Jesus Christ is real. He's alive. If you have Him, you have everything of eternal value. And one of the ways that we know that He is real and He's alive and that He responds to His people is by the answer to their prayers. I don't know if you noticed after the beginning of the service, but the little boy for whom we have been praying for a great while with his parents walked down front. The work of Christ. Answering the very real cries of his people who simply had nowhere else to go. Well, we turn this morning to a subject less exuberant. In fact, it's a subject that most of us would rather not face at all. It's the subject of divine judgment. The subject of divine judgment is perhaps the most difficult subject for us humans to face squarely and honestly. The doctrine of divine judgment declares, among other things, that each and every human being, no exceptions, will appear individually before the living God at the end of time to give a reckoning for the lives that they have lived on God's earth. They are God's creatures. They have lived in God's world. They have partaken of God's goodness. And at the end, each and every human being will stand isolated before God to give an account for their lives. Because that doctrine is so dreadfully intimidating, we as humans try to avoid it. In one of the ways by which we have attempted to escape the raw horror of this divinely revealed truth is by seeking to imagine categories of people who will be exempted from having to stand before God. I suppose the thought is that if there are some exceptions, it lessens the absoluteness of divine judgment. One class of people who have often been thought exempted from judgment are those people who have not possessed any portion of the Bible. people who have not received from God his word. And the thought is that surely people who do not have Bibles or any portion of the Bible will not be held accountable. Well, we've just recently studied the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the church at Rome. And Romans chapter one crushes that theory. by demonstrating that general revelation, general revelation being that which God speaks concerning himself through the created world, through acts of providence, and through the human conscience, that what God says in general revelation is sufficient to render all mankind without excuse for their ungodliness, their lack of worship, their lack of piety, their lack of love for God, and for all their unrighteousness, their disobedience to God. Whether they have Bibles or not, God has revealed enough of himself to our consciences through the creation. that we're without excuse. Helen Keller was perhaps the most famous disabled person in the history of America. I hope you know about Helen Keller. She was born totally blind and totally deaf. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, and for that reason, she spent her earliest years in total silence. She couldn't speak. And yet, Helen Keller went on to graduate from college. She wrote some 12 books. She became a famous social activist. She was a co-founder of the ACLU, and she promoted a number of liberal causes. As a child, I used to see her on TV and wonder what the fuss was about. But as I came to know more of her story, it became more astounding to me. Plays have been written, books have been written, movies have been produced about the life of Helen Keller. Helen Keller's first and most influential teacher was a 20-year-old young woman named Ann Sullivan. Ann Sullivan taught Helen Keller how to receive communication and how to talk. You think about that. She's blind, she's deaf, she lives in total silence, and this woman taught her how to communicate. It's astounding. After Ann Sullivan had taught Helen Keller how to communicate, she decided it was time for her to learn about Jesus Christ. So she invited one of the best known preachers of that day, a man named Phillips Brooks, to come and explain the gospel. Phillips Brooks is known to us for the Christmas hymn, Old Little Town of Bethlehem. Phillips Brooks went and through the interpretation of Ann Sullivan, he described the gospel of Christ. And when he had finished, Helen Keller said this, Mr. Brooks, I have always known about God, but now, until now, I didn't know his name. Now you think about that. She's never been able to see, she's never been able to hear, but as a young child, and she was very young when this happened, she says, I always have known about God. We're all without excuse, whether we have Bibles or not. We know God. Another class of people whom we have tried to imagine to be exempt from divine judgment are those people whom God himself singles out from the rest of humanity to be the recipients of special favors and special privileges. people to whom God has come and has spoken in very special ways. The Jews are prototypical of this class of favored people. God chose the Jews to receive his word. He sent prophets to them. He acted dramatically in the history of their people. Listen to Dr. Charles Hodge, a great theologian from another generation, as he describes how the Jews think about themselves with relation to God and His judgment. He writes, the principal ground on which the Jews expected acceptance with God was the covenant which God had made with their father Abraham, in which God promised to be a God to them, or to him, and to his seed after him. The Jews understood this promise to secure salvation for all who retained their connection with Abraham by the observance of the law and by the right of circumcision. Now listen, they expected, therefore, to be regarded and treated not so much as individuals to whom salvation was secured, or who would have to be dealt with according to their personal character. But they supposed that they would be handled as a community to whom salvation was secured by the promise made to Abraham. The Jews thought that because they were part of Abraham's seed, part of the community of his larger family, that God would not deal with them as individuals. He would deal with them as a class of people, and they would not have to be judged. Over the centuries, Christians have endeavored to create a class of people, who would be dealt with as a class and would not have to face individual judgment. For many, that exceptional class has been thought to be comprised of all of those who have been privileged to be born of Christian parents. Those who in their infancy received the seal of the covenant being baptism. Those who were born to Christian parents, baptized as infants, who never repudiate the gospel in their adult lives, are thought to belong to a class of people who are exceptional and privileged and will not face judgment. More recently, the church has devised another such class This class of people is supposedly comprised of all those who have made some sort of public profession of faith in Christ. They have responded in some public way to the gospel. They have identified themselves as those who have accepted Jesus into their hearts as Savior. And such a public profession has come to be thought of among many as excluding one from divine judgment. Well, the consistent teaching of the Bible regarding divine judgment crushes all of our supposed exemptions. And that becomes most apparent to us in the next chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, Romans chapter two. So if you would now open your Bibles to Romans chapter two. In Romans chapter two, Paul is writing particularly about one of these exceptional classes, the Jews. He's talking about their presumed exemption from divine judgment. Last week, we pondered Paul's accusation against the Jews in verse one of Romans two. Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. Now here the Apostle Paul engages in an imaginary confrontation with a make-believe opponent. He simply refers to him as old man, old man. This imaginary opponent represents a group or class of people who think in a very particular way. It's only as we come to the end of the chapter that we understand that Paul's disputation was aimed at the Jews. Well, the accusation that he brings in verse 1 concerns their brazen hypocrisy. The Jews habitually made scathing judgments against non-Jewish people. They criticize them for their idolatry. They criticize them for their lifestyle. They criticize them for their sexual habits. They criticize every part of their lives, the way the Gentiles lived. But Paul says in verse 1, all the while that you were making these scathing judgments about non-Jewish people, you are practicing the very same things. You're judging them and living like them. You're extremely alert, extremely sensitive to the sins of people unlike yourselves. And you're extremely tolerant of the same sins in your own life. Well, in this regard, we now come to verse two. In verse two, we find the apostle Paul making an affirmation concerning God. An affirmation concerning God. And this is the first point of this morning's study. Look at verse two, Romans chapter two, verse two. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth. against those who practice such things. First thing you'll note in verse two is that Paul is about to make an affirmation which he says everybody already knows, but we know. Now, who does he mean by the word we? We know. It's possible that Paul is referring here to a knowledge that is common and instinctive to all human beings through, again, general revelation, particularly general revelation contained in the human conscience. Everyone, everyone instinctively knows that there is a day of reckoning. Everybody knows that. Paul alluded to this in the last verse of chapter one. Talking about people who don't have Bibles, he said, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death. He's talking about people who don't have Bibles, and yet he says, they know that there is a righteous judgment from God. and that those who do the kinds of things he's just described are deserving of death. People know that without Bibles. Perhaps there's someone here this morning, you're not sure what you think about the Bible. Or perhaps to your everlasting harm, you have decided that the Bible is nothing more than a compilation of human writings. Well, I hope you haven't come to that. That's a terrible misjudgment. The Bible is the Word of God. But even if you decide to dismiss the Bible as the Word of God, in either case, my dear friend, you know, in your conscience, you know that there is a day of judgment. You know that. When you behave badly, Perhaps when you lose your cool and speak in anger to your wife, or to your children, or to your workmates, or when you tell a lie, when you speak an untruth, or when you engage in some private act of sexual sin in your imagination or actual deed, You know, there is something inside of you that says you'll answer for that. You will have to stand before God for that. You know that. We all know that. Paul's opening introduction to this affirmation could be a reference to a knowledge that dwells universally within the human soul. We know that there is a judgment. But there's also a possibility that Paul was now speaking of a more precise and particular knowledge that belonged to the Jews. Because the Jews had more than general revelation, more than conscience, they had the very word of God. They had God's word in the Old Testament. And one of the prevalent themes of God's word in the Old Testament is the coming of judgment. Turn to Psalm 9. This is just a very short and small sample of the kind of things that God said explicitly about his judgment. In Psalm 9, verse 7, but the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. Verse 16, The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. The knowledge of God brings with it a knowledge of judgment. It is my very strong opinion. that the hypotheses called evolution and evolutionary science. And it isn't hypotheses, it is a philosophy. It's not science, it's a philosophy. And it's very strongly my opinion that that philosophy has its roots in the determination to avoid a God who judges. If God made me, if God is, God will judge me. I prefer to think God isn't. I just happen. I'm a product of chance, not of an intelligent, divine, supernatural being. And therefore, I don't have to worry about standing before him. Well, every man knows that there is a God and every man knows there is a judgment. But the Jews knew it better than any because God spoke explicitly to them about his judgment. But more than those explicit statements, the Jews also possessed historical accounts of actual acts of judgment in time and space. The Jews knew about the flood. when God destroyed the whole earth and every inhabitant. except for one family as an act of judgment. The Jews knew about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Jews knew about Pharaoh and his army drowning in the Red Sea. They knew about the army of Sennacherib that God killed. They knew about the fall of the mighty Assyrians and the fall of the mightier Babylonians. They knew about the acts of judgment and time, which were precursors to a much greater and final judgment at the end of time, the Jews knew. So perhaps Paul was saying, we know with reference to all men, but it's more likely that he said, we know with reference to his Jewish friends. Well, what is the knowledge that Paul is affirming here in verse two? Well, look at it again. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth. against those who practice such things." That reference, such things, looks back to the end of Romans chapter one. You can read those verses again at the end of the chapter where Paul catalogs a whole list of iniquities. Paul's description of human history in the opening chapters of Romans goes like this. God speaks. Man rejects what God says and rejects God and creates imaginary gods and imaginary religions. Third, God judges man's impiety and ungodliness by giving idolaters over to their base instincts, removing from them the restraints of common grace. Fourth, people sink deeper and deeper into iniquity. They become increasingly perverted in their sexual practices and lust. They engage in various forms of hatred and violence, defying what they know in their consciences to be right. Fifth, God terminates them. Six, God brings them to final judgment. That sequence has happened again and again and again in the history of the world. It is the history of nations. Sadly, it's often the history of individuals. There are two things of which we can be absolutely certain. Number one, the rejection of God and the rejection of God's revelation always results in a worsening moral condition. It's always like that. When man rejects God's revelation, whether it's in nature or whether it's in the Bible, When man ceases to gain instruction from what God has said, his moral condition always worsens. Show a nation that has repudiated the knowledge of God, and I'll show you a nation that has been in a steady moral decline. It's a simple fact. Those people who reject the knowledge of God never get better. They never become more honest, more sexually pure, less violent, more peace loving. It doesn't happen. Rejecting divine revelation always results in a deterioration of morality. The second thing of which we can be sure, God knows all about it. God knows. God will judge according to what he knows to be the facts of the case. There is no place to hide from the all-seeing eye of God. People often seek solitude in darkness to perpetrate their evil. That is a futile thing to do if you think you're hiding from God. There are no alibis, there are no excuses that cover sin from God's sight. God always sees, God always knows. God is in every place beholding the good and the evil. Light and darkness are all the same to God. God is in every place God sees and God knows. Every vile deed, God knows. Every malicious and untrue word, God hears. Even more, God's knowledge penetrates to the secret chambers of the heart. When you have hated enough to want people dead, God knows. When you have lusted after someone, male or female, who is not yours, God knows. When you've wanted to cheat, and perhaps haven't, God knows. There's no possibility that your bad has been hidden from God. None. None. Sometimes you get caught and you have an alibi that will satisfy your parents or will satisfy your spouse. He won't satisfy God. He knows the truth. Well, I didn't intend it like that. God knows. God knows what you intended. Well, I never really thought it would end up. God knows what you wanted it to end up like. Can't hide. There's no possibility that God doesn't know every evil deed, every evil word, every evil thought. And his judgment, according to verse two, is according to what God knows to be true. And he knows everything. So Paul's message to the Jews and to others who consider themselves in a similar class of privilege and preference, Paul's message is God knows you as you really are. It doesn't matter how you see yourself, God knows and God judges and God's judgment is always accurate. God never misjudges, never. Well, the next portion of our text speaks to a fatal assumption in light of this. certainty about God, a fatal assumption. Look at verse three of Romans chapter two. And do you think this, O man, that's how Paul refers to his imaginary opponent, O man, do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, do you think that you will escape? The judgment of God. You who are sitting up on your high tower, thinking yourselves to be a member of a privileged class of human beings, exempted from the judgment of God, looking down on others, pointing out their faults while you do the same. Do you really think that you are going to escape the judgment of God? Is that what you think? This question was very much rhetorical on Paul's part. See, Paul knew very well that the people to whom he was speaking did think this way. This is what they thought. They thought that they belonged to a special category of human beings, a category exempt from divine judgment. These people thought themselves protected from divine judgment. Even if they did the same bad things as the others, they would not be judged because they belong to this company, this class of people. They were exempted. And this is what they thought. They thought God's covenant, God's covenant protects us. We are God's covenant people. We are members of Abraham's seed. We are a covenant nation. God's covenant protects us. We occupy the status of God's most highly favored people. Maybe you think that. Maybe you think that. Maybe you think that you belong to a class of people that God is so highly favored that you're exempted from divine judgment. Paul's message in this text is that that kind of thinking is utterly delusional. That's utter delusion. That is the height of presumption. That is a fatal mistake. Listen, there is no category of people like that. Let me digest what Paul is saying in verse 3 in very simple and straightforward terms. There is no status There is no covenant which protects people who practice evil from the righteous judgment of God. Do you hear that? It's amazing to me, I didn't hear any amens on that one. Let me repeat it. There is no status, there is no covenant which protects people who practice evil from the righteous judgment of God. You practice evil, you're exposed. You say, but I'm... I don't care who you say you are. You practice evil, you're exposed. Pastor, you can't mean that. What about those sinners who believe in Jesus Christ to save them? Aren't they protected from divine judgment? Surely they are. Well, indeed they are. Amen. Those who believe in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins are indeed protected. Now, it took an enormous work of God to protect them. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had to become man. He had to undergo divine judgment. He had to experience divine punishment in order that those who believe on him would never suffer that punishment. In order to save them from the wrath of God they deserve, he had to endure that wrath. But because he did, they are safe. Later in this same epistle, Paul will write those wonderful words, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. to be in Christ Jesus. That is language having to do with union with Christ that comes about through believing on Him. When people call upon Him, when people believe on Him to save them from their sins, the living Christ comes. He's everywhere present because He's God. He comes and joins Himself spiritually to those believing sinners. And in that union, He gives them His perfect righteousness, and He applies to them the sacrifice that He made for sin on the cross. He becomes their justification, and He becomes their redemption to everyone who believes. and because of the perfection of his life, and because of the worth of his substitutionary death, repentant sinners who believe on Jesus are forgiven all their sins, and they will not come into condemnation, but will have everlasting life. And whatever the experience of believers will be in the judgment, And to me that is a baffling thought because believers will stand before God and believers will answer to God. But whatever the experience of believers will be in the final day of judgment, it will not result in their damnation. They are safe. Well, if that's true, why did I say that there is no status no covenant which protects people who practice evil from the righteous judgment of God. Why did I say that? Isn't that a contradiction? No. It's not a contradiction at all. Listen closely to what I'm saying. There is no status There is no divine covenant which protects people who practice evil from the certainty of divine judgment. Beloved, those who believe on Jesus to save them from their sins, those people no longer practice evil. They can't. Part of the saving work of Christ is a deliverance from the practice of evil. The people who are joined to Christ are not evildoers. They are not practicing evil. And those who are practicing evil, no matter what category they see themselves as belonging to, are not safe. There isn't a category of safety for people who practice evil. You see, that's what Paul is saying to the Jews. We are Abraham's seed. We are the descendants of Abraham. God said he would be our God. We would be his people. We belong to an exempt class. And Paul says, don't you understand that the judgment of God is sure on everyone who practices such things? And if you think that you belong to an excluded class of people, you couldn't be farther from the truth. Please turn to 1 John 3. We are drawing some fine lines. These lines must be drawn. And there is a great fear that I have that in the resurgence of the gospel among Reformed people, these lines are being blurred. And in our enthusiasm to get people into Christ, we may be omitting a very real and indispensable part of the saving work of Jesus Christ for His people. Namely, that He really does save them from their sinning. not just from their sins in the past, not just from the filth, defilement, contamination, and guilt of their sins in the past. He saves them from their sinning from the day they believe until the day they die. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 10 verses speak to this issue. We don't have time to deal with all 10. Look at verse four and verse five. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he, Jesus Christ, was manifested, he was revealed out of heaven in human form to take away our sins. And in him, there is no sin. Now note, know what John says, Jesus Christ, God's eternal son was manifested in time and space. He came as a man so that he might take away, remove sin. Verse six. Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. That is what he says. Whoever abides in Christ, whoever is united savingly to Jesus does not sin. The English Standard Version is a much better, more accurate rendering. The English Standard Version reads, listen, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. Go down to verse eight. He who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Again, the English Standard Version reads, whoever makes a practice of sinning, did you get that? Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. You see what John is saying? All those who are practicing sin remain in spiritual bondage with Satan as their master. Those who are practicing sin are not in union with Christ. They are not under the Lordship of Christ. They're under the headship of Satan. They're held captive. They are still bound by his deceptive grip, which brings about habits of sin. Look at verse nine. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed, God's seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. Now that's very troubling. The English Standard Version is much more accurate. No one born of God, listen, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Jesus Christ imparts new life. to all who believe on him. And one very distinct and predictable quality of this new life is freedom from the blinding, enslaving power of sin. Christ sets the captive free. He frees him from bondage to sin. Satan can no longer deceive him. The lie. You can't help it. You have to do this sin. You've always done this sin. You can't escape it. It's a lie. And Jesus Christ dispels the lie. And he says to those who believe on him, you don't have to do that ever again. Trust me, I will give you power to overcome that sin. He sets the captive free. Now, is John saying that Christians no longer sin? Is that what he's saying? That once you become a Christian, your days of sinning are over? No, he doesn't say that at all. Earlier in this epistle, he has spoken to the reality, even the inevitability of the believer sinning. Go back to chapter one. And look at these familiar texts. Now, it's very wrong to camp out in chapter 1 and just ignore chapter 3. That's very wrong, and that's what a lot of people do. They don't know anything about the first 10 verses of chapter 3. They know a lot about the first 10 verses of chapter 1. Well, that's wrong. But it would be equally wrong to camp out in chapter 3. and ignore chapter one. Look at what Paul writes, or John writes, in chapter one, verses eight and nine. But if we, and we are those who have fellowship with God, But if we who have fellowship with God say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we who have fellowship with God confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now look at verse one of chapter two. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the legal satisfaction, the propitiation for our sins. Christians do sin. Christians do still commit sin after they're joined to Christ. They do commit sin, but, and this is a very important but, they cannot and they will not go on practicing sin. Well, what's the difference? What's the difference between committing sin and practicing sin? I mean, isn't that double talk? Well, let me try to explain the difference. When the person who believes in Jesus Christ sins knowingly, it is a big deal in his personal experience. No Christian commits knowing sin and just says, ah, did it again. Boy, I guess I should stop. Oh no. When the believer sins, it is a big deal in his experience. He has his conscience who says, you shouldn't have done that, but more than that, he's got the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit speaks through the microphone of conscience and turns up the volume about 10 times. And the Holy Spirit says through the believer's conscience, you really shouldn't have done that. That was inexcusable. That was wicked. And the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit makes the believer feel miserable on account of his sin. He causes him to feel the disappointment of his savior with respect to his sin. He makes him feel that he has lost a measure of intimacy with God because of his sin. He causes him to feel that there is a distance that wasn't there before between himself and God and the blessing of God. He's lost something because of his sin. He's lost the sense of God's smile because of his sin. And then, on top of that, there's this feeling of shame. I've sinned against the one who loved me. and gave himself for me. How could I have done that? And perhaps I have brought reproach on his name because others have been affected by my sin. Sin in the life of someone joined to Jesus is a big deal. The Holy Spirit makes a big deal. But sometimes Christians don't listen. And they try to go on and they try to make excuses and coverings for their sins. Well, then the Holy Spirit turns up his conviction. It becomes more acute and more penetrating. In addition, God may send outside voices. God may come through a friend who says, I perceive something is wrong with you. Or God may come through a sermon. And the Christian who is sinning comes to a meeting like this, and a sermon is preached, and it's as if the preacher is talking directly to the sinning believer. He even thinks that the preacher knows what he's done, and he's trying to figure out, how did he know? How did he learn? The preacher doesn't know a thing. It's the spirit of God zeroing in on his sin. And if he continues, God may chasten him. God may bring providential affliction and trouble into his life. But the point is this, Jesus, are you listening? Jesus will not allow one of his bought, bought lambs to re-entrench themselves into the practice of any sin. He won't. Now that doesn't mean that delivering him will be easy. It won't be as easy as saying, Jesus, deliver me. Sometimes it's like plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand, but Jesus will stay with it until the Christian stops his sin. Now that sin may be revisited in a day or two. I'm of the firm conviction that some sins, some sins are part of our genetic code. I think there are sins to which we are inclined genetically. They're still sins and Jesus died for them and his grace is greater than they are. And he saves us even from the sins to which we are more prone. It's not that way. with a person who's not savingly, spiritually connected to Jesus Christ. Sin comes more easily, more freely, more repeatedly. When the non-Christian sins, he still feels the pinch of conscience. Every man has a conscience. But the non-Christian has learned how to deal with his conscience. He's learned how to ignore it. He's learned how to beat his conscience into silence by his rationalizations. He has learned how to excuse his sins. He makes coverings and he satisfies himself with my coverings. And most often it goes like this, I wouldn't be doing this if people didn't treat me so badly. It's not really my fault, it's their fault. It's what my spouse is doing to me that makes me like this. It's not my fault, it's theirs. I've actually heard people say this, I lust because I am a normal, healthy human being. Normal, healthy human beings lust and they engage in all kinds of sex because that's part of being human. I'm just human. Sometimes people say, yeah, I did get angry and I did speak harshly. But God made me full of spunk. Nobody pushes me around. Somebody crosses me, I'm gonna fight for what's mine. I'm not a slanderer. I just call it the way I see it. And if I think a man is a bad man, I just say it. If I think he's a cheater, I say he's a cheater. I just call it the way it is. I'm not lazy. I just have a poor self-image. And when I go out, people criticize my work, so I don't work anymore. I have a poor self-image. And on and on and on it goes. And parents, let me tell you something. If you want to help send your children to hell, you make excuses for their sins. Well, my child's like that. He's not really a bad child. He just has this problem. And that problem will send him to hell if Jesus doesn't save him. You're much better to say, son, I know it's hard for you to do right, but sin is against God and you need to trust Jesus to deliver you. Those who don't have Christ practice sin. They don't love God, they don't really feel they have to. They don't love their neighbor, they don't really think their neighbor deserves it. They practice sin continually. Sin is the vein of their lives. Sin is just the natural man doing what the natural man wants to do. The Christian, by God's grace, doesn't want to sin. And he sins, but it's not what he wants to do. He wants to stop sinning. Now here's a very sad and frightening fact. There are professing Christians who still practice sin, and they think themselves exempt from judgment. I belong to this class of people who are saved. I'm in this class, and yes, I still go on sinning, but no jeopardy for me, because I belong to this class of people. Beloved, I say again, there is no class and there is no covenant that protects people who practice sin from the judgment of God. Those people, and bless God there are millions of them, that Jesus forgives and justifies and sets free from all condemnation, those people Jesus also changes. And the change is real. He plants a principle of new life, a principle of grace within their souls that makes it impossible. I would, to God, it would make it impossible for us to sin, it doesn't, but it makes it impossible to love sin or to tolerate sin. The Christian sins. He sins, and he sins, and he sins, and he weeps, and he sins, but he's never at peace with his sin. He never calls it something else. It's always a burden. And he continually goes to Christ, and he fights it, and by the grace of Jesus, he overcomes. Tomorrow he may fall again. But he'll go back to Jesus, and he'll be cleansed and forgiven, and he'll overcome. That's the life of the Christian. Beloved, none of us are safe from the judgment of God until we are saved from the practice of sin. Do you hear that? That's part of the gospel, I'm afraid, is not being preached. today. No one is safe from the judgment of God until they are delivered from the practice of sin. I'm not going to ask you what class you belong to, what status you think you have. That really doesn't matter. Have you been to Jesus that He would forgive you and wash you and change you so that you would not go on doing sin. If you haven't, that's what you need to do. You need to go to Christ and ask Him, save me from my sinning. He will. He will. I want to end this morning's worship service by singing a hymn. If you'll take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 431. I suspect that some of you need to have dealings with Christ. I really do. I may be wrong. But I suspect that some of you, even some of you who profess faith, and maybe some of you who are members of this church, need to have dealings with Jesus because you're still the bond slaves of sin. And if that's true, I plead with you. Don't keep on making excuses. Don't say it's because I'm an alpha male. It's because you're a sinner, and your sin will destroy you if Jesus doesn't deliver you from it. This hymn is a marvelous encouragement for people like you and me to go to Jesus. I want us to sing verses 1, 4, 5, and 6. Verses 1, 4, 5, and 6. And let this text train you in going to Jesus in your heart. And if you seek him in your heart, he will find you. Let's stand, sing, and after we have sung verse six, with the amen, I'll close in prayer. Father, Father if, if Mr. Camping had been right, If Jesus had come yesterday, it very well might have meant that there are people here this morning who would have been cut off from all hope. And for their sakes, we're glad that Jesus didn't come and that they have had this opportunity to hear the gospel. Now, Father, we plead with you, you alone who can save, that you will turn the hearts of those who are perishing away from their sins and to Christ. Make sin to appear to them something of the same way it appears to you. May it become intolerable to their souls. May their lies become obnoxious. May their lust stink in their own nostrils. Make them to hate sin and to love Jesus because He saves from sin. Father, don't let anyone here perish because they are practicing sin. Glorify Christ by saving sinners. We pray in his name. Amen.