Let's open our Bibles to the book of Romans chapter two. Open your copy of God's word to Romans chapter two. What a privilege it is that we all have the possibility of having a copy of God's word to read and to study. Romans chapter two, look with me if you would. Let's start in verse five. He says, but because of your hard, impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourselves. For yourself, wrath. On the day of wrath. When God's righteous judgment will be revealed, He will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality. He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. God shows no partiality. This is the word of God. Let us pray. Ask the Lord to bless our time together as the body of Christ. Heavenly Father, Lord God, as we hear your word proclaimed, Father, I pray that our hearts would be able to receive its message, Lord. I pray that we would clearly see what your word says, Lord, that we would be convicted by the Spirit, whether we are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ or whether we are not. Lord, I pray that we would leave here differently. Illumine our eyes, Father, we pray in the Holy Spirit and bless us, I ask you, Lord, I beg you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, amen. Well, I vividly remember the time being face to face and hearing the question that was posed to me. I'd asked this lady, I said we were going to a pastor's conference and there was this world renowned scholar there, D.A. Carson, a professor an author, a scholar. And I said, if you could ask him one question, any question, the hardest one you could think of, what would you ask this guy? And I was looking for an opportunity to share the gospel with this person, gonna ask me their really hard question for this professor. And do you know what they said back to me? Unhesitatingly, they stammered out. Is he afraid to die? I was so disturbed by the question, I almost started laughing. I was like, he is a Christian professor in a school. He writes books on theology. He's a Christian, he believes in Christ. Is he afraid to die? I was like, I can answer that question. No, he's not. In fact, he's looking forward to it because he wants to be with Christ, his Lord. But you know, when we think about stepping into eternity, sometimes we talk about it going on the other side, right? What's going to happen when you stand before God as we all will? How will God deal with us in this passage that we're going to see today? I want us to see that God is going to judge us fairly. And so today we're going to see how God judges all people the same with the same perfect standard, and he gives justice to all. Does that comfort you? Hmm. Depends, right? Pastors are always sneaky when they get up here and start asking you questions. How would you answer this? What would you say? I've learned it's better not to say anything. Just listen. Just listen. Just listen. I am not trying to trick you. But we think about God's justice. Is God fair? Is God fair? We start out with this text here. I start with verse five. But this text that we're going to look at today between six and 11, it kind of it's kind of like what they call in theology, they call it a chiasm. OK, so you have. It's kind of it kind of goes like this in order, it goes a. B. And sometimes it'll restate be exactly again, and then it'll restate a. So what they stated the first, they also stated the last. And he does, he does that similarly here, he says in verse six, he says he will render talking about God, he will render to each one according to his works. And then at the end, in verse 11, he says for. God shows no partiality. God is not partial. And he's going to make the argument there. God is not partial. If you're a Jew. And you have the right heritage. And you're from the right tribe and you have the law of God and you know what the law of God is. There's going to be no different standard for you than there is. For the Gentile. Or for the person out in Papua New Guinea. Or for some other person in the Amazon jungle. Same standard, same standard. And I want us to see today that God is going to give justice to all based on their works. I do have to tell you that this is one of the most disputed passages in Romans. Many people completely disagree on what this means. And so by saying that, I just want to back up a little bit. OK, Paul is eager to go to Rome. He wants to go to these Christians who are in Rome that he might preach the gospel to them because the gospel is called the good news. And the good news is not about you. The good news is not about what you do. You get you receive benefit from it. But. The good news is not like I go do the good news. The good news was done and it was accomplished by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. What he did in that event, in his birth, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection and ascension, all that Christ has accomplished, it's the good news. It's what he did. It's the good news about someone else, Christ. And the scriptures call us to believe in that by faith. So one of the things that Paul does, I could just flip back to Romans chapter one. He starts off and he says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, because men in their unrighteousness, we take the truth about God and we try to hold it down. We suppress it, it says, in our sin, because we don't want to be guilty. We think we're not, we're not really as bad as, as, uh, our neighbor over there. We're not as bad as that guy. And usually we pick Hitler because he's the worst. Right. We're like, well, I'm not as bad as him. And so I look pretty good in, in, you know, if he's in the standard, I don't look too bad. But one of the things that we see is that God's standard is nothing less than righteousness. And that word righteousness is the idea of always doing what is right biblically according to God's word. And see when he says, I'm eager to preach a gospel to you also who are in Rome. And this is why he says, For in it, okay, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, from faith for faith. And this is beloved what we need. We need righteousness. We need that. And it has to come outside of us. Because the gospel is not, you go and be righteous. You go and be really moral. You shape up and be righteous. And if you are, God will give you eternal life. And so Paul goes all through chapter one and he's saying, men suppress the truth. They take the truth of God. They exchange it for a lie. And they go, I want to worship me. I want to be the maker of rules. I want to be the one that says what's beautiful. I wanted to find what's good. And God says, that's sin. And he says, because of that sin, people jump off into immorality. God gives them over to their immoral lifestyle. And as we've seen in chapter one, The vortex just goes down and down and down. And it ends like this, though they know. God's righteous decree that those who practice such things, such evil kinds of things. They know they not only deserve to die. They know. but they give approval also to those who practice them. So what they end up doing, these wicked, wicked people in chapter one, right? Okay, they're so evil, they not only see you doing evil and they go, oh yeah, yeah, go, go, go. And so what they don't do is they don't give the judgment of God and go, oh, that's sin, that's evil. They don't judge the evil, they applaud it. knowing they're going to receive God's judgment. Now, Paul condemns them. OK, and then right into chapter two, he says, therefore, that is because of that. And it's like he switches gears and he starts talking to the Jews. And he says, you, oh, man, every one of you who judges, who gets up on your superior high horse and go, oh, I'm not that bad. I don't do that. Paul throws them under the proverbial bus too. And he says, you judge and yet you practice the same things. You do the very same things. Now the Jew could step back and say, we do not do what they do. They exchange the truth of God for a lie and they worship and serve things. But remember what Jesus said, He said, you exchange the command of God for the traditions of men. And so the Jews were doing, not all of them, but many of them were doing exact same thing that they were doing in chapter one. And so they were guilty. And then the apostle Paul says, are you presuming on the riches and the kindness and the forbearance and the patience of God, that he doesn't just throw his wrath on you immediately and annihilate you? And that you suffer his wrath for eternity, he puts you to death? And then he says, not knowing that God's kindness in letting you breathe another breath, his kindness is meant to lead you to repent and to come to the end of yourself and find your righteousness in God. And he says, as I read earlier in verse five, that because of your hard and penitent heart, he says, you're storing up, you're treasuring up the wrath of God for the day of wrath. And I think he's speaking to the Jew here. They, apart from without righteousness, they're sitting in judgment on those really wicked Gentiles. They're doing the same thing. God says, you too, how are you going to escape the judgment of God? because of their heart and dependence on heart. They're storing up the wrath of God. Now, speaking of this wrath of God, you're storing up the wrath of God for yourself on the day when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So he's got judgment in view. He's just condemned the self-righteous Jew who thinks are better, but they're not. And then he says he will render in verse six to each one according to his works. You know, if you think you're good outweighs your bad, maybe that doesn't terrify you very much to hear that verse. God will pay, render to you according to your works. But beloved, from Romans 1, verse 18, all the way through Romans 3, verse 20, the idea, Paul has one guitar string, right? He's got one chord, and you know what it is? Sin, unrighteousness. That's two words, but he's saying sin. You're all condemned. None of you have righteousness. But remember, the good news about the gospel is the righteousness that is found in Christ. And one of the things that we're going to see all throughout chapter two is that Paul comes again and again and again to the Jew, and he basically calls them out on their self-righteousness on their moralism, that they think they're better. He calls them out, even having the law itself. And he says, you're lawbreakers. You don't obey the law. And even towards the end of chapter two, he's like, if you did, it would be good, but you don't. And it's bad. You don't obey the law. And what lawbreakers need, he concludes the chapters that you need a new heart. You see, in this in this passage, we're going to see whether you're Jew or whether you're Gentile. We're all in the same boat. We all need righteousness. And so he says when he when he talks about you're going to be judged according to your works. He's going to render to you according to your works. Let's look how he unfolds this, how he unpacks this. Let's look in verse seven. He says to those who by practice, I'm sorry, patience to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality. He will give eternal life. Just want to see a show of hands. How many patiently seek after well-doing and glory and honor and immortality by yourself, of yourself? Who does that? No one does that. But that's the idea, and I think that's what he's driving at. No one does that. Remember, he's saying God's not partial. And then in verse eight, he says, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. That's hard to hear, isn't it? The most humiliating thing when you go and tell someone the gospel, they must understand you cannot do enough to have a right standing with God. You, you can't give enough money. You can't be baptized enough times. You can't go on enough mission trips. You can't be a pastor long enough ever. You can't memorize enough of the word. to be counted righteous before God. You can never do enough. This is Paul's idea here. And one of the things that he does in verse eight and verse nine is like the middle of the chiasm. Beloved, I want to argue, he's talking about us. He's talking also about the Jew. Look at verse nine. He says there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil. Here comes the shocker. You ready? He says the Jew first. And also the Greek. This he adds the Jew and Greek distinctions here at the at the latter part. Yes. Do you guys believe that? Even the Jews today need Jesus Christ. They are not going to get into heaven because they are God's chosen people. The apostle Paul says, and he's going to condemn them through this whole chapter and go, you broke the covenant. You're lawbreakers. You sit in a self-righteousness looking down at people thinking you're better and you're not. Even the Jew. Who does evil? It's going to be judged by their works, and it won't be good. He says it's wrath and fury. I want us I want us to go to Matthew chapter 19. Do you have a Bible and you want to jump over there, Matthew chapter 19? Here's the argument I want to make in light of God, how we're going to see that God judges all people with the same perfect standard. That's why I titled today's message and justice for all. OK, and justice for all. I would claim that I got that out of the Pledge of Allegiance. But I didn't. What came to my mind was Metallica and justice for all. But they got it from the pledge, Pledge of Allegiance, right? Where's justice going to come from? We're not going to get it fully finally on this side. Eternity. Matthew chapter 19. Look with me, if you would. Verse 16. This is the rich young man, and he says, and behold, a man came up to him that is Jesus and is his teacher. What good deed must I do to have eternal life? If you're Jesus, that is like a softball pitch. He just teased the ball up for you. What must I do? And you would think Jesus would say, well, I'm the Messiah. Trust in me. Believe in me and you will have eternal life. But Jesus knew this man. He knew what was going on in this man's heart. Remember, he's a Jew. What's he thinking? Look how Jesus responds. This is good. Verse 17. And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. And the idea is talking about God. He says, if you would enter life. Here's the shocker. Keep the commandments. If you would enter life, keep the commandments. That's it. Don't covet. Don't steal. Don't commit adultery. If you lessen your heart, you're dead guilty of adultery. If you hate your brother, he says you've murdered. Have you coveted in your heart? Have you ever lied? Those are, in one sense, the obvious ones. Have you made idolatry? You've broken that commandment. Do you see what Jesus is saying here to this Jew? What do I need to do? He asks so clearly to get to heaven. He says, obey. That's what Romans 2 says. For those who are seeking glory and honor and immortality, God's gonna reward you with eternal life. Beautiful. Anyone achieving that? That's Paul's point. It's supposed to wreck us. But I think in Romans 2, it is meant to wreck the Jew. Just keep the law. Can you believe Jesus said that? That's what he means. And he's trying to get this Jew to come to the end of himself and to humble himself before the 10 commandments of God and him say, uncle, Guilty. How can I do this? Look how he responds, in verse 18, he said to him, which ones? You want me to keep the commandments? Which ones? As if he's kept any of them. As if you can just keep one or two. Honor your father and mother. Oh, I did that all the time. You ever lied to him? It was only a white lie. It was just a half lie. I just didn't tell all the truth. Guilty. So when the guy asked him which ones, Jesus says, ah, for you, you shall not murder. Do you think this guy was a murderer? Probably not. He probably thought really good of himself. But do you think he had hate for the Samaritans, those dogs? Oh, yeah. And then Jesus says, you shall not commit adultery. You ever been in the market buying food and you see someone lovely walk by and you go, man, or you see someone's chariot pull up and go, Oh, I wish I had that little shiny wheels. It goes amazing. How fast is a big horse? Is that a Belgian horse? It's huge. I want that. says you shall not steal and you shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He gets basically. To all those commandments that are relatable this way, right? He talks about all those. The young man said to him. Can you see like the King Kong going on? All these I have kept. My humble Lord, Huh. All these I have kept. Do you see how proud he is? Honor your father and mother, don't steal, don't commit adultery, don't murder. Shall love your neighbor like you love yourself. All these I've kept, he says. What do I lack? Jesus said to him, I love what he says in verse 21. Give a bobby should underline this little tiny word. If you don't think that's sacrilegious. Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect. If you would be perfect. Jesus just lays it down, doesn't he? If you would be perfect. Go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Do you think the guy said, that's it? I can't wait. I get heaven. This is amazing. He doesn't do that. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. And Jesus saw through this veneer of his proud self-righteous. He wasn't loving his neighbor. He had all this stuff. There's people hurting. There's beggars need food. Go sell what you possess and give it to them. And Jesus wasn't trying to say, oh, if you only do that, then you're saved. He was trying to cut that man down to his heart and show him. You have no righteousness at all, and you're dead guilty before God. You have none. I won't go to all the passages that talk about these things, and there are many, many more. Let's remember the context of this particular passage, though. What's in the balance? Eternal life? Jesus says obey. Eternal life? Obey. because he had to show the Jew how he does not do that. Do you think you can get into heaven by obeying? Do you think you're going to step into eternity one day? And you're going to give an account to God. And you're going to tell God, I'm perfectly righteous. I don't even need Jesus. I'm righteous. And you give a high five to God. We did it. Romans 2 is to be a shocker to the Jew, to rattle them awake. And he says, In Romans chapter 2, let's flip back there. Romans chapter 2, look what he says in verse 13. He continues to argue really through the whole chapter. But this is super important. When it comes to righteousness, he says this. Romans chapter 2 verse 13. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God. Not those who just know what the law says. Those are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. If you do the law, God says perfectly righteous. I hope you here today are despairing of your own righteousness. That is what this is meant to do. It is meant to look at yourself and say, I can't do it. I can't be perfect. Remember who Paul was? He used to be a Pharisee, one of the religious elite. Remember his pedigree? It sounded impeccable. Listen to this. He says, though I have reason myself for confidence in the flesh, that is what I've done. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, he says, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day. Checkmark got the law covered of the people of Israel. Yes, I'm in he says the tribe of Benjamin. Oh, yeah, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee. I memorized scripture. I knew the law as to zeal. I was a persecutor of the church. Oh, and then he says, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Now, outwardly, he might've looked pretty good. But listen to what he says right after that. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of their surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. And he's going to get to why he says for his sake, I've lost. I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. You could put in their pile of manure. Just grab, he says, done. I count all the loss of all these things, I count them as garbage, as filth, as trash, as refuse. He says, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, he says so clearly, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. See, he needs righteousness. He says, but that which comes through faith in Christ. And then he says, the righteousness from God. He says, that depends on faith. You see, Martin Luther called this, I need an alien righteousness. I need a righteousness outside of myself. I need a substitute. over there. I need someone else to fulfill the law of God for me. That's what we need. That's the point that Paul is going to make that there's none righteous. No, not one, but we're all under sin. And I think he's saying that here in Romans chapter two. The very free gift. We're going to find out Romans five. I can't wait. The free gift. Okay. Sometimes we hear that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, right? Paul also says the free gift is righteousness. And that comes from Christ. He's argues in chapter five. That's what we need. That's what we need. We must have Christ's righteousness. And so must the Jew. So in verses eight and nine, beloved, this is us. Paul just keeps hurling everyone under the law and say, you're not good enough. You're not good enough. Please, Jew out there, if you think you're good enough, you're not. If you've been to our church your whole life, and you know all the songs, and you know all the scriptures, but you don't have Christ, you are not good enough. If you think you're a goody two-shoes and you always do the right thing, you're not good enough. You need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Beloved, how do you get it? Paul's going to say, believe. This is the good news is not about what you do. It's about believing in what God has said, but his promises in Christ, how Jesus fulfills them all. That's why it's good news. It's not do more, try harder. Maybe I'll let you in. No, when God judges according to works, he lays us all low. Even the Jew. And here's a point in verse 11, he says, for God shows no partiality. He condemns moralism. He condemns self-righteousness. He condemns the Jews' hypocrisy. Even as we've already seen, Jesus says, keep the commandments and you will have eternal life. You see the commandments and the law, the law of God says do, right? And how can we sum them up? You love God, love your neighbor. That's it. Go do that. That's the law. That's not the good news. No. Now, see, when he says here, God is going to render to each one according to his works, you should think. But as as a believer, what happens? We get all of Jesus's righteous works credited to us. All of our sin. Put on Christ. That's why it's good news. It's not do more, try harder. It's not live a little bit better, moralism. No, you need righteousness. That comes from Christ. Beloved, this is so, so, so good. I wanted to talk just super short about how some other men whom I respect, whom I have great I'm not sure that I have the right word, but I have high esteem for them. Many scholars. OK, look at this verse differently. This is how they look at it. They see. God is going to render each one according to his works. They look at that as the last judgment. When the Lord Jesus comes and all the books are open, you're gonna be judged according to your works. And what he's talking about in verse seven, to those who by patience and well-doing seek glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. And they say, those are talking, that verse is talking about Christians who have been justified before God, who have the Holy Spirit of God. and you have a life that is progressively becoming more and more like Christ. Okay. But I want us to think now, I do want to say I can agree with that. But I would not want to take that particular idea into this chapter. I think Romans 6 preaches that, and I can't wait to get there. I think Romans 6 preaches that and teaches that. I think Romans 8 teaches that. But in this particular context, I think Paul is going after the Jews. And Paul, from 118 to 320 is saying, no one has a right standing before God by keeping the law. I think that's his thrust. I think that's his theme. I think that is the context that flows that we're going to see even next week. It's like, okay, what about the Gentiles who don't have the law? How can you judge him according to your standard? How can you judge the Jew that do have your law according to this super righteous holy standard? How can you do that? We're going to get into that next week. But for those who view this idea that these are Christians, you have to assume in this context, they're already justified. You have to assume that they've already gained eternal life because they've already been justified. And if they are, how can their good works, if God judges according to your works, how can that give eternal life? And I know the argument is, well, the good works I do highlight and show I really am a Christian. And they highlight and show that my life did really reflect I do really believe. But I really don't think this text is talking about that. I think he's getting to the key as I think he's getting right to the core, right to the center of it. And he's saying, we have all all sinned, fallen short of God's word. We've all sinned. We've all sinned. And if you already have eternal life, why do you have to do anything to gain it? Like if you've already gained it, how can you gain it again? I don't hold that view. There are many men that do. I respect them. But in the flow of this very context of what's come before of the Jews and their self-righteousness. And even this passage, I think, elaborating on their hard hearts that he has just said, their heart and penance are hard. They're storing up wrath. Be careful because you don't measure up. I think he gives this illustration here. Just like Jesus said. What must you do to have eternal life? Keep the commandments. That's it. I think that same idea is not only proclaimed here, but it's also being championed throughout chapter two, chapter three, until we get into the good news that, oh, the gospel brings God's righteousness to us, not because you're good, but because Jesus is the perfect one. You need Him. You need Him. God is gonna give justice to us all. On that other view real quick, I would say it is true. If you are a believer, if you have been justified before God, your life will be different. Your life will take on progressive transformation. You will more and more love the things of God and hate the things of sin. And if you're sitting here today and you're like, I don't know, I don't know. God calls you to repent and keep repenting, trust in Christ and keep trusting in Christ. Keep looking to him because you have no righteousness on your own. Well, let us pray. Let us text. Let's give thanks to God. Heavenly Father, Lord God, how we do not measure up according to your perfect standard. God, how we need Jesus Christ. God, apart from Christ's righteousness, God, we are totally bankrupt and we actually deserve your judgment, which you are going to pour out on the ungodly. And God, this is not my word, this is your word. And you've been clear. And even the Jew, Lord, breaks your law and needs perfect righteousness. God, I pray that this would weigh heavy on our hearts. And Lord, that we would see that we too need perfect righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ to have eternal life. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your holy word. I praise you in Jesus name. Amen.