There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the
- 00:53
- Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the
- 00:58
- Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. Now, this section can be a little bit confusing, especially when we often repeat how important it is to understand that we are not saved by our works.
- 01:11
- We are saved by grace through faith. And one of those key passages we use as our theme verse is
- 01:17
- Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.
- 01:24
- It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. So we're not saved by our works.
- 01:30
- We're saved by grace through faith. So why is it that this section here in Romans 2 is saying that we receive eternal life according to our works?
- 01:39
- And we'll see this come up again later on too in Romans 14, 12. Each of us will give an account of himself to God.
- 01:46
- We see in Revelation 20, 12 when the whole story is said and done, we're at the very end before the great white throne of judgment.
- 01:54
- It says in that passage that we will be judged according to what we have done. And Jesus says something similar in Matthew 25 when he gives this story.
- 02:01
- He says that the Son of Man will come in his glory and sit on his glorious throne and he will separate one person from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- 02:10
- The goats will go on his left hand and the sheep on his right. And to those on his right he will say, Enter into the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- 02:19
- For when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was naked, you clothed me.
- 02:24
- When I was a stranger, you welcomed me. When I was sick and in prison, you visited me.
- 02:30
- And those on his right are going to say, Lord, when were you like that? And we did those things for you. And Jesus will say to them,
- 02:36
- That which you have done to the least of these brothers of mine, you have done also to me.
- 02:41
- But to those on his left he will say, When I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was thirsty, you didn't give me drink.
- 02:47
- When I was naked, you didn't clothe me. When I was a stranger, you didn't welcome me. When I was sick and in prison, you didn't visit me.
- 02:54
- Therefore, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. And they will say, Well, God, when did we have an opportunity to do that and not do that for you?
- 03:03
- And Jesus will say, That which you have not done to the least of these brothers of mine, you did not do to me.
- 03:09
- And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
- 03:14
- So even here in this story, it seems that Jesus is saying that we will be rewarded for our work.
- 03:20
- So how do we understand this if we're not saved by our works? Well, in John 3, 20 through 21,
- 03:26
- Jesus says, Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed.
- 03:34
- But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
- 03:42
- See, the works that we do are a reflection of who we serve. If you do good things, then you show that you serve
- 03:49
- God, that you've been changed by God and saved by God. But if you do unrighteous things, you show that you are still a slave in your sin, and you do the works of the devil.
- 03:59
- Jesus said in John 8, If you were of your father Abraham, you would be doing the works that Abraham did as he was talking to the
- 04:04
- Jews. But you are of your father, the devil, and you do the works that the devil does. So what it comes down to is this.
- 04:11
- When it's all said and done, and we appear before God in his glory and judgment, he will judge us according to what it is that we have done.
- 04:21
- If we follow Jesus, we will do the things that he did, and we'll receive his eternal life.
- 04:27
- But if we follow the devil, we'll do the things that he did, and we'll receive his destruction.
- 04:33
- God will render to each one according to his works. Only the work of God, through Christ Jesus our
- 04:40
- Lord, has the power to save. Gabriel Hughes is a pastor at First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.
