WEBVTT 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:24.239 If you want, you can open Romans two and it's from chapter one to eleven. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:41.759 And it's written 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 thing. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:48.320 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:58.640 Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:08.719 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and perseverance, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:20.239 But because of your heart and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteousness, righteous judgment will be revealed. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.239 He will render to each one according to his works. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:31.599 To those who by patience well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:39.519 But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:47.680 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:57.280 But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:58.879 And so read God's word. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.680 Let me add my welcome to uh to Ben's. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:02.560 My name's Mark. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.480 Uh please uh have Romans 2 open in front of you if you can. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:17.840 And uh if you're looking it up on your phone, uh we're looking at the English Standard uh version of the Bible, it's just good to kind of track along with uh what we're what we're looking at. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:32.879 When I was uh in theological college in in London, uh there was this unofficial rule that when grades came out, uh exam grades, or you got a you got a paperback and you were looking at the the marking scheme to see how you did. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:38.719 There was this unofficial rule that we wouldn't tell one another how we did. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:44.080 We wouldn't share our exam results, we wouldn't share our essay grades. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.039 And there were some really good reasons uh for that. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:56.159 Didn't want people to feel unduly proud of themselves uh if they did comparatively well, nor did we want people to feel bad. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:04.800 We didn't want people to feel uh despairing if they uh didn't get the grade that they wanted in comparison to other people. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:09.759 And above all, we didn't really want grades to define us. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.199 Uh and so there was lots of good reasons for it. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.560 Uh but I'll be honest, it was a good rule, but I hated it. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.199 I hated it because I wanted to know what other people got. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.719 Because I wanted to know where I came. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:31.520 If I got a high mark and I knew that it was a reasonably high mark, I wanted somebody to ask me. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:37.840 Because I wanted to know where they came in the pecking order. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:38.639 Oh, what about you? 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:42.800 Oh, well, you know, it's just it's just one of those things, isn't it? 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.560 You want to know where you come. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:52.240 Fast forward 12 years, and I'm not free of that desire. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:55.199 It's my morning confession to you all. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.599 I still compare myself to others, and I suspect that you do too. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:09.759 Maybe like me, you look at your neighbors and their lifestyle, or the Teslas that they drive, and you compare yourself to them. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:21.439 Or you scroll on Instagram mindlessly at 11 o'clock at night, and you make a million little micro comparisons of how you're doing, how you're looking compared to those people. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:30.000 And maybe you even come in here and you think, well, I don't feel like I really fit in here because I kind of feel like those guys are more spiritual than I am. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.759 Uh, and I feel like I haven't really got my life together. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.079 They seem to be more outgoing, and I'm I'm shrinking back into the corner. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:44.879 You you come in and you kind of think, well, where do I stand in the kind of in the inner circle of city church? 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.920 How what's your proximity to uh to the pastors? 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.480 And this and you compare and you think, okay, where am I with regards to these other people? 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:59.839 And then we also compare ourselves in order uh to make ourselves feel better. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:05.360 We compare in order to feel better about ourselves. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:06.480 Parents do this. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.360 Parents will never tell you that we do this, but uh we do. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.199 We look at other parents, and we look at other parents and how they parent. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.759 And then we secretly say in our heads, oh, well, at least I don't do that. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.920 Isn't that right, parents? 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.959 No, no, see, nobody's willing to admit it. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.199 Each of us knows that we're not perfect. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:34.079 And so we read articles online about real sinners. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:49.600 You know, murderers, thieves, gang members, drug dealers, sex workers, and there's a little part of us, a little dark part that we don't really like to acknowledge in polite company that says, well, at least I'm not like them. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:51.360 Good. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.759 I'm not as bad as they are. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.480 Religious people do this really well. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.120 We have been well trained in comparing ourselves favorably to sinners. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:11.680 Because sinners are nasty, and we like to feel morally superior, don't we? 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:16.560 We like to look down at other people, and religious people have always done this. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:22.800 The Pharisees did it in Jesus' day, comparing themselves to tax collectors. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:28.160 Why does your rabbi eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.079 Because we're better than them. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.199 Why would you hang out with the lowest of the low? 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.680 When actually, if you push them down, you can push yourself up. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:47.920 And so they would pray five times a day, saying, Lord, I thank you that I am not a woman, that I am not a dog, and that I am not a Gentile, that I'm not a sinful person. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:53.680 Religious people love to compare in order to make themselves look better. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:59.360 Now it's not just religious people who is it. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:08.720 You can get the non-religious person who likes to think of themselves as somebody who is moral. 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:21.360 They say, Well, I'm not particularly religious, but I I try to be good and I try to be better than most, and surely that's good enough. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:28.079 And in order to further that case, what they do is they point to other people and go, well, at least I'm not like that. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.279 At least I'm not as bad as they are. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:41.680 And in that view, you imagine you kind of getting to the end of the world, and you uh you stare at that last day into the uh into the pit of hell, and who's there? 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.480 Well, it's only Hitler, Nazis, and paedophiles. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.920 And you kind of go, well, great, well, the rest of us are fine. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.720 Because it's easy to compare ourselves to people like that. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:58.959 But here's the sobering truth. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.720 Hell's gonna be full of religious people. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.879 Hell's gonna be full of moral people. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:18.240 You see, religious people, morally superior people, they judge others to try and justify themselves. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:20.639 We feel ourselves doing that, don't we? 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:25.839 We feel ourselves judging others in order to justify what we have done. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.480 But God's judgment isn't like that. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:35.360 God's judgment is righteous, it's fair, and it's impartial. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.879 And that's really the two things that we're gonna look at this morning. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:46.480 First is that uh religious people, morally superior people, judge in order to justify themselves. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:51.840 Whereas God's judgment is righteous, fair, and impartial. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:09:02.320 This first half, verses one to five, deals with this idea that moral people, religious people, judge in order to justify themselves. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:27.679 Sometimes, uh every now and again when I'm driving, say I'm driving on uh on the motorway heading north, or I'm I'm driving along the around the M50, and uh I'm going along and somebody goes, zooms on past me, and I look down at my uh my speedometer on the motorway, and I see that actually I'm doing about 130, just from time to time. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:34.559 Not very often, but it has been known to happen by accident. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:44.159 And as they zoom on past, and I see that actually I'm well over the speed limit as well, I think to myself, well, at least I'm not going as fast as they are. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:46.559 Again, can I get an amen? 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:58.639 And again, we what I do is I play the conversation through in my mind that I might have with the guard who stops me. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:08.159 You know, they pull me over five minutes later and he he comes up, he does that kind of slow guard a walk and he taps on the window and he says, Do you know how fast you've been going? 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:12.159 And I said, Well, uh, I wasn't going as fast as that guy. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.440 If you'd been driving faster, you would have caught him. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:17.279 You think I'm breaking the law? 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:18.879 You should have seen that guy. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.919 He was clearly doing 145, 150 kilometers an hour. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:25.120 What would the guard say to me? 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:26.639 Ah, yeah, you're right. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:34.879 No, the guard would turn to me and say, Well, you've broken the law too, and you're the one in front of me, and you're the one that I'm writing the ticket for. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:36.320 But that's what we do. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.159 We do this all the time. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:50.639 We know the law, but we compare ourselves to people who we deem to have broken it worse than we have in order to justify ourselves. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:11:04.080 Now, Paul in uh the second half of Romans 1, he's been talking about how God's wrath, that is, his settled opposition to sin and unrighteousness, is being revealed from heaven. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:06.559 And who's it being revealed from heaven against? 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:22.480 Well, all sorts of people, not just those who practice homosexuality, though that is the example that he uses, but right towards the end of the passage, he's talking about people who are envious and jealous, who are angry, who are proud, who disobey their parents, who are greedy. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.480 All sorts of things. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:37.919 And you can imagine for a second the religious people kind of sneering and rubbing their hands together in the background, the morally superior people feeling good about themselves because at least they aren't as bad as those sinners. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.240 But in chapter 2, verse 1, Paul brings the hammer down on them. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:44.399 He won't let them away with it. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:45.039 Why? 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:49.519 Because they do the things that they condemn others for. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.720 Therefore, he says, You have no excuse, O man. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:06.159 Every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you judge and practice, sorry, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:08.559 But this is what religious people do. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.320 This is what morally superior people do. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:24.000 We point the finger at others, we point the finger at other people's sins, and we hope and we pray that nobody will see that actually we practice the same things. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.080 The same things are going on in our heart. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:35.919 And you think back to um to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, where he's talking to the, oh he's talking to the crowd and he's saying, you know, you've heard it said, you shall not murder. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.600 You know, all of the Pharisees are standing over there looking at the big ten and going, no murder, tick. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:48.399 And Jesus turns it on them and says, Well, if you've looked at your brother with anger in your heart, you've murdered them. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:13:03.600 And it's kind of that idea that Paul's picking up that actually the same besetting sins, the same things that Paul has brought out at the end of chapter one, the same things that he's been condemning, they exist in our hearts too. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:14.159 And so any idea of religious superiority, of moral superiority, it's totally inappropriate in the Christian church, in the Christian community. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:23.519 Then Paul says in verses two and three that religious people, they know what God demands. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.960 They know the judgment is coming on these things. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:33.840 And then he asks the question well, do you think that by knowing it, you'll escape the judgment of God? 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.000 Have a look at verses two and three again. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:40.080 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:47.679 Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, yet do them yourself, that you'll escape the judgment of God? 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.960 Surely the answer that Paul is expecting was, well, no. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:04.240 But many religious people, people who describe themselves as spiritual, moral people, they think, we think, that we get a jail, a get-out-of-jail free card from God. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:11.200 That because we know what He demands, that is, we've been around religious circles. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.360 We've been coming along on a Sunday morning. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:27.279 We're even involved in midweek community groups, that because we have the knowledge of what God requires, that God will give us a pass when we don't listen to him, when we don't obey him. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:36.159 We think that our our religious affiliation or our moral goodness will give us some sort of get out of jail free card. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:38.639 And Paul's saying that's not the case. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:42.240 See, the Jews thought that they were God's chosen people. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:53.679 And that meant that they knew the law, they knew what he required, what God required, and even though they struggled to keep it, they believe, well, we're God's chosen people. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.159 He's not gonna reject us. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:58.879 We're on the inside track. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.320 Paul's saying, you gotta be really careful. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:07.279 Do you think that you're really gonna escape the judgment of God by thinking along those sorts of lines? 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:14.879 That just because you go to church on a Sunday morning, that you gotta you got a free past for the rest of the week? 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.279 What a misguided way to conduct your life. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:23.120 What a misguided way to conduct your spirituality. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:28.399 This leads the religious person, the moral person, into a false sense of security. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.799 And Paul's saying, look, don't be fooled. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:42.240 Moreover, we fool ourselves into thinking that because we haven't been caught, that God's okay with it. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.360 That's what Paul's saying in verse 4. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:55.679 Says, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:15.919 The religious person, the morally superior person who persists in living against God's good rule, design, and law, and thinks, well, I haven't been smited with a thunderbolt from heaven. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:23.519 So God must be okay with it, is fooling themselves. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:42.639 Paul saying, No, no, no, the slowness is not God's approval, the slowness is God's patience waiting for you to acknowledge your foolishness and to repent of your religious hypocrisy, your moral hypocrisy. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:53.200 See, people often think that the second half of chapter one is the hard one to hear when it talks about you know sexual sins and murder and wickedness. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:17:00.000 But for all of us who are nice people, chapter two is way harder. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:08.240 Because these verses don't allow the moral person or the religious person to breathe a sigh of relief. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.559 We're not allowed to push other people down. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:20.960 The people of Romans chapter 1, we're not allowed to push them down in order to push ourselves up, because Paul says the same sin lives in your heart. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:28.160 You even do the same things, and you just try and cover it with your veneer of Christian niceness. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:31.119 You must be very, very careful. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:35.119 You will not escape the judgment of God, Paul says. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:50.960 We love to judge in order to justify ourselves, to do dine in order to feel better about ourselves, but that's not how God judges. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:55.279 It's very good news that that's not how God judges. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:04.160 And that leads us to our second point that we might judge others in order to justify ourselves. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:12.160 But God's judgment is righteous, it's fair, and it's impartial. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:33.519 One of the ways uh that we try to elevate our standing, or one of the ways that we know that we're trying to elevate our standing or our sense of moral superiority, our sense of goodness, is that we don't tend to compare ourselves uh to people who are better than us. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:34.720 Have you noticed that? 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:45.759 We don't tend to compare ourselves uh to great people, to great examples of moral virtue and goodness. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:56.079 We don't tend uh to admire some moral scent and say, well, how do I compare to them? 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:07.759 No, we look down, we look down the slope of moral superiority and go, well, ignore those guys, like ignore Gandhi and you know everybody else who society thinks is kind of on up here. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:08.720 Ignore those guys. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:10.079 I'm looking down here. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:16.319 Well, you know, there's Hitler and there's Stalin and there's whoever else, and at least I'm better than them. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:17.440 Just ignore those guys. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.440 We don't compare upwards. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:24.400 That's how we know that we're judging in order to justify ourselves. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.920 Still less do we look at the very top of the slope. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.160 We don't look at God's perfect standard and ask, well, how do I measure up against that? 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.319 Because we know deep down, don't we? 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.799 We know, well, there's there's no point. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.920 It's actually just going to show up our badness more. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:51.519 We've already seen that God's judgment is fair where ours is not. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:53.359 Verse 2. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:20:01.359 We know that the judge that the judgment of God rightly falls on all those who practice such things. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.519 God doesn't play favorites the way we do. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:12.079 He doesn't play favorites, he doesn't have an inside track. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:18.720 This is especially bad news for religious people who think that they're on God's good side. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.960 The chosen people, the inner circle. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:26.240 And so twice in verses 9 and 10, Paul says, No, the judgment of God is coming on who? 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:27.599 The Jew first. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:29.680 The Jew thought he was last. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:31.759 Well, sorry, what, Paul? 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.119 You're gonna God's gonna judge us, you're gonna judge us first? 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:36.400 Yeah. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.839 You don't escape it. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.920 God's judgment's gonna come on the Jew first, and then also the Greek. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:44.079 And then again in verse 10. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:47.599 The Jew first, and then also the Greek. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.240 For God, verse 11 shows no partiality. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:05.039 Yeah, one of the surest signs of a society that is becoming corrupt is when the law is not evenly applied. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:15.920 When people break the same law but are treated differently because of their wealth, their influence, their social standing. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:17.759 God hates that. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:27.359 God hates partiality of judging people differently because of some standing that they might have in the community. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:36.079 And so Paul is reassuring us that God will judge actually in the way that we want judgment to happen. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.160 But how will he judge? 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.920 Well, Paul tells us in verses 68. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.359 He will render each one according to his works. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:48.720 Sorry, what? 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:53.039 He will render each one according to his works. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:58.640 To those who by patience and well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:06.000 But for those who are Self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey on righteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.799 How will God judge? 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:13.119 God will judge a person on his or her works. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:15.519 What? 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.960 Have we, Paul, have you lost your mind? 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.319 No, hold on. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:26.640 Christianity is the whole Christianity is always about it's not about what you do. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:30.640 It's about faith and faith alone. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:34.319 Apparently not. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:40.960 God will render each one according to his works. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.599 Has Paul lost his mind? 00:22:44.079 --> 00:23:00.160 He's just said, 20 verses up that salvation, the righteousness of God that is gifted to us because of Jesus, 1 verse 17, is from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.559 And then 20 verses later, he says, God will judge according to your works. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.079 What on earth is going on here? 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:22.000 First, let's give Paul a little bit of credit that he hasn't just lost his mind, and that he hasn't just written one thing and then five minutes later directly contradicted himself. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.799 And so we've got to work out, well, how do we hold both of these things in tension? 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:29.200 What is going on here? 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:37.519 The second thing that we need to note or we need to ask is well, what are the works that God judges? 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:43.039 What does he mean when he says, verse 6, he will render each according to his works? 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:50.079 And in order to answer that question, one of the things that we need to realize is that Paul is quoting something. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.200 Paul is quoting Psalm 62. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.960 It actually comes up in Proverbs as well, but Psalm 62 is really helpful. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:07.279 He's quoting the very last verse, verse 12 of Psalm 62, which says, For you will render to a man according to his work. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:17.359 So then we ask ourselves, well, in the context of the Psalm, what's the work that God is judging? 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:19.200 What's going on in the Psalm? 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.880 And so you read the rest of the Psalm. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:29.519 And one of the things that you do when you read the rest of the Psalm is you realize that David, who wrote the Psalm, is writing about two different types of people. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:39.359 He's writing on one hand about people who say one thing and do another, who bless with their mouths, but their hearts are full of cursing. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.799 That's a quote from the Psalm. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:57.359 And then on the other side, there is another person who casts himself on the mercy of God, who makes God his refuge, who rests on him for salvation and for and for deliverance. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.440 So it's two different types of people. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:13.200 And then he says, You will render each according to their works. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.079 So what are the works that God judges? 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:26.240 Well, it's the it's the work of faith, or the work of disobedience, of unfaith. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:45.920 You see, rather than contradicting himself, Paul is reinforcing this idea that it is those who run to God for refuge and strength, who run to God for salvation, relying and resting on him alone, they are the ones who will be able to stand under the judgment of God. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:55.680 He is reinforcing, therefore, the need for repentance and faith in order to bear God's holy judgment on that last day. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:59.119 However, there is another thing that is going on. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:04.160 Paul, of course, is not saying that works don't matter. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.799 So the question then is, well, what purpose do they serve? 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:13.599 Why should you do good things as a Christian? 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:25.039 Why shouldn't you just, and this is one of the questions that is dealt with later on in Romans, why shouldn't you just send it up in order for God's grace to extend more abundantly to you? 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:30.240 What purpose does our moral goodness serve? 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:43.200 Well, the answer is that our works as Christians are not the basis of our salvation, but the evidence of our salvation. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:44.559 Let me say that again. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:50.319 Our works as a Christian are not the basis of our salvation, but the evidence of it. 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.039 Imagine an orange tree. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:02.960 When the oranges appear on the tree, they prove that the tree is alive. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.599 They do not provide the tree with life. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:14.559 Rooted and established in the ground, nourished by the soil. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.319 Fruit is the evidence of life, not the basis of it. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:20.319 That's what Paul is saying here. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:25.119 That's how we integrate what he says in chapter 1, verse 17, and what he says here. 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:29.279 The righteousness of God is received from faith for faith. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:30.079 That's our basis. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:31.680 That's where our roots are going down. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.400 We are established in Christ by our faith in him. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:42.559 Psalm 62, that we are the ones who run to God, who make him our refuge, who rely on him for rest and for salvation. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:44.240 Those are our roots. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:59.119 And then Paul says, well, one of the ways that you will know that a person is rooted in Christ, is trusting in him, saved by faith, is by the fruit that they will bear. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:00.480 That's what Jesus says, isn't it? 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:03.519 By your fruit, you by their fruit you will know them. 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:09.279 The fruit is not the basis of life, it's the evidence of it. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:10.160 Do you see? 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:22.480 And so Paul is saying in the same way, our good works are evidence of a life that has been transformed by faith in Jesus. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.519 They're not the basis of our life with Jesus. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:30.480 Faith is always the root which nourishes fruitfulness. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:39.519 We know that these works are evidence and not basis because of what Paul goes on to say about them. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:47.039 First, he says, it's by those who, by patience in well-doing, that's an odd phrase. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:48.799 What does that phrase mean? 00:28:49.119 --> 00:29:03.200 That is that there is a persistent, consistent direction and desire of a person's life to do what is right, even though they might not succeed every day. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:04.799 That's the Christian life. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.440 The Christian life is not perfection. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:14.480 Some people might think, well, as soon as I become a Christian or as soon as I'm baptized, I must never sin again. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:16.720 That is not the case. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.279 And that's not what Paul is saying here. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:27.119 Perfection is, well, it's not possible, this side of heaven, and it's not required. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:31.200 But what Paul is talking about is he's talking about a direction of a person's life. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.440 You're persistent in well-being. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:50.799 It's the direction of your life, even though there is a there's an up and down as it goes on day by day, good days and bad days, days where you succeed and days where you fail, but it's the direction one of pursuing trying to please God. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:56.480 That is, in Paul's language, to seek glory and honor and immortality. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.720 That glory and honor and immortality is not for ourselves. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:03.680 In the context, it's to seek God's glory. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:05.200 What is to seek God's glory? 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:09.279 To seek God's glory is to seek the manifestation of his presence in your life. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:13.119 Is God becoming more real in your heart? 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:18.400 You see him showing up in how you think and how you make decisions. 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:23.119 Can you see his fingerprints across your life? 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:31.759 Or the honor of his reward, his well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:37.200 An immortality to seek that is to seek life in his eternal presence. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.039 Is that the direction of our life? 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:40.400 That's what Paul's saying. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:56.480 Paul's saying that for the person who seeks those things, that person is a crit, he's a Christian, she's a Christian, rooted and established in Christ, bearing fruit in every good work, and they will stand on the last day under the judgment of God. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:04.960 It's only possible for the person whose heart has been made alive by faith. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:16.960 By contrast, the heart that is rejecting God, that is hard and unrepentant, verse 5, that heart never seeks for the glory of God. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:22.079 Rather, Paul says that person is self-seeking. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:25.279 Verse 8. 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:34.640 But for those who are self-seeking, who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:32:00.480 If you realize that you do not seek or live for God, or that you are trying to justify yourself by comparing yourselves to others, then you are being here, you're being here this morning listening to this in person or online. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:08.000 Paul would have you see that this is an example of the patience of God, the kindness of God. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:17.359 If you realize here this morning that actually, oh gosh, I I don't seek for gl for the glory, honor, and immortality that God is and gives. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.079 I am trying to justify myself. 00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:23.359 Well, Paul would say, you're in verse 4. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:28.160 God's showing you his patience and kindness in bringing you here, in allowing you to hear this. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:28.880 Why? 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:35.200 So that you might turn in repentance and faith and come to him. 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:41.759 Do not think that your good try is good enough. 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:50.640 It's only a life of repentance and faith that will mean that we can stand up under the judgment of God. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:57.119 Billy cuts my hair every six weeks or so. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:58.240 I've just had it done. 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:02.640 I know you noticed, but it's just not the good context to say, lovely, ah, thank you. 00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:03.519 Hang out. 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:06.960 He cuts my hair every six weeks or so. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:11.839 Over in Beards and Barnets, head over there to Temple Bar and say hello to Billy. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:21.119 Now imagine after he's finished with me and I get up, the next client sits down. 00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:33.440 And instead of my walking over to pay, I grab the scissors and I stand behind the next guy and I begin to cut his hair. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:35.279 What would Billy say to me? 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:37.839 Well, I probably can't repeat what Billy might say to me. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:43.359 But he would he would say, in a sense, what on earth are you doing? 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:50.400 Now I imagine I turned to him and I said, Well, what's your problem? 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:52.319 I'll do my best. 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.519 What would Billy's response to me be? 00:33:56.079 --> 00:34:01.039 It would be, well, your best isn't good enough for my client. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:08.079 You think our best isn't good enough for our God. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:21.599 We cannot justify ourselves by our moral superiority, by our religious devotion, by our pushing other people down in order to elevate ourselves. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:24.000 I'll try my best. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:26.400 Well, it's just not good enough. 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:46.800 Rather, we must be those who in Psalm 62 are running to God, casting ourselves on his mercy, seeking him for refuge and strength, depending on him only for that gift of righteousness that is given to us by faith, and then evidencing it to the world by our fruitfulness. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:49.920 God's judgment is righteous. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:55.599 It is a question of whether you are resting on him or relying upon your own strength. 00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:57.519 It is fair. 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:08.960 He will say, in effect, let's look at the evidence of your life as a sign of the state of your heart. 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:12.079 And his judgment is impartial. 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:22.239 You know, you could be here this morning and you could feel like the most wretched sinner in the building, crushed with shame and feeling like you do not fit in. 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:30.480 Or you could be here and feel proud of your moral successes and goodness and glad that you are not as bad as other people. 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:39.280 The judgment of God falls equally on all, and all are welcome to come and to find rest in him. 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:42.400 You cannot fool him. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:45.039 You cannot justify yourself. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:54.320 Placing our faith in him is the only way to escape what he describes in verse 8 as wrath and fury. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:59.920 So are you comparing? 00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:05.280 You're trying to justify yourself by comparing yourself to others that you deem to be worse than you? 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.119 Or are you resting in the God who judges justly? 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:12.880 Does your life show the evidence of faith? 00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:16.960 If not, there is still time. 00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:19.119 Do not lose heart. 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:22.719 Turn to him in repentance. 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:36.400 That is, acknowledging what you have done, acknowledging your moral superiority, acknowledging your religious conceitedness, and casting yourself afresh on his mercy and saying, forgive me. 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:43.280 Say, please help me by this power of your spirit to live for you alone. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:46.320 There is still time. 00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:51.920 His patience has lingered for you so that you could be here today. 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:58.559 Turn to him and pursue the faith that comes from life with him. 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:19.280 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in Dublin below.