God’s Fairness (Part A)

What do you do with someone? Just to say, let's pick a country that's quite remote, like Yemen, an Islamic country, a third world country. What are the chances of someone there hearing the gospel? In fact, let's elevate that. What are the chances of a soul who's born with extreme autism when they die? What's God going to do with them? God knows what's going on. God knows what he's doing. He's going to do right. And he is a God of love, and he is a God of mercy, and we better not mess with those things.

To hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Romans chapter 2, as he begins his message, God's Fairness. We are in Paul's letter to the Romans chapter 2, so if you have your Bibles, let's turn there.

Romans chapter 2, we're going to take verses 12 through 16. 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. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. 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 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Well, do a word cloud on that one, and law pops up a lot, which is an indicator that he's speaking to Jews. He's speaking of the Mosaic law, but he's applying it to anyone who it applies to, which would be anyone who is old enough to understand the language. Now, the key verse there is verse 16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

There is no escaping that Christ is the standard, whether you've heard him or not. We're going to open this up a little bit, and the title of the message is God's Fairness. The unbelievers like accusing God of being unfair, unjust in his methods. Well, in these two chapters that we've been covering, Romans 1 and 2, Paul sets up mankind for a need, and that is the Savior. He's building his case using that device, the hypophora method of asking the question, then answering the question, and he has already shown, and will show in this chapter, those who are decadent, those who are hypocritical, the Jew with the Bible, and then those who are decent people without the Bible.

That's what he's talking about. They're all guilty before God, and he's answering objections. Those Romans, the Christian Romans, or the Christians in Rome, they're going to benefit from him opening these things up, because these are the things they had to deal with, and we do too in some form. God is going to judge those who carelessly engage in sin. He's already covered that in verses 18 of chapter 1 through 32, and then he began with the hypocrites in the second chapter. So the depraved, they scoff at these things, reminding us that they're depraved, because that's who would scoff at the righteous things of scripture. What is in the Ten Commandments for somebody to object to? Don't steal? Don't murder? Well, these are the things we have to battle, because man is ingenious at trying to rationalize their sin before a holy God.

It doesn't work, though. So Paul clearly states that all are guilty before God, and I go back to Deuteronomy, when Moses, one of the greatest of them all, you know, all the things the prophets did, Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, who led a nation out into the wilderness, and not only survived, but began building the Bible? I mean, the work of Moses is phenomenal.

Well, I digress. Deuteronomy, where he is now going over everything that they've been given by God, it's the second account of the law. Not a new law, but he's reviewing it. That's Deuteronomy, a magnificent book. He says, I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, talking to the people called out of Egypt, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live.

Who would object to anything there? I would choose life, and all of you who are born again, you have chosen life. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about choosing life.

They're already born. He's talking about life, obedient, subject to the creator of Genesis, chapter one, and all that we have. It'd be a good assignment to read Deuteronomy 30, that last paragraph, 11 through 20. But anyway, back to Romans, this letter equipping the Christians in Rome to better learn their Christianity in the face of their objections, so that they can be more useful to God. That's what a servant's supposed to be. A servant is supposed to be useful. When the visitors came and visited Abraham, it was Christophany, Christ in the flesh, and the two angels were with him.

Abraham served them, and he stood by the tree. He was on call. He was ready for anything they need. I need more water. I'd like a napkin. Where's the restroom?

He was there. Now, of course, I've modernized it a little bit, but the idea is if you want to be a servant, the idea is to be useful, and if you're going to be useful, you're going to have to take hits. Your feelings have to get hurt. That's just the way it is, living in a world that's under the curse, but that's also where the work gets done, and they had to learn these things. Now, Romans, this letter was written about two years before Paul goes back to Jerusalem and gets arrested, and that's important to understand why he was hated so much by the Jewish people. Not all the Jewish people, but those under the influence of rabbinical teachings versus scriptural teachings. They're not the same thing always.

Well, they conspired to arrest him at the temple and then later murder him because this letter had already been circulated, and he preached Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the Messiah, the chosen one of Yahweh, and then he exposed a hypocrisy, and they hated him for it. Well, that's true to this day. If you expose the hypocrisy of mainstream media and you have a platform where you're reaching people, they're going to try to kill your character if they can't kill you. This is sin at work, and we're not to be so shocked by it that we're caught flat-footed. We are to be ahead of the game. When we engage lost souls, we're not supposed to be two steps behind them.

We're supposed to be eternally ahead of them. Anyway, in this section, God is telling humanity that they are accountable, that there are those that have the scripture, and there are those that don't, and both will be judged, and it will be a fair judgment. So now we look at verse 12. We've got a long way to go. 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.

Not a complicated section. If you understand all the sections of the Bible that appear to be complex, you have to look for the key. The key here is that everybody's a sinner, and once you get that, okay, you're on a solid foundation to move forward. Ecclesiastes 7, for there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. And he's saying, I don't care how good you are, you're still a sinner, and you still sin. And if you say, no, that's not true, then you just lied, and you're sinning.

So we got you either way. And those without the Bible, verses 12 through 16, and then those with the Bible, verses 17 through 29. This is a reminder that sin existed before the Mosaic law.

Of course. So bad sin was that Noah and eight others, the only ones that survived the judgment. Essentially, you know, conviction is God, I got you. And if you don't tap out, you're going to suffer. The difference is, there's not going to be an end to the suffering. And this is what makes the gospel vital. Otherwise, we could just sort of dismiss it, but we can't. Consequences are too great. And Paul's giving solutions.

Insufficiency, not insufficient, but they are sufficient, the solutions. He is giving in this Roman letter, he talks about sin, he talks about salvation, he talks about faith. And that's, as we examine the letter, he unfolds this. Without a savior, guilt remains on you. The story of mankind. Non-Jews, non-Christians alike. And, you know, you got to have a savior, and he continues here in verse 12, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.

So, we'll get back to those for as many as have sinned without law, we'll get back to them, but now he turns his attention to the Jews, as many as have sinned in the law, the law of Moses. They have the scripture. More is expected of them because of that.

Same with us. We have Bibles, and more is expected of us. I think one of the reasons why it makes serving in the church difficult is because we expect, we don't expect so much of the junk we get from Christians.

And when we do get it, it's a heavier hit. When you get it from an unbeliever, well he's lost, he doesn't follow the Lord, but when a Christian is mean and vicious, stabs you in the back or something like that, there's an element of bewilderment there. But, you know, ministry goes on. Now verse 13 begins a parenthesis, and a parenthesis is not, well this is unimportant, but I put it in. That's not what a parenthesis is in scripture.

In scripture, a parenthesis, this is vital to explaining where I'm going. And so verses 13 through 15 are an explanation of what he just said in verse 12. So, God's judgment takes into account a person's advantages, their disadvantages, and their behavior. And those who have a Bible have far more light than those without, and are held to a higher standard. And if you've been, you know, raised, and as many of the Jews, you know, they were raised with the scripture. They knew who Isaiah was, and Daniel, and Moses, they knew it. And they were supposed to share these things with the Gentiles, because it led to who God is, the God of all mankind. So the possession of a Bible drastically increases accountability.

Now who would say no? Well maybe an unbeliever. The Bible is a life book more than a rule book. Well there are rules in it, there has to be.

Physics are rules of creation. But scripture, the moral rules, the rules that have to do with our God, and that there is no other. And that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And He is the standard by which people will be judged.

So evidence of God's presence in the soul that you are born again shows up in the actions of your life. How you treat others. Turn the other cheek. Remember that when you drive home today.

Remember when all those, because everybody else can't drive, I'm convinced. And they're all saying the same thing about me. But remember that when someone does you wrong on the road to turn the other cheek. I'm telling you this because I was in my devotions and I got convicted by this whole section on loving enemies thing.

Second joke this morning, a little early, you'll get there. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, not of the letter but of the Spirit. Get what God is saying, not just what's written. For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. It's not dismissing what's written in the letter. Without the written word we wouldn't know what the Spirit of the Lord required of us.

They go together. But if you sever understanding, reason, and thinking through the scripture. If you sever that from what's written, you're going to be trouble and you're going to be in trouble. That's when God says, and you never forget it once you've read it once, come let us reason till your sins are red as scarlet.

I'll make them white as snow. How can any sinner ever forget that? God's saying come let's reason.

He doesn't say oh that's just here, everywhere else we'll just, we don't have to reason. Well verse 14 continuing in the parentheses, again look briefly at verse 12. For as many as have sinned without the law, without law, will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.

Now he's saying now let me get what I'm telling you here. People without a Bible still have a sense of right and wrong towards others. Doesn't mean they follow it, but they got it. Man is born with eternity in his heart.

All the codes are there. He's not missing the necessary faculty in most cases. The human being can reason, which really separates us from the animal kingdom.

The animal kingdom is dominant with them, it's instinct, but the human reasons through things. You know, a chicken's not going to write a poem. It's just not going to happen.

Unless you go to the one of the universities and you identify with being a chicken, maybe then. Anyway, a world without a Bible increases Satan's advantages to sway the world over humanity and the suffering is just too much to bear. We know what the world did before there was a Bible. Look again, post-flood Noah.

What was happening there? The world was so bad God had to wipe it out, and that he did. Anyway, back to the vitality of scripture. There are people in Islamic countries that want out of Islam, but they're not allowed to get out. And there are enough of them, so many of them through history, that they even wrote a law, a violent law, if you try to get out, we're going to kill you.

If your kids try to get out, and there's various degrees of that. And my point is, there are people in other parts of the world who have not heard the gospel, but they know there's something better. This may have been the case with Abraham in Mesopotamia. When he lived there amongst, you know, the idols and God said, get away from your family.

And because they were idols, you know, infested with idols. And God called on Abraham. And so, you know, just to bulldoze people into hell, you didn't hear the gospel, you're going to hell. That's not what the Bible teaches.

What do you do with someone? Just to say, let's pick a country that's quite remote, like Yemen. An Islamic country, a third world country. What are the chances of someone there hearing the gospel? In fact, let's elevate that.

What are the chances of a soul who's born with extreme autism? When they die, what's God going to do with them? God knows what he's doing.

He's going to do right. And he is a God of love, and he is a God of mercy, and we better not mess with those things. But I think some Christians resent this. He's going to hell.

I don't see it that way, and I don't think the scriptures see it that way either. And this is some of what Paul is dealing with. Knowing he's got a Jewish audience in front of him, knowing he's got a Gentile audience, knowing that the Gentiles are influenced by the Jews, and the Jews are struggling to tolerate the Gentiles. He knows there's a lot of racism flying around the church, and he's trying to protect it. He's injecting this divine wisdom and reason from the Holy Spirit. And so when he says about when Gentiles who don't have the scripture, by nature do the things in the scripture. See law, I'm using scripture, an interpretive rendering, because that's what he's talking about. The moral law of conscience also exists in addition to the written code in scripture. So this begins to cancel out that objection unbelievers give.

God's not fair. Just, you know, if you haven't heard the gospel you go into hell. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that there are those people that have not heard scripture, and they can still, they can't find Christ, they can't just drift into Christianity. For that they need someone to bring the gospel. But they have a sense of morality, and this is not a difficult thing to prove. So they're without Moses' ceremonial laws and civil laws, but they have moral law. And those who never truly heard the gospel will be judged according to their conscience. This is not an advantage. It's still a need for Christ.

But let me put it, I guess, this way a little bit ahead of myself. A person knows right and wrong by the standard of what they would not want done to them. I don't want someone stealing from me. So I automatically know it's not right to steal from them. I don't want someone to try to kill me.

I do not want someone to lie to me. So we have, whether with the scripture or not, these are the basics of morality, of human behavior amongst other people. And there is a hell for wicked people who have not heard the gospel, and there is a hope for those who also have not heard the gospel. Again, this seems to bother some professed Christians that resent my saying, we are accountable to God, every person, but there are those that have never heard the gospel that are not automatically doomed.

That's what he is saying here. And I don't know how you could say that's not true, or take me to another verse. So even Jesus, and I won't use the cross references into John verbatim, but Jesus said, you know, you have the light, now your sin is on you, because you've been told the gospel. This helps us deal with people who want to charge God with not being fair. It's not fair that I never heard the gospel and I have to go to hell. Well, that's because your theology is wrong, and there's more to it, but now that I'm here in front of you, I've taken away that option, and now you're going to get the gospel. So a sense of right and wrong, an example, the sanctity of life, demonstrates that there are moral laws.

I'll give you another example from scripture. Remember when Solomon was faced with the two mothers, the one rolled over on her baby and accidentally killed the child, and stole the other lady's baby, and claimed it as her own. How was it resolved? Well, they took a DNA test.

They did not. Okay, so Solomon settles it, he finds out who the real mother was, but what comes out of the story is that there's a vicious lady in the village, and I don't think Solomon passed judgment on her. When it was all said and done, the lady who got her child back still had to go live in that neighborhood with that person, and you can't tell me that, oh, you know, what I was trying to do is somehow okay by having that baby killed, because Solomon said, okay, cut the baby in half, and of course he extracted this confession, and the real mom came forward and said, don't harm the baby, let her have him, and Solomon said, well, that's the mom, give her the baby, but the other lady was adamant, kill the child. And what the scripture's teaching us, there are messed up people.

There are, and you may not have them in your neighborhood, but they're out there somewhere, and with the internet we're getting to see a lot of them. So, you know, what does God do with these things? Well, he's telling us here. He's telling, I will judge the wicked, and those who have a sense of morality that are decent, I'm going to judge them too, but I'm also telling you that nobody gets into heaven without the death of my son on the cross. That makes, that opens the door for any sense of toleration, because God does not owe us forgiveness. It is a gift to humanity that all humanity is redeemed but not saved. The price is paid, the redemption is done, but if you don't come get it, then you don't benefit from it. So don't go blaming God, oh, I don't have a chance, oh, you have a chance, he died for the world. But if you do not redeem it, that would easily, if you win lotto, call me. That's my point, let's close in prayer.

If you win lotto and you don't go down and claim it, you don't get it. So we understand this principle, and it's the same with the gospel. Every man everywhere knows that these things are wrong, lying, stealing, murder, including the subgroups, cheating, seduction, and violence.

We know those things are wrong. There's nothing wrong with wanting peace, and we know there's something wrong with taking someone else's peace away from them just because we want something to enrich ourselves. So man cannot plead innocence or ignorance enough before a holy God with any honest expectation of him approving such behavior, and thus the need for mercy and grace. No matter what, all still need the Savior, 1 Timothy 4, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men. And he continues, especially those who believe, because those are the ones that have redeemed it. They've come and they've received it.

The others have not. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.