That I think sometimes in my mind, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve read Romans. It makes sense. It’s just good to study it.” Romans is also really hard because Paul is way smarter than I am, and the way that he writes is very legal and methodical, which is a blessing because it’s so well thought out and so detailed, and he uses lots of cause and effect, and he uses lots of “therefore.”
That said… There are times, and yesterday was one of those, that even in rereading it 3 or 4 times, I had a hard time. I was like, “Wait a minute. What is the point he’s trying to get at in the first few verses?” So this is where I’m a big fan. You guys know this. I like Bibles, and I like Bible translations, and I swap it up once in a while. And I have my favorites that I teach from. I have my favorite I study from. But then every year I reread a different one just because it’s nice. It’s good to have a fresh view.
Nevertheless, this was one that yesterday, so Pastor Tim was always really good, and his philosophy was, while I’ve typically been kind of on the New American Standard side of things, it’s very literal, and ESV flows that way. CSB is even closer to those than NIV and NLT. He always liked NLT because he felt when he’s preaching or teaching to a group that maybe has mixed Bible background, it’s a softer translation because it’s a thought-for-thought versus a word-for-word. And sometimes the word-for-word is, you know, we don’t speak the same way, so it’s a little confusing. So I say that. I still float towards the more literal because I think it’s good to know exactly what the word said.
But I had to actually read this one yesterday in NLT. And then all of a sudden it was like, “Oh, that’s what Paul’s trying to say.” Just because I wasn’t smart enough. So there’s your caveat for today. If you ever read it and you’re like, “What is Paul saying?” You’re not alone. Let’s go ahead and we’re going to read it out of CSB, which is our quarterly. And then I’m going to read the first bit again in NLT because I think it will help us unfold it a bit better. Okay.
Chapter 2 of Romans. We’re going to read verses 1 through 13.
Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think any one of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same, that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of judgment, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works.
Eternal life to those who persist in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. Verse 12. Verse 13.
For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. And I’m going to keep reading. I wrote in my notes to read through 16, even though the quarterly stops. So verse 14.
So when Gentiles who do not by nature have the law do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
And there’s more. We might look at a few verses for the whole chapter. But as you know, the quarterly hones in on certain sections. It’s important, though, when we’re popping back in week to week, like we’re just reading chapter 2. It’s easy to forget what we talked about last week. Does anyone remember what we talked about last week? No one ever knows. It’s okay.
So last week was chapter 1. And where we landed upon was this idea of are we living lives that are worthy of the gospel? Because the gospel is the only thing that has the power to remove the guilt of sin. It’s the only thing that can. Excuse me. Can change a human heart so when we read chapter 2 we kind of have to go back and read the last little bit of chapter 1 so that the whole thing fits in in context so the last few verses before we read this part about not judging because we ourselves you know have done the same things verse 26 starts with this idea of idolatry and it says this is where it got very bleak last week.
For this reason, God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. And this is where it really, oof. And while they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind.
So that they do what is right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know God’s just sentence, that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
And then chapter 2 that we just read. Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. I don’t know about you. It’s an odd pivot.
It’s an odd… you’re just talking about God gave them over to the broken, evil, sinfulness of their culture. Their minds can’t even comprehend the goodness of God anymore. They genuinely deserve to die because they don’t just do the evil things. They applaud the evil things. But then the turn that we see today, this idea of judgment, therefore every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. It’s an interesting… Pivot. And I don’t know why, but when we look at it in that flow of Paul’s logical thinking, it’s like, wait, what? Like, you just said all those things are really bad, and that’s what happens when we’re given over to this… What is that? Yeah. I wonder if…
Oh, the door was doing the creep. It was trying to kick that widget. That makes sense. That makes sense. Thanks, guys. That was bizarre. At first I thought, oh, it’ll go away. Someone was just doing something weird in the hallway. Did not stop. Oh, a pipe’s going to pop her. Yeah. Another source to this is I used the Through the Word app. And we were going through Romans. Yeah.
Right now, his commentary, he gives us very good and very easy to understand. And then you listen to the whole book or chapter afterwards. And I recommend that. I’m just trying to get a handle on it. Well, because a lot of these are, I mean, Paul is brilliant. And we know Romans is good. We’ve all studied Romans before. We’ve just read it before.
But then you start to, and again, I didn’t go to law school. Paul did. So his brain works in this very methodical manner that sometimes mine does, and then other times kids scream and you lose all hope, which is always. But it’s still noteworthy. When we look at the context coming out of this depraved mind that Paul’s talking about, it’s still weird that he pivots to now.
Those who judge, like you’re not with you, you’re without excuse. So we, I think we have to slow down and we have to ask ourselves like, what is that? What is he trying to say? So I’m going to, this is new living. So still, I used to probably, I didn’t really care for new living because I had not really read it before. Um, now this year, that’s been my read-through of the Bible this year. We’re in Ezekiel, so it’s doom and gloom. But it’s actually been nice. It’s been helpful. I don’t think it would make an appropriate only Bible for someone, but it’s a really great, I want to read the story and understand and not as deep dive. But I’m going to read the first few verses because this all of a sudden helped me fathom this.
You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad and have no excuse. When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself. For you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God in his justice will punish anyone who does such things.
And since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind and tolerant and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? So when we look at that first little, and it’s just the first 4 verses, it reframes it in this idea of we must be so careful that to not let something that we see that’s wrong be a reason to judge, but a reason that drives us to mercy. Which is, that’s a hard truth that we don’t necessarily love to hear.
Because, I don’t know, I mean, we could probably dig into this. Like, why do we like to judge? Well, no one says they like to judge. But I think it’s… We were just telling Sandy this. Last night we went to a burger place over there at Kirkwood by Hobby Lobby High Point. And they have like, there’s like 2 dining areas. And one dining area has like a camper halfway in the building, halfway out of the building. So the kids think it’s really cool. We usually go in there because it’s cooler.
And we walked in and sat down, which is then hard to leave the room because it’s like there’s rooms. And there was another family in there that had like the loudest little girls I’ve ever met. And it doesn’t help that it – what? I didn’t actually meet them, but I’ve experienced this week. I’m sure I’ve experienced louder kids. I work at a school. But it was just like unfathomably loud. And it’s – again, it’s easier in those moments to be like…
Man, my kids are better than those kids. And that is gentle judging. I don’t even think gentle is a stupid word to qualify that with. But it is. And to be fair, it was awful. But I also did feel like, man, those parents have got it in for them. But I’ve also been there. I say that dumb story.
I think sometimes we don’t, we would not say, oh, I love to judge others. We would say, sometimes it just, it’s nice to see something else that’s a train wreck because my train wreck feels less of a train wreck. Versus it moving us toward mercifulness, towards those that, again, we’re not saying God doesn’t have boundaries. We’re not saying that whole horrible list we read the end of, I mean, we’re not going to reread it, but 29 through 30. I mean, that’s a long list of evil and greed and wickedness and murder and quarrels. Like it goes on and on. We’re not saying those aren’t wrong. We’re saying that that’s God’s job to deal with those things. It’s our job to figure out how do we point people back to the actual truth. And that’s what Paul’s doing is he’s not excusing those things. He’s saying that those things are the opposite of how we should be. And we have to be careful not to judge because we too sin.
We may not be murdering and quarreling and gossiping and slandering and God-hating, but we still sin. And as a result, we have to keep in mind, just because we are saved does not mean that we can ignore our sin. And when we go back and read in the quarterly, Paul unfolds that really well. This is verse 2, I’m sorry. Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.
So God’s judgment has an absolute truth. Do you think any one of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same, that you will escape God’s judgment? I mean, again, he lays it out more legal, like technical in the quarterly translation. So it sometimes takes some slowing down to unfold it, but he is helping them understand just because.
You see the evil things doesn’t mean you’re free from the consequences of evil things. It’s a hard truth. There’s a question on 19 that I really like because it’s annoying. It says, what does a speeding ticket teach us about accountability? Think about it. Who’s ever gotten a speeding ticket? Just own it. Just one. Any speeding ticket. I got my 1 and only speeding ticket and followed it.
I was driving around one night and I had gotten home. I don’t remember where we even were. And it was, you know, 1 o’clock in the morning, which can’t do anymore. And my truck battery was dead. So someone jumped my truck and I was driving around to get it recharged enough so that I hopefully in the morning could make it to O’Reilly to get a new battery. It wasn’t a big deal. It was just, you know, making loops on the highway. And I get off the exit ramp and evidently the cop that was sitting at the bottom of the exit ramp wanted me to be slowed down to 40 on the exit ramp before I got on the exit ramp.
I always thought that you get on the exit ramp and you slow down so you don’t get rear-ended on the highway, but whatever. So he pulls me over, and at this point, like, man, you have to turn off your truck, which is a scary moment because you were recharging your battery, and you’re in the middle of, like, Bolivar is the middle of nowhere, and you’re on this little side highway, and you’re like, well, I’ll either get murdered here or, you know, I’ll get a ticket. And this guy comes up, and he’s like, do you know what you were doing? And I was like…
I’m not trying to be rude. I really don’t. I don’t know what I was doing. And he was like, you did not slow down on that exit ramp fast enough. And I was like, oh. I was like, wait, what? I mean, I probably came across rude because I was just totally confused. And you could tell halfway through. He was like, well, what have you been out doing so late? And I was like, well, I was at a friend’s apartment and got back and my truck was dead. So I was driving loops on the highway to recharge the battery. And he’s like, really? That’s all he was hoping to catch drunk kids coming back from Springfield. Like he, and I was not. And he, um, he’s like, well, I’ll have to go back. So he goes back to his car and comes back with a ticket. And I’m like, I was like, sir, I was like, I don’t, I don’t know. I like, do I have to go to court if I pay this or do I like, I’d never gotten a ticket. So I really didn’t know. He’s like, that’s between you and your parents and your lawyer. And I was like, no, no, no. I was like, you just looked it up in the system. I don’t have any record of doing this. I don’t know what to do. Do I have to go to court or can I just pay the fine? He goes, you can just pay the fine tomorrow. And I was like, thank you. I was like, by the way, I was out charging my battery like I told you. Will you please stay here until my truck starts in case it’s dead? And he was like so put out with me.
So maybe that’s not the best example for how a speeding ticket teaches us accountability. But it taught me nothing. It taught me nothing. It was just, wow, there are some cops who are not. I mean, he was tired and grumpy. It also, thank God, it was Bolivar. It was 60 bucks. If it was here, it would have been… Twice as much probably. So whatever, silver lining. But when you see a cop on the side of the road, and usually this happens for me anyway, it’s like you’re cruising along the highway and all of a sudden people are slowing down and you’re like, guys, why is traffic picking up? And then you see the cop and you’re like, oh, they’re all slowing down because we were all speeding. I mean, it is gentle accountability. It is a little bit, it’s like that reminder of like, yeah, I was going faster than I should have been going.
The speed limit also should have been 70, not 60. But, you know, it’s okay. But when you think about, like, what makes accountability so hard? Why do we push back against accountability? Often it is. Or at least the opportunity to be wrong. And no one really loves to be wrong.
I mean, there are some who grow more comfortable with it. When you’re as wrong as I am most of the time, you get more used to it. But it’s not like you go looking for it either. And accountability opens you up for that. It also opens up for critique. Like, most people don’t love constructive criticism. Like, I had a… I have a friend at school, and he’s a pastor, and he… I guess last year, I think it was last year, I gave a devo. We had to do faculty devos on Thursday mornings for our staff meeting. And it was my turn. So I did, and it was fine. And I asked him later, I was like, Steve, like honest opinion, like what would you do better next time? Just because it’s nice to like, like I actually do enjoy from the right person, like constructive feedback. It’s helpful. It makes you better. And he was like, no, you did great. It was awesome. I’m like, Steve, I’m asking you as like not friend Steven, but like Pastor Steven, like what, he’s like, okay.
You are a good teacher because you teach in a classroom all day. You teach at church. Your role, preaching is a little different. And with preaching, you want less stuff but just restate it a few different ways. And I was like, that’s a good reminder. I was like, I did know that. And I’m just not in the habit of preaching anymore. I’m in the habit of teaching. But that was helpful feedback.
But a lot of people don’t give you helpful feedback because we know people don’t like accountability, we know they don’t like being called on the carpet for something, and we know they don’t really like criticism. So rather than having healthy accountability in the body of Christ, we kind of avoid it because it’s a little uncomfortable. I mean, I had to force him. He knows me. We’re good friends. I had to force him to tell me the truth. And it was funny because I think that’s probably the norm for a lot of us. We kind of quietly will say things to those that we trust, but we won’t say something to the people that we need to. And then unfortunately, I mean, think about when you have tried to ask hard questions and keep someone accountable. How has it gone? Does it go great? Do you go out for pizza later? Usually they’re done with you for a bit. Sometimes in good circumstances, they sometimes will come back around and be like, I was mad, but I appreciate it. That’s the best case scenario. But sometimes they just put distance between you. I’ve had it happen before. Yeah, Terry. It helps if you know the person’s personality. Also true. Then you can kind of.
You can finesse it a little bit, and yeah, that’s true. Massage out the words, and I call it with my kids, wordsmithing. Yes, because there are some people who, like, I don’t, man, I was not always this way, and people in here can attest to it, and most of you knew me when I was younger. Like, I don’t think I ever enjoyed, like, directness early on, because it takes, now, when someone, like a kid or a colleague at school or church, like, I would so much prefer someone just come up and tell you the straight, direct truth. Because it’s like I don’t have to beat around the bush and figure out, like, what are you actually trying to say to me again? Like, what are you – you’re being too nice. Can you just say it? And I – but I’m not everyone. You know, I prefer that now because usually I’m – it sounds mean. I don’t have time for someone to, like, nuance me to death and be nice. Like, just tell me so I can move on.
But knowing the person matters because you can’t be direct with everybody. My current business teacher, like co-teacher, she is great, and I can be direct with her and just be like, Nicole, you got to tell kids to stop bugging you during class. Kids are very needy today, like more than they’ve ever been. That’s another topic for another day. And they just, there’s, like, certain female teachers in the building that are very, like, mom-like. And they just, they’ll go to the bathroom from their other class and just be like, I just need to go see Mrs. Poo here. Is she around today? And you’re like, no, go back to class. Like, you’re in math. Go back to class. Like, I just need to talk to her about something. Like, she’s teaching. Like, leave her alone. I say all that. I’ve had to tell Nicole, like, you have to just politely be like, I love you, bye. Like, you can’t.
You can’t indulge them just because they’re looking sad in the hallway because their boyfriend from seventh grade, 5 years old, looked at them in class. Like, you have to send them in. But she can handle it direct. I’ve had colleagues before who were like, you’ve got to really tiptoe into situations. Or, oof, like, you could open World War III. It’s just not working. So Terry’s right. Like, you have to – if we’re going to keep people accountable, in this case, accountable to sin – we have to tread lightly, but also speak boldly.
Okay, let’s look at, we’re going to, just one more time, reread 1 through 5, because there’s a couple of questions in the book that bookmark this, or I’m sorry, bookend it, that are great. So Paul is leaning into this idea that we don’t have an excuse.
So 1 through 5. Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same, that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself in the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.
Some of the background behind it is a lot of the Jewish people in Paul’s day and age found, like, genuinely and, you know, somewhat fairly so, they considered themselves as superior spiritually to the rest of the world. You know, like the gospel started with us, so obviously we are superior to everyone else. Yeah, that’s fine.
If you judge somebody, do you have to be judged? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s the kind of cause and effect that Paul’s leaning into is you judging means you are now judged all the more. You are being held accountable to the things they have been, you have held them accountable to. Because he’s really pushing hard into this idea that it’s not our place. Which is an interesting dynamic because we are called to call sin, sins.
Like, we are. And we are bad at it as Christians. We kind of have backed off because we’re like, well, let’s love them into the gospel. Yeah? Sometimes we need to also just tell them, like, hey, I love you, and I want to love you into the gospel. But that’s a sin. I know because I have done it before, too. Again, it’s wrong. Yeah, Bill.
What I think is funny is the first sentence here talks about the Jewish people of all time considered themselves spiritual superior to non-Jews. But they got it wrong so many times. So many times. For hundreds of years. It’s not thousands of years. They’ve continually gotten it wrong. They’ve been sent into exile and then brought back. I mean, they’ve been a total train wreck. It is so weird to me that they still, and a little bit of a heart gut check, that they still see themselves as like,
But were the Hebrews. Like, there’s really no one. They’re not important special people in the grand scheme of the world they live in. Like, they’re important because they’re God’s people. They are not important in the, you know, eco-social world of the ancient areas. They’re kind of a small little country. Yeah, Terry.
In verse 1 there, Paul is pointing out that man is guilty before God. Yeah, every man. Not just select people. Yep. And I think that’s I’m glad you said that. That is very much the heart of this first five verses is that it doesn’t matter. Like us judging doesn’t make us somehow better. We don’t have the right to judge because we are within the family of God, because in the end, every human being is guilty. Every human being is going to be judged by God.
And then thank God we get to the later part of this chapter. And we remember, like, yes, we are to be judged by God. But, Jesus, we are not without hope because of the work of Jesus. So it kind of unfolds, and I guess there’s actually a thought here I was going to read. I’m going to start by it.
It says, this leans into that verse 4 and 5. Some presume upon God’s kindness, believing that he won’t judge sinners. Think about that. There’s a lot of the world that genuinely believes, like, well, it’s kind of the yin-yang bad theology of, like, well, if I have enough good things on my scale, it kind of balances out the bad things. Like, nowhere is that in the Bible. It’s not in the Bible. It’s not even in the Quran. So, like, this is not a thought that makes sense anywhere.
But we presume that, oh, God’s so loving, he wouldn’t possibly judge sinners. Well, others think that God’s kindness only applies to them, that it’s somehow this exclusive thing that only they have, like the Hebrews. But Paul already established the universality of sin and the fact that all people stand guilty before God apart from his grace. The important part.
All people stand guilty before God apart from his grace. Now he explained that the kindness of God moves people toward repentance, which is that beautiful verse 5. I’m sorry, verse 4. Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? That his kindness and restraint and patience is what was intended to draw them to himself. He is kind, but there’s still a line. He is kind, but he wants them to repent, not keep living in their sin, which is where we see Jesus’ teaching so often go.
So we have to wrestle with that. We know we’re going to be held accountable for our sin, but who stands between us and God if we follow Jesus? Kind of gave it away. I mean, it’s Jesus. Like, it’s the beauty of the gospel. But Paul and Romans, like, I said this last week, I think. Romans is the most complete, like, expositing of the gospel. Like, it’s Paul’s heaviest lifting to help us understand the intricacy. Not a word I can say. The depth of the gospel. I can say depth. Intricacy. Wow. Wow.
Yeah, you know what the word is. It’s a moment to laugh. I don’t take myself too seriously. But this is Paul’s magnum opus of helping us understand the gospel. And part of the gospel that is easy to slip over, and Paul makes the case over and over again, is that this is not about what you have done or can do. This is about what Jesus did on your behalf.
But if we don’t understand the bigness of our sin, we don’t understand the goodness of Jesus. And I don’t remember who said that, but I want to say it was Martin Luther, but it may not have been. But I love that idea. I’ve said it once a month for years that when our sin is small, our savior is small. But when our sin is big, our Savior is big. Because when our sin’s big, we understand what we’ve been saved from.
And it doesn’t mean we go sin bigger. It means when we actually, yeah, that’s, don’t, that’s, yeah, caveat. It just means when we’re confronted with the bigness of our sin that we’ve already done, it changes everything. Okay, let’s keep moving. Let’s keep moving. Let’s go ahead and reread 6 through 11.
6 through 11. He will repay each one according to his works. Eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew and also the Greek.
But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew and also to the Greek, for there is no favoritism with God. When we think about that, how do people measure success in our culture? Like how do we, like Western culture, 2026, what do we measure success with? Money for sure.
Power. Power and influence, like the ability to affect change because of my power. Materialistic. Yeah, we’re very materialistic. We don’t want to be. Like I don’t really know people who are like in the end like so glad I’m materialistic. It’s not something we aspire to as children. But it just consumes us so easily. More stuff.
What else leads to, I know, I know for a fact, and this is not a holier than thou, I have seen even teachers at Westminster be a little snooty. They’re teachers, but they’ll be a little snooty at those of us who drive older cars. It’s silly. And I’m like, joke’s on you. I have more money in savings than you do. I don’t know if that’s true or not. They might have a lot more because their husbands or their wives are probably brain surgeons. But nevertheless, maybe like ratio wise.
And I know it’s such a silly thing, but material is easy to rank how successful someone might. I used to work with a guy in the finance world and he drove an old beater to all of his appointments. Like when he would go meet at someone’s house or coffee, he didn’t like driving his nice car because it was his nice car. And he had this old beater. I want to say it’s old Malibu. And he was like, I like this car. I don’t have to worry about it. I can park it in any neighborhood, not stress about it. And it still runs, so he drove, and he had a couple of clients that would be like, why should I trust you with my money? You’re driving that piece of junk I saw outside.
And he’s like, that is the car I drive for work. I have a very nice BMW at home. I just don’t want to drive it all over town. It’s my nice car. And they were like, I don’t really believe you. And he was like, if you need to see a picture, I guess I can send you one. But my point being, we’re so quick to, they assumed he wasn’t a good financial advisor because he wasn’t driving a flashy car.
So we let very worldly stupid things be the things that we benchmark someone’s success. We talk about that sometimes with the kids at school when it’s not their fault. They live in a very affluent world and a world that’s very interconnected with social media and they see the wealth and prestige of so many people. But we try so hard to remind them, like, guys, your success is not having perfect grades or making the most money when you graduate. Your success is really figuring out where does God have you to pour back into his kingdom?
And that might be that you’re helping run a company and making a lot of money. It might be. There’s a sweet guy. I don’t remember his name. He was a Westminster grad. He’s probably in his 50s. And he runs this ministry called the Micah Project. Is he in Guatemala? Yeah. And… Honduras, okay. And he rescues kids off the street in Honduras, mostly young men, and gives them jobs and trains them. It’s very, like, imagine, like, the cool stuff, like, South Tech High School does, but Honduras-focused. And literally, with the gospel and, like, skills, they’re changing lives.
He is enormously successful, but he owns nothing. And so we try really hard to help them, like, reimagine life. What does success mean? Because even at a Christian school, you can have a teacher look down and you’d be like, why is your car old and beat up? You’re like, because it’s paid off. It’s awesome. I love my paid off car.
But we have to back up because Paul, and in this case, all that said, Paul is helping them understand the thing that sets you right before God is not judging others, and you are being repaid to works. And this passage is a little dangerous, because if we read it out of context, it’s easy to get into this mentality of thinking it’s a works-based salvation. We do not have a works-based salvation. Our salvation is based on who? Jesus.
So it’s not getting into that, but what Paul’s, and he will unfold this as we go on through this, it is about the orientation of our heart. It’s not about me doing perfect things. It’s about the orientation of my heart being towards, verse 7, eternal life to those who persist in doing good, who seek glory, honor, and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.
Again, it’s not about perfection. It’s not about transcending to this level of like, I have achieved perfect behavior and behavior modification. But you see it in the heart. Those who persist in doing good. Persist means that we’re continually seeking to do good. But instead of the contrast in verse 8, wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking.
I read this very clearly and I see there’s a heart orientation. Am I seeking to always persist in good? Even when I fail, even my mess up, just like King David, or am I seeking for myself? There’s, there’s a contrast and Paul’s helping and helping us to understand that. Um, there was another thought that I’ve jotted down. Um, oh, Paul, this is in the quarterly, I think, or it’s at least on my side. I underlined.
Paul says that all people will belong to one of two categories in the end. One category includes everyone who receives eternal life. The other category includes the misguided people who have deceived themselves, and they will face God’s wrath. I hope yours says this. If it doesn’t, I love that mine does. It says, Jews and Gentiles alike will be judged by the same standards.
If they submit to Christ, they will be blessed. However, if they reject Christ, they will face God’s wrath. Christ is the standard. It’s so simple and beautiful. Our standard isn’t that I perfectly was good for my whole life because it’s not works-based. My standard is Jesus. But if my standard is Jesus and my heart has been transformed by the gospel…
I want to do good works, which is really where Paul will go in the last couple of verses. It’s this really beautiful switch that happens in our heart. And it’s not about us doing the right thing so we cross it off our list. It’s about doing the right things because we’re acting from a changed heart, which is completely revolutionary and hard for the rest of the world to fathom. Like, why would you do good things if it doesn’t gain you favor? Like, I do good things because Jesus has transformed my life. I do good things because…
Jesus did the thing I couldn’t do. And now, because of him, I can do good things. It’s beautiful. There’s so many things we could dig into there. But I love this idea that Paul’s putting in front of them. And I think that’s the beauty of Romans. Paul’s really good at this logical thinking. He’s brilliant. And he’s putting before them, like, look, you can’t judge because you too will be judged. You’re sinful too.
Instead, act with mercy, grace, point them to Jesus. But then also, you have to understand there’s one or two options. It’s not unlike, I think, a lie of the postmodern, there’s a lot of lies, but the postmodern secular age we live in is that rejecting God is not like following God and rejecting God are not the only two options.
I think the postmodern world we live in has lied to us and said, well, there’s kind of the in-between, I’m not in either camp, I’m not anti-God, I’m not pro-God. Well, that’s not an option. Like Paul makes it clear. It’s either like you are seeking the kingdom of God or you are seeking the kingdom of destruction and death. There’s not an in-between. There’s not a happy medium. And that’s a hard truth. But think about the people who believe that lie.
They are going to hell because they don’t believe there is a kingdom of God and a kingdom of Satan. They don’t know. They think somehow there’s an in-between route. And that’s nice for you Christians that you believe that. And it’s sad that they are choosing evil. But I’m okay here in the middle. What a horrible, sad, lukewarm lie they believe. But I have that conversation with kids more often than I ever thought I would.
They genuinely don’t. That has been so pervasively understood that that’s where they live. So we have to, have to, have to always speak very clear but with much grace. We can’t let it be this wishy-washy, you know, what’s right for you is right for you. There is a way that leads to life and there’s a way that leads to death. And that’s it. That’s it.
Um, okay. We’re doing so good on time, which is great. Cause the last part’s where I wanted to dwell the most. Um, let’s go ahead and reread the last couple of verses. Um, 11, I’m sorry. Um, 12 and 13. I think this is where we get a little more practical.
For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. This is another one of those little blurks where Paul speaks in very contract-y language, which I get it, but I have to slow down to really understand.
And in verse 12, if we pull it apart just a little bit and we really look at what he’s saying. For all who sin without the law, those who have rejected the kingdom of God, those who do not believe and do not follow the law, they will perish without the law. So death comes to them because they do not live under the law. But all who sin under the law, who are aware of, who know the law, who would say they possibly would, they will be judged by the law.
So even those who are in Jesus still judged by the law, that’s the standard to which they’re held. That’s what Paul is trying to lay out here. The other version says when Gentiles sin, this is verse 12, they will be destroyed even though they have never had God’s written law. And the Jews who do have God’s law will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.
For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. This is a hard one. And I’m glad it’s here. But it’s hard because I can think of so many people, and it breaks my heart, who are hearers of the law, but they are not doers of the law. And I am too.
Like, I have that sin too of just, I can read it, I can hear it, I can know it, but then I fail to act. And it’s not, what Paul’s trying to help us understand is not that all of us are hopeless because we all still struggle with this. What he’s trying to say is without Jesus, this is indeed hopeless.
Because the hearers of the law, which there are many people, and again, I’m not, like, I can’t even begin to list names, here, school, family members, friends, kids I went to college with, high school, who would tell me, yeah, like I know, I know, I’ve read the Bible, like I know, I know what Jesus, I believe in God. There’s such a difference between reading it. I mean, there are, there are, I’m sorry, there are scholars who have studied the Bible and they don’t believe the Bible. Just because they’ve read it doesn’t make them saved. Just because they’ve heard it taught does not save them.
Paul is emphatically clear. The hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Yeah, Terry. I think the heart of it was the Ten Commandments because… Even when Jesus was asked, like, what’s the greatest commandment, he still dialed it back to those two commands.
And remember, like, I think it’s been a few years. When we did Exodus, like, the two tablets, the Ten Commandments, were divided between the laws pertaining to God and the laws pertaining to people. And then the hundreds of laws or whatever off of those were the commandments specific that like helped unfold practically how do you do those things which is funny we look at it and go well that seems wildly unnecessary but then we also look at it and go but maybe i’m not so good at the ten commandments so maybe that was helpful.
Um but i i believe and i think we see it in the gospel that that’s where jesus always goes back to is that idea of are the things of god are the is the kingdom of god the thing that you long for because it goes back to a heart attitude When we see, and I’ve been reading too much Ezekiel, but we see it in, and for those coming on Wednesday nights, Ezra and Nehemiah, you see so often it comes up in the Old Testament and in the prophecies and in the judgment of God, like Ezekiel and some of the things spoken of in Ezra and Nehemiah, that the people sometimes were technically doing the right things, but their hearts were far from God.
And that’s Old Testament. That’s like pre-exotic Old Testament, that their hearts were far from God. They were going over here and worshiping Baal and then coming to the temple and doing the sacrifices they believed would make them right before Yahweh. And over and over again, Scripture tells them, your heart’s far from me. Your heart was not after the things of God. So that’s why I think that. I could be wrong, but I…
When I look at the gospels and then connect back to all the prophecy leading up to Jesus, it makes a pretty clear connection. Um, but it’s probably, yeah. Um, this idea, I mean, when you read, when you read verse 12 and 13, I think this makes it even harder to remember. It’s not about behavior modification.
Um, because when we read, for hearers of the law are not righteous, but the doers of the law will be justified, it feels very like I must do the right things in order to be right before God. And it’s important to note, and I read this multiple spots yesterday, and I know when we read this, this is what it’s saying, but it’s easy to forget.
Merely listening to the law does not set us right before God, but seeking to obey is what sets us right. Again, not being perfect, but seeking to obey. Seeking to obey because of what God’s done. Another way I read it was when it says, but doers of the law will be justified. It’s showing the action. We see it in James even and in a couple other spots in the New Testament that it’s not because we’ve changed our behavior. It’s because now of a changed heart, we want to obey.
And it’s this idea of fruit. We see fruit in a changed heart. We see the fruit of a changed life. It’s the fruit of a sincere belief in the gospel, not behavior modification. I don’t know if this is on your quarterly. I underlined this. It says… When we look at this idea, the same truth applies to us.
Those who have God’s word cannot treat it as nothing more than a keepsake. There are a lot of people who treat God’s word as a keepsake. It’s like the thing they put on their shelf or on their desk because it’s like, it’s good to have my Bible. But they don’t crack it open. And this is so annoying.
But it is the same thing every Sunday school teacher from like pre-K upwards all through history. I don’t know how long we’ve had Sunday school. I would assume like 125 years. I don’t think it’s a forever thing. Has said to their kids, “You have to read your Bible.” Well, I’ve always heard that. But not always did anyone explain like, it’s because it is the very thing that helps you understand God more deeply.
And I was thinking about this this morning. I don’t know why this came to my mind. But in college and high school, I know that I read my Bible, but I can’t say that I deeply studied my Bible. You’re reading the highlights and the important verses. I went to a Baptist college, so you have some Bible classes and you dig into some. But I was not yearly or regularly reading through and understanding the whole thing.
And when I went to work for K-Life in youth ministry, I think it was my first year, the church that I went to with our volunteers was doing like a, “We’re all going to read through the Bible this year together push.” And I was like, I should do that. I don’t know that I’ve actually read it like cover to cover before. So I did. It was hard. It was really hard. Like I’d never, that’s a lot of pages. And then it kind of became a rhythm and a habit. Almost every year now I do.
And I was thinking about this this morning, and this is not a backpack. This is a reality of like, oh my goodness, that theory got proven true. The more that I’ve read it, the more that it made sense. The more that I understand, like, the whole narrative arc and how things fit. And honestly, the more I’ve grown spiritually. And it’s such a, again, we hear it as kids, like, “You’ve got to read your Bible.” Now I understand how insanely true that was.
It should be something that is, I read, there’s a guy that talks about Bibles on Facebook. My Facebook feed thing and YouTube algorithm is pretty nerdy. Um, the other day I was, we were pulling up a commercial to watch in marketing class and it has like, you know, your recommended videos and they were all like, they were either nature hikes or Bible videos. And the kids were like, “Mr. Molloy, is that what you watch in your free time?” And I was like, “Yeah, it is.” Um, anyway, there’s worse things.
But this guy was talking about the Bible should be our hobby. It should be the thing that’s like, “I’ve got some downtime. I’m going to pull out my phone and read.” Or, “I’ve got some downtime. I’ve got a Bible in a few different spots in the house. I’m just going to grab it and read a psalm for a minute.” It should be the thing that’s our hobby because it’s the thing that we know makes us more like Jesus.
And the reason I say all of this, it’s because Paul makes this divide between the hearers and the doers. And anyone that wants to be righteous before God, they have to do more than just hear the words of Scripture. A lot of us hear the words. We see people post on Facebook like a cute verse or we see a verse on a billboard on the highway or we sit in a Bible study or we, I don’t know, Scripture gets quoted randomly at different times. That doesn’t change anybody. Actually seeking to understand it and do something with it.
And this is not just a scripture. This is any education. If I’m teaching kids about marketing and we just sit there and take notes in class and take a quiz, they’re going to forget everything I said within 1.5 weeks, which they might anyway. But if they sit down and do a project and actually wrestle through how to create something and rebrand and, and make an awesome coffee house out of nothing, all of a sudden they understand it better because they tried to do something with the knowledge. Paul implores them to do the same thing. Don’t just hear it. Try to do something with it. Try to do something with this.
Um, and people are – it goes on. People are justified, that is declared innocent, because of their faith in Jesus. Their faith in Jesus, when sincere, should change their hearts. Okay. It’s 10:02. There’s a question here at the end. This is where we’re going to hover for a bit. So buckle up. On page 27, it says –
It phrases the question this way. How have you responded to the gospel of Jesus? How are you responding to the gospel message today? How is your life being changed? I rephrased it because we know I do that sometimes. How should our lives be changed by the gospel? How should our lives be changed by the gospel? What should change about them because of it? Amen.
Everything we do. Even our driving. Even our, I don’t know, things watched on TV. Even our, gosh, the stuff that we download to our phones. The way we spend our money. Everything we do, we should seek to glorify God. I’ve said this before, but it never gets old.
Bach, very famous Bach, very brilliant composer. All of his compositions, he would always write at the bottom, Soli Deo Gloria, which was Latin for “all glory to God,” which is beautiful. I mean, he composed some of the most famous pieces of music in history. And he wrote that at the bottom of every composition. But what I love even more, and that is important, at the very top of every composition before he started writing, he would write Gesu Juva, which was Latin for “Jesus help.” He was writing beautiful music for bougie people around Europe to hear on fancy instruments and beautiful concert halls. And that was his heart, was, I want to glorify God through this composition.
I tell that story to kids at school a lot, because I’m like, guys, that applies to accountants, too. Like, that applies to the guy that picks up my trash, who probably makes more money than I do. Like, all these things, like, they can glorify God in their work, and it matters enormously so. So think, yes, I agree. What else does it look like? What should Gospels that are changed, I’m sorry, lives changed by the Gospel, how should they look?
More progressively, you know, it’s that sanctification word of a little more like Jesus every day. We should be able to look back on our life and say, “I’m still sinful, but I’m less angry than I was a year ago. I’m less frustrated at silly things. I’m more generous than I was 20 years ago.” We should be able to see little movements. And that’s a gift. When we get to see that, that should remind us, I’m not yet perfect. Paul says this in Corinthians, I believe. It’s, “Not that I’ve already obtained these things, but I press on toward these things.”
And we see the fruit, and it’s enough to encourage us to keep moving forward. Any other thoughts? What does a transformed life look like? I think instead of just reading the Bible, I’m guilty of this, but reading a passage and saying, “I wonder why God wanted me to read that passage today.” Yeah. Is there something coming up that’s going to apply?
One of my Bible professors said that. He, oh gosh, he had a really good prayer that he encouraged. And I’m not great at this. I should have written it on a sticky note and stuck it in the front of it. But it was something to that effect. It was like, “God, Holy Spirit, open my eyes. There’s something you have.” I’m reading Ezekiel. I’m on Ezekiel 30-something.
Ooh, it’s been really dark the whole time, but since 16 forward, it’s been like bleak. I say that like, it’s easy to read it and cross off my list because you want to kind of get, honestly, I’m kind of excited to get out of the old Testament and get into the gospels. I mean, after you’ve been in, it’s September 13th, been an old Testament a long time. It’s like, I’m ready for some Jesus time. Like, um, and I know the old Testament points to Jesus, but I want Jesus to be born.
Um, but I have to, like, I mean, Ed, you’re right. Like, approaching scripture with an open heart and mind of why am I reading this? And, you know, you could make the case, like, why keep rereading the Bible? Like, if you’ve read it, you’ve read it. Well, my gosh. Like, I talked about Ezekiel 16. I’ve read the Bible many times now, and I don’t remember Ezekiel 16. It’s a bummer.
And, again, for whatever reason, God laid that on my heart. And, like, as you’re reading through it, that really – I went back and re-read it a few times, which was depressing, but really good. I used to have a pastor at our old church that said you could read something in the Bible 3 or 4 times and not get it. And then God’s going to be like, “This time you’re going to get it.” Absolutely. And I didn’t totally believe that until I lived it.
And then all of a sudden you’re like, “Oh, I’ve read that a dozen times. I’ve never spotted that before.” Honestly, every time we do one of our studies, because it slows you down enough. I say it is beautiful to read the whole of scripture on repeat. But you know you’re going to miss things when you’re just reading 4 chapters a day. It’s just going to happen. But when you deep dive a little into chunks, and then you’re like, “Oh, I never actually thought about it that way.” It’s a gift.
So I think when we – that question of like what’s a transformed life look like, I think Romans 2 indicates this idea of obedience as a major – what’s the word? It’s not benchmark. Indicate? Obedience is the big indicator of a transformed life.
Someone who is obeying not as a performative thing, but as an act of, it’s like an overflow. We see the words of the mouth are the overflow of the heart. The heart comes up in scripture a lot. And this idea of motives. Our obedience should be an overflow of a transformed life, not an act of performance. God doesn’t need our behavior modification. He needs believers who deeply love him and actually want to love others in the same way.
So practically thinking, and I put verse notes by this. Verse 13, this idea of overflow obedience, not performance, is… Practically, some people hear the law. That’s verse 13. It says, “So practically speaking, this idea of performance versus outflow, some people hear the law.”
Verse 17, we see that some people admire the law. It says, “So they admire the law.” Some hear the law. Some admire the law. Verse 21 says, “So then you who teach one another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, you must not steal. Do you steal?” So some hear the law. Some admire the law. Some teach the law.
But only those who do it from a renewed heart, which is verse 13, show real transformation because verse 13 reminds us, “For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” So again, practically, some people will hear the law. Some people will admire the law. There are many people who will say, “Oh, I admire Jesus’ scripture and a good teacher.” But they don’t move beyond that. Some will even teach the law.
We have known, like, I’m not going to name names, and I don’t have anybody in my head right now, so don’t freak out. But I am sure if we sat down long enough, we could look back in recent history and go, yeah, like, I don’t know if that Bible teacher really, like, it was a heart thing as much as it was a head thing. Again, I don’t have any names in mind. Please don’t. But again, some will teach the law, but they’re not doing it from a renewed heart. And we must have hearts that are renewed.
And I saw this in one of my books. It said sometimes it’s not first this idea of obedience isn’t first seen in like outward behavior. Sometimes it’s first seen in desires. And I’ve said this phrase before. When we want to want the things of God, that’s a really good sign. That’s a gift that we want to want the things of God. We hate what God hates. We grieve our sin and the sin of others. We don’t judge. We grieve the sin.
Um and we love righteousness not because it like is what we’re supposed to do but because we see it as beautiful and we see it as as as real life um so i think it’s helpful to ask when we think about all this is where do i see obedience in my life from a changed heart is it like or maybe i’ll say this way is is is is our obedience evidence of transformation or of
It’s self-management. Is our obedience from a heart that’s transformed or behavior modification? Because only we in the Holy Spirit can know that for sure. We might be able to infer things watching our friends and family and loved ones, but we really can’t completely know. Only us in the Holy Spirit can know that. Because all of this is this idea that we’re seeing unfolded in Romans for us so well.
is the gospel is for all of life. It’s not just for our Christian life. Our Christian life is our life. And our desires change, our habits change, our relationships change, our witness in the way that we love others around us changes, and our inner life changes.
We start to see that we want to obey, that we practice spiritual habits. We love people because God first loved us. We see them as made in his image, not as just a burden that we have to deal with. I’m an annoying dad. I regularly, when my kids will come home and like, you know, so-and-so was like, “Frankie was mean and was talking about, like told me that I couldn’t play football and blah, blah, blah.” I’m like,
Remember, buddy, Frankie’s made in God’s image, too. And we don’t totally know. I think there’s some stuff going on at home. We don’t know. I don’t say that that part does not go to Jack. He’s made in God’s image. Let’s love him anyway. Let’s find a way to encourage him, build him up, because we don’t know. We don’t know what Frankie’s got going on. And in Jack will be like, “He said that I stink at football.” I’m like, “Do you stink at football?” “Well, no.” Then it, you know, then we move on. While your other friends wanted to play, encourage Frankie anyway.
So I’m an annoying dad in that sense of it’s like, you know, we have to see people as they’re made in God’s image and we have to start to watch desires and habits change. So again, last, this is a wrap up question. Again, it’s, Does our obedience from a heart that’s transformed? Or is our obedience from behavior modification or behavior management?
That’s really the challenge for us because that matters. Romans 2 tells us that matters. If nothing else from today, that’s the thing that we walk away with that Paul is helping us understand. Our obedience must come from a transformed heart because behavior management obedience, isn’t it? A transformed heart is what we’re given. And it matters enormously.
So, any thoughts before we pray? There is. And it’s a hard reality. For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law. And all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. None of us are free from it. Thank the Lord that we have Jesus.
Because we are the ones that are the, where is it? We sin under the law. Which means we will be judged under the law, just like those who don’t have the law. Which should encourage us all, more reason than ever, to actually tell people the good news. Because there is no escaping it. Outside of Jesus. Which is beautiful. And scary. And awesome.
Any other thoughts? Alright, let’s pray. Brian? Yeah. I was just going to say the other day on TV, I heard somebody say, you know, they were talking about heaven. And then they were saying, well, they just think hell is what we’re doing here on earth. Interesting.
And I thought when you were saying that about people thinking people are in this in-between, I mean, that’s even beyond in-between. They aren’t even looking at the possibility. Yeah. They’ve really denied the existence of real hell. Yeah. Yeah. Oof. The lies of the enemy are strong.
I mean that’s – we can’t undercut that. It’s easy because I think at times he’s really – sometimes it’s very obvious. But he is better at the sneaky and under – whatever the word is, underhanded, undergroundness than the obvious. The obvious, Christians can call out like that’s wrong and evil, although now we celebrate evil. But I think the sneaky is where it’s the most dangerous because I can look at evil and go –
Nope, like not for… But the sneaky underneath, like the lie that, well, this is really hell, so that can’t possibly… Oof. That’s here. Amen. Yeah. That’s right. That’s right. Over and over again. Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. And distracted and… unable to focus. Yeah.
And I see that breaks my heart. I’m not joking when I say that I genuinely crushes me daily because that’s the struggle that kids have. They’re so distracted. They’re so busy. They’re so overloaded that the things of God are hard to carve out energy and time for. Oh, it’s yeah. It’s agonizing. Um, on that note, let’s pray. We need to pray.
Father, God help us. We desperately need your help. We want to love others well. We want to give them the truth. We want to speak the truth boldly but with grace because we don’t want people to fall into the trap of thinking there’s some in between. There are two paths, one that leads to you and eternal life and one that leads to pain and suffering and death. So Jesus, help us. Help us to live that well so that we can speak it to others well. We can’t speak something to others well that we ourselves don’t believe.
Help us to embrace that, to hold fast to it, so that we can share it with others with conviction and grace. Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you for Romans chapter 2. You know, at first glance, a chapter that’s kind of wordy and hard to wrap our heads around, but is enormously important. So, Father, thank you for our time. Thank you for our class. And we ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you, guys.
Brian Maloy 