A man was running down the road chased by a bear. He could not escape. While running he comes to a dry well. Looking down the well at the bottom he sees a rattlesnake. He grabs a branch growing out of the side. What a predicament! He notices two mice on the branch, one white and one black. They are both gnawing at the branch. He sees on a leaf two drops of honey. Reaching over with his tongue, he licks off those two drops of honey.
The interpretation of this story is as follows: the man is you. The bear is your past. The well is life as it really is, reality. The snake represents the judgment of God, for which every person is headed. The branch, the time we have left to live. The white mouse is day. The black mouse is night. The two drops of honey is all the material pursuits of life, growing up, education, falling in love, marriage, children, buying a home, retirement, amusements, etc.
Anyone who says, “All that life amounts to is a couple of drops of honey.” is a fool. If you believe that all there is to life is growing up, getting an education, falling in love, getting married, finding a good job, making it in the world and dying. Then you are a fool. For all of these things represent only a couple of drops of honey in the real picture of what life is all about.
Life is a waiting room before we enter into the presence of God. In life you prepare for eternity. This life is just a drop in the bucket. One thing everybody needs to understand is that we are headed for a crisis. That's what the word judgment means. When you stand face to face with God. Romans 14:12, Hebrews 9:27. The greatest crisis you will ever face will be the judgment.
We were created for God's glory, and God is going to get glory out of every life. Philippians 2:9-11;
In Romans 2, Paul is talking about that future day of judgment to which everyone in this building is headed. Three principles by which God will judge every man: saved, or lost.
I. You will be Judged According to the Truth, verse 2
1. The most elusive commodity in America today, is truth. It is almost impossible today to believe anybody.
2. Look at T.V. ads. If all of it worked as they say it does, we would never need to replace it or have any issues.
3. We have been deceived by so many today: politicians, people of all walks of life…
4. We’ve come to the place where we don’t want anybody else to know the truth about us.
5. There is one place where the truth will be known, verse 2
6. Now, what is truth. Truth is things as they really are, not as they appear to be.
7. Jesus lived only one life. 1 Peter 2:22, that means when He said He was something He really was…you could look at Him on the outside and know He was the same inside.
8. In the Day of Judgement, God is going to judge us as we really are…not what we appear to be.
a. There will be no character witnesses.
b. There will be no circumstantial evidence.
c. Just truth!
9. There is not a soul here today who would be willing to stand up and let everybody know the absolute truth about you.
10. I’m amazed at how we are always getting our feelings hurt. Listen, if people knew the whole truth about you, they would treat you half as nice as they do now.
11. You can’t know the truth about people in this lie.
II. Your Judgement will be According to Works, verse 5-6
1. Truth is what you really are…deeds is what you really do. God will judge you on what you are and also what you do.
2. Verse 6, that word render means, “to pay back.” A banking term. We have a Heavenly bank account, and God deposits every deed in that account, good or bad.
3. On the day of Judgement, God is going to return to us every deed that we have done, with interest. Galatians 6:7-8
4. Everything you have ever done that is not under the blood of Jesus, you are going to meet again the Day of Judgement. What a reunion that is going to be.
5. 2 Corinthians 5:10; there will be judgment for Christian works.
6. Revelation 20:11-15; lost judged according to their works, not to determine the degree of punishment.
7. Let me point out one particular work God is going to judge us for, verse 4
8. One of the primary works God is going to judge us for is, “despising the goodness of God.” how do you despise God’s goodness?
9. When you take all the blessings of God and His goodness and say, “This is a sign that God is pleased with me…no need for me to change.” You are despising the goodness of God.
a. Many backslidden Church members do this.
b. Many lost people do this.
10. Some of you have been lapping up the goodness of God, you have everything. You have never lifted your heart to God to give thanks. You are despising the goodness of God.
11. Every good thing you have, comes from God, and it is a call for you to repent, to live right as a Christian. Are you despising it?
III. Your Judgement will be According to the Gospel, verse 16
1. Notice the personal pronoun, “my gospel.” What was Paul's gospel? Romans 1:16
2. It was a gospel of not being saved by joining the church, baptism, catechism, living a good life, but being saved by submitting myself by faith to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
3. God is going to judge every man by this gospel. John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 16:30-31. Have you done that?
4. You say, “I'm a member of the church. I've been baptized.” That is not going to make a bit of difference on the day of judgement.
5. God is going to ask, “what did you do with my son, Jesus Christ?”
6. You can always tell what a fellow is really like by his attitude toward Jesus. That's the revealer.
a. That man is not saved, but he's a good man.
b. Not according to God's word.
7. Hebrews 10:26-27, I want you to know if you have rejected Jesus Christ, you are a wicked man.
8. You can give any excuse you want for not being saved, but the main reason you are not is because you love sin more than you love Jesus. John 3:19-20
9. Judas was one of the 12, a treasurer. He looked like one of them, talked like one of them, he acted like one of them. He must be one of 'em. No, he was a devil from the beginning.
10. You know how I can tell? By his attitude toward Jesus.
11. I don't care how you act, talk, walk. I want to know what you've done with Jesus.
12. Every person is going to stand before God. He is only going to want to know one thing. What have you done with my son, Jesus Christ?
13. There are only two things you can do with him: you can accept him or reject him. You can either love him or hate him. Matthew 6:24, 12:30
14. What have you done with Jesus? What are you doing with him right now?
