1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,500 Alright. So this class, "Romans- Grace in the Book of Romans". This is lesson number 2 00:00:07,500 --> 00:00:12,840 three in that series. As far as the book itself or the epistle itself, we're 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:20,300 covering the section that includes chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 3 verse 23. 4 00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:27,180 This is the title of this lesson Renouncing of Grace- Part 2". So let's do a 5 00:00:27,180 --> 00:00:35,280 bit of review concerning what we've talked about so far concerning the 6 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,200 subject of grace in the book of Romans. First of all, we've said that God's 7 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:46,980 original expression of grace is the creation itself and man's position at 8 00:00:46,980 --> 00:00:52,680 the head of it and his participation. In other words, man's participation in the 9 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:59,270 divine nature and the intimate contact that he was allowed and gifted with 10 00:00:59,270 --> 00:01:04,470 with God. So that's when we say grace, it means a lot of things, but 11 00:01:04,470 --> 00:01:08,820 the initial expression of God's grace includes all of this, the creation, man's 12 00:01:08,820 --> 00:01:15,420 position, man's role, all of this is God's initial expression of grace. Then we said 13 00:01:15,420 --> 00:01:20,700 that the initial fall from grace or the renunciation of grace came when man 14 00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:27,659 disobeyed God. In doing so he clouded his own nature. He undermined his 15 00:01:27,659 --> 00:01:32,880 position at the head of creation and he rendered himself unable to directly 16 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,259 communicate with God. It's as if he put blinders on, couldn't see God, 17 00:01:37,259 --> 00:01:45,030 couldn't understand who God was anymore because of the fall. So in Romans 18 00:01:45,030 --> 00:01:51,000 chapter 1 Paul describes the process of this fall from, what we said, a 19 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:58,829 macro-cosmic view. In other words, a big-picture view throughout history. We 20 00:01:58,829 --> 00:02:04,229 said that this, the cycle of falling, if you wish, or this 21 00:02:04,229 --> 00:02:10,530 renunciation of grace, resulting in a fall from grace, is cyclical in nature. 22 00:02:10,530 --> 00:02:16,830 In Romans chapter 1 Paul describes this cycle throughout 23 00:02:16,830 --> 00:02:23,730 history. An overview, if you wish, there were three main points of 24 00:02:23,730 --> 00:02:29,880 reference. The first, of course, a theological fall. A theological fall 25 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:35,700 happened and happens when man refuses to acknowledge God as God. That's a 26 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:43,380 theological fall. Man refuses to give thanks to God. If you don't 27 00:02:43,380 --> 00:02:46,860 accept who God is, if you don't acknowledge who He is, 28 00:02:46,860 --> 00:02:52,380 it's very easy then to drift into not being thankful, not being grateful. The 29 00:02:52,380 --> 00:02:58,680 second step, if you wish, in this cycle is a philosophical fall. So man begins 30 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:07,170 to worship something other than God. Man begins to create for himself ideas that 31 00:03:07,170 --> 00:03:14,340 try to replace God or that try to explain reality without reference to God. 32 00:03:14,340 --> 00:03:22,040 So that's a philosophical fall. Then that is followed by a moral fall. Man 33 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:28,140 plunges deeply into active evil. Why? He didn't see God because he's created 34 00:03:28,140 --> 00:03:34,800 something other than God to replace God. That always leads to a moral fall. By 35 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,920 a moral fall I mean not knowing what is right from wrong, doing things that are 36 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:47,670 wrong. Now one thing I didn't mention last week is that God's renewed 37 00:03:47,670 --> 00:03:52,590 expression of grace throughout history. God doesn't just express His grace one 38 00:03:52,590 --> 00:03:58,440 time. I mean, the first time He expresses His grace, yes, that's creation 39 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:03,470 and man's position in it. That's not the only time He expresses His grace. 40 00:04:03,470 --> 00:04:09,120 Throughout history God renews His expressions of grace and those 41 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:15,690 expressions of grace have always centered around the promise of Christ to 42 00:04:15,690 --> 00:04:24,810 come. So from the Garden of Eden to the cross of Christ, God's renewed expression 43 00:04:24,810 --> 00:04:30,930 of grace was always the hope of the first coming of Christ told by 44 00:04:30,930 --> 00:04:37,639 the prophets, continually stirring up the people to hope and faith with this 45 00:04:37,639 --> 00:04:45,750 promise that one day the Messiah would come. Now from the cross until the end of 46 00:04:45,750 --> 00:04:52,919 time or until the end of the world, God's renewed expression of grace has centered 47 00:04:52,919 --> 00:05:01,710 on the promise of the return of Jesus. This has been the thing that has 48 00:05:01,710 --> 00:05:09,960 renewed men's hearts, that has given individuals hope. So God renews always 49 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,970 throughout history His expression of grace but that renewal is always the 50 00:05:14,970 --> 00:05:19,979 promise of Jesus. In the Old Testament, a promise of Jesus coming and what He 51 00:05:19,979 --> 00:05:24,720 would do when He would come. In the New Testament, the promise of Jesus and what 52 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,250 He will do when He comes. Of course what He will do when He comes is 53 00:05:29,250 --> 00:05:32,940 resurrect us from the dead. That resurrection, that's the hope that 54 00:05:32,940 --> 00:05:40,050 we have. So in Romans chapter 1, Paul talks about man's moral failure and 55 00:05:40,050 --> 00:05:47,729 the kinds of things that failure has led man to do. That's in 56 00:05:47,729 --> 00:05:53,130 Chapter 1. In chapters 2 and 3 he's going to describe God's judgment 57 00:05:53,130 --> 00:05:59,419 and how that judgment applies to individuals. So in chapter 2 Paul 58 00:05:59,419 --> 00:06:07,289 summarizes how God will judge every single person that ever lived. He 59 00:06:07,289 --> 00:06:14,759 does this by first of all dividing up the world into two parts. First part, the 60 00:06:14,759 --> 00:06:21,780 Jews. The Jews, all the legitimate descendants of Abraham, the Jews. The 61 00:06:21,780 --> 00:06:27,270 other part are the Gentiles, sometimes referred to as the Greeks. Well, that's 62 00:06:27,270 --> 00:06:32,280 everybody else, not just people who come from Greece, everybody. So you have the 63 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:37,020 Jews and the Gentiles or the Jews and the Greeks, referring less to a culture 64 00:06:37,020 --> 00:06:43,300 more to a philosophy and more to a a state of mind, if you wish. So God's 65 00:06:43,300 --> 00:06:51,430 judgment of these individuals is described in chapter 2 verses 5 to 16. So 66 00:06:51,430 --> 00:06:56,380 let's read a couple of verses here. Start off in chapter 2 beginning in verse 5. 67 00:06:56,380 --> 00:07:00,880 Paul says, "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart" 68 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,889 "you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the " 69 00:07:05,889 --> 00:07:10,780 "righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his" 70 00:07:10,780 --> 00:07:16,479 "deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor" 71 00:07:16,479 --> 00:07:24,370 "and immortality, eternal life;" So let's just stop there for a second. Paul says that 72 00:07:24,370 --> 00:07:31,150 everyone who pursues good... You have to remember "good" according to God's 73 00:07:31,150 --> 00:07:39,940 standard of what is good not good, what I think is good, pursues 74 00:07:39,940 --> 00:07:45,970 good according to God, what God says is good, and of course the law given to the 75 00:07:45,970 --> 00:07:53,440 Jews, that determines what is good. So he says everyone who pursues good and does 76 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:59,020 so in the understanding that they're seeking a life with God and the life 77 00:07:59,020 --> 00:08:05,500 with God, he describes, as honor, glory, immortality. He says everyone who pursues 78 00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:12,039 the good that God describes and does it in order to be with God, he said, these 79 00:08:12,039 --> 00:08:17,410 people will have eternal life. Eternal life is the same thing as 80 00:08:17,410 --> 00:08:21,010 being saved. If you're saved you get eternal life. If you have eternal life it 81 00:08:21,010 --> 00:08:28,120 means you're saved. Just another way of saying you'll be saved. Now, remember, not 82 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:32,500 a life according to what we think is good but one lived according to what God 83 00:08:32,500 --> 00:08:38,260 thinks is good and doing it consciously. So Paul says succeeding at this will 84 00:08:38,260 --> 00:08:44,310 save one's soul, both Jews and Gentiles who do this, he says, they'll be saved. 85 00:08:44,310 --> 00:08:50,170 Alright. Let's look at verse 8. He says, "but to those..." Excuse me. "...but to those" 86 00:08:50,170 --> 00:08:52,790 "who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey" 87 00:08:52,790 --> 00:09:00,320 "the truth,..." Remember, God's truth. "...but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." So 88 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:07,370 those who do not obey the truth, the truth given by God, and who follow their 89 00:09:07,370 --> 00:09:15,050 own way, these will be subject to God's exercise of angry punishment. If God 90 00:09:15,050 --> 00:09:20,060 is angry and punishes you that means you're lost. Let's keep reading 91 00:09:20,060 --> 00:09:27,080 verses 9 through 11. He says, "There will be tribulation and distress for every" 92 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:35,630 "soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek," verse 10 "but" 93 00:09:35,630 --> 00:09:39,980 "glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also" 94 00:09:39,980 --> 00:09:46,670 "to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God." So God will judge every man 95 00:09:46,670 --> 00:09:53,450 according to this principle. Those who seek and obey His truth will be blessed. 96 00:09:53,450 --> 00:09:59,300 Those who do not will be cursed. All will be judged alike, both Jew and 97 00:09:59,300 --> 00:10:06,590 Gentile. So he set out the parameters here of judgment. So let's 98 00:10:06,590 --> 00:10:12,080 keep reading verse 12. He says, "For all who have sinned without the Law will" 99 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,620 "also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned" 100 00:10:15,620 --> 00:10:22,340 "under the Law will be judged by the Law;" Verse 13, "for it is not the hearers of" 101 00:10:22,340 --> 00:10:27,800 the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be judged." So 102 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:34,400 Gentiles who have not received the law of Moses are still responsible to what's 103 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:41,120 called the principle of the law, the principle of the law which exists in 104 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:46,540 their conscience and in nature which clearly reveals God's presence and 105 00:10:46,540 --> 00:10:53,450 clearly reveals God's demands. So this principle does not articulate and reveal 106 00:10:53,450 --> 00:10:59,690 God as clearly as the Jewish law did but it does place moral and ethical demands 107 00:10:59,690 --> 00:11:05,710 on individuals nevertheless. For example, without the written law of Moses we 108 00:11:05,710 --> 00:11:11,670 know intuitively that killing our parents is not right, 109 00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:16,630 murdering your mother. You don't have to have the law of Moses to point out to 110 00:11:16,630 --> 00:11:23,050 you, thou shalt not kill, murdering your mother or murdering your neighbor to 111 00:11:23,050 --> 00:11:28,090 steal his goods. You know intuitively by the 112 00:11:28,090 --> 00:11:37,270 "principle of law". You know that that's not okay. So the Jews, they're clearly 113 00:11:37,270 --> 00:11:43,170 under the law of Moses and Paul says they'll be judged according to this law. 114 00:11:43,170 --> 00:11:48,400 The law of Moses does not contradict the principle of law 115 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:55,480 it simply articulates it more clearly and amplifies it more clearly. In other 116 00:11:55,480 --> 00:12:00,550 words, it's much easier with the law of Moses to understand clearly what it is 117 00:12:00,550 --> 00:12:05,320 that God wants but it doesn't mean that people who were not exposed to the law 118 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:11,920 of Moses did not have a principle of law that guided them. So Paul explains that 119 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:17,350 the judgment is based not on the sophistication and clarity of the rule 120 00:12:17,350 --> 00:12:24,220 that you have, whether it's the principle of law or the revealed law. No. He 121 00:12:24,220 --> 00:12:32,170 explains that the judgment is based on how we respond to what we have. If you 122 00:12:32,170 --> 00:12:35,860 have the principle of law and that's all you have you'll be judged on how you 123 00:12:35,860 --> 00:12:40,720 responded to the principle of law. If you have the revealed law then you'll be 124 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:47,680 judged on how you responded to the revealed law. Alright. Let's read 14, 15, 125 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:55,120 16. He says, "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things" 126 00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:03,370 "of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves," So the principle of 127 00:13:03,370 --> 00:13:09,220 law. You see it? Verse 15, "in that they show the work of the Law written in" 128 00:13:09,220 --> 00:13:14,500 "their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts" 129 00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:18,570 "alternately accusing or else defending them," 130 00:13:18,570 --> 00:13:22,620 "on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men" 131 00:13:22,620 --> 00:13:25,380 "through Jesus Christ." So who is he talking about? He's talking about 132 00:13:25,380 --> 00:13:31,050 Gentiles, have not been exposed to the revealed law of Moses, but he's 133 00:13:31,050 --> 00:13:34,890 saying, but they still have a law that guides their conscience. In other words 134 00:13:34,890 --> 00:13:41,180 to say their conscience is guiding them. 135 00:13:41,180 --> 00:13:46,200 So Paul explains how and why Gentiles are subject to both salvation and 136 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,670 condemnation by demonstrating that what saves them or condemns them is their 137 00:13:50,670 --> 00:13:54,870 response to the principle of law directed through their conscience and 138 00:13:54,870 --> 00:14:02,070 nature under which they live. He says that when they obey their law they are 139 00:14:02,070 --> 00:14:10,920 righteous just as when the Jews obey the Mosaic law they are righteous. So in the 140 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:15,570 final verses he explains that the things that make a person pleasing to God are 141 00:14:15,570 --> 00:14:20,580 not the external religion or the level of religious sophistication that 142 00:14:20,580 --> 00:14:27,570 one aspires to. Jewish law revealed God more exactly than the mere 143 00:14:27,570 --> 00:14:35,040 principle of law, however, how one responded to the law that he lived under, 144 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:41,220 this is the basis of judgment that Paul talks about. Now, please do not get ahead 145 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:48,030 of me here. Just stay with me. He, remember, Paul is explaining principles 146 00:14:48,030 --> 00:14:54,690 here, the principles by which all individuals will be judged. So in Chapter 147 00:14:54,690 --> 00:15:01,980 3 he's going to describe how well the Jews and how well the Gentiles have 148 00:15:01,980 --> 00:15:10,110 responded to the systems of law under which they lived. So we begin in 149 00:15:10,110 --> 00:15:17,190 chapter 3 verse 1. He says, "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is" 150 00:15:17,190 --> 00:15:23,490 "the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they" 151 00:15:23,490 --> 00:15:28,920 "were entrusted with the Oracles of God. What then? If some did not believe, their" 152 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,220 "unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God," 153 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:38,190 In other words, he says, if Jews who have the revealed law disobey it doesn't 154 00:15:38,190 --> 00:15:42,690 make God a failure, doesn't make the law a failure, because they didn't 155 00:15:42,690 --> 00:15:47,700 obey it. Nothing wrong with the law. Nothing wrong with God. He says, "May it" 156 00:15:47,700 --> 00:15:52,829 "never be!" Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it" 157 00:15:52,829 --> 00:15:57,209 "is written, 'That you may be justified in Your words, And prevail when You are'" 158 00:15:57,209 --> 00:16:02,250 "judged.' But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God," 159 00:16:02,250 --> 00:16:07,860 "what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am" 160 00:16:07,860 --> 00:16:12,959 "speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the" 161 00:16:12,959 --> 00:16:17,670 "world? But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory," 162 00:16:17,670 --> 00:16:24,120 "why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say (as we are)" 163 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:29,610 "(slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), 'Let us do evil that good may" 164 00:16:29,610 --> 00:16:38,310 "come? No. Their condemnation is just." So Paul begins chapter 3 by explaining that 165 00:16:38,310 --> 00:16:43,700 although the Jews had a true advantage in a greater clarity of God's will 166 00:16:43,700 --> 00:16:50,880 because they had the law of Moses and it was given to them and it was meant to be 167 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:56,310 an advantage for them. They were after all God's chosen people. He chose them. He 168 00:16:56,310 --> 00:17:01,620 gave them an advantage. But Paul says even though they had the oracles of God, 169 00:17:01,620 --> 00:17:07,740 even though they had this advantage, the Jews did not respond with righteousness 170 00:17:07,740 --> 00:17:16,250 to it. Now the only thing their advantage produced was to show how good God was. 171 00:17:16,250 --> 00:17:21,179 How did it show how good God was? The history of the Jews was 172 00:17:21,179 --> 00:17:27,569 recorded and anyone who read the history of the Jews saw what God did. He chose 173 00:17:27,569 --> 00:17:32,250 one person Abraham and He blessed that person and He created a whole 174 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:36,590 nation. He gave them a religion and a law and an identity and 175 00:17:36,590 --> 00:17:41,760 witness of His power, the miracles that saved them 176 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:46,380 from Egyptian bondage and he gave them a land. Over and over again He 177 00:17:46,380 --> 00:17:54,870 interceded in history to bless this people. Anybody who reads that can tell 178 00:17:54,870 --> 00:18:03,390 God was really good to these people. So he's saying the only advantage for 179 00:18:03,390 --> 00:18:09,180 the Jews to have had the revealed law in the end was simply to demonstrate how 180 00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:15,120 God was good. That's not what God meant to do. You know what I'm saying? He didn't 181 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:24,000 want them to sin but in the end that's the only good that came out of it. 182 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,900 Now some were saying that if God was glorified by the revelation of the law 183 00:18:28,900 --> 00:18:35,400 and His dealing with disobedient Jews then why was He condemning them? After all 184 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:41,010 He is being glorified. Isn't He? After all He's getting what He wanted. He 185 00:18:41,010 --> 00:18:48,000 wanted to be glorified so He's being glorified. Why punish the Jews? So 186 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:56,190 Paul responds that this kind of thinking says that evil somehow glorifies God and 187 00:18:56,190 --> 00:19:02,070 is somehow okay and those who are warped enough to think this way, they 188 00:19:02,070 --> 00:19:06,270 deserve condemnation. They deserve to go to hell. If that's what you think God is 189 00:19:06,270 --> 00:19:13,900 all about, that He would do all of this for this people simply to honor Himself. 190 00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:22,140 It's kind of accusing God of thinking the end justifies the means. Who 191 00:19:22,140 --> 00:19:26,160 cares? Who cares if these people are condemned? Who cares if these people are 192 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,750 lost? I don't care. I'm being glorified. That's kind of what they were accusing, 193 00:19:30,750 --> 00:19:36,360 what they were saying happened. Paul is saying, God doesn't work like 194 00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:43,460 that. It isn't the end justifies the means for God. It's not the way it worked. 195 00:19:43,460 --> 00:19:51,030 So in verses 9 to 18 he summarizes the universal condemnation due to all men, 196 00:19:51,030 --> 00:19:56,460 one that was spoken of in the Old Testament and renewed in the New 197 00:19:56,460 --> 00:20:00,150 Testament by Paul. So let's read verse 9. He says, "What" 198 00:20:00,150 --> 00:20:07,530 "then? Are we better than they?" When he says "they", we, the Jews, are we better 199 00:20:07,530 --> 00:20:11,370 than they, they the Gentiles, the Greeks? So he says, "What then? Are we better than" 200 00:20:11,370 --> 00:20:17,730 "they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are" 201 00:20:17,730 --> 00:20:26,490 "all under sin;" So Paul is saying here both groups have failed to live up to 202 00:20:26,490 --> 00:20:34,130 the standard of law under which they stood and so therefore all are condemned. 203 00:20:34,130 --> 00:20:40,470 Now they're condemned not because they, the Gentiles, didn't become Jews or they 204 00:20:40,470 --> 00:20:48,330 don't know about Jesus. They're condemned because of what they did. God doesn't 205 00:20:48,330 --> 00:20:53,490 condemn us because of what we don't know or don't do. He condemns us for what we 206 00:20:53,490 --> 00:21:01,620 do. So for the Jews, even with the advantage of revelation, they failed to 207 00:21:01,620 --> 00:21:07,710 respond properly and the Gentiles, even though the bar was much lower for them, 208 00:21:07,710 --> 00:21:13,560 they failed to live up to the standard that they had as far as conscience is 209 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,070 concerned, as far as the nature of creation is concerned. They didn't even 210 00:21:17,070 --> 00:21:20,820 live up to that. They didn't even live up to their own conscience never mind the 211 00:21:20,820 --> 00:21:27,060 revealed law of God. Remember what I told you? Don't get ahead of me. What I meant 212 00:21:27,060 --> 00:21:32,520 was don't think that I'm putting forth an apology here 213 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:39,060 for people to be saved without Christ, because it sounds like that. What Paul 214 00:21:39,060 --> 00:21:45,300 was doing was explaining there was a way to be saved, for the Jews, live according 215 00:21:45,300 --> 00:21:50,430 to the revealed law, for the Gentiles, live according to the natural law or the 216 00:21:50,430 --> 00:21:56,430 principle of law. That's how you'll be saved. So in verse 10 to 12 he 217 00:21:56,430 --> 00:22:02,160 says, "as it is written 'There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who'" 218 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:08,850 "'understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they'" 219 00:22:08,850 --> 00:22:12,730 '"have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not'" 220 00:22:12,730 --> 00:22:25,440 '"even one.'" Can you twist this passage here to say some will be saved, some were okay? 221 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:31,210 "Not even one", he says. There is none who understands, none who seeks God, all have 222 00:22:31,210 --> 00:22:39,100 become useless, none who does good, not even one. So the Holy Spirit using the 223 00:22:39,100 --> 00:22:46,360 words of David penned centuries before Paul's time anyways, declares that 224 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:55,570 God, knowing every single heart, judges that none seek Him, none desire honor, 225 00:22:55,570 --> 00:23:01,660 goodness, and eternal life. No matter what the outside looks like God tells us that 226 00:23:01,660 --> 00:23:08,650 this is the condition of the heart. So according to this passage there is no... 227 00:23:08,650 --> 00:23:14,050 It's a term a noble savage. It was an argument, philosophical argument. The 228 00:23:14,050 --> 00:23:18,280 noble savage looking for God, people would say what about the Chinese 229 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:22,630 person in the 4th century? Will that person be condemned? They're 230 00:23:22,630 --> 00:23:29,950 living in the middle of China, in a small village in China in the 4th 231 00:23:29,950 --> 00:23:36,280 century, we know the Apostles they didn't go, they didn't go to China. 232 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:42,340 They went to, they went west. What about that guy? Does his ignorance 233 00:23:42,340 --> 00:23:57,130 save him? Will he be condemned? The answer is yeah, sadly so. Why? 234 00:23:57,130 --> 00:24:01,300 Because he could know God through the witness of his own conscience in nature. 235 00:24:01,300 --> 00:24:07,600 Paul said that in Romans 1:19. Secondly, God says through the spirit he did not 236 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:14,410 respond to the principle of law under which he lived, Romans 3:23. How 237 00:24:14,410 --> 00:24:18,700 do we know this to be true? Are we not judging people when we say 238 00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:24,160 that? Isn't that terrible? No, I'm not judging anybody. 239 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:31,150 I'm merely reading what Paul says about how God is going to judge. That's why I 240 00:24:31,150 --> 00:24:37,000 said can you take that passage and twist it any way around where it'll say that 241 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,640 some people are saved and others are... He says none. What he's saying 242 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,750 is that God has examined every heart. He hasn't found one. Remember 243 00:24:46,750 --> 00:24:51,970 he didn't say God didn't find some nice people in different places. There are 244 00:24:51,970 --> 00:24:55,630 plenty of nice people, even a lot of good people, wouldn't hurt anyone, 245 00:24:55,630 --> 00:25:01,120 kind. God is looking for the kind of righteousness according to His goodness. 246 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:10,230 Remember not our definition of goodness. His level of goodness is great. 247 00:25:10,230 --> 00:25:15,760 So God assures us that He has examined every heart and none were seeking for 248 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:23,290 Him, Romans 3, that we read there, 10 to 12. We don't have to judge. God has 249 00:25:23,290 --> 00:25:31,480 already done so and recorded the results for everyone to see. So the argument 250 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:39,070 continues but what if someone says, what if somebody 251 00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:49,929 really, really wanted, what would happen in some remote spot? What if? The 252 00:25:49,929 --> 00:25:55,540 Hebrew writer answers that question. "Without faith it is impossible to please" 253 00:25:55,540 --> 00:26:01,660 "Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of" 254 00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:11,140 "those who seek Him, those who respond to God in conscience, nature law, those" who 255 00:26:11,140 --> 00:26:16,059 "really search for him there." The writer here says they will find Him. They can 256 00:26:16,059 --> 00:26:23,020 find him, from Seth to the patriarchs, to the nation of Israel, and now to the 257 00:26:23,020 --> 00:26:28,960 church, God has always had His people as a light to draw to Him those who search 258 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:36,250 for Him. So in any age or in any place, if someone is looking for God, God will find 259 00:26:36,250 --> 00:26:40,840 them. He is not blind. He's not weak. To tell you the truth 260 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,380 one of the things, there are a lot of blessings working with the 261 00:26:44,380 --> 00:26:48,160 BibleTalk. Things like that. Your preaching 262 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:53,650 the gospel using digital media, but one of the great things about it that 263 00:26:53,650 --> 00:27:02,710 renews our faith, both Hal and I, are the letters, the emails, that we get from 264 00:27:02,710 --> 00:27:09,940 people, the most obscure places. A lady in Iran who cannot have a Bible 265 00:27:09,940 --> 00:27:14,830 but who manages to read and learn and was secretly baptized because 266 00:27:14,830 --> 00:27:20,350 of what she learned online. People searching for God. God finds a way 267 00:27:20,350 --> 00:27:26,980 to find them. Today, a little plug for BibleTalk, but today we have this 268 00:27:26,980 --> 00:27:33,250 digital media that goes all over the world. So anyone out there searching and 269 00:27:33,250 --> 00:27:37,450 obviously, our ministry is not the only one that's doing this. There are plenty 270 00:27:37,450 --> 00:27:42,370 of other people who are preaching and teaching God's Word online. 271 00:27:42,370 --> 00:27:48,070 We're not the only guys, but today it's even easier to find if you're looking 272 00:27:48,070 --> 00:27:55,510 because the technology has given us this great tool to use. So God's arm is not so 273 00:27:55,510 --> 00:28:00,580 short that He can't reach and find that person no matter where they 274 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:06,370 are. Soldiers out in the field, people living in villages, 275 00:28:06,370 --> 00:28:13,090 people living under oppression, find a way to contact us. People not in our 276 00:28:13,090 --> 00:28:19,480 culture, from Japan, from the Middle East, from South America, 277 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:26,470 not even in our culture. This is a difficult... 278 00:28:26,470 --> 00:28:29,770 When I say difficult, I don't necessarily mean difficult to understand, it's 279 00:28:29,770 --> 00:28:36,040 difficult to accept, it's a hard teaching. People are lost. We 280 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:41,140 don't want to think that. We actually want to think there's some other way 281 00:28:41,140 --> 00:28:46,870 that God is gonna save people that He hasn't told us about. You find yourself 282 00:28:46,870 --> 00:28:50,999 thinking that. Why? Because it's hard to think 283 00:28:50,999 --> 00:28:56,129 that people will be without God. We have Him. We know Him. We were blessed by Him. 284 00:28:56,129 --> 00:29:03,509 We would want everyone to have Him. So let's summarize what Paul has said here. A 285 00:29:03,509 --> 00:29:11,340 hard teaching. First of all, all men have renounced grace and are caught in a 286 00:29:11,340 --> 00:29:17,580 cycle of theological, philosophical, and moral failure. They're in this cycle 287 00:29:17,580 --> 00:29:21,929 from generation to generation. It just keeps going around and around and round 288 00:29:21,929 --> 00:29:27,629 and round. Knowing this is helpful because it helps us not to be so 289 00:29:27,629 --> 00:29:32,729 discouraged. Remember, I told you once you hit the bottom of the moral 290 00:29:32,729 --> 00:29:37,049 failure usually that's followed by revival of some kind, some spiritual 291 00:29:37,049 --> 00:29:40,859 revival. God renews the church and evangelism. It's happened 292 00:29:40,859 --> 00:29:45,599 throughout history. Or if it gets so bad at some point the man of 293 00:29:45,599 --> 00:29:51,960 lawlessness appears then it won't be long, this is all over anyways. So we 294 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,769 mustn't be discouraged by that. Doesn't mean we're quiet and not do anything but 295 00:29:55,769 --> 00:30:00,419 we just keep doing what we do. Preach the gospel. Teach people. Call people out of 296 00:30:00,419 --> 00:30:07,559 the world into the kingdom, into safety. So Paul has said that all men have 297 00:30:07,559 --> 00:30:12,299 renounced grace. Secondly, all are condemned from Adam until the end of the 298 00:30:12,299 --> 00:30:18,059 world. There is no one that actually escapes condemnation. They do not escape 299 00:30:18,059 --> 00:30:24,509 condemnation because of ignorance. Ignorance is no excuse. All have 300 00:30:24,509 --> 00:30:29,509 knowledge of God either through the principle of law inherent in nature and 301 00:30:29,509 --> 00:30:36,269 conscience or through direct revelation, whether it be the law of Moses in that 302 00:30:36,269 --> 00:30:41,729 time period or today through the church. Today in a Western industrialized 303 00:30:41,729 --> 00:30:46,559 country there is no excuse and the gospel of Christ really has been 304 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:53,080 preached thoroughly and has been thoroughly rejected, 305 00:30:53,080 --> 00:31:01,160 thoroughly rejected by modern man, especially in the Western world. 306 00:31:01,169 --> 00:31:08,010 So ignorance is no excuse and innocence a claim to innocence. God has 307 00:31:08,010 --> 00:31:15,010 and does examine every heart and reveals to us in advance that no one searches 308 00:31:15,010 --> 00:31:22,840 for Him. No one is innocent of sin. So the conclusion is that all have 309 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:27,669 renounced God's initial expression of grace and stand condemned for it. Unless 310 00:31:27,669 --> 00:31:33,700 we understand, accept the universality of condemnation, a hard 311 00:31:33,700 --> 00:31:40,150 teaching, but unless we accept that a couple of things we can't do. Unless we 312 00:31:40,150 --> 00:31:45,549 accept the universality of condemnation we cannot appreciate God's response of 313 00:31:45,549 --> 00:31:51,760 grace in sending Jesus. I mean, if condemnation is only partial, even just 314 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:56,799 one exception, then Jesus is only a partial Savior and Christianity is just 315 00:31:56,799 --> 00:32:01,659 one of a lot of different solutions. I'll tell you, it's one of the reasons 316 00:32:01,659 --> 00:32:09,490 why our religion is losing its power today. The reason is, it is not seen as 317 00:32:09,490 --> 00:32:14,799 the answer and the only answer. The minute you start saying 318 00:32:14,799 --> 00:32:19,510 it's one of the answers, if it's one of the answers, maybe there's 319 00:32:19,510 --> 00:32:27,340 some other answers. We've stopped preaching that all men have sinned and 320 00:32:27,340 --> 00:32:31,419 fallen short of the glory of God. We've stopped preaching that because it's 321 00:32:31,419 --> 00:32:37,890 politically incorrect, because it's uncomfortable, because it seems cruel, and 322 00:32:37,890 --> 00:32:45,760 consequently our preaching also has been watered down. It's not effective. It's not 323 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:55,350 effective. Secondly, unless we accept the universality of condemnation we 324 00:32:55,350 --> 00:33:03,929 cannot accept the Great Commission. The Great Commission takes on 325 00:33:03,929 --> 00:33:12,070 urgency and meaning if all are lost, if all have sinned. We've got to do 326 00:33:12,070 --> 00:33:14,950 something about that. I've once told you the reason 327 00:33:14,950 --> 00:33:20,559 I went into preaching wasn't because I liked public speaking. There are a lot 328 00:33:20,559 --> 00:33:26,950 easier things to do in life using public speaking other than being a 329 00:33:26,950 --> 00:33:33,760 preacher. Actually, the public speaking part, that's the easy part, the studying 330 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:42,190 part is the more difficult part. When we have to go because people will 331 00:33:42,190 --> 00:33:49,690 perish without the gospel and they won't find it by themselves, we begin to see 332 00:33:49,690 --> 00:33:57,639 why evangelism is the priority of the church, why evangelism is the main reason 333 00:33:57,639 --> 00:34:04,419 for the existence of the church. All the programs that we have in the church, 334 00:34:04,419 --> 00:34:10,240 almost all of them are to help the faithful remain faithful. But if you 335 00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:14,050 don't have a strong program that actually goes out and preaches to the 336 00:34:14,050 --> 00:34:19,389 lost it'll be pretty soon that the faithful will start to dwindle and will 337 00:34:19,389 --> 00:34:25,359 be anything left because the thing that stimulates our faithfulness is 338 00:34:25,359 --> 00:34:30,520 evangelism. It's the thing that gets us excited, supporting missionaries, going on 339 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,510 missionary trips, inviting somebody to church, seeing people being baptized, new 340 00:34:34,510 --> 00:34:39,099 Christians. That's what... That's the energy that keeps the church strong 341 00:34:39,099 --> 00:34:48,190 and vibrant. The universality of condemnation is a sobering thought that 342 00:34:48,190 --> 00:34:53,020 helps us appreciate our own salvation and those who have brought us to Christ, 343 00:34:53,020 --> 00:34:58,930 those who labor to keep us there. I appreciate what I have when I see 344 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:03,099 how close I was to condemnation. Everything... 345 00:35:03,099 --> 00:35:08,020 What if my parents were not Christians and took me to church or 346 00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:17,950 taught me? Would I have found it by myself? What if my friend didn't persist in 347 00:35:17,950 --> 00:35:22,660 inviting me to come to church picnic and bring my kids to VBS so that I would 348 00:35:22,660 --> 00:35:27,820 eventually come to worship service and hear the gospel? What if she 349 00:35:27,820 --> 00:35:34,450 didn't do that? Would I have searched? Ask 350 00:35:34,450 --> 00:35:39,250 yourself the what-if question. That person that steered you to Christ, 351 00:35:39,250 --> 00:35:43,030 what if that didn't happen? Where would you be? Remember, I've told you before the 352 00:35:43,030 --> 00:35:48,100 only advantage of having been converted at thirty years of age, as it was the 353 00:35:48,100 --> 00:35:53,650 case in my life, the only advantage of that, is I can remember what it's like to 354 00:35:53,650 --> 00:35:58,600 be lost. I can remember what I would be thinking about 355 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:05,500 and the searching and the... I can remember the state of mind of a person 356 00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:10,840 who is lost. He doesn't even have a clue about salvation, religion, 357 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:15,580 it's just religion. Jesus freaks, whatever, I'm not interested in that. 358 00:36:15,580 --> 00:36:23,740 It has no relevance in my life. I can remember thinking that, if 359 00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:27,980 it wasn't for Jim Meador, 360 00:36:27,980 --> 00:36:34,360 missionary for a little tiny church, 30 people in Lachine, Montreal, putting a 361 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:40,840 small little column ad in a weekly giveaway newspaper that said "Sinners are" 362 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,470 "Welcome at the Church of Christ". Then he wrote a little article about how sinners 363 00:36:44,470 --> 00:36:50,500 are welcome at the church and I looked at that article and I went that's me. 364 00:36:50,500 --> 00:36:54,670 He's talking about me. I went to visit and you know the rest of 365 00:36:54,670 --> 00:36:58,240 the story. I've told you before that's the only 366 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:03,730 time that that ad was in the paper. It only appeared one time and I'm the only 367 00:37:03,730 --> 00:37:13,060 person that answered that ad. No one else. Jim is gone. That church no longer exists. 368 00:37:13,060 --> 00:37:20,170 Yet, I, because of God's grace, have preached the gospel to millions of 369 00:37:20,170 --> 00:37:28,930 people, millions. Imagine. Why? Because the preacher preaching for some tiny little 370 00:37:28,930 --> 00:37:33,460 church stepped out and took a chance and wrote an article. What if he wouldn't 371 00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:37,120 have done...? What if I would have missed that? Where would I be now? Think about 372 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,460 that. Your parents, your friend, your cousin, 373 00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:43,240 your brother, whoever, steered you to Christ. Where would you be without 374 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:52,480 that person? So we appreciate what we have. We realize of course what we 375 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:59,800 could have lost. So in the next chapters Paul's gonna explain God's 376 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:07,630 response to universal condemnation and that is a renewal of the expression of 377 00:38:07,630 --> 00:38:12,700 grace, this time not through the creation but through the sending of Jesus 378 00:38:12,700 --> 00:38:16,300 Christ. That will be our next lesson in grace. I believe that's it. 379 00:38:16,300 --> 00:38:21,840 I heard the bell. That's our time. Appreciate your attention.