WWUTT 117 Judged By the Law (Romans 2:12-16)

If there's a good man in some obscure part of the world who has never heard the gospel before, does that man go to heaven or hell?

Well, the answer is heaven. However, such a person doesn't exist when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. It is February 2nd and we are experiencing a thunderstorm here in Kansas.

You might hear a clap of thunder behind me here. I don't know. Hopefully the power doesn't go out while I'm recording.

We'll see how far we get. Romans chapter 2 verses 12 through 16 is where we are today.

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. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel,

God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. And that last verse there we talked about yesterday, we were looking at verses 6 through 11.

Those who do unrighteousness will receive wrath and fury, but those who do good will receive glory, honor, and peace.

Remember though that we are not saved by our works. We're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

But our works will affirm whom whom we serve, whether we are serving Christ and our righteousness will show that our righteous deeds will show that we serve

Christ or we serve the devil and our unrighteous deeds will show if a person is serving

Satan. But understand it's not just doing good things that makes you serve

Christ. Jesus changes your heart to be able to follow his commands in a way that is righteous before God.

There is a way that you can obey the scriptures, but it would still be in a very selfish and sinful way.

Do you understand what I'm saying? So the Bible says, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, okay?

And you can do all of those things, but it's still be self -serving. You're not doing it in glory to God, but doing it as a glory unto yourself.

Think of the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10 and went before Christ and said, what do I have to do to gain eternal life?

And Jesus starts laying the commands out for him. Don't murder, don't steal, don't commit adultery. And the man says, all of these things

I've been doing from my youth. And Jesus says, but I hold this against you, go sell all that you have and give to the poor and then come follow me and you'll have eternal life.

And the rich young ruler walked away very sad for he had many great possessions. See all that the rich young ruler had and even his sense of morality was all to elevate himself.

It was not done in worship to God. So it wasn't for God's glory, it was for his own glory.

So there's a way that we can obey the law that is even done in a sinful way.

So it is Christ that makes us able to obey God's word in a way that becomes worship that is worthy to God.

In and of ourselves, we can't give right worship to God. It is God who, or it is

Christ himself, God, yes, Christ, who makes us worthy.

All right. So that is what we are talking about when we say that a person will be judged according to their works.

Then we get to verse 12, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.

Perhaps you have asked, or maybe you have asked this question. What about the guy who lives over in Africa, the good man over there who just does the best with what he has?

And he has never heard God's word before. He has never heard the gospel.

What about him? Does he get to go to heaven? And my answer to you is yes, he does.

But here's the thing, that man does not exist. There is no such thing as the good man over in whatever part of the world who has never heard the gospel before.

And so because of his goodness, he gets to go to heaven. What we are reading here, even in Romans chapter two, is

Paul laying out a stinging indictment as to how there is no one who is righteous. Now he's laying this case out here, but he gets really straightforward when we get to Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 18, and he starts laying down all of these scriptures from the

Old Testament that will very clearly state how there is none righteous, not one.

No one understands, no one seeks for God, no one does good. So there's no such thing as the good person in another part of the world who by his own righteousness is going to gain eternal life.

This is why we need to take the gospel to the world, so that they have the chance to hear about their sin, will repent of it, and receive the righteousness of Christ.

They will worship Jesus, and it is only Christ who gives us eternal life, not by any works of ours, but the work that Christ completed on the cross, dying in our place, taking the wrath of God upon himself, so that we would not have to experience that sting of death, and all would be made righteous by the righteous sacrifice of Christ.

Are you tracking with me here? Okay, so when we go back to verse 12, 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.

So one way or the other, a person is going to be judged according to the law of God, whether they heard it or not.

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

For when Gentiles, and we're talking about those who are not Jews, when a person who does not have the law by nature does what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness.

So here's the thing. There's going to be people that we're going to observe doing nice things for other people.

Does that mean that they are saved? No, it simply means that they have a law that is written on their hearts, and their conscience bears witness to it.

And their conflicting thoughts, as that verse goes on, either accuse or excuse them.

And what Paul is saying here is that the conscience isn't perfect. So while God has given each person a conscience, and they are a law unto themselves, the conscience isn't perfect, and they aren't able to obey the law in a perfect way.

Remember, we talked about last week, we were looking at Romans chapter two, verses one through five, we mentioned, or I gave an illustration rather from Francis Schaeffer, and how when we appear before God, we will not even be able to declare ourselves innocent by our own standard of righteousness.

We can't even amount up to our own standard of morality. When you say to a person, hey, don't tell lies, well, you're a hypocrite because you lie.

All right, you lie to other people and you lie to yourself. I remember hearing a joke that goes like this.

There are two kinds of people in the world, hypocrites, and that's pretty much it.

Everybody is a hypocrite. Nobody can actually do the things that you impose upon another person morally.

So even by our own standard of morality, we will not be able to declare ourselves innocent before God.

Our conscience bears witness to there being a law, even though we are unable to follow that law perfectly.

And on that day, God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus, as it says in verse 16.

Ultimately, it comes down to this. Our salvation is guaranteed only in Christ alone.

We cannot declare ourselves righteous by our own law, and we cannot declare ourselves righteous by obeying the law of God, because we can't do that in a righteous way.

It is only Christ who did that perfectly and then died on the cross in our place so that we might become his righteousness.

As it says in 2 Corinthians, he became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.

It is a gift that has been given to us so that through Christ we inherit eternal life.

Lord, as we are finishing up this study here, I pray that as we go from this and we're meditating on these words, you show us more and more what this means.

And we come to understand that your law is indeed perfect, but we are unable to follow it perfectly.

So, give us the conviction in our hearts to repent of our sin, and follow

Christ, and receive and know his righteousness, so that we might conduct ourselves in a way,

God, that is worthy and is pleasing in your sight. And we pray and ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your

Bible learning. If you would consider a gift to this ministry, please visit www .tt

.com. Give online or send a check in the mail. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.