Condemnation According to Jesus Christ

Romans chapter 2. I'm going to read starting at verse 5 and go down through verse 16. Starting at verse 5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasure up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render every man according to his deeds." Now, listen carefully to what it's saying, because we had a lot of questions last week with respect to this.

So at this, at the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God, God's going to render every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But unto 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 does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man that works good to the Jew first and also to the Greek. there is no respect of persons with God.

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. For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, who 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.

Last week, as Jim was teaching, he was going to go down through verse 11. He got to verse 7. To them who by patient, continuous, and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. We talked after class in terms of, well, what should we do? And I said, well, Jim, why don't you continue this week? He said, well, why don't you summarize it for this week? I said, yeah, thanks. So anyhow, we're going to try and summarize that and also look at two of these difficult passages. So this is what we're going to do.

Look at verse 2 and 7. 2, verses 7 and 13, which are very difficult passages. And then look at verses 1 through 16 from Paul's perspective. In other words, what was Paul's perspective of all of this that he was given by the Holy Spirit? And then look at the big picture in terms of So we're trying to get through this today. We may not, but we're going to try. So let's look at the difficult passages first. The first one is verse 7. It says, So the question is, what does this appear to be saying? Salvation comes how? in terms of this passage. What does it look like? Good works, right? It appears that, boy, you do the good works and you're going to be saved.

So that's what it appears. Then in verse 13, It says, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the Lord shall be justified. Shall be justified means declared righteous. So what does this appear to be saying? Same thing. You can be saved by just living the law, right? Obeying the law. So, as I put a note here, that these interpretations are contradictory. In other words, if you interpret that a person can be saved by good works or a person can be justified by the law, okay, they're contradictory to the rest of scripture. And we understand that. So, how do we resolve? How do we resolve the contradiction? So, let's review. First of all, what Scripture says about good works and about the law. So, salvation by works.

We look at Ephesians 2.8 and 2.9. It says, for by grace, how? You're what by grace? Saved by grace. Through what? Faith.

And not that of yourselves, as a gift of God. Look what it says. not of works. Salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. And then in Romans 11-6, it says, but if it's by grace, then it's no longer on the basis of works. So grace and works are diametrically opposed. Otherwise, grace no longer becomes grace. It's interesting. This little verb here, become, is genomai, come into a new state of being. So it no longer comes into a state of being, of grace.

Then there's justification by law. And there's two passages of scriptures here. It says, nevertheless, in Galatians 2.16, nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by works. Isn't that very clear? it is very clear by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law since by the works of the law shall no flesh be what justified so there is no justification by the law and then in Galatians 321 Paul asked a question Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be.

For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law." So, if you could obtain righteousness, and notice in the passage that life and righteousness are synonymous, they go together, If you have life, you have righteousness. If you have righteousness, you have life. But it's not based on the law.

But it's only through faith. Okay, so the conclusion is a person is saved and justified or declared righteous by faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Old Testament, New Testament. from Adam to the last person on earth at the end of the millennium.

Because in Acts 4.12 it says this, neither is there salvation in any other, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Only through Christ, not through the works of the law, Not through any good works on the part of man.

Okay, so the question is, that came up last week, so we said, well, how do we resolve this? And we said, well, one way we can resolve it is that this is just a hypothetical statement. that Paul is making in both verse 7 and in verse 13. Do you have a new Schofield reference Bible? I just happened this week to look at my notes in the new Schofield reference Bible and it says In verses 7 and 13, the cases are hypothetical. Paul is not teaching the possibility of salvation by works, while I agree with that, but are these verses hypothetical? Is this a hypothetical situation? So the question you have to ask is this, does the context surrounding verse 2 verses 7 and 13, do they sound hypothetical? Is this a whole hypothetical situation?

Because look, go back to verse 5, when it talks about that people are treasuring their breath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, and look at verse 6. Whenever this is, whenever God's wrath is going to be poured out on man, whenever there's this righteous judgment by God, look at what's going to happen. Who? Who will render or recompense every man according to his deeds? Okay, that would have to be hypothetical also. So it's talking about this day of wrath, it's talking about the righteous judgment of God, Who and God is going to render or pay back or recompense every man according to his deeds. So then in verse 7 and verse 8 is what is called a men de construction. Men means verse 7 is on the one hand is this and verse 8 is the de part which is But on the other hand is this.

So you can translate that. Okay. When this happens, on the one hand, to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But on the other hand, to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.

If you're going to say verse 7 is hypothetical, then you're going to have to say verse 8 is hypothetical, because verse 7 and verse 8 go together by construction. On the one hand, this, and on the other hand, this. You see the point? So you have to say both are hypothetical. So here's the question.

Is it possible that these verses are not hypothetical and Christ will really judge man's works? He'll be judging man according to his works. What do you think? The unbelieving world, yes. How about the believing world? that there's going to be a judgment where believers and unbelievers are going to be judged by their works.

Of course, Bob? anyway, in the 1 Corinthians 3 teaching, we know that believers are judged for their works, too. The things are not of Christ's bone, right? So, in a sense, yes, but no. I mean, in terms of eternal salvation, absolutely not. In terms of eternal salvation.

Okay. He's judging the work, but not judging the believer. Okay. All right. Good. What else could it be? Any others? Well, we know that he's given us good works to do. We don't know what they are. We judge by faith. Notice, observe what we're doing. We're assuming that these people are us, the church. Right? That's kind of what we're assuming as we have this discussion. So, let's go on.

So, I think it is possible, not only do I think it's possible, but it's going to happen, that God is going to judge evil works which are going to be out from self and unbelief, and He's going to be judging good works which are out from the Holy Spirit, because of one's faith in Christ, which Jim pointed out last week.

But it appears that salvation is coming by the works, when it isn't. It's just that the works represent the source of where the works are coming from, of one's faith in Christ. So as we look at this, I think there's nothing in the context to indicate that these are hypothetical statements. And there's a problem if you say verse 7 is a hypothetical statement, because then verse 8 also must be hypothetical, and verse 6 is also hypothetical. So therefore, as we proceed from this point on, let's consider that this judgment or judgments are real. They're really going to happen.

So the question then is, where and when do these events in Romans 2, verses 1 through 16 occur? And what is Paul's perspective on the where and when these events in verses 1 through 16 occur? Paul is writing this under the direction of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is revealing the truth to Paul. What is Paul's perspective about all of this and where and when it's going to happen? So, what we're going to do is go through a little bit slowly Paul's perspective.

And we'll start out with just looking at a basic timeline from dispensational theology. So we start out with the basic timeline, where we have the cross and the resurrection. Pentecost, the start of the church, is about 2930 AD. And we have the church, and then following the church, There's going to be the seven-year tribulation period.

Following that is going to be the Millennial Kingdom, which is a thousand years. Then, by the way, I should say that Paul understood that the Tribulation and the Millennial Kingdom is the Day of the Wood. Someone asked a question last week, did Paul understand all of this timeline? He sure did.

Because in 1 Thessalonians 5, he says, the day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. And a thief comes how? A thief doesn't come and knock at your door, does he? He comes unexpectedly, unannounced. And so, the day of the Lord, and what's going to happen at the first event on the day of the Lord? Okay, so, the rapture. is going to occur. And that's going to come like a thief in the night. Unexpected.

And then the seven-year tribulation where God is going to pour out His wrath upon this earth and upon people on this earth. So then at the end of the tribulation period we have Christ's second coming. Now you can consider his coming here at the rapture, his coming for his saints, and then his coming with his saints at the end of the tribulation period. Okay, now, so what happens in between? Well, in between the rapture and his second coming is the tribulation period. And it's talked about in the Old Testament, it's talked about in the New Testament. In fact, from Revelation 6 to Revelation 19 talks about this tribulation period. Then also, which was brought up last week and Bob just mentioned this morning, is the judgment seat of Christ. So simultaneously, while the tribulation is going on here on earth, that in heaven there's going to be a judgment of believers.

But as we pointed out last week, it's Bema and it's a raised platform. And a raised platform could be used for anything. It could be used for judging, but it could also be used for rewards. And as you go through the passages in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and 2 Corinthians 5-10, which Bob mentioned this morning, and even in Romans 14, you find that the Vema, that this judgment, that the focus of this judgment is on rewards, on rewards of believers' works, the works that Christ performed, the Holy Spirit performed through these believers.

So there's a... then at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is going to be the Great White Throne Judgment, where all of the dead will be resurrected. All of the dead, from the beginning of creation on, will be raised and will be judged. And the books are going to be opened. And these are the unbelieving dead. The books will be opened, and they're going to be judged out of the books.

And this is going to be the book of life, and I personally think in the book of life that God is going to show everyone that appears before this great white throne judgment that his or her name has been blotted out and when it says because as you go through scripture I don't find anybody's name written in the book of life I think personally everybody's name is written in the book of life before the foundation of the world. And as time goes on, and people do not believe, and they die in unbelief, that their name is blotted out of the Book of Life. In the meantime, God is not willing that one should perish, that one name should be blotted out of that Book of Life. So the ones appearing before this great white throne are those whose names have been blotted out of the Book of Life. OK. Any questions so far? We want to go through this methodically here. OK. Now, what's Paul's perspective on how verses 7 and 14 fit into this big picture? No, I did not. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

When Christ comes at his second advent, there's going to be that judgment of the nations where he comes and he's going to gather all the nations and separate them. And as you go through Matthew 25 verses 31 through 46, you find that there are three groups of people. There are the ones on his right hand called the sheep, and the ones on his left hand called the goats, and there's ones in front of him called his brethren. And he says to the ones on the right hand, come enter into the kingdom which has been prepared for you. Come enter into this millennial kingdom which has been prepared for you. And he tells him the reason why.

Because when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was in prison, you visited me. When I was naked, you clothed me. What does that sound like? Works. Works. come into the camp, and they say to him, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or naked?

And his response is this, as you have done it to one of the least of these, my brethren, and who do you think the brethren are? The Jews. His brethren. And remember, going into this tribulation period, God seals 144,000 Jews. He seals them. How they become believers, Scripture doesn't say. But they're sealed. And they go out witnessing to the entire world. Did you ever run into a believing Jew? Every believing Jew I've met is on fire for the Lord. Enthusiastic about the Lord. And just think about 144,000 of them during this Tribulation period.

So anyhow, then he says to the ones on his left hand, depart from me into everlasting hell. And they go directly to hell. Because when I was in prison, he didn't visit me. When I was thirsty, he didn't give me a drink, etc, etc, etc. And they say to him, but Lord, we never saw you that thirst or hungry or whatever. And his answer is the same. His response is the same.

For as much as you've done it unto one of these, the least of my brethren, you've done it unto me. So, judgment by how? It sounds like it's works, doesn't it? But where do you think the works come from, from those on his right hand? His love. Okay. They come out from faith. They come out because they have trusted, they have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Okay.

What did we just look at in Ephesians 2.8 and 2.9? For by what are you saved? For by grace are you saved, not that of yourself, right? Grace through faith, not that of yourself. Gift of God, not of works. Right? A lot of works. So we know that those works, if they're going into eternal life, we know that they had to have it to begin with. Right? Bob?

How about the Old Testament believer on your timeline? The Old Testament believer on the timeline? What do you want me to put them? Let's talk about Old Testament believers, Old Testament saints. Let's go way back here. How were they saved? By faith. By faith in what? Because faith has to have an object. Right? Okay, what God has revealed, and what has God revealed? Okay, and God has revealed the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ way back in the Old Testament. Way back in Genesis chapter 3. Way back in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam sinned.

There was a promise of a seed. It was way back there, the promise of the seed. And that promise then developed as, in terms of progressive revelation, in terms of time. And then we know through Abraham, right? Abraham was promised a seed. And who was that seed?

As we get to Galatians 3.16, it tells us that seed was the Lord Jesus Christ. So, did Abraham understand his seed was the Lord Jesus Christ?

I think he did. Read Genesis chapter 18. Abraham spends a day, one whole day, with the Lord Jesus Christ. pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in human form before his incarnation as a baby. He appeared. And one of those appearances is in Genesis chapter 18. Wonderful story. Okay. So now, Bob's question. Old Testament saints? Like here? Or here? Here. Okay.

Let's put that on hold, because we'll get there. And if I don't get there, remind me, okay? In terms of Old Testament saints. Now, when did Paul think, in Paul's perspective, When did he think this rapture was going to occur? Imminently. How do we know that? Turn to 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 4. This is a key. This is a key to understanding verse 7 and verse 14.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, Paul says this, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep. in terms of those believers who have died in Christ. And that word, sleep, there is a very soft term for death, for death of believers. It's a very soft term. That you saw or not, even as others who have no hope. So these are ones that have hope. They're asleep in Christ. There's hope. What's the hope? For if we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again, even so them who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord." Now listen to what he says. That we... Excuse me for one second. Okay. Back to verse 15. That we, who's the we? Believers? Including himself. Including himself. Now listen to what he says. That we, including me, Paul, right?

Who are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them who are asleep." Those who died in Christ. So, we're talking about we. What's going to happen with the we who are alive? Verse 16, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then, who? then we, including Paul, who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds." Paul is going to be right there with them. The rapture is imminent. And Paul is saying, Lord, why are you waiting so long? First missionary journey, second missionary journey, third missionary journey.

So we'll be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And shall we ever be with the Lord? Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Now turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Paul expecting the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 51. It says this.

Behold, I show you a mystery. A mystery is what? When you see mystery in scripture, It means what? Something not revealed. OK. So this is something that hasn't been revealed. He says, behold, I show you a mystery, something that has never been revealed. And look what it says.

We shall not all sleep. Paul includes himself. We shall not all die in the Lord. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. And he describes that change in verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trump, for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

OK? Got the picture? Paul anticipated the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? He expects this rapture to occur during his lifetime. Right? Key to understanding this whole passage in Romans 2. So, let's put Paul on the chart here. So, here's Paul's life.

On the road to Damascus in about 44 AD, Paul is visited by the Lord. He becomes a believer. Soon after that, he's out in the desert for three years with the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ. And the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ is giving Paul the gospel, teaching him all that he's written in his 13 epistles here. And so Paul spends three years in the desert. He comes back, and he goes on to his missionary journeys, his first, second, and third missionary journeys. And he's taught about this imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's expecting it to happen during his lifetime. So the church is going to be very short. It's only going to be... Now, I put dates in here. And the reason I put dates in here, just to make this real, 57 AD is at the end of his third missionary journey. And I think by then, Paul is saying, Lord, you know, It's been three missionary journeys. I mean, you're coming. He's expecting the Lord Jesus Christ to return. And so I put that date down as a bogus date. But look, Paul expected the church to last 27 years or thereabouts. The church to be a very short period of time. It's been 2,000, almost 2,000.

But think of Paul's perspective now, in this passage, that he's expecting the Rapture to occur, and he's expecting, and we'll put it on the chart now, the Day of Wrath, and he knows that the Day of Wrath is the Tribulation period, and so in Romans 2, 5-16, you are here.

Okay? You're here with Paul. Think of yourself with Paul, expecting this imminent return of Christ, and following that is this day of wrath. Right? So it's for all of these people who are alive at the time that Paul is living. Okay? Is that okay so far? Does that help? Okay. Then he says that you're stirring up wrath for the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

And so then you look at all the judgments of God and there are two. The judgment of the nations and the great white throne judgment. And so this righteous judgment of God is either you're here or you're here. And Paul expected this, you know, seven years after he was raptured. He expected the Lord to come at his second coming and he was going to come with him and he would be there. at this judgment of the nations. He understood that. So now, here's the judgment of the nations, this righteous judgment of God.

And so when you get back to the text, and it talks about that people are stirring up wrath against the day of wrath, wrath against the day of wrath, which is here, which is just after he departs with the Lord at the rapture, right? And the righteous judgment of God, which would be seven years after he has been raptured, right? Does this... I don't see many heads nodding or shaking their heads.

So did you just say that the Day of Wrath and the Righteous Judgment of God could be the same thing? Yeah, I think Wrath, the Day of Wrath, and the revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God. So God's Wrath is... the word Wrath there is the word Orgain Greek and it simply means a settled attitude of anger, that God has a settled attitude of anger against sin. And so it's wrath, whether it's here or here, it's God's settled attitude of anger against sin. And what do you think the real sin is? Do you think there's any one particular sin that stirs up God's wrath?

Not believing. So if you go back to John chapter 16, when the Lord Jesus Christ promises the Holy Spirit, and says when the Holy Spirit is going to come, He's going to convict the world of what? Of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. And He goes on to say in verse 9, of sin, because what? They believe not on me. So the issue today is not sins because they've been paid for. The issue today is God's son. What are you doing with my son? Do you believe on my son? So far, okay?

I wouldn't count the Bema Seat as one of the righteous judgments of God for this reason. that the purpose, the focus of the Bema Seat is rewards. And certainly there's a judging of works of the wood, hay stubble, and the gold, silver, precious stones. There is that sorting out, but the focus is On the other side of the fire, going into the fire, the wood is believers, all of our wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, precious stones going into the fire. But I think we're standing on the other side of the fire with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we have no idea. I don't think we're there for Him to show us. Look at that work. You were witnessing in the flesh there, and that's wood, and that's not going to come out of the fire. I don't think the focus is going to be on our evil works or bad works.

We're on the other side of the fire with the Lord, and coming out of that fire is the gold, silver, precious stones, the work that He accomplished through us as a vessel. And just simply through our faith and abiding in Him, this is what He accomplished coming out of that fire. And I think the focus is going to be there. And I think the reward as you go through these passages of Scripture is our capacity to glorify Him.

The words that are used in these passages, like the one word is that we all should give an account. The word account is ex-hamalageo. And ex-hamalageo is the word that we use, we see in 1 John 1, 9 for sin, to confess. Confess our sins. But this word in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 is ex-hamalageo. to confess from in, out, and from within, out, and it's one of praise, one of praise and honor and glory. And I think that's what the reward is, the capacity to glorify Him because of what He's done, utilizing us as a vessel. It's more of the focus is rewards as opposed to judgment. Okay. Okay. Clear as a bell.

So do you understand now that the works here, he's talking in verses In verse 13, when he's talking about the works, man's good works, the works of the law, he's talking about the works that are going to be judged at the judgment of the nations. How you treated these, my brethren, you treated them either out from faith or out from unbelief. It's very much, did we get a bill yet? We did, one bill. One bill? Okay. I want to go on in terms of looking at overview and maybe I'm not going to have enough time, but maybe I'll do this next week because, but I really want to entertain any questions.

Old Testament Saint does not appear here at this Judgment of the Nations because at the Judgment of the Nations it's all living people, right? all living people. Old Testament saints will be resurrected at Christ's second coming, and they'll be with Him and rule and reign with Him for that 1,000 years. So there is no judgment, if you will, on Old Testament saints. Old Testament saints will be raised at His second coming, at the end of the Tribulation period.

There's no judgment. Let's close. Our Father, we are just so thankful for your word, and we thank you that you use it for our growth. And Father, we just pray that for each and everyone here, and myself included, in terms of Christ being formed in us and coming to know Him and the power of His resurrection in our moment-by-moment walk with Him. And Father, as that occurs, our prayer is that we would be used as your vessel in knowing, Father God, that your purpose in each and every one of our lives is that we be an epistle, a message of Christ being manifested, being made known to everyone that we come in contact with. And so we pray, Lord, that others who do not know Christ would ask us about the hope that's within us and we can give them an answer to your honor and to your glory. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.