“Saints and Outlaws” Romans pt. 4
Opening Illustration: Movie from a week at New Life which shows clips from the Baptismal Service to the Men’s Retreat.
Thesis: Paul says we are either saints or outlaws in the Kingdom of God and it depends on if we have repentant hearts, if we are doers of the Word or just hearers, and whether we have kept our covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus or if we have broken the covenant we have with the Lord.
Scripture Text: Romans 2:1-29
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.
12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
17Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
Video Clip – What are we missing? From Blue Fish TV
Introduction:
Let’s recap -- What is a “Saint?”
* Anyone who is a “Born Again” Christian and who has accepted the Lord as their Lord and Savior is a “Saint”.
* This means that you are no longer an “aint” because the Spirit has placed an “S” before “aint” and made you a “Saint.”
* These people are ones who have the light of eternity in their hearts and are seeking to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.
* These saints will one day be judged by God for what they have done with their lives.
Let’s look at the word Outlaw – What is an outlaw?
• From Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913): Outlaw - A person excluded from the benefit of the law, or deprived of its protection. Outlaw - 1. To deprive of the benefit and protection of law; to declare to be an outlaw; to proscribe. 2. To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement; as to outlaw a debt or claim; to deprive of legal force. Outlaw (adj) 1: contrary to or forbidden by law; "an illegitimate seizure of power"; "illicit trade"; "an outlaw strike"; "unlawful measures" 2: disobedient to or defiant of law; "lawless bands roaming the plains" Outlaw (n): someone who has committed (or been legally convicted of) a crime [syn: {criminal}, {felon}, {crook}, {malefactor}]
• An outlaw, as it relates to the Kingdom of God, is a person who breaks the laws of God and chooses not to repent of that and therefore loses the protection that also comes from the Laws of God.
o These people who were once saints are now a bunch of lawless outlaws roaming in bands through the plains of the Kingdom of God committing crimes against the saints and against God’s own kingdom.
o These individuals will be judged one day by God for their crimes to the Kingdom.
In this section of Romans Paul is telling the saint that they are to live each day in light of eternity. Bevere parallels this thought in his book Driven by Eternity. He stresses that we need to make our life count today and everyday after that. We need to make sure that we do not waste our lives away by doing acts that are evil or are in opposition to God’s Word. We really need to understand that saints and outlaws will one day face the Judge in the next life to come. The truth is we will all stand before the Great White Throne Judgment Seat of Christ. This includes the saints and the aints. This includes saints and even the outlaws who claim to be part of God’s Kingdom.
Bevere states this in his book about the up and coming eternal judgments that we
will face:
Many today are not building their lives on the eternal-God’s Word-but rather cultural thinking, tradition, assumptions, and emotional feelings about who God is. This doesn’t just apply to people who are not Christians, but to many believers as well. It’s a scary thing to believe something temporal as being the eternal truth. If this is done, your foundation is faulty and setting you up for a sure fall. You’ll believe a lie and are in a deceived state. I am amazed at how many people I meet who base their lives on what’s not eternal. Some will tell me of God and their belief in His Son, but whom they declare just isn’t the One revealed in His Word. The deception runs deep. How can they believe what they have simply imagined within their own minds, shaped by a society that has already been declared contrary to God’s nature? Jesus said: He who…does not receive My words, has that which judges him-the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak (John 12:48-49). There is a Judgment Day, which has been appointed from the foundation of the world (Acts 17:31). That day will not bring new revelations of truth; rather, it will measure all things by what has already been spoken. His Word, which we currently possess, will judge us in that last day. It is eternal. It is final. There are no exceptions, alterations, or revisions. Wouldn’t it benefit us to know and live by what He says, rather than assume what He said? The judgments made in that day are called eternal (Heb. 6:2).
Paul points to the fact of the coming judgment day which will occur to all who believe and don’t believe. He warns us to make sure that our actions and our lives align with the teachings put forth in the Word of God. He focuses on 3 specific areas that we as believers need to watch out for:
I. Saints are repentant and outlaws are unrepentant.
a. We all need to watch that we don’t become the hypocritical judge of those who are around us and then think that we are above the law itself.
i. We cannot be quick to judge others when we ourselves break the same laws as the ones we judge.
b. This thought parallels Romans 2:1-11 – The Message: Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. 2But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.3You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? 4Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.5You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. 6Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you— 7Real Life for those who work on God’s side, 8but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire! 9If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. 10But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. 11Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.
i. Many today get so filled with pride and arrogance they actually start to think that they are above the laws and the ways of God.
ii. Our society today is so arrogant and prideful that they think just because they call themselves Christians that God will let them into Heaven.
iii. They have deceived themselves into thinking that they can live contrary to God’s laws and He will still love them enough to let them into Heaven.
iv. These types of people who know the truth and have experienced the truth yet still live in sin and they are called “Outlaws” in the Kingdom of God.
1. The promise from Paul and God’s Word is people like this will be judged by God harshly and he will not show them favoritism!
c. This syndrome parallels the Pharisee syndrome which Paul faced repeatedly in his ministry to the Jewish nation.
i. It’s the religious spirit.
ii. It’s a condemning spirit.
iii. It’s a hypocritical spirit.
iv. It’s an arrogant spirit.
v. It’s a prideful spirit.
vi. It’s a person who likes to pronounce judgment on others but then does the very thing that they are condemning others for in secret.
d. God promises to judge those who do this more severely than those who never knew the truth.
i. Jesus was the hardest on the Pharisees in his ministry because of all the people on the earth these men should have known better. They studied God’s Word and read it but yet they missed God.
1. See Matthew 23
a. 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5“Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries£ wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ 8“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.13“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to …”
b. Today in American Christianity we have the same type of attitude toward God and His word and we have so called Christian who are not saints but are actually outlaws in the Kingdom.
e. The same applies to those who do this today in the Christian Church.
i. Share some examples of what you have had to deal with as a pastor for the last 20 plus years.
1. I have had bands of outlaws come into church and stir up trouble in the Body.
2. They have lied caused dissension, picked fights with others started church brawls.
3. They have tried to shoot me in the back on several occasions.
4. They have tried to steal money from God’s bank.
5. They have shot and wounded people in the Body of Christ and then turned and rode out of town without a care in the world or any remorse for what they had done to innocent people.
ii. I loved what Dennis said this weekend at our men’s retreat, “The church is filled with some nasty people and, yes, they may be sheep but those sheep have teeth and they bite!”
f. Those with the hypocrite disease are Outlaws in the Kingdom of God and you will be able to recognize them by the following character traits:
i. They are stubborn
ii. They are unrepentant
iii. They are self-seeking
iv. They reject the truth
v. They rebel against authority
vi. They follow after the path of evil
vii. They steal from God and others
1. But Paul says – these types of people will be judged at the Judgment Seat and they will receive wrath and anger from the Lord. Not pardon or mercy or grace!
g. Those who have the sainthood types of lifestyle will have the following character traits:
i. This person will have empathy for others who sin
ii. This person will practice what they preach
iii. This person will seek God’s glory
iv. This saint will pursue God’s honor
v. This saint will pursue eternity
vi. This saint will be rewarded with eternal life
vii. This saint will be rewarded with God’s glory, God’s honor and God’s peace at the Judgment seat.
h. So what is one of the distinguishing difference between the saint and the outlaw in the kingdom of God?
i. Point: One has a repentant heart the other does not!
T.S. – An outlaw does not have a repentant heart nor do they listen to what the Word says and then do it.
II. Saints hear the word and do it and outlaws hear the word and don’t do it.
a. Romans 2:12-24: The Message: 12If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. 13Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.14When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. 15They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. 16Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences. 17If you’re brought up Jewish, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, 18a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! 19I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, 20feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. 21While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? 22The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. 23You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. 24The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.
i. James 1:22-24: 22Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! 23Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, 24walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
b. Saints are the ones who hear God’s Word and then do God’s Word in their lives. They faith and action!
i. Righteous ones are the ones who actually do follow the laws of God and live the right kind of life.
ii. In other words they do the 10 Commandments and they follow Jesus and they do the teachings of Jesus.
1. Love God with your whole heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself!
iii. These people have the law of God written on their hearts and they follow it.
iv. They have a godly conscience which guides them and it honors God by what it does.
c. Outlaws in the Kingdom hear God’s law but they never do God’s law.
i. They can tell what the law says and preach it to you but they themselves do not live it or follow it.
1. Bevere’s story, “Now here is where many in the church falter. They see the love of God in the light of the temporal, not the eternal. There is love and goodness, which are admired by society and many in the church but determined by human measures, and are contrary to the love of God. Let me illustrate a few that are common. “We love each other so much and are planning to get married.” This is often stated when two people are having sex outside of marriage. Not only is this sin even if they do follow through and get married, but many times I’ve witnessed those who make such statements end up not getting married. They’ve forgotten the clear exhortation, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Heb. 13:4). Notice He does not say, “The adulterer and sexually immoral who don’t attend church.” No, it is all who practice this lifestyle” (9, 10).
ii. The outlaw in God’s kingdom is the one who knows the truth but does not follow the truth in their lives.
1. They preach the truth to others in the Body of Christ but they themselves do not live it.
a. They say things like do not lie yet they lie.
b. They say things like do not steal yet they steal from others.
c. They say do not commit adultery but they themselves commit it.
d. They say do not commit idolatry yet they themselves worship their man made idols of money, homes, and the like.
e. These people brag about the law but they don’t follow the law in their own lives.
f. They are quick to judge others accountable but they do not hold themselves accountable to the law.
g. They study the law for themselves but they do not follow what they have learned.
h. They dishonor God by being outlaws in the Kingdom because they do not live up to the law.
iii. Verse 13 states, “13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
1. Notice – hearing is not enough to be saved you must obey the law and follow its commandments to be righteous and saint in the Kingdom of God.
d. So what is another distinguishing difference between the saint and the outlaw in the kingdom of God?
i. Point: One hears the Word and does it, the other hears the Word and does not do it!
T.S. – An outlaw does not do the Word of God nor do they keep their covenant relationship with the Lord intact instead they treat it with disrespect.
III. Saints keep their covenant with the Lord and outlaws break their covenant with the Lord.
a. Romans 2:25-29: The Message: 25Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. 26The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised— 27in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. 28Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. 29You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.
b. The outlaw is one who has made a covenant with the Lord by the act of confession and repentance and then was Water Baptized but then they go out and continue to break the law.
i. They do not live by the law nor do they follow the law.
ii. These types of people in the kingdom are therefore looked at by God as not a saint but as outlaws in the Kingdom.
c. It is better to mark the Lord in your heart and live the life of a saint than to go through the act of covenant making and then live like an outlaw in the Kingdom of God.
i. This person will be judged more severely by God than the person who never knew the Lord in the first place.
ii. Do you remember the symbolism behind Water Baptism?
1. The 2nd step of submersion in Water Baptism deals with a circumcision of the heart according to Francis Anfuso’s booklet Water Baptism he states on page 12:
a. In the Old Testament, God established circumcision to be an outward work which signified a change of heart and a new covenant relationship between the Jewish people and Himself.
b. In the New Testament, Water Baptism parallels this and is required for all of God’s people.
c. They in essence circumcise their heart to God through the act of Water Baptism.
d. He then cites Col. 2:1-11:“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…”
2. The Submersion step symbolically portrays that we have crucified the flesh – which is our sin nature and therefore we have aligned with Jesus crucifixion and His burial. This step symbolically points to our sins being washed away and forgiven by the Lord and that we in spiritual terms have been “Born Again.”
a. This step is a covenant commitment to the Lord and to the ways of the Lord.
b. If we have gone through with Water Baptism then we have made a covenant with the Lord that needs to be honored and kept – not disrespected!
d. So what is another distinguishing difference between the saint and the outlaw in the Kingdom of God?
i. Point: The outlaw here makes a covenant with the Lord but then does not live like there is a covenant with the Lord. The saint makes the commitment and honors the covenant with the Lord and he or she marks Jesus on their heart and they go and live like a saint is suppose to live.
Conclusion:
1). Saints are repentant and outlaws are unrepentant within the Kingdom.
2). Saints hear the Word and do it and outlaws hear the Word and don’t do it.
3). Saints keep their covenant with the Lord and outlaws break their covenant with the Lord.
Altar Call: So how would you label yourself today? Would you say that you are a saint or an outlaw in the Kingdom of God?
Remember both with face the Great White Throne Judgment Seat of the Lord – Both will face eternal judgment before Jesus Himself – and what will He say to you?
