Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
I want you to think about two different words through this sermon.
Two words that start with the letter J.
Justification and judgment.
Justification is the declaration of righteousness that
we all find in Jesus Christ.
Judgment is the righteous judgment that God is going to bring
to all those that are in rebellion to him.
And I want you to think about those two words, because everything
that we're going to be looking at here today are really factors
found between those two words, justification and judgment.
As Brother Michael just sang in that song.
Romans, chapter 1, verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ.
We're in the book of Romans.
We're going to be in Romans chapter two here.
But to understand the context of what we're going to be talking
about today, we have to go back and look at Romans Chapter one.
So turn there in your Bibles with me to Romans Chapter one, and
then we'll jump over to Romans Chapter two.
If you want to follow along with our notes this morning on the
back of your bulletin, we have an outline that you can follow along
with.
And the title of the sermon this morning is the Universal need
for a Savior.
The universal need for a Savior.
In Romans Chapter one, Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ.
What is the Gospel of Christ?
It's the good news of salvation found in Jesus Christ,
his life, his perfect life, his death to pay the price for our
sins, the resurrection that he did through the conquering of death
and ultimately through giving us that eternal life.
And if we trust in faith, as we read in Ephesians chapter two,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
it is a gift of God.
So the Bible says here that Paul tells us to not be ashamed of
the Gospel of Christ.
Why?
Because for it is the power of God unto salvation, unto justification,
to everyone, to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek, which is going to play a huge role in our
sermon this morning talking about who is the Gospel for, who
can be saved and how can they be saved.
There's a lot of people even today that believe different people
are saved different ways.
And at the time of the Writing of the book of Romans, the people
felt the same way that, that the Jewish people were saved this
way, that the Gentile people were saved this way.
And what Paul says here in Romans Chapter one is, it's by one
way, and that is the way of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ and verse 17, he says, for therein is
righteousness.
So when we find salvation in Jesus Christ through faith, that
is when we find righteousness.
And it's the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
And so in our faith we find the righteousness of God and the
righteousness of God is imputed or given to us.
And then he says there, as it is written, the just or the justified
shall live by faith.
And so the key here this morning is that if we want to be
on the side of the justified, if we want to be justified in the
eyes of God and deemed righteous by God, we must, as it
says there, be in faith.
But the other side is lack of faith, rebellion, sin, unrighteousness.
And the Bible says on that side we find the judgment of God.
And so what Paul is trying to explain in Romans chapter one and
chapter two and chapter three is this.
We all Jew, Gentile, young, old, we all need a savior because
none of us can save ourselves.
None of us can be justified by our own works.
None of us can find righteousness in our own way.
All we can do is trust in Jesus Christ in faith to bring us
righteousness and to extend to us salvation by his grace.
And so I want you to think about that here this morning when
we come to Romans chapter two.
And we're going to start in verse number 12, by the way, it's
been a couple weeks, but we left off with the statement for there
is no respect of persons with God.
What does that mean?
That means this.
There is no partiality with the way that God deals with people.
God righteously extends grace to those that come in faith.
It doesn't matter what they look like, doesn't matter where they're
from, doesn't matter what their past is.
He extends fairly grace to those that believe.
But on the other side of things, God fairly judges those who
are in rebellion.
He is impartial in that way.
He doesn't look.
And that word there, it's actually in the King James here,
it says no respect of persons.
But in the original Greek, it literally means this.
He doesn't see the face, meaning he doesn't look at someone's
face and make a judgment on what they look like from where they're
from or what they look like in their.
And their complexion or how they look, whether it's rich or poor,
he makes a decision of the heart.
And we know that's a principle told to us throughout Scripture that
God looks upon the heart.
He looks upon our belief.
And so here in Romans chapter two, we're going to look at the universal
need for a Savior.
Remember, God is fair.
And Romans chapter two is all about teaching the reader.
And that's us here this morning about the need for a Savior.
A need for a Savior, a desperate need for a Savior.
And we have learned through the first 10 verses that morality
is not enough to save us.
There's a danger in trusting in our morality.
And what is that danger?
We, we can never do enough.
We can never be perfect.
And even though that morality is a good thing in the concept of
following God, morality will not save us.
It's the salvation that brings us to that place of righteousness,
that place of morality.
And so Paul's warning in chapter two in the first ten verses
was basically this, hey, do you think that your morality is going
to save you?
Do you think your good works will save you?
He says, no, you can't escape the judgment of God.
And we've learned that God is completely holy and just in his judgment
against sin.
How can God deal with sin?
Well, the reason why God can deal with sin is because he's perfectly
holy.
He is sinless.
I can't judge sin ultimately because I am not sinless.
I cannot condemn or judge people in punishment because I am
not sinless.
I am guilty myself.
And so it would not be fair for me to bring condemnation upon
another person who is sinning.
But the Bible says that God has every right to.
To extend condemnation and judgment upon those who are in rebellion
to him because he is perfect, he is holy, and he is just.
I want you to remember that his holiness is his defining character
trait.
In his holiness is.
Is perfection.
And in his perfection, we see all the other character traits, meaning
his love, his grace, his forgiveness, his strength, his presence.
All of those things are found in his holiness.
And so the fact, the very fact that God is perfectly holy means
that he is righteous and just in his judgment.
And so it says there in verse number 11, for there is no respect
of persons with God.
He is fair in all of his judgment.
And so point number one here, I want you to see this morning the
Father's fairness.
Nobody is exempt from the consequences of sin.
Nobody.
And I want you to understand that here this morning.
I think a lot of Us think that, well, you know what?
Maybe that person doesn't know what the Bible says.
And so therefore they're not, they're not guilty, therefore they
won't face condemnation.
We're going to talk about that.
And the fact that God does judge those people who don't have
the revealed word of God to them in this, in the he judges them,
but he doesn't judge them the same way he judges them in condemnation.
But what we're going to see in the next few verses is that God is
fair with those who have the law and those who don't have the
law, those who have had church, that have been taught the
gospel and those who have not taught the gospel.
And what we can see here is that even though God will judge everyone
for their sin, he will judge everyone according to the revelation
that is received.
Go to verse number 12 with me.
For as many as have sinned without the law.
So the fact is, is that even if they did not have the law.
And by the way, what are we talking about when we're talking
about the law and this context?
We're talking about the Mosaic Law, the law that was given to the
Jews all the way back in the book of Exodus, all those 613 laws.
And the Bible says here that even if that person did not have
the law extended to them, they were Gentiles.
It says they, they still sin.
For as many have sinned without the law, meaning we can sin
without the law.
You don't have to have the law for sin, but it says here that they
will perish without the law, meaning they will be judged according
to what they've been given, and as many as have sinned in the
law shall be judged by the law.
And so what we see here is that God will judge everyone according
to the revelation that is received.
Now, some people will say, well, what does that mean?
Does that mean that someone who did not have the law will have
a different measure of judgment?
I don't know exactly what that means when it comes to the punishment
that they will receive for their sin.
And I do know that the Bible says, for all have sinned to come
short of the glory of God, so all will face the punishment of God.
But what the Bible tells us here in Romans chapter 12 is that
even though no one is exempt from the judgment of God, God is
still fair in the information that they have received through the
law or outside of the law.
And so we must believe that God is holy in every way, including
his judgment.
And the reason why we're making this case is that this morning
some people feel that, well, you know, that person didn't get
to hear the gospel the same way that this person heard the gospel.
So therefore God will not judge them because they didn't hear
the gospel the way that this person heard the gospel.
No, that's not what this says.
This says that God will judge them according to what they know.
But at the end of the day, we're going to see throughout this
passage is that there is still judgment for those that are in rebellion.
Well, we have to take in faith the Father's fairness.
And so it's not my job to say, well, that's fair that Jesus sends
them to hell, or that's fair that Jesus condemns them this way.
All I have to say is this.
The Bible says that God is perfectly holy.
And when God judges someone, it's done in a completely fair and
perfect way.
And so the Father's fairness.
But I want you to see number two here, the hypocrisy of the hearer,
the hypocrisy of the hero, verse 13.
For not the hearers of the law are just before God.
He says, you can't justify yourself just because you've heard
the truth of God.
And he's dealing with people that are religious here.
He's dealing with people that have had the law.
And he says, just because you've heard the law, just because
you have religion, just because you possess in your culture
the truth, he says, that does not justify you before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified.
He says, if you want to be justified, you've got to do the whole
law completely.
You can't just know it.
We, we know a passage of Scripture that tells us very clearly
that we can't just be hearers of the Word, but we also have to
be doers.
Because we know that one can hear the truth and even understand
it intellectually, but that alone does not save.
And so the Bible warns us against just intellectually adhering
to the truth, but it also talks about completely believing
it with our hearts.
I want you to see in the Book of James something very important
here, because the Book of James tells us that it's more than
just hearing, because what will happen today will be the same
thing that happened all the way back then, that there will be
people that say, you know what?
I was born in the law, I was born in the temple, I was born in
religion.
And so therefore I'm just adopted.
Because the truth is, is I've always been around it, and I know
the truth, but they don't necessarily believe the truth.
That's the same thing today with us in, in church, people can
say, well, I've always gone to church.
I, I've always been a Christian.
I, I've always heard the preaching of the Word of God.
It's one thing to hear it, it's another thing to believe it.
And so what we're going to see here is that the Jewish people at
this time were saying, hey, we have the law.
We're the ones that are righteous, we're the ones that are
better.
We're the ones that, that know morality.
These other people, they don't know that.
So we are saved because of that.
And that's the same thing today when people say, hey, I go
to church, that makes me saved.
I look the part.
I, I, I dress right, I talk right.
That does not save us.
Just hearing the law, hearing the Word does not save us.
You would have to do it completely.
And so the Bible says in James, chapter one, verse 22, and
a very important truth it says, but be doers of the Word and
not hearers, only deceiving your own selves.
And so when we hear the Word and maybe even sometimes agree with
it, maybe even say Amen if we hear it, but we don't apply it, the
Bible says we're not deceiving others, we're deceiving ourselves.
We're deceiving ourselves in that thinking that we're good enough
just with hearing the Word.
For if any be a hearer of the word, verse 23, and not a doer, he
is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass or a
mirror.
For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth
what manner of man he was.
So he says, someone who hears the word of God, but then doesn't
allow that word to change their life and their actions is like
someone who looks in the mirror and sees a problem with their
face, but just walks away and doesn't change that.
You know, I don't know if any of you have ever had this in your
life, but there have been times in my life where either I like
brushed my teeth or I ate some food and I had some stuff in my beard.
Some of you ladies probably don't understand what that's like.
Or some of you men maybe, but you have food on your face, right?
Or something on your face.
And you walk around and you never check the mirror and no one
told you that it was on your face.
And if you would have just known, you would have cleaned it
off, but you didn't know it.
You didn't look in the mirror.
It would be like me having that on my face looking in the mirror
scene, you know, maybe a mustard stain after a hot dog and
going, oh, you know what?
That's okay.
I'm just going to keep going.
I'm sure it'll work its way away.
That's exactly what it's like when we hear the word of God and
we see where we need to change and we know where we need to grow,
but we just go ahead and just say, you know what?
That's not for me.
I'm not going to apply that.
And so it says in verse 25, but who so looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, that's the word of God.
And continue with therein.
He being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this
man shall be blessed in his deed.
And so there's blessing.
And in applying the word of God, there's blessing in our lives
by looking at the Word, hearing the Word and saying, that's
not just what I want to know in my mind, but it's what I want
to believe in my heart, and it's what I want to live.
But let's go back to Romans chapter two, because if we aren't
careful, we might read verse number 13 and think that our works
justify us.
Because isn't that what that says in verse 13?
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
of the law shall be justified.
What does that mean?
Well, we can look at that from a couple of different perspectives.
One could be this.
That what Paul is saying here is this, if you want to be justified,
you've got to keep the law perfectly.
You can't just hear it.
So if you want to work your way to heaven, you've got to be perfect
in every single way.
Now, all of us know that we can't do that.
And so obviously Paul is making a case for a savior.
He's making a case for he talked about in Romans chapter one,
salvation by faith and not by works.
Another way you could look at it in verse number 13 is this.
But the doers of the law shall be justified, those that are justified,
those that are truly saved by faith, will live those works out
in their life.
And that's a couple different ways that you could look at that.
But the reality is, is even though that we are believers, we
still can't keep the law perfectly in our lives.
And so all the more reason why Paul is trying to paint the picture
of our need for.
For faith in the One who can save us and forgive us of our sins.
And so we know that salvation is by faith alone.
Being religious is not enough.
And I say that word religious because I intentionally.
Because I know what we believe and I know that sometimes we'll tell
people, you know, when someone asks us, what's your religion?
We'll tell them, well, I'm a Christian or I'm a Baptist or whatever,
but at the end of the day, what is religion?
Religion is doing something, trying to keep a tradition, trying
to do something in dedication to something to earn salvation.
The Bible says that that will not save us.
Tradition will not save us.
Some list of rules will not save us.
The Bible says that it's by faith alone.
We read it this morning in Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8, 9
and 10.
For by grace, God's grace, are we saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And so the Bible tells us what we're saved from.
We're saved from sin, we're saved from darkness.
We're saved by faith.
But then I also want you to see what Ephesians chapter 2, verse
10 says, because sometimes we forget what verse 10 says.
We said.
We say salvation by faith alone.
I believe.
And therefore I just keep going and doing what I want to do
in my life.
I've got faith now.
Now I'm going to heaven.
But what does true faith, faith produce?
True faith produces in Romans or, excuse me, Ephesians, chapter
2, verse 10.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works.
If we truly understand what salvation is, we now understand that
God has saved us not just to walk in our own path and eventually
go to heaven.
Yes, heaven is the ultimate destination in eternal life with
Him.
But the Bible says that there is a time period between our salvation
and the end.
And.
And what are we supposed to do?
It says there to give him glory because he has created us unto
good works.
He saved us to serve Him.
And so we don't serve to be saved, we are saved to serve.
And so what the Bible teaches is that a Christian walking in obedience
with God, a Christian walking in the understanding of what Jesus
has done for us and who we are in him, will have fruit, will have
the product of a, as it says here, a person with good works, the
good works don't save.
Is it possible for a Christian not to be walking this way.
Of course, a Christian could be walking in rebellion.
A Christian could be walking, as the Bible says, as a backslidden
Christian, or as in First Corinthians, chapter three talks
about someone who is carnal or fleshly.
And so I'm not saying that all Christians have to have good works
or they're not saved.
But what the Bible does say is that a Christian walking in fellowship
with the Lord, walking with the understanding of who God is and
serving him, and walking in obedience to the Spirit, will see
fruit, will see good works.
And so the good works are what we are called to in our lives as
believers.
And so the hypocrisy does not come from when a Christian sins,
because all Christians will sin.
The reality is, is the hypocrisy comes when we say that
we aren't sinning or that we have all that we need in what.
What we do when we come to church.
Does coming to church make you a better Christian?
It can, but it's not.
It doesn't necessarily equate to being a better Christian.
Does reading my Bible make me a better Christian?
If I'm doing it for the right reasons.
But I can sit and read my Bible and check off a box and say,
well, I've read my Bible today.
Now I'm going to go do what I want to do.
If I'm not reading it with the proper motivation, if I'm not reading
with the proper meditation, I'm not allowing myself to have that
word change me.
And so the hypocrisy of the hearer is this.
I hear, but I don't do.
I hear, but I don't believe.
And so what Paul is warning against is these people who are saying,
hey, you know what?
I'm Jewish.
I'm good.
I'm part of the people, I'm part of the religion.
I'm part of the tradition.
I wear all the right garb.
I do all the right things.
I wear the box of scriptures upon my forehead.
I do everything.
And then what Paul says is, well, just being a hero of the word
does not justify you in any way.
So what does that mean for us today?
What does that mean for us in 2025 at Middletown Baptist Church
here today?
It means this.
Just being a part of the church does not save me.
Just following a list of rules does not save me.
Even if I'm a good Christian, Even.
Even if I'm, you know, when I say Christian, I want to warn against
this.
What we have defined as Christianity today in our world is
this.
It's a.
It's a comfortable cultural Christian.
A comfortable cultural Christian is someone who says, well,
I don't believe in Buddha.
I don't believe in another false God.
I believe in there is this one God.
But at the same time, I don't really want to follow God with everything.
I just want to be comfortable.
And comfort means I'm just going to do what I want to do.
And so sometimes people will say, well, I'm a good Christian because
I don't believe in another God.
That doesn't equate for us being a committed Christian.
A committed Christian is someone, as Jesus said, who follows
his word, who, who strives to love him and obey him.
And so the hypocrisy of the hearer is this hearing and thinking
that that's enough.
Being religious and thinking that's enough.
Being a church member and thinking that's enough.
Being someone who's a good citizen and thinking that's enough.
He says, no, it's not enough.
What is enough?
Well, nothing that we do is enough.
Go back to Romans 1, verse 16.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation.
It's the gospel, it's faith in Jesus Christ, verse 17.
The Just remember those two words, justification, judgment.
It's the ones who live by faith.
The ones who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior in faith and
receive his grace.
Those are the ones who are justified.
So we're going to speak a little bit further about this because
what happens is, is that sometimes we think, well, you know
what?
I'm.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to figure this out.
I'm gonna do this.
Verse 14.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the
things contained in the law, these have been not the law, are
a law unto themselves.
And so what happens here is that many times what people try to
do is they try to individually save themselves.
And so the question that we are going to ask now at this point
is this, who can keep the whole law perfectly?
Who is completely righteous?
Well, it's not me.
Any of you, any of you guys can, can keep the whole law perfectly.
None of us can.
There's only one who has lived on this earth and fulfilled the law,
and that is Jesus Christ.
And so it's the impossibility of individuality.
What, what our culture has taught within religion is this.
Be an individual.
Figure it out yourself.
And what the Bible says is that it's impossible as an individual
to Save ourselves.
And even it's impossible as an individual to grow in the Lord.
Why?
Because.
Because in and of itself, by definition, growing in the Lord takes
two.
It takes me in the Lord.
And if I'm trying to do all the things that it means to be a
Christian in my own strength, in individuality, I'm not doing it.
All I'm trying to do is just work my way.
I'm trying to be religious.
And so the law shows us our inability to be righteous on our
own.
The law is not there for us to keep and say, you know what, man?
I missed out on one of the laws today.
So now I have to go do a sacrifice.
It's not what the law is there for.
The law is there to reveal to us that we are unable to be perfect
and that we need a savior.
And so the law is there to show us the heart of God.
Yes, but to show us where we fall short, that we can't be righteous
on our own strength.
And so this is what should happen when we look at the law or
when we look at the Word.
What should the Bible teach us?
It should bring us to a place of desperation so that we can be
dependent on the power of God.
Have any of you, maybe, maybe you haven't.
Maybe, maybe some of you that have read through the whole Bible,
you've said, wow, that's a lot.
First of all, I can't do all the things that God calls me to do.
Certainly if I read the book of Leviticus, if I really wanted
to be strict, I can't do all 613 of the Levitical laws.
But even that, let's go to the New Testament and let's look at all
the things that God calls me to do to love my neighbor as myself,
to.
To love my enemies.
This is really hard.
I don't know if I can do this.
You know what?
It's impossible for me to do this.
And the truth of the matter is, is that in our individuality
and in our own strength, it is impossible.
But the Bible says that we come to God and we realize that I
am unable to do this.
And so that brings me to a place of desperation.
I don't know if any of you have been in a place in your life
where you've been so desperate that you realize that whatever's
in front of you, you cannot handle on your own, that you need
somebody else.
I.
I've been there.
I've been to a place in my life where I.
I felt like I had control and a circumstance happened and that
control was pulled away from me, even though at the reality of
it, at the core of it, I never was in control.
But when I felt like that control was taken away from me, I
was so desperate and I needed to have someone step into my life.
That's what it means to be a Christian, to realize that I am so
lost without him and that I'm desperate without him.
And I need to be dependent on the one who brings me power.
And the Bible says the only person who can do that is Jesus Christ.
And so it's a desperation not to stay down in depression, but it's
a desperation to be dependent upon God.
God wants us to be dependent on Him.
He wants us to go to Him.
He wants us to pray to Him.
He wants us to rely on him for everything in our lives.
So if you can take anything with you here this morning, take
this.
The law is not there to make you feel broken or beaten down.
It's there to show you the place of desperation in your own
strength and your dependency on God and the importance of trusting
in Him.
So you could look at it from two perspectives here this morning.
Information doesn't save us, you say, pastor, I've read through
the whole Bible.
I know everything.
I know every Bible story.
The truth is, is that most of us, our memories, like as we read,
we forget what we read before.
What did someone say one time?
I've forgotten more than you've ever learned.
Okay, Someone told me that one time.
I've forgotten more about this topic than you will ever know.
I'm like, maybe that's true.
But the truth is, is that even if we knew every Bible story, even
if we were at every church service, even if, even if we gave
the church every single week, the Bible says that information does
not save us.
So a lot of people say, well, good, I don't want to know any more
information.
I want to be ignorant.
I okay, I'm not even going to go to church.
I'm not going to read my Bible because then I won't be held accountable.
Well, the Bible also says that ignorance does not save us either.
Ignorance is no excuse to the law.
So information doesn't save.
Ignorance doesn't save.
Let's look at what the Bible has to say about that.
Verse 14.
For when the Gentiles remember the Gentiles are not the Jews, the
Gentiles don't have the law.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, so they don't have
the law, they're not responsible for the law.
Do by nature the things contained in the law.
Meaning this, even though they don't have the law before them, they
follow the things that are in the law.
Why?
Why is that happening?
These having not the law, are a law unto themselves which show
the work of the law written in their hearts.
The Bible says that the law of God is written in the hearts of man.
We.
We are created in the image of God.
And so the Bible says that even a person who is ignorant of
the word of God can still offend their conscience, still offend
the truth, and ultimately be guilty of sin as well.
So ignorance does not save us.
And, and so what does he say here?
He says they, they.
They see the work of God in their life through their conscience,
also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean, or else excusing
one another.
What does that mean?
Well, even those that are without the law are responsible for
sin.
And so the law of God is written in their hearts.
And the way that it's written in their hearts is really, I believe,
through three different things.
One, through creation.
If you go back to Romans chapter one, you see that in verse
number 20, for the invisible things of him from the creation of
the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse.
The Bible says just creation itself proves that there is a God.
The fact that there is a creation out there proves that there
is a designer.
And so we can see that the law of God is written in their hearts
through creation.
But then let's go back and look at verse number 15 of chapter
two, which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness.
So their conscience tells them that there is a truth out there,
an objective truth.
Now what's a conscience?
Because some people confuse conscience to the Holy Spirit's conviction.
Now, if we are walking in line with the Holy Spirit in obedience,
our conscience will be aligned with the conviction of the Spirit.
But the conscience can be skewed to what we believe in our
highest authority.
And so what happens is, is that we can tell people over time.
Like let's, let's use an example here.
Today we have an experiment and we raise a child in a vacuum.
We raise a child in this room, and we don't expose them to anyone
outside of this room, okay?
And what we do is we tell that child that everything is okay, that
you can do this and you can do that.
We can morph that child's conscience into a different way of
thinking.
And that's why people can do things in sin and not feel guilty
about it, because they have seared their conscience with sin.
And so really, what conscience is, is it's that moral compass that
God gives every person.
And that person's moral compass is based in their highest
authority.
So if our highest authority is God, our conscience will be aligned
with the truth of God.
So if I'm walking in the truth of the Word of God and following
the Holy Spirit, my conscience is geared toward, hey, thus saith
the Lord.
But someone who is an atheist who believes that there is no God
has a conscience.
Their conscience appeals to their highest moral authority.
For some people's highest moral authority, they're their own
God.
So my conscience is, hey, does this work out for me?
Is this good for me?
Some people's conscience is their culture.
If culture tells them that this is wrong, they're going to do
that.
But ultimately, what we see is that that conscience is a proof that
God has the law written in their hearts.
And then we also see here not only their conscience, but it says,
and their thoughts.
The meaning while excusing or accusing or excusing one another.
So basically, what they do is this.
If so, what Paul is trying to say is this.
The creation, their conscience and their thoughts convict them because
everybody offends their conscience.
So, for example, if someone says, well, I know that stealing
is wrong.
I don't know why it's wrong, but I just know it's wrong.
And I know I shouldn't do it, but I'm going to steal anyway.
They have now sinned.
They didn't need the law of Moses to know that that was wrong.
Why?
Because they offended their conscience.
They went further than what their conscience said.
And so what we can see here is, what is he saying?
He's saying this.
Even if a person doesn't have the Mosaic Law in front of them,
they all are sinning because they all have offended creation,
their conscience and their thoughts.
And so what does that mean?
That means that ignorance is not bliss.
Ignorance does not bring us to a place of escaping God's judgment.
All ignorance is.
Is just.
We just don't know why we're doing what we're doing.
And we need the truth.
And so we all, whether we're Jew, Gentile, old, young, churched,
or unchurched, all of us, as you see there in point four, have
a responsibility to respond.
A responsibility to respond to what?
Because that's really what matters.
To respond to the pastor, to respond to a church.
Well, let's look here in verse number 16.
Because the Bible tells us that all of us have a responsibility
to respond to something.
It says in verse 16, in the day when God shall judge the secrets
of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel, all of us
have a responsibility to respond to the truth of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
The truth, the objective truth.
I want to be very careful this morning when I say this because I
don't want to offend anyone here.
But at the same time, truth sometimes does offend the world.
Today is teaching that there is really no objective truth, that
truth is what you make it to be.
Truth is what makes sense to you.
So create your own truth.
And the Bible says that there are really, there are many lies that
we can believe, but one of the biggest lies is that there, there
is no truth.
And so there has to be a truth.
John 17:17 says, Sanctify or save them through thy truth, thy
word is true.
And so what we know is that we have to respond to the truth of God
through his word and ultimately trusting in the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
And so the conclusion of all of this is that there will be a day
of righteous judgment by God, the only one who can judge, the only
one who has the right to judge because of his holiness.
Remember our two words today we have justification.
That's escaping the wrath of God, that's finding the eternal grace
of our Savior.
And then there's judgment that comes upon all those who do not believe.
And so there will be a day of righteous judgment.
And it says in verse 16 how that's going to happen.
God's going to judge the secrets of men.
Like, basically, we can't hide anything.
You think you can hide something from God?
He's going to find it.
You can't hide it from him.
There were, there were times in my life where I thought I could
hide things from my parents.
And my parents are not infallible.
Like, my parents can be tricked.
But you know what?
As much as I tried to hide things from my parents, they still
knew me so well that they, they caught me in it.
Okay, I, I won't tell you the specific case, but there was one
time I was trying to hide something from them, and they had
me pegged early on.
And they're like, son.
And they were really trying to give me a chance to tell the truth.
They really were.
I remember this to this day.
And I said, dad, you know, I didn't do it.
I didn't do it.
He's like, okay, okay.
We, we.
We trust, son.
We trust you.
We know you would never lie to us.
We love you so much.
And you've always been an honest boy.
You know what?
That crushed me more, you know, because I was like, man, they
know the truth.
How am I going to get out of this?
And I was.
I remember I was with a friend, and I remember I was scheming.
I don't know if any of you guys have ever tried to scheme.
You're sitting there.
You.
Okay, But I just say this.
And if I try to cover up that.
And I got to make sure I call these people and make sure that was
covered up, and I got to do this, and.
And you're going crazy.
And, like, at the end of the day, my parents were like, son, we.
We know what happened.
We know what you were doing.
I'm like.
And I was devastated.
And, you know, what my dad said, of course, has nothing to do
with what we're talking about here.
But so disappointed in you, son.
That hurt me more.
I'm like, dad, just do anything you want to me.
Don't tell me you're disappointed in me.
And the truth is, is that at this place in time, what Paul is
trying to explain is that there's nothing that we can hide
from God.
There's nothing that we can scheme and.
And figure out so that we escape the judgment of God.
It says, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.
And how does he do it?
It says, by Jesus Christ.
So ultimately, the salvation is found in Jesus and the judgment
is found in Jesus.
And the Bible does say that at one point, every knee will bow and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
It's either through salvation or justification or through punishment
and judgment.
Now, the reality is, is that all of us, one day, no matter what
the case will be, will recognize that Jesus is Lord.
The matter is, is, are we going to do it in justification and
faith?
Are we going to find it out through a rebellion and judgment?
At the end of the day, we see that the only way to escape that
type of judgment.
And by the way, what is this judgment that we're talking about?
I would be mistaken if I didn't highlight that here for a
moment.
And by the way, I.
I'm not someone.
Someone heard me recently and they said, are you a fire and brimstone
preacher?
I didn't really know what that meant other than the fact that, am
I willing to preach about hell?
Yes.
Okay, I am.
So maybe that makes me a fire and brimstone preacher.
But the idea would be this.
The Bible says that all of those in rebellion to God will one
day be separated from God in judgment.
That's the first aspect of punishment, is a separation from
God.
But number two, the Bible does say that there is a place called
Hell, the lake of fire.
And the Bible says that all those in rebellion at the point of
judgment will be cast into the lake of fire.
And some people say, well, Pastor, I don't want to hear that.
Only tell me what's on the good side of things.
Well, if I only tell you what's on the good side of things,
that's fantastic.
But also we need to know what we're being saved from.
And you say, well, how does God ever, my God, my Jesus, would
never punish someone for sin.
Number one, we.
We are.
It's our fault.
God isn't sending anyone to hell.
We send ourselves to hell through our sin.
But ultimately, it is God who judges all, and he is the righteous
judge.
And so therefore, what the Bible says is that we can escape
that judgment.
And not only because salvation is not just escaping the judgment,
it's actually all the more better that we get to spend eternity
with our Savior.
And that's the beauty of salvation.
That.
And so Paul says, hey, that is the gospel.
And why did I.
You say, well, Pastor, why'd you preach that part?
Are.
Aren't there maybe could be some visitors that are here today
that.
That might offend.
It might offend some church members that we talk about judgment
in hell.
What does Paul say here?
Paul says in verse number 16 that the judgment of God is actually
part of the gospel.
Because doesn't he say at the end of verse 16 that this is my gospel
message that I'm preaching?
What he just referenced, he just referenced judgment.
And so what we have to understand is that when we preach
the full scope of the gospel to the world, it starts with the
truth of who Jesus is.
It goes into what he has done for us, and it goes into what the
outcome will be if we trust in him, and what the outcome will be
if we don't trust in him.
So for me to preach the whole gospel, for you to preach the whole
gospel, we have to preach judgment.
We have to.
We can't avoid that.
It's not what we stay on forever.
I don't preach judgment every Sunday.
All of you guys are failures, and we're all going to be judged.
No, the Bible says that we preach the beauty of who Jesus is,
but at the same time, if I don't preach to you the whole truth,
it's not the complete truth.
And it's not the truth at all then.
And so in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
And so if I can emphasize anything here this morning, the only
way to escape that judgment and find true salvation is not through
hearing.
Hearing is the start of it.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
But hearing alone will not save.
That's what verse number 13 told us.
Hearing alone will not save.
Works will not save.
The church I go to will not save.
My family will not save.
What does it say?
Go back to Romans, chapter one, verse 16.
It's where we started and it is where we will finish.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
So the gospel was started there in verse 16, and we see him
concluded back in chapter two, and that was in verse 16.
Kind of interesting there.
I know that the verses weren't there originally, but at the same
time we see that correspondence with the Gospel.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
And I'm going to conclude with the Gospel, for I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ.
For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
To the Jew first, and also to the Greek, no partiality.
For therein is righteousness.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith.
As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
So summarize it all.
What saves us?
How can we escape judgments?
How can we find righteousness?
Through faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith alone, but faith that works.
Because we can all say here this morning, I got.
For Father's Day, how many some of you men probably got something
like this, Either a shirt or a hat or a cup that says best dad ever.
And I could take that thing with me and I can say, well, you
know what?
Because I have this cup makes.
That makes me the best dad ever.
I'm better than you.
I'm not.
But just simply saying that I have faith.
Well, I've got faith.
I love Jesus.
I want to caution you here this morning, just saying something
does not mean it's real.
We all can lie.
What.
What does the Bible say In James, chapter one, verse 22 through
25, if we are a hero of the word but not a doer, we're deceiving
ourselves.
So I could be.
I could.
I have faith.
I could be lying to you.
And the Bible actually says I can be lying to myself and telling
myself, well, just me saying That I have faith is okay.
Faith is belief.
But belief is manifested in what I do.
You guys have all heard the analogy.
There's a chair here, and I say, I believe that this chair can
hold me up, right?
But if I don't sit down, I really haven't demonstrated what's
in my heart.
So it's not the work that saves me, it's what my belief is
in that chair.
But ultimately, it's the work that Jesus has done for me that I'm
trusting in.
So what I want to caution you against this morning, and I want
to do this in a way that's, it's loving, but it's with concern.
Don't just say you have faith.
Truly, the Bible says to have authentic faith.
Hebrews chapter 11.
If you want to have a deep dive into faith, read Hebrews chapter
11 because it gives you the definition of faith, the reason for
faith, examples for faith, and it walks us through what true faith
really is.
And here this morning, the only thing that can save you is not
what you say necessarily, but what you believe.
Now, what you believe, you will say, okay, I'm not telling you
here today, don't say that you have faith.
If you have faith, you will say it, you will proclaim it.
But at the end of the day, don't just be those that say, I,
I hear it, I say it, but I don't really inside believe it.
Because Matthew chapter seven says that there will be people one
day who thought they were going to heaven but said, you know
what?
This is what I did.
You remember that?
You, you Remember Matthew chapter 7?
When, when, when basically there's these people that are coming.
There's the broad way and there's the narrow way.
There's.
There's people that are standing before, before the Lord.
And essentially what they're saying is this.
Take me into heaven because of the things I did, not because I believed
in you.
And remember, Jesus says, hey, no, it's not about.
He's like, I don't know you.
There was no relationship with you.
And so the thing that makes the distinction is not the works,
it is knowing the Lord in faith.
Now, will the believer who knows the Lord in faith do all those
things?
Yes.
But I want you to see what Paul is trying to explain because
he's saying here, information doesn't save, ignorance doesn't save.
Ultimately, it's faith in Jesus Christ.
Next week, we're going to look at the cautions against hypocrisy,
because what's going to happen is, is that there's going to be people
who have.
Every time Paul teaches something in the book of Romans,
the.
The next part part is him trying to explain it further because
people have questions and he's building a case for the need for
a savior.
And so he's going to build this case to the point of saying,
hey, essentially all that saves is Jesus.
And the first half of Romans is him talking about that.
There's a little parenthesis there, talking about the nation of
Israel.
And then there's the end of how we apply all the truths of our
salvation within the church.
And that's the study of the book of Romans.
And I hope that this is something that you can follow along
with, because theology matters.
What we believe about God matters.
What we believe about him and what he has done for us matters because
it affects what we do in our lives.
It affects how we respond, it reflect.
It reflects how we act towards others when it comes to our love
in the Gospel.
So I pray that that's something that you can be encouraged
with here today.
If you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed,
as the music plays here this morning, I have an invitation.
And the invitation is this.
What are you trusting in?
Are you on the side of the justified or are you on the side
of the judged?
That's not my decision to make.
My prayer is that every single person in this room, every single
person listening on the Internet, can know that they have
everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ.
And so, number one, have you trusted in Jesus Christ in faith
today?
If you have not come forward today and do that, we can show you
in the Bible a very simple path to understand what it means
to proclaim faith in Jesus Christ here this morning.
But number two, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've
believed, but maybe your life has not looked like Ephesians, chapter
2, verse 10.
Maybe you've allowed the distractions of this world to pull
you away from your purpose.
And that is the purpose of glorifying God and everything that
he has given you with your talents, with your gifts, with all
of your resources.
The Bible says that that is what God has created us to do, to
be saved, to good works so that we can glorify him in all that
we have here this morning.
Some of us just need to go back to the gospel.
Some of us need to go back to understand what we have been saved
from and what we have been saved to in our lives.
And so if you're a believer this morning, that needs to have
that reminder and committal to Jesus Christ again.
Hey, today's the day to do that.
Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working
hearts and lives.
Lord, help us to understand your fairness, help us understand
the dangers of hypocrisy, help us understand the impossibility of
individuality.
And Lord, help us to understand the responsibility to
respond to you.
Lord, I pray that today we don't trust in information, that
we don't trust in ignorance, but we trust in the everlasting truth
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts
and lives.
In Jesus name, Amen.
As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads Here this morning
it thank.
You again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com.
if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
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Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.