No one is good enough to escape God's righteous judgment, as all individuals, regardless of their perceived morality or actions, fall short of God's perfect standard. The passage uses the analogy of a mule and an ox to illustrate how sin eventually catches up, and highlights that self-assessment of goodness is flawed because God's standard is absolute perfection. The message emphasizes that God's goodness is intended to lead people to repentance, not to justify their own perceived righteousness, and that true justification comes not from obeying the law but from receiving God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that true peace, honor, and eternal life are found only in accepting Jesus as Savior, as He alone perfectly fulfills God's standard and offers salvation.
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Would you turn in your Bible's place to Romans the second chapter, Romans the second chapter, if you will, please? We'll begin reading with verse one. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, Whosoever thou art the judges, wherein thou judgeest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou the judges doest the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
And thinketh thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doeth the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despise thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth he to repentance. But after thy hardness and impenetent heart, treasure unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor immortality and eternal life. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.
upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh righteous, to every man that doeth worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. For not the heirs of the Lord, just before God, but the dearest of the law shall be justified. Let us pray. Father, we once again seek thy hand upon us as we speak tonight.
We ask thee that thou will bless our brother Lytton and myself that we might speak really for thee in such a manner as to reach our very home hearts in thinking about it in the hearts of those whom we address. we seek this we realize that we need thy spirit's control and so we seek this of thee and we ask thee that the Lord Jesus Christ will be honored in what we say we seek this to in his precious name amen I just want to say a word of appreciation for your hospitality here we had an excellent time with you and enjoyed it the conference was lovely the organization was very good we appreciate The smoothness of the operation, the excellent food, good fellowship.
And we're happy to have been here. I speak for my family, and I know I speak for others who are guests as well. There's a story that's told about a mule and an axe. They were working for a farmer. And this farmer was working rather hard when one day the ox said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to play sick today so that I don't have to go out into that sun and in that field again. So the mule said, well, how am I going to do that? He said, I have to be honest, I'm not sick. So the ox played sick that day and the farmer was very sympathetic.
He gave him some oats and some hay and left him in the stall. So when the meal got back that night, he said, how did it go? He said, well, it was kind of rough without you, working so hard. But he said, what did the farmer say? He said, he didn't say anything. So the next day he thought that was too good a deal for Mistol. He decided, the ox decided he'd stay in again, which he proceeded to do. When the meal came back that night, he said, how did it go? He said, well, I had an even harder time. I was kind of tired. He said, what did the farmer say? He said, he didn't say anything. But I saw him standing and talking to the butcher for a long time. Now the moral of course is very obvious that our sins kind of catch up with us sometimes.
Now this particular passage deals with those people who assume that they are good. Now it's interesting, and I know that you found this out, if you ask people, Are you going to heaven when you die? They will say, well, I hope so. This is the usual answer. Or I'm seeking to make it work that way. Or I'm trying to get there. Or something like this. Now, what they're saying is this. And if you would question them with a question, supposing you said to them, well, why do you think that you might not make it?
Some will say, well, I think I will make it. They'll immediately say that. If you push the question and say, why do you think you might not make it, they'll say, well, nobody's perfect. But I don't always do what's wrong. Then turn the question around and say, why do you think you might make it? Well, I'm not so bad. I mean, I don't always sin. I don't always do evil. I mean, sometimes I sin, everybody sins sometimes, but I don't always do it. And so what they're saying is that I am a good man. I am a good person. And therefore, I don't think I'll go into hell. Now, if the person happens to be of the Roman Catholic persuasion, they will say, well, I'm not good enough to go to heaven because I know everybody has to be perfect to get there.
But I'm not bad enough to go to hell because I haven't murdered anybody. And I've really tried to go to church and do what I should do. And what I'm going to end up is in purgatory. Now, what they're saying, of course, is that I'm not good enough to get out of heaven, but I'm not bad enough to go to hell. So once again, they are saying I have a degree of good. And this is the general consensus of opinion. We went through our neighborhood knocking on the doors, and we did it for two years, and this was the general consensus of opinion. I'm a good person. I'm not perfect, but I'm good. And God deals with that very thing here in this particular passage.
Now, would you like to turn and look at it and see what the Lord has to say? Because you see, ultimately he's going to be judged. In verse three it says, do you think you'll escape the judgment of God? And obviously the answer is no, because God is going to judge. There will be a judgment. He says, judgment. He says, as I lift up the Lord. And since God is alive and since he's the moral governor of our universe, there is going to be a judgment. God has to die if there's going to be no judgment. Now, men would avoid this. They avoid the belief in God to the end that they might not meet the judge. But nevertheless, there happens to be a God. You see? And since he's moral and he's just and he's right, he's going to bring it to judgment, all that is wrong.
And these things that still churn our stomach sometimes with the evil of them and certainly our righteous anger and men seem to be getting by today, God says, never fear. There's going to be a judgment. And every man shall give an account of himself to God. So there will be a judgment. Now, the thing that, of course, is pertinent to people, will it be a righteous judgment? And Abraham in his day said, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Which is an excellent question. Of course he'll do right. If he didn't do right, he wouldn't be God. So there's going to be a judgment. It's going to be a righteous judgment. And this is what we have to face.
Now, it also is that if you look at verse two, we'll just look at verse two, he says, But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, and it will be a righteous judgment. And who art to be faced with these? Verse one, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art the judges, for wherein thou judgeest another thou condemnest thyself. For thou the judges doeth the same thing. And as soon as we can say, that person is wrong in a particular area, God says, look in your own heart just a moment, will you? And we look in our own heart, and he says, do you do that? Well, not exactly like that, but do you do it? Is the principle the same? Well, yes, I guess it is the same.
And this is what we're faced with, and of course it's going to be according to truth. There will be no deviation from the truth. There's not going to be any favoritism when we stand before God. And when we read the book of Revelation in the twentieth chapter, it's a horrible chapter. It's a horrible chapter. I read that chapter and it is horrible to me. And you know the horror of it? It says that every man is going to stand before God who does not have Jesus Christ as his Savior as an individual to be judged according to his work. The starry heavens are going to be removed. The earth is going to be removed. So there's found no place for them.
And that individual stands out in faith before the throne of God, naked, no place to hide, and God will appeal to that individual as an individual, and he will address that individual as a person, as a personality, and he's going to judge him by the word of truth. The Lord Jesus Christ said that the words that he had spoken will judge him in the last day. We say, all right, here's the word that God has spoken. then this will be the criteria for judgment. And when we look into this book and say, do we conform to that, we have to say, no, I don't. I don't.
God says, that's the means by which I will judge you, by my word. And it's going to be absolutely impartial. I was looking at the Olympics several years ago, and there was a wrestling match on, and I was interested in it because one of the fellows who was wrestling professed to be a Christian. This fellow was a mountain of a man, and he was attacking one from the Russian orbit. I don't know which nation it was, but was one of them. And one of the referees was the Russian. And every time that fellow would get near to the fellow, he wouldn't hardly touch him, the Russian would call a foul.
And every time they called a foul, of course, had points against the man, and he was eventually thrown out. Now, the referee was eventually thrown out because it was so unjust that the people just rebelled against them. But nevertheless, what he said should, and that man was disqualified. And I thought, here is the highest form of athletic, the Olympic Games. This should be the most accurate, the most honorable. And here is a referee who should be an honest judge is dishonest. And I thought it's not going to be that way with God. When a man comes up and stands before God, God's not going to accuse him of anything that he has not done. But he's going to accuse him of everything that he has done.
And he's not going to say, well, my neighbor, the Lord said, I'm not talking about your neighbor. I'm talking about you. About you. And it's going to be an absolutely fair, unbiased judgment that God brings into. There won't be any leniency. He's not going to say to him, well, I feel friendly towards you. And in view of the fact that I feel friendly towards you, I will ignore the sins that you have done. He will not do that. It will be absolutely impartial from the sense that there will be no self-accusation on the part of the judge.
Now, you know, I realize that some parents, and I think of some I know that he did not know, so I speak freely. But there's a fellow that I know that is very lenient with himself. He's so lenient with himself that if he tells you he will be at a certain place at a certain time, you can count for sure that he will not be there at that time. You just know he's not going to be there. And he's not. And he's that kind of a character that goes, say something, he doesn't do it. So then his little kid comes up and her mother says to his husband, she says, I told her that she would give her a second when you got home, and she did something that she said you would give her a second for her. So he takes her into the room and he says, I won't give it to you today. I'll do it tomorrow. Now why?
Because he doesn't have that character that says, I will do, I will follow through. And he has a guilt complex. He says to himself, I don't always do it. How can I expect my child to always do it? And this is forced on parents. We have a sense of this. How can I say to my child, be obedient to me? Now be obedient. And the Lord says, are you obedient to me? And there's a twist of conscience there. There won't be that on God's part. He will judge absolutely impartially without any repercussions to his own conscience. He's absolutely God. He's absolutely holy. And when he speaks, it will be with that type of new approach.
There'll be no inaccuracy in his judgment. I think of Mithubiship. And I always felt sorry for Mithubiship. When Absalom rebelled against his father, Mithubiship's servant brought David a gift of food. And he told the lie, I believe he told the lie about Mephibosheth. He said Mephibosheth didn't want to come. He said that he would have his throne restored to him as a child of Saul, as one of the sons of Saul. And that is absolutely stupid, because the absolute one was taken over, not any son of Saul. So I punch a hole through the man's argument, but nevertheless, that's what he said. So then David, when he blabbed and was finally restored to Jerusalem once again.
Mephibosheth came out to meet him. And David said to him, Why didn't you come with me? Now his servant had said that he was rebelling. And Mephibosheth said, Your servant is mine. He said, I asked for a meal, and I wasn't brought a meal, so I couldn't follow you. But he says, I have mourned since then. I have not cut my hair. I have not trimmed my feet. I haven't done anything. I haven't done anything because I've mourned for you. And David doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know whether the man's telling them the truth or not, because he can't read the man's heart. So he says, okay, you and your servant divide them, your inheritance. And he splits it up because he doesn't know what to do. But God won't be like that. He'll look into the motives of the heart, and he'll say, why did you do that? And to our own souls, he'll say, you know.
You know. And he'll judge on the basis of absolute justice, being able to look into a man's heart. There's one other thing he will not do, and that is he will not be swayed by a current thought. You know, some things that we thought were very simple when we were children are not simple at all now. We didn't talk about couples living together if they weren't married when I was a boy. That was a horrible thing. Today it's published in the papers that such and such an actress has been living with so and so for so many years and they've had three or four children and they're not quite sure whether they want to get married yet. Okay? And standards still change under man's rule.
But it won't be this way with God. He's not influenced by pure thought at all. He's going to judge with absolute justice. And when a person moves up before him, God is going to look into that man's eyes. And that man, that boy, that girl, whoever it is, is going to shudder. And they'll be like those who say, fall to the mountains, fall on us, fall on us. Hide us from the face of this one. And I was talking to some kids. They come out in front of our house. Sometimes they smoke pot by the sewer. We have a sewer there and it drops down so they can sit on the sewer and drop their legs down at an convenient seat. So I went out and talked to him one night and I was thinking to him about the Lord and the girl said to me, one of the girls said to me, do you think that's real?
I said, yeah. She said, why do you think it's real? I said, because God says so. She says, how real is it? I said, I want you to do something. I said, now you take your hand. I said, hold your hand up. Now you take your other hand. Now you pinch that. I said, do you feel anything? She says, yeah. I said, is that real? And it's that real. It's going to be that real. They're going to stand there. They are going to stand there before God. It is real. And God, of course, tells us that it's real. Now, in Romans two, eleven, look at that, if you will, and see that there is no favoritism with God. It says, for there is no respect of persons with God. It doesn't matter what a man is in our world.
It doesn't matter one bit what he is. God is going to judge that man. He's not going to say, you're a king, so I will treat you differently from the peasants. He's going to treat them absolutely without any favoritism, because there is no respect of persons with God, because God is God. There will be no leniency with God, because in verse two it says, but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things. It will be absolutely according to to truth. There will be no inaccuracy because all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Nothing can be Him. And there will be no swaying by current standards of thought. You know why? Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now this is the judge, and this is the judgment. Look at the first six of this passage, if you will, and see who will be there. It says who will render to every man according to his deeds. And two, three, thinketh thou, and, O man, whosoever thou art the judges, wherein thou judgeest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou the judges, doeth the same thing.
And in the first part of verse two, But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. Against them, they commit such things. Do we think that we'll escape? No. He says, you won't escape. You're going to be judged. You're going to be condemned. For you, the judge, do exactly the same thing. Now, I'd like to go on and show you something very interesting. God appeals to men in two ways. He says, now, look at, I can say to you, I would like to deal with you in absolute grace. I remember reading some time ago, and it just comes to mind, that it was during the time of Queen Victoria that a girl dressed herself up as a page and hid herself in the queen's bedroom among the courtiers that hung at the window.
Before the queen ever went to bed, the Secret Service always came in and explored the room because they didn't trust anybody. And they found this girl with this knife. And so they brought her out to the queen. And the girl fell down on her knees and she said, have mercy on me. Show me grace. And the queen said, what were you going to do? She said, I was going to kill you. She says, but I want you to deal with me in grace. And the queen says, well, will bring you before the judge and will assess a certain penalty for you for the crime, but will be lenient on you. She said, no, I asked you to show me grace. And the queen was still taken with it, but she said, all right, I forgive you.
And the girl went away free. Now, this is grace, right? I would say soar. She said, I'll show you grace. Now, God does exactly this thing. He says, I want to show you grace. I want to blot out your sin. I want to forgive you totally. But the good man, and I say good in quotes, he says, well, I don't want grace. I want you to judge me according to my works, because I'm not so bad. So a sinner sees that, then he comes under law. And he can't be shown grace. Now this is a very, very important thing to see.
We either come under grace, God's grace, or we come under his judgment, his law. This person does that thing, and notice what it says in verse three, And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which doeth such things, and doeth the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despises thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth each to repentance. The good man says, well, I'm not so bad. I mean, God hasn't dealt with me very seriously in my life. I'm getting along all right. And God says, there's a reason for it. He says, I want this goodness of mine to lead you to a place of repentance. That's why I'm good to you. That's why I don't strike you dead.
That's why I don't bring you into judgment. And I'm hoping for your repentance. And God demands that. He says, I don't want to deal with you in judgment. If I do, you're condemned. I want to deal with you in grace. Now, I'm going to be good to you, and I'm going to show you my goodness to the end that you may say, all right, Lord, then I want your goodness. And he would lead us to that place of repentance. And we must repent. Now, repentance is no great thing in the sense that it's some difficult theological obstacle to overcome or something like that. Repentance is a very, very simple thing. Repentance before God is simply saying, God, you are right.
I am wrong. I said before I was right, you are wrong. I changed my mind. That's repentance. And it touches on every phase of salvation. God says to me, I'm a sinner. He says, Stuart, you're a sinner. I say, well, I'm not so bad. He says, you're so bad that you're going to hell. And I get to the place where I say, I am a sinner. God, if you say, I deserve hell, then I deserve hell. That's your cousin. It's that simple. I change my mind. I change my mind through God's thinking. He says, there's a way to heaven. And I say, yes, I know. I'll do the best I can. He says, that's not the way to heaven. And I say, well, what is the way to heaven? He says, it's true faith in my son. Oh, I say, I see.
It's true faith in your son. Then I can't get to heaven by works. And he says, no. I said, all right, I accept that. He says, that's your cousin. You change your mind. And as we repent and move along in repentance, we come to the place where we think of God's things in regard to ourself, our sin, our salvation, whatever we have. And think of it, Christian, we practice repentance every day. Every time I say, Lord, I have sinned, I'm repenting. Because I'm saying, you're right in saying I shouldn't do that. I am wrong in having done it. I confess it to you. I have sinned. He says, that's repentance. We start with salvation, but we move on in our Christian life, constantly repenting. And so there's no salvation in either sense.
Salvation of our souls initially, or salvation of our lives for God without continuous repentance. And he expects the goodness of God and the forbearance and long-suffering to lead us to repentance. But you see the good man, he says, no, he says, I don't care about that. He says, rather I will do the best I can, or I will join a church, or I will do a thousand things, but don't call me a sinner, lost. It's okay to say I'm a sinner. That's all right, everybody sins. But don't tell me I'm going to hell. I'm not that bad. And so he comes into the next thing. And he says in verse five, But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasure yourself unto thyself wrath.
And what the man does then is build up wrath, God's wrath, because he continues on in his sin. Instead of saving from sin, which he cannot do, he adds to that sin. And every bit of sin demands wrath. The wrath of God. And so he builds up wrath. And notice how it says. Against the day of wrath. That day is moving toward him. And in that day, all of it is going to be summed up. And revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And God said, you said that you were good. You said that you would do good. You said that you weren't bad at all. And now, though, you have sinned, and you have sinned, and you have sinned. You have treasured up to yourself all this wrath. And now, in judgment, I must bring judgment upon you.
You brought wrath upon yourself. This is what happens to the good man. And so he goes on to say, since you would like to be judged this way, then I'll tell you what happens. He will render in verse six to every man according to his deed. And the psalmist says, There was, that's just exactly what I want. It's just what I've been asking for. And God perceives, to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor, immortality, eternal life. Notice what it says. To them who by patient continuance, no failure in well-doing, Seek for glory and honor, immortality, eternal life.
No one meets that standard save the Lord Jesus Christ. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness and indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. Now there are the two extremes. One is either perfect or else he breaks God's law. And if he breaks God's law, then he brings upon himself indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man. But of course, do it with evil. Now who doesn't do evil? You see, our error is this.
The error of mankind is this. He says, I don't always do evil. Sometimes I do that which is good. And God says, first of all, it's not good. There is no man on the face of the earth who is unsafe, who has ever done any good. There is no such thing in God's eyes. Now the reason is that God is only good. And good, God draws a line like this. Picture in your mind. If I had a blackboard, I'd draw it. Draw a line. Horizontal line. Anything less than this is evil. Anything less than this line is evil.
Anything above that is good. But this good is perfectly good because it's God's goodness. So a man cannot possibly do God's goodness. He only does more or less degrees of evil. He reaches down into degrees of evil. He doesn't do good. He can only do more or less evil. Now, the man who says, I do less evil says, I am good. And God says, no, the line is drawn here. From here on up is good. And that is perfection. That's God's goodness. No man does good. Now, this is the way God reasons. And we have to reason as God reasons for the simple reason. That's the way he's going to judge us. And so as we look at it, and we say, a man cannot do any good now.
But a man in his thinking says, I do good when I don't do wrong. But that's not right either. If I don't tell a man and I walk to an officer and I say to him, I didn't tell a man, give me rewards. He says, are you mad? He would say that to me. We're not supposed to tell people. When we do what is right, if I don't lie, when I have an opportunity to do it, God says, well, you're not supposed to lie. If I do lie, then he charges me with a lot. And this is the principle under which he works and he condemns none so that we cannot possibly do good. We can only do evil, so we're all condemned. But glory, verse ten, honor and peace to every man that worked as good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles.
Who does it? No one. No one. The only one who has ever done it was the Lord Jesus Christ. The only one. And that doesn't help us the best. You know why? Because he's the son of man into whose hands all judgment is committed. The little boy walks up, who has rejected Jesus Christ, and he says to him, if he could, sir, you don't understand little boy. And the Lord says, I was a little boy. The man walks up and says, sir, you don't understand what it means to be in business.
He says, I was in business. And as son of man, he's going to judge. As son of man, his work was perfect, and his walk was perfect. His life, then, doesn't help a man a bit. His example doesn't help a man a bit. What does it do? It condemns a man, because we don't live like he lives, and can't live like he lives. And so a good man, when he's brought before God in judgment, is utterly and absolutely condemned. And the conclusion, then, of the matter is, verse twelve. For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law.
And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. For the hearers of the law are just, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Who is going to be justified? No one. Then we need to be said. Now this is why good men need to be saved, because they aren't good men. Because good men are lost. So they need to be saved. Now notice what God promised. He said in verse ten, to those who do good, he says, Glory. And you know, those who will receive Christ as Savior, the one who died for their sins, who took their place, who shed his precious blood on the cross to deal with that sin, who paid man's penalty for his sins who as that boy comes up and stands before the throne of God without a Christ he took all that boy's sins and paid every bit of penalty all the hell the lake of fire that was due that boy so that that boy could go free he also says I'd like you to share in my glory but you didn't want because in his prayer he says I want you to share
in my glory he says I pray that those who trust in me shall share in my glory And what we want is glory. As far as honor is concerned, he says, I would like that you would overcome with me and sit with me in my throne and as I sit in my father's throne. I would honor you. Is that what you're seeking? I'll do it if you'll let me be your savior. And peace. He's made peace with God by the blood of his cross. Do you want it? Do you really want peace? It's not a matter of your working. It's a matter of my working. I want to give you that peace. And so God offers to them these things and not only that, but He offers eternal life as we have in verse five.
Now with this I close. Men's heart seek for peace. All men like peace. They say, I wish I had peace. And they would like that to rule in their lives. I think that all men would like to be honored. I'm sure that if a man could really think, well, I won't say it totally, but many a man would say, I would like to know my sins forgiven. I would like to know that I'll never be in hell. I would like to know that I had eternal life. And they somehow think, that they have to reach out and take peace.
And they somehow think that they have to reach out and receive the gift of God, eternal life, and take life. And they somehow say, I have to have forgiveness. I want forgiveness. And God says, take my son. If you'll receive my son, you'll get peace. You'll get forgiveness. You'll get eternal life. And why is this? Because it's all in Jesus Christ. So that if we say simply to a person, would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like eternal life? Would you like peace? It is found in the Son of God, the living Son of God, whom, if you will receive, you will have him as your Lord and Savior, but with him you'll have peace and joy and long-suffering.
And Schaefer is listed Thirty-four things that a person gets the moment he gets that. And it's all in him. So a good man cannot be saved by what he does, because he's not good. But all the things that he seeks after in his heart he finds in Christ, if he will receive.