What to do about the law? Romans 2:12-16
11“For there is no partiality with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
This section begins with verse 11 which says, “For there is no partiality with God.” In other words, the last day, the day of judgement, it won’t matter how much you’ve accumulated, it won’t matter what country you came from, it won’t matter who your parents or grandparents were, it won’t even matter how old you were when you died, it won’t even matter what church you belonged to or what denomination your church was part of, or whether or not they followed certain religious practices. The only question that will be asked is, are you saved or are you not.
If someone is partial toward someone else it means they have based their evaluation on an assumption and then treated them accordingly. James gives us a great example when he says, “For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,' while you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there,' or, ‘Sit down at my feet'. . .”
In our day, we might see a man and his wife drive into the church parking lot with a brand-new Cadillac and then a guy in jeans and a t-shirt pull in beside him in a rusty ten-year-old Volkswagen. So, which one are we going to make sure we introduce ourselves to?
When we say, there is no partiality with God that means He doesn’t give preference to anyone regardless of their color, language or even their religious background. God has no favorites.
Sometimes when we read the Old Testament, it seems as though God favors the rich and powerful. After all, we have Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and Daniel who all were very wealthy and in positions of power. But then we have the prophets and none of them seem to have more than the shirt on their back. In the New Testament we have the disciples and most of them were fisherman.
We also have Lazarus who was so poor he sat and begged by the rich man’s gate until the day he died. We don’t know how he died or even what happened to his body but you won’t find anyone more destitute than he was, and yet, it says that when he died the angels came and carried him off to heaven. Can you imagine his arrival and everyone wondering who was this that he received such specialized service? What had he done? Was he one of the great preachers? No, he was simply faithful in spite of his circumstances.
But listen, there’s no partiality with God. He doesn’t choose the rich on the basis of what they give and He doesn’t choose the poor based on their poverty. God’s choice has nothing to do with anyone’s financial status.
The goddess of justice in the Greek pantheon had a blindfold over her eyes so she wouldn’t judge based on appearance. Her scales for balancing truth were accurate without bias. Her sword judged all equally. But as we know, justice is only as good as the one who holds the power and the power in our world is money. The rich can hire the best lawyers to defend them and these lawyers will find every legal loophole and if they know they can’t win, they’ll simply pull every trick in the book to delay justice. Anything to win.
Someone once said that the best definition of a jury is: “Twelve people who couldn’t come up with a good excuse to get out of jury duty.” And lately I heard they’re, “Twelve people who have been chosen to decide which side has the best lawyer.” But in spite of who the jury is, people are literally getting away with murder and every other crime imaginable because the law is broken and often it favors the guilty over the poor.
God’s justice is complete and He knows every thought that’s ever gone through our minds, and every little thing we’ve ever done whether it was good or bad. We can deceive one another but God knows and sees everything and God never forgets.
I remember visiting in a nursing home and tried to talk to a very old man. The problem was, he wasn’t sure where he was or even what day of the week it was but the staff assured me that he was a very pleasant old man.
I thought of him later and I wondered if he had always been a nice person or if there were some sin in his past that he might be ashamed of, or if he had any dark secrets that he wouldn’t want anyone to know.
I thought, I guess it really doesn’t matter, but then it occurred to me that someday he’ll stand in the presence of God where absolutely every sin he ever committed is going to be revealed. As the old preacher said, “There’s going to be a payday someday. And Jesus said in Mark 4:22, “For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” And as we stand in the presence of God there will be no more secrets.
But, here’s the good news, God offers forgiveness to anyone who wants it, and when we confess our sinfulness and ask His forgiveness the Bible tells us what happens to our sins.
In Psalm 103:12 it says, “As far as the east is from the west, so, far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Listen, that means when God takes away our sin, He throws it so far away we can never be entangled nor ensnared by it again. This verse gives the impression that our sin will be heading in the opposite direction of wherever we are.
That’s a fantastic promise but until we arrive in His presence, we’re going to continue to wrestle with our sin nature and it’s only by the work of the Holy Spirit that any of us will have any victory.
I’m afraid there’s a lot of believers who live with unconfessed sin and they wrestle with guilt to the point they lack the spiritual freedom to enjoy the salvation God gives us. Listen, He wants to take away both our sin and its guilt, so we can have the joy of being involved in His work while we’re still on this earth. One of the great promises of heaven is the fact that when our sin is gone, we will be perfect and complete because we will be like Jesus.
People think it’s a big joke when we say we’re going to heaven but there have been great civilizations of the past who have hoped for something better in the life to come.
In the tombs of the Egyptians there was found the oldest book in the world. No one was able to decipher its message with these strange hieroglyphics, but when their secrets were finally revealed, it was discovered this book was an instruction manual for the dead. Its goal was to give direction so the reader could find prosperity and happiness in the life beyond the grave.
When the ancient cuneiform inscriptions on long-buried Chaldean tablets were finally deciphered, they were found to contain prayers on behalf of the dead.
The literature, the sculpture and the inscriptions of the ancient Assyrian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman civilizations were all a testimony to the universal idea that the soul will live forever.
The Gallic warrior was buried with his armor, and the painted Indian with his bow and arrow. These were all provided so these men would have something to hunt with in the after life.
Throughout time Bible teachers have communicated that our life doesn’t end even though our bodies die but we’re going to be living some where else and that somewhere else is either heaven or hell. Heaven is going to be the most exciting, adventure-filled place that our minds could possibly imagine while hell will be a desperately lonely existence of never-ending suffering.
The unsaved have it all wrong. Gary Larson, in one of his FAR SIDE cartoons has a man sitting on a cloud with a halo on his head and angel wings while he was totally bored. The caption read, “I Wish I’d brought a magazine.” I’ve heard others say, "I'd rather be having a good time in hell than be bored to tears in heaven." But this is Satan’s lie because heaven will be anything but boring.
There are actually three heavens described in the Bible. The first heaven is what is called the firmament or sky that covers the earth. This is the realm of birds and clouds and it surrounds the entire earth.
The second heaven is where the stars, the sun, and the moon exist. This is the space beyond the earth and it covers the entire universe. This goes beyond what our eyes can see even with the help of gigantic telescopes.
The third heaven is unseen and this the residence of God. This is also where all the believers who have died are alive. This is the location of the throne of God where the holy angels surround His throne and sing day and night, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord our God.’
It’s beyond description because our minds can’t possibly comprehend all that God has in store for those who love Him.
Have you ever bought an economy ticket for a flight, but because of overbooking or some other reason you were upgraded to first class? Did you regret the upgrade? Did you spend your time wondering, I wonder what I’m missing in the economy section? Of course not.
The upgrade from earth to heaven is going to be much more than a shift from economy to first class and if there was anything we’d miss I’m sure God will make it available.
Jonathan Edwards said, “Even the very best of men on earth are imperfect. But it is not so in heaven. There shall be no pollution or deformity or offensive defect of any kind, seen in any person or thing; but every one shall be perfectly pure, and perfectly lovely in heaven.”
1. In Heaven, our friendships are going to be better.
In Hebrews 12:22-23 we have a list of the residents of heaven. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect”
We will be perfect and that means we’ll never have an argument or any kind of tension because we’ll all be sinless and our relationships will be open, honest and loving.
2. In Heaven, our work will be interesting and enjoyable.
Many people don't think of heaven as a place of work but rather as a place of rest; but in heaven, I think we’re going to enjoy both. After all, God made us to be productive and we will be serving both Him and one another with the gifts He has given us.
3. In Heaven, our longing for home will be filled.
Romans 8:22-23 says, "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."
There is a hunger in each of us for the time of perfection. I’m not saying we’re in a hurry to die but when we’re called we’ll find heaven to be God's prepared place for His prepared people who are totally prepared to go there.
In the first part of this chapter Paul had addressed the Jewish believers and he warned them about trusting in their religious heritage rather than trusting in the Lord. In this section he’s focusing on the law and those who were trusting in their obedience to it, and he says that as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.”
As he begins his focus is on the Jews and their relationship to the law. I think this is an important subject because many of us who have studied the scriptures have always wondered about our relationship to the law. Do we to keep it? Do we keep part of it? Or do we say as some, that we’re to live our lives in the New Testament while totally ignoring the Old?
So, let’s look at the law and ask three questions, one, what is the purpose of the law. Two, what is our relationship to the law. Three, what about the Gentiles who had no law?
I What is the purpose of the law.
Someone compiled a six-point list of how we should see the law.
1. The law is a mirror reflecting to us the perfect righteousness, holiness, and goodness of God and it reveals the infinite gulf that separates God and man.
2. The law reveals sin and all the ways we’ve failed and it teaches us that no one can be righteous by keeping the law. As Paul said in Rom 3:20, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin … if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin.”
3. The law reveals who and what we are. As Gal 3:19 says, “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”
4. The law restrains evil. It can’t change the heart but it does slow down the effects of sin by its threat of judgment.
5. The law is also a shadow of good things to come. It reveals something of the kingdom when all men and women will be enabled to live for the glory of God.
6. It reveals our sin so we can call out to God in repentance and be saved for time and eternity.
We see have several examples in the New Testament where Jesus puts the law into perspective. The first one is found in Matthew 19 where we find the rich young ruler who came running to Jesus and addressed Him as a good teacher but when Jesus said, “No one is good but God” this should have been the first clue to his problem. He really didn’t know who he was talking to.
But then he asked, “What must I do to be saved?” And Jesus said, “Keep the commandments.” He said he had kept them all, and listen, he may have thought he did but none of us are perfect and keeping all 613 commandments or even just boiling it down to the ten commandments would have been impossible.
Just look at the commandments and ask yourself, have I always loved God with all my heart or to put it simply, with every fibre of my being? That includes never having anything take His place or any idols of any kind. Have you ever used His name in vain or swore or even violated the Sabbath? Have you always obeyed your parents all the time without fail? Have you ever been angry at anyone? Have you ever lusted in your heart? Have you ever stolen anything even as a little child? Have you ever said anything that wasn’t true about someone? And then finally, have you ever wanted something that belonged to someone else?
If any of us can say we’ve kept all ten without fail has not only attained spiritual but moral perfection.
So, when Jesus told him that he’d have to give up all his goods and give them to the poor and then come and follow Him; this man realized he was in a battle between God and money, and without too much of a struggle, money won. He said he had kept all the law but when the One who wrote the law asked him what was the most important thing in his life his answer was money.
And if you had asked him what he thought of the law, he might have said it was great, until the law messed with his stuff.
And then in Luke 10:25-29 it says, “And behold, a certain a lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So, he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.”
And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” And then Jesus follows up with the parable of the good Samaritan and this parable reveals what he really thought of his neighbor.
But listen, Jesus told him to keep one verse and he’ll have eternal life; and that one verse was verse 27, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.”
Did you get that? Jesus said, you’re absolutely right, if you want to be saved and go to heaven then all you have to do is love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself and when you’ve done all this; you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Now listen carefully, there were three things he was told he had to do. One was to love God with all of his heart and that meant from the day he was born until the day he died God was to be number one in his heart. Two, he was to love God with all of his soul and this includes all his strength and all his mind, and this means he would have to be totally committed to God both mentally and physically from the day he was born until the day he died. Three, he was to love his neighbor as much as he loved himself.
So, was Jesus telling him to obey the law as a recipe for salvation? Absolutely not! He was using the law to show him how far he was from the kingdom of God.
And we can see this man understood what was being said because he ignored how far he had fallen and started asking questions about who his neighbor was. And his question wasn’t, how can I love him but who is he? Are we talking about the guy who lives across the street or are you referring to some pagan across the ocean? His question reveals his heart because he wasn’t concerned about loving anybody or even pleasing God, he was only concerned with winning the argument.
So, Jesus told him a story and whenever you tell someone a story they tend to relax and let their guard down a little, because everyone loves a story. And this story was about a two very respectable Jews and a Samaritan and all three of these men had seen a man lying by the side of the road who was naked, bleeding and almost dead. The two Jews for whatever reason ignored him and his condition while the Samaritan went out of his way at great cost to himself not only to deal with his physical condition but to make sure he fully recovered.
Now, don’t miss this, Jesus wasn’t saying that the Samaritan was the true believer or that his good works somehow saved him but He was pointing out the obvious, that no one is saved by good works, by church membership, by their moral reputation or anything else; because you’re either saved by God or you’re not saved at all.
But He ends this parable by asking the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor?” And the lawyer said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” And he was right; but I want you to notice, that he couldn’t even say the word Samaritan.
And Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” And we wonder, do what? Be a good neighbor to people you can’t stand? To the ones from another country who just moved into the area and they’re pagans? To the ones who drink and gamble and talk garbage every time you hear them? Yeah, those are our neighbors.
If this guy was honest, he would have said, “Jesus, I don’t love any of my neighbors like that and I know I’m not capable of that kind of love and if my getting into heaven is depends on the way I love others then I’m absolutely lost.” And if he had said this, he would have been saved; because only those who know they’re lost get saved.
As it’s been said many times, “You’ve got to get them lost before you can get them saved.” And that’s what Jesus was doing; He was making it clear how much he needed to be saved.
So, the law reveals who we are and when we realize what sinners we are, our natural reaction is either to surrender to God and be saved or run as far away as we can.
Remember, the purpose of the law was never to save us but to show us how much we need to be saved.
There was a man who was selling a Mercedes that was only a year old and this car had a book value of forty thousand dollars but he said he was selling it for two thousand. Everyone thought it must be some kind of misprint but a lot of people went to see it out of curiosity. The man said it was only two thousand but there was a catch. He said this car will only take you where you need to go but not where you want to go. Most of those who looked at the car decided they weren’t all that interested, because they’d rather go their own way and do their own thing.
II What’s our relationship to the law?
Paul says, “As many as have sinned without law will also perish without law.” The Bible tells us that God has clearly revealed Himself not only in the word of God but also in nature and in the hearts of men according to Ecclesiastes 3:11. So, it’s not as though He hasn’t left us enough evidence but people have rejected everything He’s revealed. And in place of the truth they believe the lies that were created to give the illusion of truth.
Several years ago, there was a series of lectures on creation at the University of Toronto. Two of the very learned professors got up and proclaimed the absolute truth of evolution. The problem was, one of them said the world was about fourteen million years old while the other said his calculations put it at a little less then three million. As the moderator wrapped up the discussion he said, “Well, we all believe the world evolved and even though we may have some dissension about the age of the universe we all hold to the same concept of evolution.”
When I heard that I imagined him walking into a corner store for a loaf of bread and handing the clerk a twenty-dollar bill. The cost of the bread was two dollars and the clerk gave him back eleven. Do you think he would have said, “I guess it doesn’t matter how much he gave me as long as we both agree that he owed me something?” No, of course not, we all hold to principles of truth when it comes to little things like change and we need to do the same when it comes to the basic principles of life.
We also need to understand that not everyone holds to the principle of truth and many will actually lie in order to manipulate. Here are five examples of lies.
1. Some lies are obvious. Lying can be common among children who are trying to evade responsibility but most grow out of it. On the other hand, there are those who will spend their lives lying about everything and anything just for the fun of it.
I worked with an older man in a carpet store and the first day I was there a woman came in and while she was looking at a particular sample he approached her and said, “I really like your style, my wife chose the exact same carpet for our living room.” And throughout the day he said the exact same thing to every customer he spoke to. At first, I thought he must have the most hideous living room imaginable but then I realized he lied about everything and I also realized that I couldn’t trust a word he said.
I was out visiting one evening with one of my older deacons and he said, “I’ve got a son who doesn’t know the Lord, let’s drop in and have a visit.” So, we went in and we had a great conversation about the things of the Lord and when the evening was over, I said, “Will I see you in church on Sunday?” And he said, “Absolutely!” We prayed and left but as soon as we got in the car the deacon said, “You won’t see him on Sunday, he just lied to get rid of you.” And sure enough, Sunday came but he didn’t.
2. There’s also lying by omission and that’s when you say something but leave something out because it just looks better if they don’t know all the details. We can do this to either impress someone with how we handle things or to avoid some kind of confrontation. After all, we think who needs to cause problems by telling the truth?
3. Then there’s lying by exaggeration. This can either be an over-or-under exaggeration. For instance, we can try to convince others that we were in the top 10% of graduates when the truth is, we were closer to average or we can undersell ourselves about something in order to give others the chance to tell us how great we are.
4. There’s also lying by misrepresentation. Ask a non-Christian, have you read the Bible? And many will reply, most of it.
I remember going to a funeral home to meet the family of someone who passed away in order to prepare for the service. There were three sons but only one of them said anything while the other two nodded in agreement with everything he said. They had lived a few miles from the church but as far as anyone knew none of this family had ever been to a service.
I asked the man to tell me about his mother in order to have a few details I could use to personalize the service. He started going on and on about how religious his mother was, as a matter of fact he said, she had her Bible in her hands over her heart when she died. And for some reason, I felt there was a slight misrepresentation there.
5. Then there are those who lie for social reasons. Someone might say, “I’m having a birthday party on Friday can you make it?” And you say, “I’m terribly sorry. I have other plans.” Even though you know you don’t. Or you’re at a restaurant and the waitress asks, “How was the food?” And you say, “It was great.” But you were thinking, “I should have stayed at home and ate beans out of a can.” We lie because we don’t want to appear rude.
There are habitual lies that we don’t even realize we tell everyday when we’re trying to get out of an uncomfortable situation. Mark Twain said, “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”
There are some who deal in half-truths for the convenience of it. Solomon Stoddard was a pastor in Colonial New England who came up with something called, “The Half-Way Covenant.” The pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620 and by 1662, most of the first generation of devout Puritans who had come to New England were dead. Many of their children and grandchildren were not nearly as committed to following Christ as the first generation and since many of them were unsaved, they couldn’t be members of the church.
Stoddard decided to allow people to become partial church members and this would allow them to share in the Lord’s Supper, even though he knew they weren’t saved. The only requirement was that they not live blatantly immoral lives. This was led to all kinds of problems in the church until God used Stoddard’s grandson, Jonathon Edwards to bring spiritual revival to New England through what was known as The Great Awakening. And in the great awakening people not only got right with God but then they got right with one another.
Our relationship to the law is to continually study it and learn from it’s principles along with the New Testament because it’s the word of God.
III What about the Gentiles who had no law?
Verse 14, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
The Gentiles did not have God’s law written in stone like Israel did, but they naturally punished murder, theft, adultery and lying because their conscience dictated how they should live. This makes Israel unable to use the “we-are-not-as-sinful-as-the-Gentiles” excuse because if the Gentiles act better than the Jews, and they do so without having God’s laws written down, then Israel is more accountable because they had the law written in stone but hey broke them anyway.
So, when all lost people stand before God to be judged they will be judged according to whatever spiritual light they had and it’s to this standard they’ll be held accountable.
