Transcript
Then in this unit, chapter two, we have what we might call the pious sinner who actually is no better than the depraved sinner. Because he himself is guilty of many of the things that he deplores in the people to whom he addresses his critique.
Now in the process of addressing the self-righteous pagan moralist in the first unit of chapter two, the apostle comes to a section where he is dealing with the future judgment of God. And that picks up again in verse four.
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
Now notice that whereas in chapter one we had talked about the wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness, now the apostle says to the moralist, don’t you realize, you hypocrite, you who criticize other people for doing wicked things and you do the same things yourself, don’t you realize that the process in which you are engaged is a process in which you are treasuring up wrath? You are storing up wrath for yourself which will be manifested in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
I would like to suggest to you that the title that he gives to this time period, which we have written right at the top of the overhead here, the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, is functionally equivalent to the eschatological term that we meet elsewhere in the Bible and which we call the day of the Lord.
As we look in the following verses we shall see that Paul is not only concerned with what we might call the final judgment or the final destiny of the unsaved person. He is also very explicitly warning that there will be tribulation and anguish, distress and anguish stored up for the future.
Now based on the Scriptures that deal with the day of the Lord, I think it is correct to say, particularly in the light of Second Peter chapter three, though the day of the Lord begins with the rapture of the church right here. And therefore the day of the Lord includes all of the judgments of God that are poured out upon mankind during the seven-year period which we know as Daniel’s seventieth week or which we sometimes call the Great Tribulation.
Then of course at the end of this period the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, defeats the armies of the beast and the false prophet, sets up His kingdom. But this is not the end of human rebellion. And as we learn from Revelation chapter twenty, after being imprisoned in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, the devil is released one more time. And he is able even after a thousand years of our Lord’s reign on earth to accumulate a large army which is willing to follow him in rebellion against God and with an attempt to overthrow the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
And of course this effort is entirely futile. And the invading armies are crushed by fire and brimstone that comes down from God out of heaven. Then there follows immediately the last judgment, the judgment that is described in Revelation twenty as the judgment of the great white throne.
By this time of course all believers who have lived in all past ages as well as in our own day and time have been resurrected, transformed, and they are in the presence of God. But the great white throne at the end of the millennium is the point at which the destiny of the unsaved will be determined judicially, as it were, in a court of law.
And what we observe in Revelation twenty is that first of all when the unsaved are raised to stand before the judgment seat there are books opened in which all of the deeds of the unsaved are recorded. And I think it is fair to say that the purpose of opening these books is to give everybody the fair hearing which they are entitled to before the judge of all the earth. But we already know that the conclusion is foregone. That nobody will be accepted before God or justified before God on the basis of his works.
And then another book is opened which is the book of life. And we’re told that whoever’s name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
So beginning with the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture the church and right through the end of this period we have, as it were, the totality of God’s judgments as they will fall upon the unsaved world. And this is the subject matter, it seems to me, of the verses that we’re looking at here in Romans chapter two.
Notice that the principle that is operative here is expressed in chapter two, verse six. Who will render to everyone according to his deeds. In this period of time God is not acting in grace. Although there will be salvation occurring on earth, but nevertheless the overriding principle of this period is that God is exercising judgment and He is rendering to everyone according to his works.
Then there follows three statements about what God is going to do. And I want us to look at these because they have a theological importance that we need to address. Who will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.
Now very strangely some contemporary interpreters of Romans have said that this shows that eternal life can be won as a result of patient continuance in doing good. I am assuming they have the whole book of Romans in their Bible just like the rest of us do. And hopefully they can read chapter three which says there’s none that doeth good, no, not one. There’s none that seeketh after God. There’s none righteous, no, not one.
We must remember that it is the teaching of the Bible that if there had been a way to earn eternal life, if man could have perfectly kept the law of God, then eternal life would have been given on that basis. You remember the story of the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says, what must I do to have eternal life? What good master, what must I do to have eternal life?
Before Jesus even addresses that question he says to the ruler, why do you call me good? There is none good but God. And then he says if you will enter into life keep the commandments. And the rich young ruler says, what sort of commandments? And then Jesus recites a number of the commandments of the law of Moses.
And then the rich young ruler in an act of supreme self-confidence, there probably is unparalleled in the Bible, says all these have I kept from my youth up. Even in one of the texts the quotation is honor thy father and thy mother. I don’t know. I’m not a parent of folks. But if any of you have children who have always honored their father and mother from their birthday to their maturity I would be happy to meet you afterwards and discover the super person that you have raised in your home.
I doubt very much the rich young ruler honored his father and mother without fail during all of those years. But he thought he had. He thought he had. And therefore he was really not prepared for the full presentation of the gospel which the Lord Jesus Christ could have given him.
And we don’t want to get into the whole story of the rich young ruler. But the point is that before Jesus even addressed his question he had a question of his own. Why do you call me good? If I’m not God I’m not good because there is none good but one, that is, God.
So when we are told in this verse that eternal life will be rendered to everyone who by patient continuance in doing good seeks for honor, glory, and immortality, we are really saying it’s not going to be given to anybody. What is really stated here is the principle upon which God is going to work.
You were standing in a courtroom and you had a row of defendants in front of the judge’s bench. And the judge said to the row of defendants in this courtroom, the innocent are cleared and the guilty are condemned. All that the judge is saying is that this is the principle that governs this courtroom. He is not suggesting by that that in the row of defendants there is necessarily anyone who is innocent or guilty. He is saying this is how this court operates. The innocent are cleared. The guilty are condemned.
All right. In the final judgment anybody who has patiently continued in well-doing and has sought for glory, honor, and immortality through that route will get eternal life. One problem. There is none good but one, that is, God.
And then notice that the second statement here said, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.
A lot of qualification. This period of judgment that we have described, particularly the period of the Great Tribulation, will be marked by these very things: by indignation, by wrath, by tribulation, by anguish poured out on those who have performed evil deeds.
Then he says but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But still once again there is none that doeth good, no, not one. So the idea here is that in the final eschatological day when God is dealing with men according to their works, people will get what they deserve. They will get what they deserve. And since no one deserves eternal life on the basis of their works no one will get it that way.
Now it’s amazing to me that this has been taken in any other way than that in the light of the clear and unambiguous statement that is made in chapter three. Just glance over for a moment.
Now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Now despite this very clear statement, skip back to verse thirteen, and some contemporary interpreters are trying to make something out of verse thirteen. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law are justified. And so they say, you see, people who do the law will be justified. And I say you never read chapter three. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Once again this is the principle. And Paul is simply saying, look, to the Jews it is no good just to be hearers of the law. You pride yourself in the fact that you possess the law. But it is not the hearers of the law that God is willing to justify. It is the doers of the law that God is willing to justify. But does that mean there is anybody who does the law? Of course not. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Notice therefore that the role of the law is discussed in the verses that we’re looking at in eleven through sixteen. And here the apostle is saying that if a person has sinned outside of the law he will be judged outside of the law. If a person has sinned within the law he will be judged in accordance with the standards of the law.
And then we have the famous statement that the Gentiles, verse fourteen, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained 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.
Now I happen to think that the original text here should be translated this way. Please notice verse fifteen as I reread it a little bit. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their reasonings between themselves accusing or else excusing one another.
What is this saying? I think it’s saying something like this. When you listen to the Gentiles, when you hear their debates about what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, when you listen to their accusations against one another and their defenses of what they have done, when you listen to all of their reasonings between themselves, you will discover that they work with the law as is already written in their heart. That they do have a consciousness of what is right and wrong even if the law has not been revealed to them.
And we can certainly see that in contemporary society. I’m often amazed by the number of times that a person who professedly doesn’t believe the Bible and doesn’t believe in God says, this is morally wrong, we shouldn’t do this. It is wrong to discriminate. It is wrong to engage in child pornography. It is wrong to this and that.
Now if you force them back to the basis for this, what would they do? Well most of them would not say it’s wrong because the Bible says it’s wrong. They would probably say it’s wrong because everybody knows this. This is wrong. This is obviously wrong. Or something’s clearly wrong with this that goes on in our society. As surely as it went on in the ancient Greek or Roman world.
And so far as Paul is saying, look, God has plenty of material with which to judge the men who have lived and died outside of the law. You remember that Jesus said in Matthew chapter twelve that every idle word that a man speaks he shall give account of in the day of judgment. Well, by thy words you will be justified or by thy words you will be condemned.
And God has a total record of every time every unsaved person who never heard of the law of Moses says we shouldn’t be doing this. And those words will be brought back to their memory in the final judgment. So God is going to be perfectly capable of judging those who have lived under the law. And He will judge them by the standards of the law. And He will be perfectly capable of judging those who live outside of the law by the standards they themselves have shown are already inscribed in their minds, hearts, and consciences.
Now if it is true, as Paul has been saying in chapters one and two, that there really is no basis for any man to hope for justification before God, even if he happens to be the most self-righteous moralistic man in Greco-Roman society, he’s got those Achilles heels. He’s condemning others for things he does himself. And therefore we must reach the conclusion that all men stand condemned before God.
And the first question that arises here is, if this is true even of the Jews, the Jews assumed it was true of the Gentiles of course, but if this is true even of the Jews, what advantage is there to being a Jew? And Paul would be willing to argue that there is an advantage because the Jewish nation had the oracles of God, the revelation of God, permitted to them.
And just because the nation has failed to live up to the revelation that was made to it does not negate the value of that revelation. Nor does the unfaithfulness of man countermand the faithfulness of God.
Notice the statement that is made in verse three. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed let God be true and every man a liar.
So no matter what men have done with the divine revelation, Paul is saying the divine revelation stands. God’s Word is truth. And it is better to have had the divine oracles than not to have had them.
Then we come to verse nine. What then? Are we better than they? May I pause here to say that the words translated “are we better than they” are among the most discussed words in the book of Romans. And I would be probably a little foolish to be overly dogmatic about their meaning. But I think that they should be translated this way. What then? Are we making excuses?
Now what he has said in the first eight verses is there is an advantage to being Jewish even if the Jews have fallen far below the standards that God has set for them in His oracles. It is better to have had these oracles than not to have had them. And even if the unfaithfulness of man only shows up the faithfulness of God that is still good.
But I’m not trying to make excuses for the Jews. I’m not trying to excuse their failure in any way. Because what I really want to say, Paul here is, that both Jews and Greeks, both Jews and Gentiles, stand under the condemnation of the law. So let’s read it that way. Verse nine. What then? Are we making excuses? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
And then he gives us, as you know, a series of quotations drawn from the Old Testament which show that the Old Testament says exactly what the Apostle Paul is claiming here. That all men stand under the condemnation of God.
We’ve already quoted some of the statements here in our earlier discussion. There’s none righteous, no, not one. There’s none who understands. There’s none that doeth good. And so on, leading to the conclusion, the very famous and dramatic conclusion that we’ve also read in verses nineteen and twenty. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So where does that leave man? Is man hopeless? If the only way to find acceptance before God is by obedience to God’s commands, man would be totally hopeless and condemned to eternal loss. But fortunately, and the grace of God is the reason for this, fortunately there is another kind of righteousness that is available to man and which begins to be described in verse twenty-one.
This is such a great passage that I would be remiss if I didn’t read it with you. So let’s look at Romans three, verses twenty-one to the end of the chapter.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. There is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Here of course the reference is to the Old Testament, to the sins that God had passed over. Men were justified in the Old Testament. Why was God justified in justifying man in the Old Testament? Because He was looking forward to the redemption that Christ would accomplish at the cross. And therefore the redemption of Christ is the vindication and justification of God’s saving work in all the past history.
But that’s not all. It not only demonstrates that, verse twenty-six, to demonstrate at the present time, notice, to demonstrate for the past His righteousness in passing over the sins that were committed, but also to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
A very wonderful and a very simple statement. Because Christ died on the cross God has the right, He has the justice, He has the privilege to justify everyone who puts faith in Christ. So complete and so satisfying is the work of Christ on the cross that God is free to justify all who will believe in His Son.
Where is boasting? That good question. It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. And wherever works are introduced in any measure or degree into this transaction the door is opened again to boasting.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law.
Let me pause here to say something about the last statements. Do we make void the law through faith? Are we saying that the law has somehow lost its integrity when we say you’re not saved by the law but you’re saved by faith? No. And indeed, says Paul, we actually establish the law.
And in what sense do we establish the law? I think a clue was given to us in the epistle of James. Remember James’ statement? Whoever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point he is guilty of all. God insists that the integrity of His law be maintained and that the entire law be kept.
And when anyone says, well, you could break it here or there and God will still admit you on the basis of the law, they are attacking the integrity of the law. The law is established by the fact that we can’t be justified on the basis of the law unless we keep it completely. And to keep it less than completely is to destroy the integrity that that law has.
There was a story one time about a man who reached under the bottom of a tent with his arm and he extracted from the tent some very valuable items. And he was caught and brought to trial. And his defense lawyer made the unusual defense that the man could not be condemned for breaking and entering because he’d never gone into the tent and therefore he was free to go.
Well of course the argument didn’t fly. And when the man was convicted the judge said, I am going to sentence the right hand and the right arm of this man to twenty-five years in prison. And as for the rest of the body he can do with it what he wants. His body was a whole, a complete entity. And what the arm did the body did.
And the law is a whole. And God insisted it be kept completely. Or He says you are a lawbreaker. And therefore, says Paul, by saying to you that you cannot be justified by the works of the law I am saying to you that we have established the law. We’ve established its full integrity, its full validity. We haven’t chipped away at the edifice. We haven’t made exceptions to the rules. We have established the law in all of its fullness and significance.
Finally chapter four. What about Abraham? Had you been a Jew in Paul’s day you might very easily advance the question, well how about Abraham? Wasn’t Abraham the very best man that the Old Testament had? And it was almost an established item of Jewish tradition that Abraham was accepted on the basis of his works before God.
What should we say about Abraham, says the Apostle Paul? What has Abraham our father found according to the flesh? And notice his statement in verse two. For if Abraham was justified by works he has something of which to boast, but not before God.
This is a very significant statement because the form in which this statement is made in the Greek language suggests that Abraham might have been justified by works. It leaves open the possibility that he was justified by works. But Paul is saying if Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast of, but not before God.
We’re all familiar of course with the teaching of James two in which we are told that Abraham was justified by works. But not before God. Because James too is talking about his justification before men and the fact that he was called a friend of God.
I think the apostle here betrays an awareness that there was a sense in which Abraham could be called justified by works. But he says if that’s true, and I’m not denying it is, that justification was not in the sight of God.
So he appeals to his basic scripture, Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Now the proof that the Old Testament taught justification by faith is not exclusively confined to the passage about Abraham but is also found, as Paul indicates here a little bit later, in the words of David. So verse six. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, saying,
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
One of the things we need to keep in mind is that according to Paul the righteousness of God is testified to by the law and the prophets. We’re not talking about something that is only known in New Testament times. This is something that was known and experienced in the Old Testament. Abraham is the first biblical example of it but not the last biblical example. David also experienced this justification and knew the meaning of righteousness imputed without works.
Now a very interesting discussion follows on Abraham which I’m just going to summarize very quickly. And if we don’t touch some of the things you’re interested in in chapter four we’ll take them in the period that follows on questions.
But notice that he argues in this passage that the justification of Abraham took place before Abraham was circumcised, not after he was circumcised. Therefore his circumcision, which of course was the first act that a person would perform if they intended to keep the law, his circumcision had nothing whatsoever to do with his justification by faith.
Moreover because he was justified in uncircumcision he is appropriately called the father of all those who believe, whether they have been circumcised or not.
Notice also that he tells us in verse thirteen. For the promise that he would be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
What does it mean to be heir of the world? Well you remember that the original Abrahamic promise was in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And according to Galatians three and verse that was the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith. That is the blessing of Abraham which was the blessing of justification by faith was destined to come not only upon the Jewish race, his physical descendants, but is destined to come upon all mankind.
And the day will come when the world is in the possession of the spiritual descendants of Abraham in its entirety. That is to say the future world will be lived in and occupied by and possessed by those who are justified by faith.
Then the chapter concludes I think with a very beautiful picture of the way in which Abraham’s faith rose to the level of believing that the God who made him the promise was a God who could raise the dead.
So when God’s promise comes to him that his seed will come from his own loins the apostle tells us Abraham didn’t think about his own body which was physically dead, at least in terms of its ability to procreate. He didn’t think of the deadness of Sarah’s womb, that she was past the age in which she could expect to have children. What he counted on was that what God had promised He was able also to perform. And therefore, as Paul says, it was accounted to him for righteousness.
He believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
There is a very significant idea here about the nature of faith with which I want to close the discussion. Notice verse nineteen. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
In our society and our evangelical culture we have kind of fallen into a very confusing way of talking about faith. And we’ve even sometimes said that faith is an act of the will, a decision that we make. And therefore we elaborate it. It’s expressed through prayer or it’s expressed in some other way.
Actually it would be much better if we talked about faith as a conviction or a persuasion. You remember that the old King James Version has the word persuasion here. And being fully persuaded that what God had promised He was also able to perform.
Faith occurs when I am persuaded of the promise of God to me that He will save me by faith alone. I cannot decide to believe that if I don’t think it’s true. But if I am persuaded that it is true I have already believed it. May I repeat that because that’s important.
Faith is a persuasion, a conviction about what God says, a conviction that it is true. If I am not persuaded that something is true I cannot decide to believe it. But if I am persuaded that something is true I’ve already believed it.
And when God says to me I give you eternal life freely through faith in Christ, if I can say that’s right, I’m persuaded, that’s exactly what You do, we’re saved. There’s no prayer has to be prayed. No hands have to be raised. Nothing else has to be done.
He was fully persuaded of what God had promised He was able also to perform. Many people lack assurance of salvation precisely because they are examining their experience of faith and trying to persuade themselves that they have believed. Or as I’ve often put it, many people are trying to have faith in their faith. They’re trying to look at their faith and say yeah that faith was real.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches us to do. The Bible does not teach us to have faith in our faith but to have faith in the Word of God. If I can look at the Word of God and say yes that is true I have believed it.
So being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. That was not written for his sake only that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, we believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.
When I am persuaded of God’s promise God’s righteousness is imputed to me in exactly the same way as it was when Abraham was persuaded of God’s promise.
Okay, let’s open it for questions. Yes, right back here. I’m having trouble getting your first name again. I knew it, Jim. I’m sorry, Jim. Are you talking about three or two? Jim, is it possibly 2:28 where he is not a Jew who is one outwardly? No. Okay. I need to have you kind of pinned down which verses you’re looking at. Okay, 2:25 to the end of the chapter.
Yeah, basically what he’s saying here is that the external rite of circumcision is not the important issue in circumcision. That more important than circumcision external in the flesh is circumcision of heart. And that to be really a Jew in spirit, a true Jew in spirit, one should be a Jew in his heart. Meaning that he should have the proper attitude, the proper faith. He should be circumcised in heart.
The Old Testament prophets of course spoke along these lines. The passage that’s most familiar to us I think is probably in Acts seven where at the end of his speech Stephen says, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so to you.
And what’s he saying to them? Well physically they’re circumcised but they are uncircumcised in heart and ears. Because the essence of circumcision is, shall we say, to cut away the things that impede our responsiveness to God and to be fully responsive to Him.
So true circumcision at a spiritual level is circumcision of the heart and of the spirit. You want to ask me more than that, Jim?
Well the word circumcision of course as far as the language is concerned means exactly what we mean by circumcision, physical circumcision. But the Old Testament imparts to the external physical act kind of a symbolic significance for the heart and mind of men. That what happens in the body should happen in the heart.
Now this does not mean of course that the Old Testament dispensed with physical circumcision. Physical circumcision was commanded of Abraham in Genesis seventeen. And Abraham is praised really for the fact that he promptly has everybody’s household, all the males in his household, circumcised.
But the prophets, as with many of the things that the Jews did in terms of their rituals and observances, tried to penetrate behind the external ritual to the spiritual significance of the ritual. And I think that’s what they were doing with circumcision. And they understood that the physical rite, though it had to be performed in obedience to the command of God, was not as significant as the spiritual reality to which it should correspond, which means a heart that is freed of the encumbrances of the flesh and is responsive and attentive to God.
Yes, yes. I’m laughing as Steve is down here. I’m not acting to you. We had a long discussion of this subject at a meeting I attended around noon. So fine. I’m glad we did because it sets me up nicely to respond to this.
In Second Corinthians chapter four we are told that the god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. And then we’re also told that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Those verses suggest, I think fairly clearly, that mankind has a capacity to believe which the devil finds it necessary to frustrate by blinding the minds of those who believe not.
Now what I would want to say here is that the capacity to believe things is something that is built into mankind just like the capacity to think, to speak, to see, to eat, to feel. All of these things are given to us with creation.
You will never find a person who is incapable of believing anything. At least I’ve never found anybody who is incapable of believing anything. The ability to believe something is something that is innate to the human heart.
Now however, as we said earlier, man cannot believe something that he thinks is untrue. So what does the devil do? He tries to convince unsaved men that the gospel is false. And he’s very busy doing that.
The whole cultural system in which we live with its intellectual rejection of the Bible and of creation and of all these things is part of the web of lies and deceit that Satan has woven to cast a veil over the heart of men and to prevent them from believing.
Now what the Corinthians passage says in my judgment is that God is the one who has to penetrate that veil of deception. It is like God commanding in creation the light to shine in the darkness. So God pierces the deception with the light of His truth. And when man perceives the truth of God as true he has believed it.
So I don’t like the idea that we should regard faith as a gift from God added to us at the moment of faith or something like that. It is perfectly true that if we do believe we’ve had God’s help. Remember that when Peter said you are the Christ the Son of the living God Jesus said blessed are you Simon Barjona, flesh and blood has not revealed that to you but My Father which is in heaven. My Father showed you that.
But he doesn’t say that God has given you the capacity to believe it. He says God has showed you that.
I use the illustration with my good friend Arch down here. If someone said to me Arch Rutherford is the head of the Mafia in Southern California I would find that impossible to believe. I could not.
The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His, even if ten minutes after I am eternally saved I don’t know whether I’m the Lord’s or not. The Lord does.
So the experience of salvation is irreversible. But the faith that appropriates that gift may sink under the attack of Satan. I am so glad that my salvation does not depend on my continuing in the faith and effectively from here to the end of life. It depends on the faithfulness of God to the promise He made me when I believed.
I came down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him that sent Me. This is the will of Him that sent Me, that of all that the Father has given Me I should lose nothing but raise it up at the last day.
It’s not a question of whether I do the will of God from then on. It’s not a question of whether I continue to believe. It’s a question whether He will do the will of God from then on. And He has never lost anybody.
Okay, any other question? Mm-hmm. Yes. I would assume that not only Jewish sins before the crucifixion but the sins of mankind. And that this refers to God’s ability to save men in the Old Testament even prior to the cross.
In other words let’s suppose that Christ did not come and die. There would have been no basis for God to extend the salvation of the Old Testament any more than there would now be a basis for Him to extend it today.
And so here the sacrifice of Christ is presented to us. He is a propitiation by His blood. He is a satisfaction by His blood. And because of the satisfaction that He has made for the sins of the entire race God is justified in having saved people in the past and He is justified in saving them now.
You notice the two words demonstrated here, verse twenty-five, to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins previously done. And then to demonstrate at the present time, notice the contrast. They’ve previously done sins. God is vindicated. They’re demonstrated His righteousness in the cross.
And what He’s doing now is demonstrated as righteous by the cross. The propitiation or satisfaction of Christ suffices to be the basis for justification in all of the ages of time and for every individual that has ever been justified.
I think that’s enough for one night. Let’s look to the Lord in closing prayer, shall we?
Father, it would be hard for us to express to You the deep wellspring of gratitude that we feel as we consider this portion of Your Word. That we are justified freely by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. That this has nothing to do with what we have done or will ever do for You. It has everything to do with what Christ has done for us and what You are willing to do in the very moment that we put simple faith in Your Son.
Thank You for that. Help us to value it, to treasure it, and to share it with unsaved people around us. We ask that in Christ’s name. Amen.