00:00 Introduction to Romans Chapter Two

01:56 Facing God's Judgment

03:01 Understanding God's Just Judgment

04:25 Two Categories of Judgment

09:14 The Reality of God's Wrath

11:11 Christians and Accountability

15:45 No Favoritism in God's Judgment

19:20 Assumptions About God's Favoritism

21:10 God's Impartial Judgment

24:09 The Fate of Those Who Haven't Heard the Gospel

33:34 Universal Sin and God's Mercy

36:29 The Gospel: Mercy and Grace

Romans two.

2

We're continuing on in Romans chapter two.

3

So something that, um, I

went, I went to school to, uh.

4

To do pastor stuff.

5

And, uh, one of the things that I, I took

a class on how to preach a sermon and,

6

uh, one of these classes actually Pastor

PJ was, was helping teach this class.

7

And we did these things, they

call them sermon reviews.

8

And in a sermon review, what you

do is you sit down with like.

9

One of the pastors, so like, it'd be,

it was like me and Pastor pj, and we

10

sit down and we just watch one of my

sermons, and this is like one of the most

11

awkward, painful things you can imagine.

12

Like, imagine watching a video

of like, like you, have you

13

done a presentation at school?

14

Or like, something like that.

15

Imagine someone sits down with you and

you guys watch that presentation together

16

and they're like, why'd you say that?

17

Why'd you do that?

18

Wait, what?

19

How did you, how did you make that point?

20

What was that?

21

Why'd you say that?

22

So I was, I was doing this, this sermon

review with Pastor PJ and he pauses

23

it three seconds into my sermon and he

goes, what's wrong with this picture?

24

I was like, what?

25

What?

26

It's been three seconds and I'm

already doing something wrong.

27

It was crazy.

28

So the prob, there was a lanyard in

my pocket and it was like hanging.

29

And apparently it was distracting.

30

So if you notice, I never have anything

in my front pockets when I preach

31

anymore, because I'm scarred for life

from that moment because I'm scared

32

that he's gonna watch the sermon

and be like, what are you doing?

33

Why do you have something in your pocket?

34

So anyway.

35

But sermon review was scary, right?

36

Sitting down with, with pastor pj.

37

Imagine if you had to sit down with,

with like your teacher, or maybe

38

if you're, you play a sport, right?

39

You watch film, like imagine you

watching film of, of your swing

40

or, or of your concert with someone

who's like a professional, right?

41

Someone who's really good at their

job and they're gonna evaluate you.

42

They're gonna be like, all

right, why'd you do that?

43

What was that for?

44

How'd you do that?

45

That wasn't very good, right?

46

What if you did that with someone

that was really good at their job?

47

That's what happened to me.

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And see, here's the thing, is every

single one of you and every single one

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of us, like me, myself, included, one

day, every single one of us is gonna

50

sit down before God and he's going to

judge us according to what we've done.

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He's, we, we are gonna be accountable

to God for everything We've done,

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everything we've thought, right?

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Imagine all of the things you ever

thought, all the things you ever

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said, all the things you ever felt.

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You are gonna have to

give an answer to God.

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Why'd you do that?

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Why'd you think that?

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Why'd you say that?

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Why'd you feel that you're

gonna be accountable to God

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for all of those things?

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God is going to judge every

single one of us one day when you,

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when you meet him face to face.

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And that is either gonna go really well

or, or really bad for, for some of you.

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So our main point tonight is that God

gives people exactly what they deserve.

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God gives people exactly what they

deserve, not more and not less.

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So turn your Bibles to Romans chapter

two if you're not there already.

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And look with me, we're gonna be looking

at verses six all the way down to 16.

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All right, so let's

start here in verse six.

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God says, or the apostle Paul's

writing this letter, he says, God will

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render to each person, he'll give to

each person according to his works.

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So God will give proportionately

to someone's works.

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He'll judge people based on their works.

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Verse seven, to those who by patience

and well doing, seek for glory and honor

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and immortality, he'll give eternal life.

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So that will go really

well for them, verse eight.

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But for those who are self-seeking

and do not obey the truth,

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but obey unrighteousness.

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So if you're selfish, if

you're obeying unrighteousness,

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there will be wrath and fury.

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God's white hot anger towards sin.

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We talked about that a

few weeks ago, right?

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And then he goes on to say

some of the same things.

83

Verse nine.

84

There'll be tribulation and distress

for every human being who does evil.

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The Jew first and also the Greek, right?

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The people who don't have

God's word at this time.

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But verse 10, glory and honor.

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And peace for everyone who does good.

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The Jew first and also the Greek.

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We'll talk more about what that means.

91

Verse 11.

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For God shows no partiality, right?

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God is a good judge.

94

God gives people exactly

what they deserve.

95

He doesn't show favoritism.

96

This paragraph right here

really only shows two outcomes

97

of this judgment, right?

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There's only two categories

of people, right?

99

Look, look with me at these verses here.

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God's gonna judge every single person

according to their works, right?

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One category, I'm scared to erase this.

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Will I get in trouble if I erase it?

103

Okay.

104

Verse seven.

105

There's one category, right?

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People who get judged and

it goes well for them.

107

People who get judged,

they get eternal life.

108

Another category of person

who are self-seeking, there's

109

gonna be wrath and fury.

110

There's really only two categories.

111

There's only two outcomes

of this test, if you will.

112

This is pass fail, right?

113

This isn't 80%, 90%, 70%, 60%.

114

This is pass fail.

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It's one or the other.

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Those are the only, only ways

this is gonna go for you.

117

There's not, well, I'm, maybe I'll

just get some of, some of the good

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stuff and some of the bad stuff.

119

Right.

120

Or maybe, well, I'm not that bad of a

person, so maybe it'll, it won't be,

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maybe it'll just be like, I don't know.

122

Some consequences, but

not like wrath and fury.

123

Right?

124

Or, well, I'm not a great person, so

I'll just get some good stuff from God.

125

No, it, it is only gonna

go one of two ways.

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It's a hundred percent or 0%.

127

You're in one of these two categories

tonight, right now, if you died,

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you would end up in one of these two

categories, eternal Life or God's Wrath.

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And I hope you know which one you're in,

and I hope you know if you're in this

130

one, that you're in a dangerous spot.

131

So I want you to be thinking about this.

132

I want you to, to really be

thinking, okay, one day I'm going

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to stand before God, and one

of two things is gonna happen.

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I am going to have the best

day of my life, or I'm gonna

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have the worst day of my life.

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I'm gonna either spend forever

enjoying God and and his glory,

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or I'm gonna spend forever hating

everything about what's going on.

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There's only two options here.

139

And if you thought about that, man,

I'm gonna stand before God one day

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and this is what's gonna happen.

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In.

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I think that would change a lot about

what you did and what you thought.

143

And I know that would be the same for me.

144

So ignore this slide.

145

But my first point tonight is

to think about God's judgment.

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Often.

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Often I think that would change a

lot about us, about what we did,

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about what we thought was important,

about what we thought was good

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for us, the decisions we make, the

words we said, the jokes we made.

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Would change a lot about us

if we just thought, man, I'm

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gonna stand before God one day.

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And he's gonna say, why'd you do that?

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I don't know if you guys still do this.

154

When I was in high school, this is

how we sound really old, when I was

155

your age, we wrote essays and uh, they

were, we would like peer review each

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other's essays, you know what I mean?

157

Like, here, this person's gonna grade my

essay and I'm gonna grade their essay.

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And we're gonna read it and, and

we're gonna mark it up and whatever.

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And what I realized very quickly about,

you know, these peer graded essays is

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that no one's honest on these things.

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You know why no one's honest

on a peer review essay?

162

Because they're scared if they say

something bad about you, that you're

163

gonna say something bad about them.

164

Right?

165

They're like, oh, well this

sentence doesn't make any sense.

166

But you know what, Josh is reading

my paper, and if I write something

167

really, really bad on his paper, then.

168

He's probably gonna be like, oh, well

since you did that, I'm gonna do this.

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Right.

170

So a peer, peer graded essay never

really worked because everyone was

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just really nice to each other.

172

Everyone just was like,

well, uh, I don't know.

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I'm not gonna say what I normally would

say if it was anonymous, because I'm

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thinking, I'm thinking about, oh, this

other person is judging me just as

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I'm judging them, they're judging me.

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And that thought of, oh, I'm gonna have

to like actually give this back to them.

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That's why it's easy to say

mean things over text, right.

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Or on Twitter, because you're not

actually like talking to the person.

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You don't have to actually like face

a reaction for what you're saying.

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Same with these, with these peer

review essays, you, you have to

181

actually hand it back to the person.

182

They're like, oh, you wrote that?

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You, you said that about,

about my intro paragraph.

184

You said that about my thesis.

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Right?

186

So that thought of judgment.

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It changes the way you grade the essay.

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And I think the same thing

should be true of us.

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That thought of God is gonna hold

me accountable for what I do.

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That should change the way that we act.

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That should change the way that we think

the things that we think are important.

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If you aren't a believer in this room,

if you know, man, I'm, I'm in that

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second category, I'm under God's wrath.

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I don't trust Jesus to save me.

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I, I do want you to think about it.

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I want you to, to really realize

what you're saying, right?

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If I died tonight, I

would be going to hell.

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That's where you sit right now, and I,

it's easy to just hear the sermon, feel

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bad about it for 30 seconds and move on.

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You get in the car, you start

talking about something else.

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You go to sleep, you

move on with your life.

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It's, it's easy to do that.

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And I want you to think about,

man, I'm in danger, right?

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We talked about how God's wrath is.

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Is being stored up, right?

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The way you're living is

storing up God's wrath.

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It's hanging over you.

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You know, like that lightning cloud

in Mario Kart that makes you go faster

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and then it zaps you at the end, right?

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And you're like trying to get

that thing, you're trying to bump

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someone to get that thing off you.

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'cause you're like, I'm gonna get zapped.

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That's you right Now.

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You're driving around with this

thunder cloud over you that's,

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that's gonna zap you and you're

just hoping it doesn't zap you yet.

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I want you to think about that.

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It's, it's hanging over you and,

and you don't know when it's gonna,

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when when you're done, right?

219

You don't know when your last day is,

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and I don't want you to suppress that.

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We talked about people

suppressing the truth.

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You, it's easy for me to say that.

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And you like, oh man, yeah, I

really should become a Christian.

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Oh, maybe later.

225

And you procrastinate, you suppress it.

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You say, oh, well, I don't know if

real Bible is really true, or, oh God

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can't be good 'cause bad things happen.

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Or, I don't really know if

Jesus is God, or, I don't really

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know if God would save me.

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And you just push it back.

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I'll do that when I'm older.

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I don't wanna do that right now.

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It's, it's so easy to do that.

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And what I'm asking you to do is to

just think about, to realize, man, I am.

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I am as one famous person.

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Put it, you're like a spider

hanging over, hanging over a fire

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by just the little, little web.

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But if you're a Christian in

this room, you may have not

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thought about this before, but,

but God judges Christians too.

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It's not the same.

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It's not a heaven or hell judgment.

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But God judges, Christians

here in Romans 14.

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Later in, well actually we won't get here.

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Verse stopping at chapter

eight, um, because otherwise

245

we'd be doing this for years.

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Um, Romans 1412, Paul, right?

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Paul's a Christian.

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He says, each one of us will give

an account of himself to God if

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you're a Christian in this room.

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You're still gonna be held accountable

for the things that you did.

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Yes, Jesus will pay for your

sin, but you still have to answer

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to God for what you've done.

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God still holds you responsible for

how you use your time, how you use your

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energy, the, the things that you've

thought about, the things that you've

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prioritized, and I hope that clarifies

for you what your priorities are.

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I hope that clarifies for you.

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Oh man, I'm gonna have to, to

turn my life into God one day.

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Answer for how I used it.

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God gave me a life.

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He gave me a phone, he gave me a car.

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He gave me a school to be at.

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He gave me talents.

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He gave me a voice.

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He gave me a body, and I'm

supposed to use them for him.

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So I hope that you think about

that, but also I hope you think

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about too as, as we looked at in

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this passage, right?

268

There's, there's good things that

you get from being a Christian.

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The judgment of Christians is

also one of rewards, right?

270

Christians don't.

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It's not just, oh, great, you're saved.

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Cool.

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No.

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Christians get things for the

good things that they've done.

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Jesus talks about this all the time.

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He talks about rewards in heaven.

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God rewards some Christians

more than others.

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God is not communist, right?

279

God is.

280

Capitalist, if you want

to put it that way.

281

God rewards Christians for the,

for the things that they've done,

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and so you will never do something

for God that's not worth it.

283

Think about that as a Christian,

you'll never, you make a sacrifice

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that God won't make worth it for you.

285

One.

286

You lose a friend because you share

the gospel with them and they don't

287

like you anymore, or you'd miss

out on that, on that party or that

288

relationship because you know that that's

gonna lead you away from God or you.

289

You don't click on that video or you don't

read that book, or you're not part of that

290

conversation or that friend group anymore.

291

It's gonna be worth it.

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God will make it worth it for

you one day, maybe not this week,

293

but one day he will, and you can

trust him for that as a Christian.

294

So I hope that's motivating

for you too of man, I could

295

never give up too much for God.

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God will reward your faithfulness, you,

and even if no one else sees it, right?

297

Even if your parents don't see it,

even if your leader doesn't see it,

298

even if no one knows about it, right?

299

You know that God will reward you.

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That's what Jesus says, right?

301

Your don't let your right hand

know what your, your left hand

302

know, what your right hand's doing.

303

Your father who sees what's going

on in secret will reward you.

304

So I hope that's encouraging

for you as well, if, if you

305

are a Christian in this room.

306

Now, maybe you're sitting there and you're

thinking, well, I'm not sure, right?

307

I'm not sure if I'm a Christian.

308

I don't know which category I'm in,

and I would just ask you to, to just

309

do some digging into that, right?

310

You say you're not sure.

311

Well, don't just sit there and

be like, oh, well, I'm not sure.

312

Oh, well, right.

313

If you're not sure, you're one of your

biggest priorities should be figuring

314

out whether you are a Christian

or whether you're not a Christian.

315

So ask some questions.

316

Why am I not sure?

317

Maybe it's, oh, well, I keep sinning.

318

Okay, well ask questions about that.

319

Why, you know, is, is my sin something

that a Christian is, would, would do, or

320

something that a Christian wouldn't do?

321

Am I trusting Jesus or

am I trusting in myself?

322

Ask questions to see.

323

Okay, read the Bible, right?

324

There's a book of the Bible, first John.

325

That's all about whether

or not you're a Christian.

326

So God has given you things.

327

Talk to your parents,

talk to your leaders.

328

Do some digging and ask questions.

329

But I want you to think

about God's judgment.

330

No matter who you are in this room,

I want you to think one day I'm gonna

331

stand before God and I'm gonna have to

answer for everything that I've done.

332

Every Jesus says in Matthew 12, every

word, every careless word you've

333

ever spoken, every text you've ever

sent, every image you've ever seen,

334

every website you've ever been to,

every meme you've ever sent, you

335

have to answer for that to God.

336

So think about God's judgment often.

337

But here's the thing, and what we'll see

that, uh, in this passage is that thinking

338

about God's judgment won't do you any

good if you just assume that you're fine.

339

So look with me here at verse 11.

340

Okay?

341

So God says, God shows no partiality.

342

God shows no partiality.

343

That means favoritism, right God.

344

God doesn't show any favoritism.

345

God doesn't treat some people.

346

Better than other people's just because

oh, well they're from this country.

347

Right?

348

And that's what Paul's audience, he's

talking to Jews and Gentiles and the

349

Jewish people in the audience were

saying, well, you know, we're, we're

350

Jews, we're God's chosen people.

351

God gave us the Old Testament.

352

God sent us prophets.

353

So we must be better off.

354

We must, God must like us.

355

Essentially is what these Jews are saying.

356

God will treat us better than those other

people because we're special to God.

357

We're God's favorite people.

358

And what Paul is saying is

God doesn't have favorites.

359

He doesn't not gonna treat the, the

Jews better and the Gentiles worse just

360

because, well, you're from Israel, or

you know who Moses is, or you know,

361

the 10 Commandments or whatever.

362

Why?

363

Well, all who've sinned without the

law will also perish without the law.

364

But all who have sinned under the

law will be judged by the law.

365

So what's the common denominator here?

366

Everyone's sinned and everyone who sinned

will perish, will be judged, right?

367

Everyone's guilty before God.

368

And then verse 13.

369

Here's why.

370

It's not the people who hear the law,

who go to church, who hear sermons

371

in true North, who memorize Bible

verses who have Christian parents.

372

It's not those people who are

righteous before God, but the people

373

who do the law, the people who live

out what God says, those are the

374

people who are gonna be justified.

375

Paul is not judging PE or God is

not judging people based on where

376

they're from or their background

or how much they know God's judging

377

people based on how they live.

378

That's what, what.

379

Paul is saying here.

380

So for our second point tonight,

don't count on favoritism for God.

381

Don't be like these Jews who think,

oh, well my sins not as bad because

382

me and God, me and God are tight.

383

I'm part of God's special

group, so it's okay.

384

Or those people over there, they

don't know as much as me, so God

385

will judge them harsher than me.

386

So when I was in middle school, I

was in band 'cause I was really cool.

387

Um, and I was my band

director's favorite student.

388

Like teachers always say

we don't have favorites.

389

Teachers have favorite students,

a hundred percent right.

390

Um, and I was clearly my band

director's favorite suit.

391

And it was, it was awesome.

392

It was like the best thing ever.

393

So I needed to get something in the

middle of class and I went up and got it.

394

I came back, the person next

to me did the exact same thing.

395

They needed to get something, the

same thing that I needed, went up

396

and got it, and they got in trouble.

397

I was like, this is epic.

398

I can just do whatever I want.

399

This is great.

400

So, which I, I did need it and it did

help me like it was like for a good

401

purpose, but it was just hilarious.

402

I felt really bad, but also I was like,

that's hilarious that you got in trouble.

403

And I didn't.

404

So I was my band director's

favorite student and so.

405

Naturally right there, there might

be things that I would think, oh, I

406

could take advantage of this, right?

407

Because I'm my band

director's favorite student.

408

I can, I can mess around, I can get away

with things that maybe other students

409

wouldn't be able to get away with, right?

410

I get the special perks of, of being, you

know, the band director's favorite student

411

I got, for some reason, they let me play

percussion with the orchestra and I got

412

to go to San Diego with the orchestra.

413

I was like, I shouldn't be.

414

We have real percussionists.

415

They picked the guy who

plays trumpet to, anyway.

416

It was, it was, it was great.

417

Um, so I got to do all these

cool things because I was my

418

band director's favorite student.

419

Now, some of you and some of us,

I think we, we don't actually say,

420

oh yeah, God must like me more than

other people, but we kind of assume.

421

Here.

422

Here I'll show you some things you

might think that God will be partial

423

to you, will will be like you're one

of God's favored people, that God won't

424

be as harsh on you in his judgment

for, for maybe certain reasons, right?

425

Maybe you think, well, I go to church,

so in implicitly you think, oh, well

426

I must be a Christian, or, oh, well

I won't, I won't suffer as much.

427

Of god's of, of God's wrath as

people who don't go to church.

428

'cause at least I go to church.

429

Maybe I'm not a Christian, but

I, I know, I know the Bible.

430

I go to church so I can't be as bad at.

431

We even talked about a couple weeks

ago, people who really reject God's

432

even natural design, you think, no,

maybe you're not as bad as those people.

433

That's you saying that God's

gonna show you favoritism

434

just 'cause you go to church.

435

Just 'cause you, you go to the

right church or you have the right

436

parents, or maybe you assume,

oh, I must be a Christian because

437

I serve, I serve in kids, men.

438

I help set up, I, I share the

gospel with people at school.

439

I, I do religious things and maybe you

think, oh, that must make me a Christian.

440

I memorized Bible verses.

441

I know a lot about the Bible.

442

Maybe you think, oh, I must be a

Christian because I feel bad about my sin.

443

I feel really bad when I sin,

so I must be a Christian now.

444

It's a good sign, but.

445

Guess who else feels felt

really bad about his sin?

446

Judas.

447

So doesn't mean you're a Christian, right?

448

Maybe you think, oh, well, um, I'm

young so God won't, won't really

449

hold me accountable for my sin.

450

He only holds like adults

accountable for their sin.

451

Maybe you wouldn't say it like that, but

that's maybe something you think about,

452

oh, I can just become a Christian later.

453

It's not a big deal.

454

Well, God judges everyone,

not just older people.

455

Or maybe you think, well, I have like

this moment, this salvation moment

456

I was at camp and the worst that

music was, was whatever is is great.

457

And I was crying and I talked to my

leader and I, I prayed this prayer

458

and that's why I'm a Christian.

459

Like, well that doesn't

make you a Christian.

460

Right.

461

Some experience you had, or I talked

to my mom when I was four years old

462

and we, we prayed this prayer together

and that's what makes me a Christian.

463

Experience doesn't make

you a Christian, right?

464

Just having this this moment

doesn't make you a Christian.

465

Trusting Jesus is what

makes you a Christian.

466

So there's a lot of things that maybe

you can just behind the scenes think,

467

oh, well this must be, I'm, I'm better

off than, than the other people.

468

That God's wrath isn't really as much

for me as it is really for those people.

469

Maybe you just think, well, I'm just, I'm

not, you know, I'm not a serial killer.

470

I'm not a, I'm not a

really bad person, so.

471

I must not be that bad.

472

And that's, the Bible is

simply not, that's not true.

473

There's, there's two categories, right?

474

There's eternal life

and there's God's wrath.

475

There's not this, well, you're

a good person, but you're

476

not a Christian category.

477

Or you go to church but you're

not a Christian category.

478

There's, that's not a

real, that's not a thing.

479

There's two categories, but sometimes

also as Christians, we can kind of do

480

the same thing and minimize our sin.

481

I think a lot of us Christians in

the room has said something like this

482

before, well, God will forgive me anyway.

483

And so our sin is not as big

of a deal or God loves me.

484

So now that we've become a

Christian, we don't see our sin

485

the same way we used to see it.

486

We see other people sinning and

we're like, oh, that's really bad.

487

And then we look at our sin, we're

like, well, I'm working on it.

488

So it's not that bad.

489

Well, it's still sin, right?

490

It's still, still God.

491

God's wrath is still directed at that sin.

492

Jesus still died for that sin.

493

Maybe we think.

494

Other people are worse than us.

495

All right, well, I've grown a lot, so

that makes my sin better than theirs.

496

It's like, well, no, it doesn't make

your, I mean, yes, you have grown a

497

lot that's great, but doesn't make

your sin better than someone else.

498

So there's, there's even ways

that Christians, we do this too.

499

We think that our sin isn't as big of

a deal because of, of things about us.

500

'cause we've grown a lot or because

we've been saved or because God

501

will forgive us or God loves me.

502

Or maybe this is, this is for everyone,

but no one knows about it, right?

503

So you don't think it's a big deal,

or it's not hurting anyone, so

504

you don't think it's a big deal.

505

That's simply not true.

506

Just 'cause your sin doesn't hurt

anyone, doesn't mean it's not that bad.

507

So don't count on favoritism for

God, for even those kind of things.

508

God doesn't like your

sin more for any reason.

509

He's not more okay with your sin.

510

Even if you are a Christian, he's

not like, oh, well your sin iss not

511

that bad as long as you're saved.

512

It's not that bad.

513

That's not true.

514

But talking about God's judgment, it

naturally leads us to another question.

515

'cause maybe you've, you've had this

question in the back of your mind and

516

maybe when someone asks you about,

about have you become a Christian

517

or what this is your go-to question.

518

Well, what about the people?

519

Who have never heard of God?

520

What about the people who

don't know who Jesus is?

521

What about the people who, and they

live in an island somewhere and no one's

522

ever gonna share their gospel with them?

523

What about those people?

524

How can God be a good judge?

525

And what about these

people they don't know?

526

They don't.

527

Well, that is exactly what Paul is gonna

talk about in these next few verses.

528

Okay?

529

Look at verse 12 with me.

530

So we saw this already for all.

531

Who have sinned without the law.

532

You see that without the law,

these people don't have the Bible,

533

essentially, is what Paul's saying.

534

These people don't, they don't.

535

They don't have the law.

536

You know?

537

They don't have Genesis,

they don't have Exodus.

538

They don't know the 10 Commandments.

539

They don't know what God

expects of them, supposedly.

540

But Paul says those people

will still perish even though

541

they don't have the law.

542

Those people are still under God's wrath,

even though they don't have the law.

543

And then all people who have, who are

under the law will be judged by the law.

544

Why?

545

Well, first thing, it's not just the, the

people who hear the law, having the Bible,

546

going to church, being Jewish in this case

is not an advantage before God because God

547

will judge you based on what you've done.

548

That the same standard is for everyone.

549

That's, that's the first thing.

550

God has the same standard for all people.

551

God is a perfect judge.

552

He, he gives this exact same judgment

on everyone, people who have the law

553

and people who don't have the law.

554

So before we, we dive into more

of this, there's three more

555

verses that I wanna look at.

556

I want you to write down

our third point, okay.

557

Agree with God's perfect justice.

558

One of my goals for you from.

559

Looking at Romans chapters one

through three is I want you to be

560

able to, to say God does the right

thing when he sends people to hell.

561

I want you to be able to say that,

and that sounds kind of weird, but

562

I want you to be able to say that

because that's what, what really

563

one of the reasons we should worship

God is that God punishes sin.

564

We want God to punish sin.

565

We want God who does something

about all the bad people.

566

We want God who does something about all

the bad things that happen in the world.

567

That's one of the main

objections to Christianity.

568

If God is good, why do bad things happen?

569

People want God to do

something about bad things.

570

The answer is that God does do

things about all the bad things.

571

God punishes everyone's sin, and

then we say, whoa, whoa, whoa.

572

That's not fair.

573

You can't have both.

574

Right?

575

You either have a God who punishes sin or

you have a God who doesn't care about sin.

576

If you have a God who doesn't care

about sin, then you have bad things

577

happening and you don't have any

right to complaint about it, right?

578

'cause you don't have a judge.

579

But if you have a good judge,

then here's the problem is that

580

judge is gonna care about you and

about your sin and my sin too.

581

So we have a God who cares about sin, who

does something about sin, and I want you

582

to to, to look at the book of Romans and

say, okay, God does something about sin.

583

And that's a good thing.

584

It's a good thing that God

punishes sin the way he does.

585

So look at the rest of these verses.

586

Okay, so we talked about, great, we

know that the Jews are responsible for

587

their sin 'cause they have God's law.

588

But what about that thing Paul

said about people without the law?

589

What about them?

590

Well, here we go.

591

Verse 14, for when Gentiles who

do not have the law by nature,

592

do what the law requires.

593

So what does that mean?

594

Okay, so Gentiles, right?

595

People who, who aren't Jewish.

596

They don't have the law, right?

597

They, they didn't get to, to,

to hear the 10 Commandments.

598

They didn't get to read

the, the book of Leviticus.

599

They didn't get to read Genesis.

600

They don't know, right?

601

They don't have God's law.

602

But still, they do what the law

requires, which is they, they

603

sometimes do the things that God

thinks people should do, right?

604

Like every culture says

murder is bad, right?

605

Every culture says stealing is bad.

606

Every culture has these, these

similar morals because as we'll see

607

here, they show that the work of

the law is written on their hearts.

608

Everyone has an inherent sense inside

of, of what God, what God's law is.

609

Everyone has an idea of, oh, that's bad.

610

That's, that's good.

611

Everyone has an inherent sense.

612

It's called your conscience, right?

613

That's why that everyone

feels bad when they lie.

614

Everyone feels bad when they lie,

unless you keep doing it over and

615

over and over and over and over

and you don't feel bad anymore.

616

You've seared your conscience

at that point, right?

617

You've, you've burned it so it

doesn't feel anything anymore.

618

Kind of like if you, you ever seen

something get cauterized, right?

619

Not a fun word.

620

That's what they're doing.

621

They're burning it, so

you can't feel it anymore.

622

So everyone feels bad about

their sin because everyone knows.

623

God's has has a general idea of God's

law and their conflicting thoughts

624

accuse or even excuse them on that day

when according to my gospel, God judges

625

the secret of men by Christ Jesus.

626

So what Paul is saying here is

that every single person has

627

an idea of right and wrong.

628

Every single person knows

enough about God's law to know

629

that they break God's law.

630

Does that make sense?

631

Every single person knows

enough about God's law to say.

632

I broke it.

633

I, I'm not good enough because everyone

feels bad about things they've done.

634

Everyone feels bad about, oh, well

I lied, or I stole this, or I hated

635

this person, or I coveted this

person, or I dishonored this person.

636

Everyone knows these things implicitly.

637

So everyone has God's law

written on their hearts,

638

so that gives God.

639

More than enough reason

to judge them, right?

640

If they know that they've

sinned, of course God can say,

641

yeah, definitely you've sinned.

642

'cause they already know.

643

So it's not like, oh, they're gonna show

up on on Judgment day and be like, oh,

644

I didn't know that I was a bad person.

645

So everyone knows what

they should be doing.

646

God's law is written on, on

everyone's heart, and everyone

647

knows they're a sinner.

648

Their conscience, it says

bears witness, right?

649

Like in a courtroom, it's almost like you

do something wrong and your conscience

650

is like, like an attorney saying, Hey,

what you did was just wrong, right?

651

Like when you, like the very first

time you ever stole something, right?

652

You felt terrible about it because

your, your conscience attorney was

653

like, Hey, you shouldn't have done that.

654

Or the, like, the very first time that,

that you hurt someone and, and like

655

really tried not to apologize for it.

656

Your attorney and your conscience

was like, Hey, that's bad.

657

You shouldn't have done that.

658

So everyone knows that they're a sinner,

and so God can righteously condemn every

659

single person, even if they don't have

a Bible, because you don't need a Bible

660

to know that you're a sinner because

your, your heart, your conscience.

661

Testifies to what God says, right?

662

There're a law unto themselves, so the

the person right on in the jungle or

663

the person on the island knows enough

to know that they've broken God's law.

664

Now

665

it's one thing to answer

that question, right?

666

And be like, okay, cool.

667

Sure.

668

I kind of understand a little bit

better why God can send people to hell.

669

Cool.

670

But what I hope that that does for

you is that gives you confidence in

671

God, confidence that God is a good

judge, that you can trust God to make

672

the right decisions about people.

673

That you can trust God and, and you

don't have to worry about, oh, well,

674

you know, is maybe, maybe, uh, we

didn't know if, if this really young

675

person that died was a Christian

or, oh, we don't really know about.

676

This, this family member who died.

677

We're not sure if they're a Christian.

678

I hope that gives you

confidence that you know what?

679

God's a good judge.

680

I can trust God to judge

them the right way.

681

Right?

682

Maybe we can hope.

683

Yeah, I hope they were saved, but

no matter what we can trust, God's

684

gonna make a good decision about them.

685

That's another way that we

agree with God's justice.

686

As we say, God, I trust you

with these people's future not.

687

I'm not, I'm not gonna question

you and be upset if you make

688

a decision that I don't like.

689

'cause then who's judging?

690

Who, right?

691

Then we're judging God.

692

But also, I hope that this helps you

realize how, how universal sin is.

693

Right?

694

Every single person

knowingly breaks God's law.

695

Every single person doesn't

matter where they're from.

696

How much they, they've been to church.

697

Every single person

knowingly rebels against God.

698

And so where this is gonna set us

up is eventually we're gonna realize

699

that God doesn't have to save anyone.

700

God doesn't have to save anyone

because no one, no one deserves it.

701

And so.

702

That is, is, is honestly gonna to

change a lot of your conversation

703

about, about what's fair and

what's not fair with God, right?

704

Because if, if you come from the

perspective of, oh, I'm a good person.

705

I deserve things from God.

706

I deserve good things from God.

707

God should do good things to me.

708

If you come from that perspective, of

course you're gonna question God, right?

709

Because you're saying, oh, well,

I deserve all this from God.

710

God should be good to me.

711

My life should go really well.

712

But if you come from the perspective

of, hey, the, we all break God's law.

713

Every single person, every single

person makes really selfish decisions.

714

Every single person is actively

telling God We don't want you.

715

And then it helps you realize, oh,

that's why the world is so messed up.

716

Oh, that's why that, that God

is, is right to condemn people.

717

So I hope that this is also

shaping your view of people.

718

Because

719

it's easy to, our culture will

tell you people are good, right?

720

People are good, everyone's got

good inside them, and everyone

721

deserves good things that happen.

722

And that's not the

biblical view of people.

723

So I hope that's also helpful to,

to reorient the way you view the

724

world and the way you view people.

725

So anyway, one day you will stand

before God and God will give

726

you exactly what you deserve.

727

Right?

728

If you're, if you are not saved and you've

rejected God, God will condemn you and

729

you'll have to answer for, for everything.

730

But even if you are a Christian,

God will reward you for all the

731

good things that you've done.

732

He'll, he'll, even if you don't

see any credit for it here,

733

even if no one notices God will.

734

Reward you and, and bless

you for those things.

735

But you might have noticed, actually

my main point is not entirely true.

736

Does anyone catch that?

737

My main point is not entirely true.

738

It's probably the only time I'll

have a main point in a sermon.

739

That's not an entirely true statement.

740

The, the, the best news in all the world.

741

That God doesn't always give people

exactly what they deserve because

742

if God gave every person exactly

what they deserved, he would

743

send every single person to hell.

744

The good news

745

is that God withholds what

you really do deserve.

746

We talked about that

last week with patience.

747

You really deserve God's wrath.

748

God is patient.

749

He wants you to repent,

so he holds that back.

750

He says, I'm not, I'm not gonna

punish you from your first sin.

751

Or your second one or your

third one, or your 500th one

752

or your 1000000th sin maybe.

753

And I will wait to give

you a chance to repent.

754

I won't give you what

you, what you do deserve.

755

That's called mercy.

756

And if you trust Jesus, I'll give you what

Jesus deserves, and that's called grace.

757

You can get what you don't deserve.

758

That's the gospel.

759

You can get what Jesus earned for you.

760

With his perfect righteous life,

you can get acceptance by God, full

761

righteousness, adoption as his child.

762

You get God's grace if you trust

Jesus, because if you trust

763

yourself, you'll get what you deserve

and God will send you to hell.

764

But if you trust Jesus, you

get what you don't deserve.

765

You get what Jesus deserves.

766

What this is all going to in Romans

chapter three is that God is a good

767

judge, even though he gives some

people what they don't deserve.

768

God is a good judge to give Christians

righteousness they don't deserve because

769

Jesus took away their punishment and

earned their righteousness for them.

770

So let's pray and we'll

go to small groups.

771

God, I pray that you help us to think

about your judgment, that we would

772

take that seriously, that we would

remember, that we have to answer to you.

773

For everything that we've done, we will

give an account of ourselves to you.

774

I pray for all of us in this room that we

would on that day not hear depart from me.

775

I never knew you, that we would

not hear your wrath poured out

776

on us, but rather we would hear.

777

Joy, we would hear well done, good

and faithful servant, and that

778

we would live faithfully for you.

779

In the meantime, knowing that you

will reward us for every single

780

thing we do for your glory.

781

We pray this in Jesus' name.

782

Amen.