God Will Render Unto YOU According to Your Works?

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The way that some modern commentators, I mean respected guys, write about these verses, especially

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Romans 2, 6 through 13, they sound schizophrenic, and they make

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God and Paul sound the same. Sadly, there is no gospel in Romans 2. And that sounds,

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I don't know, blasphemous, strong to say, but it's true. And we're going to look at the early chapters of Romans today, most pointedly portions of Romans chapter 2, that God will render to each one of us according to our works.

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And to those effectively who do good and seek good, he will reward with eternal life.

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For those who do evil and don't obey the truth, there will be wrath and fury.

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What you have a lot of people saying these days is that Paul is talking about our obedience, and he's talking about the fact that if you're legitimately a

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Christian, that you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey, and you will be empowered by the

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Holy Spirit to keep the law in such a way that what Paul writes there will be true of us, that we will have done well enough that we would be rewarded by God for that.

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Is spirit -wrought obedience to the law what Paul's talking about in Romans 2? He says in Romans 3 .20,

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For by works of the law no human being will be justified in God's sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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From Romans 1 .18 to 3 .20, it is all law, because Paul has one objective, and that is to crush everyone and to demonstrate that all men,

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Jew and Gentile alike, are under sin and thereby are worthy of condemnation and have no hope of righteousness on their own steam.

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But going back to God will render to everyone His works, which is a true statement.

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It is true, and we believe that, and it should stop you in your tracks and want you to go to dig a hole and go hide.

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You should tremble when those words are read. You don't want it when we think about, oh yeah, yeah, you know,

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God's going to render, and He'll look at my life, and He'll see that, you know, for the majority of my life I really tried to obey Him.

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No, no, there is no try. That's not what Paul is saying. No, there is no try. And I want you to even think about your good works.

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You know, I like how Paul even describes his good works. They're putrefied, right? They come with them, a requirement of faith, because if you have not faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ on your behalf, your works will never be acceptable before God, because they're not perfect.

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And we relativize our good works, because when he says, listen, if you want to bring your works, you need to understand God's going to render to you what you deserve, and there is none righteous.

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That's exactly right. He says, therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

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So you, predominantly Jewish people, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on people who practice such things, and you practice them as well.

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You don't allow other people to escape your judgment. Do you think that you will then escape

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God's judgment? The answer there is, of course not, right? You don't meet your own standards, and when you judge other people by your own standards, how much more so would you be liable to God's judgment?

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You actually are hard of heart, and you're unrepentant. What does he mean there? He means you are a person who is blind to your own guilt, have deluded yourself into thinking that you have rendered unto

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God that which would satisfy Him. You think that other people will face the wrath of God because of their conduct, but that you will not face the wrath of God because of yours.

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That's what he means by being unrepentant right there. That verse 6 of Romans 2, right after you're storing up wrath for yourself because you're hard -hearted, you're unrepentant, and God, when

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He judges the world on principles of righteousness, it's going to be wrath for you. Verse 6, he will render to each one according to his works.

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That is not meant to be a statement. If you hear that and you say, it sounds good, it's probably going to go well for me.

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You have not understood it. Justin Perdue, Jr.: By works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.

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So either God's confused, or Paul's confused, or we're confused. Justin Perdue, Jr.: That last option is the problem.

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It's almost like it's this weird, confusing thing. We know on the one hand we're saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.

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But then on the other hand, it's mysterious because our works are going to factor into our final salvation. We need to keep the law ourselves, and by the

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Spirit, we're enabled to do that. That's how they argue. Jon Moffitt, Jr.: Well, they'll go over to James before Abraham was justified by works.

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These guys who yell context take a passage like that. You jump over there where James is trying to make an argument that people are claiming faith in Christ.

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He's saying your actions are not justifying your claim. There's a difference where Paul here is specifically talking about one standing before God.

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Justin Perdue, Jr.: He's talking about standing before God. He's talking about justification. Jon Moffitt, Jr.: That's right. Justin Perdue, Jr.: That's what he's talking about.

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Jon Moffitt, Jr.: I think it's important that just because it has the same word doesn't mean it's being used in the same context.

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That's what's so hard about a word like justification. It's a theological word. If I were to say, I hate this,

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Justin, you kind of need to know what this is referencing, and then I will determine whether you should hate that or not.

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But with justification, we kind of say, well, no, he said justify, and justification only can have one meaning. No, that's not what it means. It means to be made right between two different people or situations or contexts, or it could be financial, as you said, or legal.

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We have to understand in that context, James is talking about a relationship between two people saying,

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I believe in Jesus, but yet you're not showing me that. In Paul's context, he's trying to crush people with the law.

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Justin Perdue, Jr.: In God's will, they'll grab the early verses of Romans 8, particularly Romans 8, 3, and 4, where Paul writes that God has done what the law weakened by the flesh couldn't do by sending his own

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Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. For sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the

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Spirit. In God's will, go there to Romans 8, 3, and 4, and see Spirit -wrought keeping of the law by Christians.

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We are enabled by the Spirit to keep the law is how they interpret Romans 8, 4. Again, Calvin and other guys are like, no,

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Romans 8, 4 is about the imputation of Christ's righteousness. For people who say that Paul is talking about our keeping of the law by the

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Spirit, that is completely foreign to the apostles' argument. I agree. Romans 2 .17

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-29, Paul picks the law up pointedly and says to Jews, you rely on the law and you boast in God.

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You rely on the law, but you haven't kept it. You appeal to the law, but you've not attained righteousness under it.

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You actually dishonor God by breaking the law. Then he picks up circumcision. You think that circumcision is valuable, but it's only valuable if you keep the law.

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In fact, if you aren't circumcised but keep the law, you're good. Then he says that no one's a

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Jew outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. The circumcision that matters in the eyes of God is a heart -level reality.

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What's he saying? He's saying that God's judgment penetrates to the inner recesses of the human heart.

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God will only render people righteous who are righteous at that level. This is not some external rite or ceremony.

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This is about being found righteous at a spiritual level. Again, even there in Romans 2 .29,

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he's not talking about Spirit -empowered, imperfect obedience. He's talking about perfect righteousness at a spiritual level.

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Romans 2 .7, to those who by patience in well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he'll give eternal life.

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For the seekers, for those who seek God diligently and genuinely. Is that true of you or not?

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Are you seeking God? Are you seeking eternal life? Are you seeking glory and honor and immortality?

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This is what people say. Here's the thing. Look at Romans 3 .10 and 11.

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As it is written, this is Paul's conclusion of his argument. None is righteous. No, not one.

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No one understands. No one seeks for God. Is Paul saying that men, by seeking for God somehow, are going to earn eternal life?

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No, because just a few verses later, he's going to say, here's the problem, guys. No one seeks

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God. No one seeks immortality. That's the issue. Continue on. Romans 2 .9,

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there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the

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Jew first and also the Greek. Here we go. Paul goes on to say, all have turned aside.

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Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

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It's an indictment of the entire human race. That's what he's accomplishing. In the context, you've got to see it that way, and you've got to read

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Romans 2 in its entirety, Romans 2 .6 -13 in its context. Don't isolate it.

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Don't read into it. Take Paul at his word and see what he's doing. He's setting us up for what,

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John? Romans 3 .21. He crushes us all with the law. By the works of the law, no one will ever be justified.

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The law only shuts our mouths. Then he says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

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The scriptures testify about it. Well, what righteousness is that? It's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

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Jon Moffitt We're misusing a tool, Paul. Paul's using a hammer to smash us down, to destroy us, so he can give us the life of bread of the gospel.

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We're taking the hammer and going, no, we can build up righteousness. It's like, no, the hammer is designed to destroy righteousness, not build it.

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I would say, Justin, a lot of times the reason why people go to these because it has this language of good works. I know a lot of preachers are concerned about good works in the church.

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So are we, and good works matter. They're paramount. They're so important. They're important for the work of the kingdom, but good works are never used to build righteousness for one's standing in the kingdom.

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That's granted. That's always granted. Justin Perdue Standing, status, justification, works have nothing to do with it. Jon Moffitt That's right, because sometimes what people are going to hear us say is, you guys are going to be careful.

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You're antinomians. You're going to tell people they don't have to do good works. That's the exact opposite. Let's just make sure we go to the right place where good works are necessary as it relates to the work of the kingdom, sharing the gospel, and loving one another.

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But it's never in relationship to our standing before God. That hammer in Paul's hand is coming at your head to crush you and say, don't try and do this in your own power.

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Justin Perdue He is building an argument. He's using the law to crush and to indict everyone that he might herald the gospel.

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Romans 9 .30. What shall we say then? He answers his own question. That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.

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That is a righteousness that is by faith. But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

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Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

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They have stumbled over the stumbling stone as it's written. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

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Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. He's talking about Jews. Paul is. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

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Then these Romans 10 .3 and 4. 4. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

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A brief insertion. When Paul uses the language in Romans 1 .17, 3 .21, 3 .22,

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or here in Romans 10, the righteousness of God is not a divine attribute. This is not describing the fact that God is righteous.

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What he's talking about is a righteousness that God gives to sinners. The question is, what righteousness?

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Whose righteousness? Romans 10 .4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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So this righteousness of God, seeking God's righteousness, submitting to God's righteousness, the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, all that, that is describing this reality.

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It's Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes in him. We're trusting in Christ and we get his righteousness.

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Roman Catholics have objected to this for centuries and many people are imprecise in their language in a way that's unhelpful.

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When we talk about the righteousness of Christ being imputed to us and being credited to us, we're not talking about God's own righteousness being given to us as though a divine righteousness could be given to a human.

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That's not what we're saying. What it is, is that God the Son became a man and as a man he could represent men.

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Paul argues this in Romans 5, that just like Adam represented us all, Christ represents everyone who's in him.

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So Jesus kept the law. He fulfilled the requirements of the law and his righteousness as a human being is what's counted to us so that when we're represented by Christ and united to him by faith, when it comes to God's bar at the end of it all, are you a law keeper?

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Are you a lawbreaker? In Christ Jesus, we have kept the law. It is as though we have been as perfectly obedient as he was obedient for us.