Written On Our Heart S12e10 Rm2:15

What if I don't know the moral law that is in the Bible?  Don't worry, God WROTE IT ON YOUR HEART anyway, so you know it already.  Your conscience bears witness to it.  It is something that God gifts to everybody.

The Law just details it so as to convict you just a little bit faster.  But for those who have the law outside or inside, they are basically both in the same boat.

It is good news.  You already know right and wrong.  But there's some bad news too: nobody does it perfectly right.  Listen 7 minutes and let's find out what we are to do. bewithme.us

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:00

Good morning, my brothers and sisters. Welcome to Episode 10 A B with me in the book of Romans. Today I'm going to title this written on our hearts now RC Sproul famous theologian, he's dead now. He was at this big highfalutin conference 1000s of people there. And someone was posing Tim the question about their struggle in communicating what sin was. And he his question specifically was how do I explain sin to an unbeliever? And our sprawls says, steal his wallet. And everybody breaks into, you know, into laughter. And the point of it was, is that the the Christian law, the law from the Old Testament, the spiritual laws are written on our hearts, you don't really have to explain to people because they already know the work of the law is already written on our hearts. That's exactly what the passage today says. And I'll quote it here. This is from Romans chapter two verses number 12. And following, 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. So he's making two groups of people. One is the Jews who have the law, and the other are Gentiles who don't have the law. And it doesn't really matter because the law is going to be written on everybody's heart. He's gonna explain that for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified, which is going to end up being nobody, verse 14, For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while the conscience also bears witness in their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. On the Day when according to my gospel, God judges the secret secrets of men by Christ. So he's saying that that there are the Gentiles who don't have the law. Externally, they have it internally, it's written on their hearts, their conscience bears witness to it, and their conflict, thoughts can can accuse them. So the conscience that God gives to everybody bears witness to the righteousness of God's commands in principles. So everybody knows kind of the the meat of the 10 commandments. Hey, how about murder? Oh, no, that's not a good idea shouldn't be doing that. How about treating your mom and dad? Well, okay, how about lying under oath or hubbub lying with someone who's not your, your, your spouse, you don't need the Bible, to know that, that those things are wrong. So what he's saying here is you don't necessarily need the law, those with with without the law, they have the condemnation of their conscience of the written on their hearts. So they know that God's principles at least from their hearts, and by their nature and their consciousness, that their conscience that bears witness to this and so he's basically saying, the Gentiles are going to be without excuse. And then if you can have the law on top of that, that the law condemns you with kind of some detail and you Hey, I've read Exodus 20, where the 10 commandments and whatever else is in there, the the Jews have this tutor this guardian, which the law Galatians chapter three says that the that the law is going to imprison you and the law is our guardian until Christ came it's our tutor in order that we may be eventually justified by faith that's where he's gonna go with this. So God judges God knows the secrets of men in the secrets that you may even not know yourself because you're bamboozling your yourself but you're certainly not bamboozling God at the end of second Corinthians, he says, Hey, let's test ourselves and see if that would see if we're in the faith. So that Paul is going to throw the Jews under the bus now this is not anti semitic, he's a do himself. It's the anti I'm okay. I'm okay by doing the law. Listen in here. This is verse 17. From Romans chapter two, but if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the god and boast in God, and no this no his will, and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law. And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, and a light to those who are in darkness and an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then you who teach others do you teachers not teach yourself why you would preach against stealing? Do you stay Do you steal You say that one must not commit adultery? Do you commit adultery? You who aboard idols? Do you rob temples, you boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law for as it is written, the name of God is blaspheming among the Gentiles because of you. So he kind of throws his brother's his Jews under the bus, and the Jews that are saying, Hey, I've got the law, and I'm righteous under the law, and I do the law. It's just not true. If you've ever met anybody who says that I keep kosher. It's not true. They're, you know, your response should be I'm so sorry. And you're, if you think you are, you're lying. You've missed the last point. The last point is you cannot do it. You cannot make it this way. The law is a sign right in the middle of the highway that you're going, going down saying, there's 100% failure rate of going this way, you need another way, you're doing the wrong work here, you have to do something else. And don't feel bad Jews. He's, you've had, you've had the law, and you couldn't make it. And guess what? Neither could the Gentiles the law that's written in their house, they're not hearts, they're not going to be able to make it that way, either. So where can I find in the law of God's for the Jews, it's in the Bible, but you don't have to read the Bible to know all this stuff. It's already in, in your, in your heart it the law just reflects the character and the characteristics clearly, which is why we should sort of honor the law and not worship the law, but worship the one who the law came from, because it displays his character. So, so well, in addition, similarly, we should also thank the good Lord, that the conscience that he's put in every single person, his conscience, describes the heart of God. This verse 15, is kind of our highlight of the day. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, both Jew and Gentile, those who have the law, those who don't have the law, the work of the law is written on their hearts, their conscience bears witness their conflicting thoughts and cues, or excuse them. So, so Let's appreciate our conscience. Let's and more importantly, let's listen to what our conscience shows. Tomorrow. He's gonna throw the Gentiles under the bus as well as the Jews. Thanks for listening. Let's follow our conscience today.