Chapter two, put a finger there, and turn to Psalm 139. How many of you have heard the word equality and or equity shouted today? Oh yeah, everywhere. People everywhere today are screaming for equality, but more than that, they want equity, and I don't know if you know what the difference is. I've talked about it before. Equality is equal opportunity. Equity is equal outcome. They want equal results. No, that's not how this works. Life doesn't work that way. Equal opportunity, yes, everybody should have equal opportunity, but equal outcome, No, that's on you. But see, that's what they don't want. They don't want the responsibility of it being on them, of them having to do their part. And because they don't succeed, now it's got to be somebody else's fault because it can't be theirs. And so that's what we're looking at in the world today. That's not God. That's not what God espouses. He's all for equality, equal opportunity. but not equal outcome. Outcome is fully dependent on you, and God tells us that over and over and over and over again in his word. If you don't want to do your part, then tough, especially when it comes to, God says, if a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat. If you don't work, starve. That's how God views it. Well, no, somebody else should give me food. No, they shouldn't. No, you should starve. Well, that's mean. No, it isn't. Work. And obviously, there's folks that can't, physically can't. But today, and we were just talking about this the other day, and it drives me insane. Today, if you have anxiety, you can get disability in America for anxiety. Everybody's anxious about something from time to time. Everybody has, I could sit there and get all worked up over everything. That's not a disability. That's me not taking care of things the way I'm supposed to. That's, I'll slow it down there. I can go way off on that one. Romans chapter two, I'm gonna read this to you. You're not there. Don't worry about it. Romans 2 verse 11 says, for there is no respect of persons with God. God is equal in how he deals with man. We as humans struggle with that. We do. We try not to. If we're a decent person, we try not to. But we as humans, we struggle with that. We struggle with treating people equally. Because if we're honest with ourselves, we view some people as, well, You don't deserve right treatment because you're a jerk, you're an idiot, you're a whatever. And so we don't want, that's our human side, our fleshly side, doesn't want to treat people equally. I know mine does, and I'm sure you could sit there looking all pious, you have the same flesh I do. We have to fight against that. We have to learn how to treat people Equally and thankfully we have a God that does if you haven't figured out what the message is about yet This is the title the equality of God the equality of God I thank God that he is all about equality He makes it equal everybody has all the same Chances opportunities if you don't take advantage of it, it's on you No one's going to, there's going to be people who are going to try when they get to heaven to say, well, that's not right. I didn't know this. No. Every man's held to the same standard. Roman numeral one, God is equal in his view of man. Again, we struggle with this. We really do. God is equal in his view of man. Thank God that he is. God is not a respecter of person. Every person is held to the same standard. Yeah, but I didn't grow up in that kind of a house, and I didn't have this, and I didn't have that. Nope, doesn't count. Everybody's held to the same standard. Amen. Everybody's held to the same standard. You do what, again. People like to have this victim status. In our world today, that's really big. Everybody's trying to outdo the other when it's, I'm a bigger victim because I have this, and I'm a bigger victim because this and this, and I'm a bigger victim. And everybody's trying to one-up each other on being a bigger victim. And we see it with people in the world today. We see it, sadly, even in churches. And I've known many people that grew up in the same terrible households. Terrible things happen to them as young people, especially young girls and stuff, and terrible things happen to them. And the one person grows up very well balanced and has life by the horns, and the other person is just a wreck their entire life. Well, there's a difference there. Somebody chose to say, well, you know what? That's not going to define me. What happened to me as a young person is not going to define me. I'm going to make different choices. I'm going to go this way, and that's not going to define me. The other person said, oh, I'm a victim. Oh, pastor, you don't understand. No, I do. Everybody grew up with something different that affected them. You cannot let that dictate who you are. Amen. Not about being a victim. It's about doing with life what God has for you to do with life. So set your victimhood aside, if that's you, set it aside and go on to do something productive for God because that's the only thing that's gonna matter when this life is over. Look at Psalm 139. I hope you're there by now. You should have a finger in both places. Psalm 139, verse 1, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my fault afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." Now, some people, some people will look at this passage and they'll say, see, God knows that we're all sinners and I'm just gonna be a sinner and it's just who I am and I, you know, it's just life and that's who I'm gonna be. No, no. God doesn't want you to be a sinner. God said he hates sin every day. but then there's gonna be the other person on the flip side of it says, you know what? God knows everything about me and I wanna be pleasing to him, so I'm gonna make sure I don't do that because he's gonna know it if I do. I'm gonna make sure I'm not doing that because he's watching. He's gonna see it if I do that, if I act this way, if I'm that kind of a person, if I have this kind of a spirit, if I, I don't wanna displease God. It's all in what each person wants to do. Do you wanna please God or don't you? That's what it really boils down to. God is equal in his view of man because God sees all of us. He's watching every single person. He sees every single thing that we do. And as he says, we are without excuse. We don't have an excuse. Well, yeah, but my life and the way I grew up, nope, none of that matters. None of that counts toward what you do with what God has done for you. It's all in what you choose. So choose the right thing. The hypocrite is condemned the same as the heathen that he's condemning. Go over to Romans chapter two. Hope you kept your finger there. Romans chapter two. We'll spend most of our time in the book of Romans, and especially in Romans two this morning. You won't have to turn to a lot of different places today. Romans chapter two and verse one. Therefore thou art, hmm, Inexcusable. Well, no, but God already knows about that. And God already knows about your life. He understands what happened to you. He understands how you were brought up, the home you were brought up in, the life you lived, the friends you had, the family that was around you, how they guided you, what they told you to do. He understands all those things. And he says, that same God says to every one of us, thou art inexcusable, oh man. Whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. Here's the difference between us and God. God's is according to truth. Ours is according to what we think, feel, decide on that day, whatever, our opinion. The judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? The word despises there at the beginning of verse four means to hold a low opinion of. You hold a low opinion of the things that God has done for every single one of us. Well, not for me, I'm not one of you Christians. Oh, well, he's done the same thing for you. He said, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, the world, not the church, the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, meaning you, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's because God is equal in his treatment to man. Everybody has an opportunity for the Savior. Everybody. Some will choose, and some will say, I don't need that Christianity thing. I don't need that church thing. I don't need that religion thing. Well, you're right, you don't need religion, because religion will just take you to hell. You don't need religion. You do need Christ, because you can't get to heaven without Christ. But thankfully, it's not for some, like some people teach and preach, Calvinists, Armenians, they believe that. Oh, well, it's only for some. It's for the elect. Wrong. Those who are saved are the elect. Study it out in Scripture. That's what he's talking about. Those who are saved are the elect. That's not saying they're the only ones that get to be saved. Anyone who gets saved becomes the elect. That's what Scripture teaches. Why do we look down? Why do we despise or hold a low opinion of the long suffering of God toward us? We get away with things. We think we do. Because God hasn't brought the hammer. God hasn't cracked the whip yet that we can notice in such a hard way that we notice. And so he keeps reproving us and telling us and warning us, and we just blow right past every one of them. And we don't hear his voice. But God warns us, you're inexcusable. You're inexcusable. You're all held to the same judging standard. God is equal in his view of man. He is not a respecter of persons. Look at verse five. He says, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds. If you're not saved, when you go to your judgment seat, he's gonna render to you what you deserve for rejecting Jesus Christ. Jesus came and died, suffered terrible death, and died and shed his blood for your sins, and you said, no, I'll get to heaven on my own, except that you can't. And the only thing you're gonna see of heaven is when you stand at the judgment seat and he says, depart from me, I never knew you. and he throws you into the lake of fire. He doesn't want to do that, but he's willing to do that if you reject, and if you choose self, and you choose Satan, really, is what it boils down to, but when you choose self, you've said no to God, you've said no to the sacrifice of Christ. Just remember, you're held to the same judging standard. Christ, he's the tipping point. treasurist up there, when he says, thou treasurist up unto thyself, wrath against the day of wrath, that means you're saving it up, you're racking it up. I can remember the one day we were shopping at a store, and my oldest son was misbehaving. Surprise, surprise. He was misbehaving, and I got in his face, I got down in his face, and I said, you better stop. I said, this is your last warning, you better stop. and I walked away, and he's right here, and he's with us, but he's constantly misbehaving, and he started misbehaving again after five, 10 minutes. Starts misbehaving again. I looked at him, and I said, you keep racking him up. That's exactly what God's saying here. You keep racking him up, judgment day's coming. When I warned him, you keep racking it up, he knew exactly what I meant. Okay, there's one. When we get to the car, it's only gonna get worse from this point on. It's gonna be one thing after another. You're just building it up now. It's gonna get a whole lot worse for you. You better stop. The punishment's coming, but it's gonna be a whole lot worse if you keep racking them up. That's what God warns us about here. You keep racking it up. You're treasuring up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath. More and more and more of God's wrath gonna be dumped out on you, because you're saying, nah, nah, it's okay. I'll do what I want. I'm the one that matters, I'm the one that counts, we don't care about what God says, the church says, the pastor says, we don't care about any of those, we don't care what God's word says, I'm gonna live for me. You can, you absolutely can. But this life is gonna end one of these days, and it may be today. We never know when our heart's gonna stop beating. If that day's today, we're gonna face him, we're gonna face him in a judgment. I've often wondered what went through my kid's head when I warned them of that, and they continued to disobey. They knew what was coming. They'd had it all their life. They understood what was just around the corner. I even asked my son once, I said, was it worth it? He said, oh, it was worth it. I said, then I didn't correct you hard enough. Let's go fix that. And we did. I was a terrible parent. God warns us, he said, you go ahead, you keep storing them up, you keep racking these things up, judgment day's coming. You're gonna be sorry, you're gonna regret it. God is equal in his view of man, Roman numeral two. God is equal in his actions toward man. This is where some, even Christians, don't look at God in the same way, or in the right way, I should say. They think that God treats so and so different. Well, God's lighter on so-and-so. God's really hammering me. No? No, if God's hammering you, it's because you did something you need hammered for. God didn't say, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, I'm gonna pick on Judy today. I'm gonna really hammer Judy today. That's not how that works. Now, if Judy did a whole bunch of things, God's gonna hammer Judy more because guess what? Judy did more to be hammered for. That's how that works. God is equal in his actions toward man. But again, we as humans, we wanna have our victimology, you know, as they say. We wanna be the bigger victim, and woe is me, God's being a big meanie to me today. No, he's not. God's equal. If you don't do those things, God won't have to judge you for those things. He won't have to punish you for those things. He won't have to reprove you and tell you about those things. He won't need to do that, because you won't be doing them. That's an easy way to fix it. But as Christians and selfish Christians, we want to live the way we want to live. And then when God starts telling us and warning us, and we start hearing that all the time, and then the judgments start coming, now we think God's a big meanie. No. No, God loves you enough to warn you. Hey, stop that. Don't do that. There's a judgment coming. I don't want to have to punish you. Fix it now. Get it right now. And praise God for those messages and messengers that he brings our way. Sometimes it's unsafe people. And he gives us just what we need to say, hey, knock that stuff off. Stop doing that. Start doing what's right. God is equal in his actions toward man, letter A under that, in his rewarding and his blessings. Thank God that God rewards and blesses us. He does. Sometimes the only reason Christians are willing to do what they're supposed to do is because they know God's gonna reward them or bless them for it. Sometimes that's the only motivation that gets them to do what they're supposed to do. Shame on us when that's true. But sometimes that is true. And thank God that he does that. He understands that sometimes that's the only reason. That's why he does it. He knows what he's doing. Romans 2, verse 7. Romans 2, verse 7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. In other words, those who are living for the Lord. Honestly, they're surrendered to him, they're doing what he wants them to do. Skip down to verse 10. but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God. Well, then why does he say to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, Pastor, if he's not a respecter of persons? Oh, that's easy. Because the Jews had the law. The Gentiles didn't. The Jews grew up with the law. The Gentiles didn't have that. From the time the Jewish people were born, they would have heard the law over and over and over and over again, constantly. They had it written on things around their homes and on things that went up in here and that they wore on their wrists and different things and the priest had it on their vesture. It was everywhere. Increased light means we are without excuse. As Christians today, most of us have multiple copies of God's word. We're without excuse. We hold God's law in our hand. We can hold it in our hand 24 hours a day if we wanted to, really. It's on our phone. It's on my phone. I have the whole Bible on my phone. I can look up anything I want at any time. Right there on my phone. It's always with me. Even if I don't have a physical copy of God's word, I have God's word on my phone. We are without excuse, folks. So then why do many Christians today live worse lives than people lived back then when they didn't even have a physical copy of God's Word? Because too many don't care. Too many ignore the judgment that's coming. Yeah, that's way off, and it's not gonna be as bad as you think it is, Pastor. Then why did God say to us, to Christians, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God? Why did he write that to Christians, not the unsaved, to us? Because it's gonna be a lot worse than many Christians think it's gonna be. We think, oh, God's gonna say, no, you shouldn't have done that. Okay, now let's have the marriage supper. No, no, it's gonna be far worse than that. We are gonna be so brokenhearted, folks. We are gonna be devastated. As Christians, at the judgment seat of Christ, we are gonna be devastated when we stand there and we see Jesus with the nail scars in his hand for us, for me, and yet I went and did that anyway. We're gonna be devastated. We're not gonna think like we do now. Now we say, yeah, it's not gonna be pleasant, but you know, he's gonna go down the list, and then we're gonna be done, and we're gonna have the marriage supper, and heaven's gonna be great, and we're gonna have mansions, and by the way, mansions aren't mansions like we think of. It's a room added to the father's house, by the way. You get an extra room, and you won't even be in it most of the time anyway. You're gonna be working for him, so it won't matter. But you know, anyway, that's neither here nor there. We better keep our eyes on what scripture says, what God's word warns us about. It is not gonna be a pleasant day when we face the judgment seat of Christ. Oh, we're not gonna be condemned to hell when it's all over, praise God for that. Because all of us deserve hell, but we're not gonna get that. Those of us who are saved are going to still be in heaven, but boy, that first however many years that judgment seat is, is gonna be horrible. Years? Well, we have seven years for the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb. How fast do you think it's gonna go to judge millions and billions of Christians throughout the centuries? He's calling us up one by one. You think it's gonna happen in 10 hours? No, no. It's gonna be years. I firmly believe scripture doesn't say that. but I firmly believe it's gonna be years as the judgment goes down through and each one of us give an account for what we've done in this body, good or bad. Oh, but heaven's great and there are no tears in heaven. Again, wrong, that's not what scripture says. God says after the great white throne judgment, when the unsaved are judged at the end of everything, the end of everything, Then he wipes away the tears from their eyes and there's no more sorrow and no more death. That's at the end of everything and eternity officially begins. That's after the great tribulation, that's after Armageddon, it's after the thousand year reign of peace with Christ on this earth. Then comes the great white throne judgment, then he wipes away the tears. There's gonna be a lot of tears in heaven. At the judgment seat of Christ, be a lot of tears and sobbing for years. Then, the Great White Throne Judgment after 1,007 years later, the Great White Throne Judgment, you think we're not going to cry our eyes out as we see people that we knew, that we had a chance to witness to, and we never opened our mouth about God, about Christ, about salvation, and we watch them getting thrown into the lake of fire and we know it's for forever? You think we're not going to cry? Oh, there's gonna be all kinds of sobbing at the Great White Throne Judgment. Our children, our loved ones, our aunts and uncles and cousins and coworkers that we worked with for 30 years, we were good friends with them, and they're cast in a lake of fire. You think we're not gonna cry? Well, pastor, you're bringing me down. We're talking about heaven and everything. It's supposed to be good. You know, see, that's the problem. Everybody only wants to think about the good of heaven. and they don't want to think about the judgment that kicks off eternity, and it's for a long time. The judgment's not in the blink of an eye, and then we start, and it's all grand and glorious. Oh, no. I'm looking forward to heaven still, but your heart better be right with God. A lot of Christians think, oh, I'm looking forward to heaven. Are you really? Are you sure you're ready to face God, to look God in the face, to look Christ with the nail scars on his hand? You really ready to look at him? How have you been living, Christian? Don't answer me. Are you living in obedience to Him? Everything God shows you in His Word, preaches in a message, brings somebody by in your job or in your neighborhood, and they witness to you, or they say this or that, and you say, yeah, I probably should start doing that. All those things that God tried to show you, are you doing them, Christian? Because if you're not, you're not gonna look forward to seeing Him face-to-face. We think we are because we block out all the judgment that's coming. We block out the pain and the sorrow that's going to be there because we chose self instead of our Savior. Pastor, this is a depressing message. We're talking about the equality of God. This is supposed to be a good message. Oh, it is. It is because at any moment, we can all turn away from that. and we can all start doing exactly what God tells us, we can get it right with God, and we can go out and start living for Him. It's great. You're here breathing, you're hearing the message again. You have another opportunity. Because God is equal toward man, He gives you another opportunity to hear and to turn at His reproof, as Scripture says, and start doing what He asked you to do. Praise God for that. Praise God for that. Jews knew the law. They're held to a higher standard. Christian, we know the law. We know the law. We hold copies, multiple copies of the law. I have at least four or five of my own Bibles. In our house, there's probably 30 Bibles in our house between all of us in our house. Are we obeying it? We better be. God is equal in his actions toward man and his rewarding and his blessings. And in his judgment, look at Romans two and verse eight and nine, Romans two, eight and nine. But under them that are contentious. and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." Well, see, the Jews got chosen first for the reward. Yeah, they did. They got chosen first for the judgment, too, because they knew better. We are also Christian. We're gonna be held to a higher standard. There's four principles in relation to the judgment of God Little number one there, God's judgment is according to truth. That's verse two. God's judgment is according to equality, verse three. God's judgment is according to his stored up wrath, verse five. And God's judgment is according to man's deeds, verse six. Those again, according to truth, according to equality, according to his stored up wrath, and according to man's deeds. Praise God that we have a God who is equal. I wouldn't like serving a God who says, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. I don't like you, Angela. Sorry. I'm not going to treat you nice. Tough for you. But boy, I really like Gordon, so I'm going to treat Gordon extra well today. I wouldn't want to serve that kind of God. And thankfully, that's not the kind of God we serve. He's equal all the way across. Oh, you disobeyed? OK, then there's judgment. OK, you obeyed? Then there's rewards and blessings. Well, God just picks on that and everything goes their way. Maybe because they're obeying and you're not. Maybe back up to point zero and start there and just say, hey, am I doing what's right? Honestly, am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I obeying in every area that God points out to me? Am I saying yes, sir, and obeying? If I am, okay, well now I need to check and find out, is Satan battling me here? What's going on? Is God testing me? Okay, well then we can deal with that. But far too many Christians go through this life thinking, in their mind, everything's fine between me and God. When the reality is, if they just stopped and looked at their life, they could say, well, I really haven't been obedient in that point, and I kind of haven't been obedient in that point, and that one's kind of shoddy too. Well, then you don't have to look any further. The judgment's coming your way because you're not obeying. You don't have to look at things and pray about things and have the whole church praying about things. You just need to get your heart right and start obeying God. And things can start turning around for you in some ways. Roman numeral three. Not only is God equal in his view of man and God is equal in his actions toward man, but God is equal in his judging standard. God is equal in his judging standard. Under that letter A, everyone will be judged by the law, which is God's word. That means, again, as we stated earlier in the message, all of us are without excuse. Well, no, see, I don't know as much of the Bible as you do, pastor. And? Well, that gives you, you know, you're, no. You have a copy of God's word. Get in there and start studying. Ask God to show you. Because you, Christian, are going to be held accountable for this book. Well, pastor never taught me that. You think pastor's gonna teach you everything that you need to know between now and the time you meet Jesus? I'll answer that for you, no. No preacher is. You're never gonna hear everything you need just by the preacher, never. You're accountable for yourself. Get in God's word. Ask God's Holy Spirit to guide you and show you and reveal to you and convict you and convince you that what you need to do is obey God in that area and that area and that area. But see, we don't wanna do that. Why? Because we have our own lives we want to live. We want to be Christian. We want the name tag. We want that. But we don't want to be held accountable. We don't want to do what God tells us to do. We don't want to live that way day in and day out. Oh, well, now God wants me to do this, and now God showed me this, and now I'm responsible. Yep. Amen. Because this whole life is supposed to be about him. He bought and paid for you. This whole life is supposed to be about him, not about us. But that's not how a lot of Christians live. And somehow they still think when this life's over, I'm going to heaven, it's gonna be all rewards and blessings and everything's great and there's mansions and boy, this is wonderful. No, there's gonna be a whole lot of sorrow and agony and agonizing there. Christian, are you really ready to look God in the face and look on Jesus Christ with the nail scarred hands for your sins and say, yeah, yeah, I'm happy with the way I live. No, you won't. No, you won't. Are you living in obedience to him? If you're not, you need to be at this altar this morning. Look at Romans chapter two again. Thank God that his standard is the same for everyone. Everyone is getting a judged according to this book. He's given us the command. He's given us the ability. He's given us the means. Everyone is without excuse. He says in verse 12, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. It's not enough to come to church and sit there and pastors rant and rave for another 45, 50 minutes. Here we go again. Oh, there he goes. Yep, I've heard this before. We can do that all the time. Sure we can. And that's what our flesh will want to do. If you're living for your flesh, I promise you, that's what your flesh is doing right now. Your flesh doesn't want to be here. Your flesh doesn't want to hear this. Wait a second. I'm guilty before God if I don't obey in every single thing he tells me. Yes. Yes, you are. So am I. We are guilty before God if we don't obey everything that God tells us to do. Well, God understands. No, he doesn't. God doesn't excuse any sin. He doesn't excuse any selfish living at all. He says selfishness, selfish living is as the sin of witchcraft. That's what God's word says. It's the same as devil worship when we choose self over him. That's the kind of standard God has. And by the way, folks, we're supposed to come to his standard. He doesn't come down to ours in spite of what some churches teach today. Well, as long as we love each other, it'll be all right. No, it won't. We can love each other right into hell. We can love each other right into a terrible judgment in front of an almighty God. That doesn't do anything. That's only a small part of the law. We're held accountable for every single part. And if you don't know it, you better get to know it. You better be studying God's word, because you are held accountable for it. You will stand before God. And he says he's going to judge you from this book, the book of the law. God clearly states that those which obey what they have heard are the ones who are justified in his sight. Those that obey, we must hear and respond to what we've heard with obedience. That's the difference. Not enough just to hear God's commands. There's all kinds of people that come and sit in a church, or tune on the TV set, or listen to the radio, maybe on live stream today, and they're hearing this pastor going nuts, and there he goes again. Well, look at him, boy, he's just ranting and raving. Why? Why am I ranting and raving? Because I'm passionate about this. We need to turn, because if you don't turn, you will be so sorry. You need to repent and turn to him. It's not gonna be pleasant like people think. Heaven's just gonna be great. In eternity, yes. For the first so many years, no. No, gonna be bad, really bad. Keep your finger there, go over to James chapter one. James chapter one. Pastor, I don't like this message. Well, my flesh, I'll be honest with you, my flesh doesn't like this message either. Because my flesh doesn't want to do everything God says. My flesh is like your flesh. My flesh wants to pick and choose what I'm comfortable with, what I like, what I agree to. That's not how it works. God says, hey, your flesh, your will and your flesh is supposed to be bent over to me. You're supposed to take on you my will, not your will. Just like Jesus told us, not my will, but thine be done. Look at James chapter one, in verse 21. James one, 21, wherefore lay apart all filthiness, that's sin in any form, and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, this book, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, because he knows us. He didn't leave it at verse 21, oh, I received the word, pastor. I do, I was there last Sunday when you preached the word. And I received the word, I heard every word you said. Because God knows that's what we're gonna do. So he says, oh, no, no, no, no, just a second. Before you start thinking that you're all that and you've arrived and you're doing all these things, let me just warn you, it's not about hearing it on your eardrums. It's about hearing it and putting it into action and living it. So then he starts in verse 22. But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, and this is how that happens, deceiving your own selves. You see, that's what we do. We deceive our own selves. Talked about it in Sunday school. By the way, we're gonna talk about something else you talked about in Sunday school tonight, in tonight's message. I didn't know what he was teaching on, and he doesn't have a clue what I'm preaching on, and both services are gonna line right up. God says we deceive our own selves. How do we do that? I mean, honestly, pastor, if I'm not living for the Lord, his Holy Spirit's gonna convict me, and I'm gonna know, and I'm gonna start doing what's right. Really? Is that how that works? Because that's not what scripture teaches us. That's what should happen. But that's not what does happen. Because God says that we can harden our conscience. And now we don't even know, we don't even feel guilty. We can sin and sin and sin and we feel justified. And there are Christians who are having wicked ministries. out of their church, wicked, sinful, worldly ministries out of their church. And I'm talking about beer parties to win the world and swinger parties to reach that side of society. And they justify it, and they're fully, yep, God's in this. This is how we're gonna reach them. God's not in that. You can't justify that, but people do. They justify it in their hearts and in their own minds. That's where we deceive ourselves. Oh, but pastor, we're not to that extent. Oh no, you're right, most of us aren't. You know what most of us are? Most of us do this. We sit in church and we look over and say, well, I'm better than them. At least I'm not doing this. And her, I'm not even gonna start there, we know. That's what we do. We compare ourselves amongst ourselves. God says, that's foolishness, that's not wise. Don't do that. What am I supposed to compare myself to? Him. You find him in this book. The living word is in the written word. Compare yourself to him. Well, I can't compare myself to Christ. That's who you're supposed to compare yourself to. When you reach that standard, then you can stop trying. That's what God says. When you reach that standard, you can stop trying. Guess what? You're never reaching that standard. Keep going. But we don't want to do that. We don't want to keep fixing the next thing and dealing with that and straightening this out in my life, and now I've got to do this too. And we don't want to do that. Why? Because that's not comfortable. That's not what we want. We want, our flesh wants, to do what we want, what we're comfortable with. I'm comfortable going to church on Easter and Christmas. That's what I'm comfortable with. God says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. We're supposed to want to go to church more and more and more, not less and less. But now Christians feel fully justified if they show up once every three months. Shame on us. Well, I was in Sunday morning. I don't need to go to Sunday night. Shame on you. I was there all day on Sunday. I don't need to go to Wednesday night too. Shame on you. I love you. Shame on you. Because God says, don't forsake yourselves. There are some that do that. He says, don't be like them. That's not a pat on the back. He's not saying, boy, they're great people. Just don't be like them. He's saying, no, they're living wrong. They're doing wrong. Don't emulate them. Don't be like that. Choose me instead of that. Far too many Christians. We're judging ourselves amongst ourselves. And therefore, I don't look so bad. That's easy to do. We could always find somebody doing worse than us. Always. And we're never going to feel bad about ourselves, because there's always somebody worse. We can't do that. We have to compare ourselves to him. God warns us there, we deceive our own selves. He says in verse 23, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, he's talking about a mirror, he's looking into the mirror, for he beholdeth himself, he's looking at himself, and goeth his way and straightway immediately says, forgetteth what manner of man he was. He looks in the mirror, the mirror says, Wow, you probably should fix some of those things before you go out. Turn away and eh, whatever, and walk right out the door. That's what a lot of Christians do. Every time they're faced with the word from a message, from some other Christian, from their devotions, they're faced with the word, the word of God, it reveals to us who we are, and we say, eh, yeah, probably should. but we go out and live exactly how we were before that. And God warns us, don't be that, because he says there in verse 25, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, God's word, and continueth therein, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Well, God blesses all Christians. you better get back in the book again. You're reading it wrong. God does not bless all Christians. Oh, sure he does, pastor. No. God says his blessings are for those that obey. If you're not going to obey, you don't get his blessings. Why would God, who is a just and righteous God, why would he reward you for disobedience? When my son disobeyed in that store, and I said, you keep racking him up, buddy, Why would I, when we go out to the car, reward all three kids equally? I won't do that. Yeah, but he's still your son. Yes, he is. He's a disobedient son. The disobedient son gets the correction. The ones who obeyed and were good, guess what? They get a reward. Oh, that's a terrible parent. Now those two got something good, and that one got something bad. That's not right. It's absolutely right. It is just and right, just like God says He is. God does not reward disobedience. He judges, He punishes disobedience, every sin. Yeah, but I'm His child. Exactly. You're still His child. And as His child, He's going to punish you, because you didn't obey. You didn't obey the Father. The other children get rewards. We had a classroom here. and the teachers gave rewards to the children who were doing good, and there was a child that wasn't doing good. And after class, the child came crying to Mommy and Daddy, and Mommy and Daddy came crying to the pastor. And the father took me to the side and said, Pastor, this isn't right, and my child feels left out and feels terrible, you know. And I said, well, why didn't they get the reward? Well, they were talking, and I said, okay, there you go. Well, yeah, but that's not right. Now they feel terrible, I said. I looked the father right in the face, I said, they should feel terrible. Yeah. That father was angry with me. I don't care. That child should feel terrible. That teacher took a long time putting that lesson together. and then that child disrespects and does what they want to do, and somehow they think they're getting a reward at the end, I'd be angry at the teacher if the teacher gave them a reward. Don't do that. You don't reward disobedience. Teach that child, train that child. You get rewarded for obedience because that's what God teaches us. That's what he does. And if you're a parent that rewards all your kids equally, shame on you, by the way. I love you, but shame on you. You're not helping your child, you're only hurting them. Follow God, not man's thinking. Look into the perfect law of liberty, God's word, and do what God tells you to do. Letter B, not only is everyone gonna be judged by the law, God's word, letter A, but letter B, everyone is justified by faith. We're justified by faith and obedience, faith in Jesus Christ. You know, the world's religions would like us all to believe that we're justified by our good works. As I go out and knock on doors and talk to people out in the public, I was talking to the guy who's worked on the church van here recently, I was talking to him, I was hoping to see him at church. He said he's gonna come out, I haven't seen him yet, but I keep hoping. And I got into a talk with him and got talking about church and different things. And, well, I used to go to church as a kid, you know, and all this kind of stuff. And I said, you know, that has nothing to do about church, really. I said, that comes later. I said, it's all about what did you do with Christ? Has there ever been a day when you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, when you repented of your sins one point in time in your life? That's what matters. If you've never done that, none of this other stuff matters. But one of the questions I get asked all the time when I'm talking to people out in the public, well, yeah, but, you know, your church is this one. How do you reconcile all these different religions that are in the world today? I look them right in the face and say, I don't. I don't. They can't be reconciled. All those religions who are not following this book are wrong. Every one of them. Well, yeah, but I'm part of this. Okay, if you're watching a live stream and you're part of some other denomination, do they follow this book? By the way, if they tell you you shouldn't read the book, you should just trust us, you need to run away from that church. Because God says you're supposed to study this book. You're gonna be held accountable for what's said in this book. You better know this book. Don't let some religion, which by the way, that's a cult when they do that. Don't let some religion tell you, you follow us, we'll tell you the book. From day one, when I came to this church, I told everybody in the church, and I've had since I came here, ever since, pick up your Bible and read it. When I say turn to this, turn there. Bring your Bible, use it. You know why I tell you to do that? because I'm never gonna convince you of anything. And I don't want to. I want God to convince you. I want you to see it in God's word, God's word written to you says this, uh-oh, well now I have a choice. When God's word is spoken to me, I have a choice and so do you. Am I gonna do what God tells me to do or am I gonna do what I wanna do? That's the choice, that's the only choice. That's why I always tell you, look at God's word, read God's word, follow along in God's word. Because I want you to be convicted from God's word. Well, that's just what my church, that's just what the pastor said. Who cares what the pastor says? What does God say? That's all that matters. Everyone's justified by faith. But you look at most religions in the world today, you're justified by your good works. Do your good works outweigh your bad? I got news for you. You can't do enough good works to get you to, oh, that's just what you Baptists teach. No, that's what God says. Titus 3, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration of the Holy Ghost. That's how we're born again. That's how. It's not by works of righteousness. I'm getting myself confused on the gospel now. It's not by works of righteousness. You can't do enough good works to outweigh your bad. You can never do enough good to outweigh your bad. You'll never do enough good to get to heaven, never. Do it all your life, Matthew 7. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them in that day depart from me, I never knew you. He never knew them. They lived their whole life for him. They went to church all the time. They did his work. They were Sunday school teachers. They were deacons. They were bus workers. They did God's work all the time. They dedicated their whole life to him, but they never got saved. And if they never got born again, if they never got saved, they're still on their way to hell. It didn't matter they went to church all the time, that they served in church all the time for their whole life, none of that mattered. God says, depart from me ye workers of iniquity. They did all of this for him in his name, they said. And he says, no, you're workers of iniquity. Why? Because you did it for you. You did it so you look good. You did it so you feel good about yourself. You did it for whatever other purpose, but you didn't do it for him if you didn't come to him and you didn't come through Christ and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That is the only way. It's by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You will go through Christ or you will not go to heaven. It really is as simple as that because God said so. It's his heaven. You got to go his way. Look at Romans 3. Romans 3. Very quickly in Romans 3 in verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. That is the purpose of God's word. It's to show us that we're sinners. Without the law, we don't know that we sin. He says so in verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. If somebody doesn't come and preach to you Christ, you can't be saved. And yet there's a lot of people who believe, genuinely believe that they're saved because something tragic happened in their life or something great happened in their life. And on that day, I just knew God was speaking to me and now I was his. And oh, that sounds grand and glorious, but it can't happen. It's not possible. Because we're only saved, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It is the only way we can be saved. You get saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and you have to make that decision at one point in your life. And if you've never done that, you're not saved. My whole life is all about God, you're not saved. You're gonna be one of those at the Matthew 7 judgment he's talking about there, who did all these things for God, and he says, I'm sorry, I never knew you'd depart from me. And he has to throw him in the lake of fire, because they didn't come his way. It is his way, or there's no way. He says in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law was manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. If you don't place your faith and trust in him, you can't be saved. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every one of us has sinned. Every one of us will always come short of the glory of God. We can never get to heaven without Christ. So he says in verse 24, being justified freely by his grace. When does that justification happen? Well, we're all God's children. We're all going to heaven. We're just going different ways, preacher. Not what God says. God says being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's how you're saved. If you didn't come through Christ, you're not saved. Verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. A lot of people believe in God, but boy, you start mentioning Jesus, and they want to shut you off, and they don't want to hear any more about it. Why is that? That's Satan. Satan doesn't want you to hear about Jesus because Satan knows Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He knows that. He doesn't want you to hear about that. So he says in verse 27, where is boasting then? What could you boast of? Where is boasting then? It is excluded. You have no reason to boast because you can't get to heaven on your own. Well, I got to heaven because I did this, and I got to heaven because I did... No, you didn't. Everybody that ever gets into heaven got there because they humbled themselves, repented, and turned to him and accepted his free gift through the sacrifice of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That is the only people that are ever going to be in heaven. No one else is going. If you haven't done that, you need to. Today is the day of salvation, scripture says. Where is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law because we can't keep the whole law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Now go back to Romans chapter two and we're done. Romans chapter two and verse 14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. God's gonna judge everyone according to this book. Christian, doesn't matter if you've been saved for two days or 20 years, you better know this book, because you're gonna be held accountable by this book. He's judging you from this book. Yeah, but pastor, what if you don't teach us everything? I've already said I'm not going to. I'd love to, but I won't. There's never been a preacher that's covered everything in scripture you need to know. There never will be. We don't have that much time. If we had church every single day, we don't have that much time. You need to be in this book, studying this book, knowing what God's telling you and obeying it. Don't just look at it and say, oh yeah, I probably should start doing that one of these days. No, today. Start it today. If God shows you in his word, do it. Get busy. Get busy doing what he's asked you to do. Obey him. Because judgment's coming. God's an equal God. Praise God for that. He's equal to all of us. But he's also equal not just in rewards and blessings, which we want to focus on. He's equal in his judgment. It doesn't matter if you're the preacher. It doesn't matter if you're just a lowly layman who doesn't know hardly any of God's word. All of us are capable of getting the same blessings and rewards, and all of us are absolutely going to be held with the same judgment. All of us. Well, yeah, but you, nope. Nope. I'm no different than you when it comes to that. We're all held equally standard. You better be in this book, folks. You better know it. You better be living it. When God shows it to you, say, yes, sir, and do it. Amen. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you are equal. Lord, I can't imagine what it would be to serve a God who chooses some over another, and you can work as hard as you want and do everything God wants you to do. Nah, nah, I'm sorry, I'm just not gonna give you any blessings. Sorry, you lucked out. That's not you. God, thank you that that's not you. Thank you, Lord, that you are a God of equality. Lord, this world is screaming for equality and equity, and they don't even know what they're asking for, and it could be theirs, but they don't want what it comes by, obedience to you. Lord, I pray that you would help us as Christians, those of us who are truly saved, that we know that we're born again through the blood of Christ. Lord, help us to be those who would go and share your equality with everyone around us. Helping this world to see, hey, equality is there. It's found in God and in Christ. Lord, help us to point others to you. Help us to be better witnesses. Lord, help us, as we talked about in Sunday school, to be that shining testimony, that example that the world can see, because often, and almost in every circumstance, Lord, it is us who they see. It's not you, but they need to look at us and see you in us. Lord, I pray that they will. I pray, Lord, that more and more Christians will start living in whole obedience to you, not picking and choosing what we're comfortable with, what we're willing to surrender to, and, well, I could do that. No. everything you tell us to do. Help us, Lord, to be obedient. Lord, help us to be cheerful in doing it and to point others to you. Use us, Lord, for your honor and glory. If there's one person yet today under the sound of my voice that does not yet know you, Lord, I pray that today truly will be the day of salvation for them. Maybe they've already thought they were a Christian because they grew up in such a family, or they've gone to church most of their life, or they do these good things, or they're a pretty good person, or they serve in their church. Lord, help us to lay all those things aside and say, am I really His? Has there ever been that day when I repented and turned to Him and I was born again? Lord, if they haven't, I pray they will today. Convict hearts, Lord, help us to move at your word and at the draw of your Holy Spirit, we pray. We ask these things in Christ.