Romans Chapter 2:4-6

And have you ever thought about this? The Last Supper? When Jesus sits around and says, somebody's going to betray me? The disciples didn't know who it was.

Think about this, friend. Jesus knew who it was, but he didn't treat Judas any differently than the other 11. What a challenge. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge and Kernersville, North Carolina. Throughout scripture, we find that we are to walk in love and not so much in judgment and condemnation. Find out how we can do that today as Pastor David continues in the book of Romans chapter 2. But before we get into today's teaching, from beginning to end, the Bible shows the special nature of God's relationship with the nation of Israel.

But what does that have to do with you today? Romans chapter 11 tells us that God's covenant relationship with Israel has huge implications for you. To help you understand more, Pastor David wants to send you his teaching video recorded in the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible and You. This powerful resource will encourage and strengthen you as you learn how connected you are with God's chosen people. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request your copy.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with part three of his teaching, Judgment. So we are in Romans chapter two, verse four. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

I love that verse. That verse changed the way I thought of the gospel and the good news, because it really is, as a messenger of the gospel, as a proclaimer of the gospel, euangelizo, the Greek word where we get our word for evangelism, the fourth teller of good news. It is the goodness of God that leads people to repent, leads people to come to him. I know there's some ministries and some people that would argue this point, but they're really arguing with the word of God. Now, does this mean we should never say anybody has done anything wrong or we stand guilty before the Lord?

Absolutely not. And again, the beauty of the verse by verse teaching, we just came out of chapter one where all of us stood condemned coming into chapter two where the self-righteous stand condemned. And there in the balance of it is Paul saying, but it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It draws us to the Lord, the goodness of God. And this kind of blows away the, you know, a lot of us, especially if you grew up in church, you kind of sometimes in churches, you can get the wrong picture of God. You can feel like God is some, I don't know, he's some big sniper in the sky and you're on the path and he's just waiting. He's got you in the cross hairs, brother.

You just step out of line. Is that what the Bible says? Is that the picture that this verse paints of God, the big sniper in the sky waiting for you to get out of line so he can take you out? Think about it. I thought about different times in the Bible. I thought about Adam and Eve and what I would have done if I was God. And we can both rejoice that I'm not. Cause I know what I was at Adam and Eve. You ate the fruit.

I told you not to eat the fruit the very day they ate it. You're out of here. Start again. Wipe you out, kill you. That whole Cain Abel thing is going to fall apart anyway, so I'm just taking you out early. God comes to Noah and says, Noah, man, the world is messed up and here's what's going to happen.

You're going to build an arc. And then he waits 120 years over and over and over in the Bible. We see this played out. Judas betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. He shows up in the garden of Gethsemane. Had I known, had I been there and been the Lord and Judas came up to me, that would not have been good. I, you know, I'd have said, Peter, hand me your sword. I got to talk to Judas for a minute. A little exhortation correction about to go on with our brother Judas.

And have you ever thought about this? The last supper when Jesus sits around and says, somebody's going to betray me? The disciples didn't know who it was. Think about this friend. Jesus knew who it was, but he didn't treat Judas any differently than the other 11.

What a challenge. I know that in my life, I've treated people differently because what I thought they might do, Jesus knew and not only didn't treat him differently, but it's extended grace and mercy at every point. Even when he came to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says, friend, why have you come? Jesus knew why he was there. It was more of a, why did you do this?

Why did you choose this route? Instead of accepting my grace and my forgiveness, extending mercy once again, you can bring that into the present day, all the stuff that's going on with the world and all the hate and the war and all these things. And yet God is still being patient.

So if you've grew up with that sniper image, friend, you need to let that go. That is unbiblical. God is merciful. God is gracious.

God is good. And if you get caught up, if your relationship with the Lord is based on that sniper thing, what kind of believer are you going to be? You're going to be bitter. You're going to be cynical.

You're going to be hateful. You're not only going to think that God deals with you like that. You're going to go around telling everybody else that God is a big sniper in the sky and he's waiting to take you out. The goodness of God leads us to repentance.

Verse five, but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The power to choose is, is an incredible force. Each one of us has the power to choose. Each one of us this morning has the power to go God's way or to go our way. You have the power to accept Jesus as your savior or to reject him as your savior.

God has given you that power. And I've heard the question, well, you know, why would God create us knowing that we have a bend towards doing wrong and being selfish? Because he loves us so much that he wanted us to choose him rather than building little robots. See, you guys aren't here this morning because necessarily you had to be here. I guess some of you may have had to be here.

Maybe, maybe your spouse said, no, you're going. But a lot of people in here made the decision to be here, to choose. And so in essence, you're choosing God, you're choosing God's grace. Now, if you need to understand friend, if you reject God's grace, what you're receiving, if you reject his grace, if you reject Jesus, you're choosing judgment. It's your choice, but that's the AB. There's not C, there's not D, there's not none of the above.

It's A or B. God's grace, God's judgment. God's grace, God's wrath. The life lesson here, God's wrath is revealed when God's grace is rejected. God's wrath is revealed when God's grace is rejected. Part of, you know, what I do when I teach is I want to equip you guys to have conversations because as you guys go to school, as you go to work, different places, you go to your neighborhood, you have the opportunity just to have conversations I will never have.

So I kind of try to deal with some of the things. One of the things that I've heard is this, hey, well, if God is a God of love, how can a God of love ever condemn somebody to hell? How can a God of love send people to hell? You know what?

Understand something. God will not send anyone to hell. God won't do it. Now, I'm not talking about universal atonement that everybody goes to heaven. That's a teaching in the church, in some churches today, that everybody go to heaven, whether you're Islamic, whether you're Buddhist, whether you're whatever, agnostic, atheistic, whatever, everybody's going to heaven. No, no, that's not what the Bible says. But God will not send anybody, but some people will choose it.

They'll make that choice. You need to understand, hell wasn't even created for people. We're told that in the Bible. Matthew 25, 41 says, then the king will turn to those on the left and say, away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.

It's not for people, but some people, when they reject Jesus, they're saying, no, I would rather be judged. And according to the Bible, that's not a good place. Of course, there's been rock songs, you know, highway to hell and other songs. Oh, we're just going to go down there and party.

No, I don't think so. The Bible talks about it being a place of darkness and a place of pain. And I don't know if you've ever been in a place of darkness for any long. It's extremely uncomfortable.

Talking about the gnashing of teeth. These are harsh things, but we get to choose. See, if you're in here today, if you're listening, God's been good to you. It doesn't matter where you are right now. You could be rejecting Jesus saying, you know, I don't, I don't believe that. I don't want to follow it. And look what God is doing to you right now.

Whether you're here, whether you're watching on television, listen to radio, internet, whatever. God is being good to you saying, look, here's my grace. Take my grace.

Don't reject my grace. And I hope you're hearing that God has been so good to you, especially here in this country. There's people in the world that won't eat today. There's people that don't have medical care at all.

There's people that don't have clean water. And here you are, and God has been so good to you. And I know it's a great academic decision to say, well, what about the people who haven't heard? Now, friend, I'm talking to you and you are hearing, and God has been good to you. The question is not what will somebody do that hasn't heard? It's what will you do with what you have heard is the real question.

The other thing is a smoke screen. You're listening to pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's word in just a moment. But first, God's grace and mercy is greater than any of us could ever fathom. That's why he's been so faithful to the nation of Israel throughout the ages, and he's not finished.

He's promised to remain true to them to the end. We want to show you what God's faithfulness toward Israel says about his relationship with you by sending you Pastor David's teaching video, Israel, the Bible and You. In this exciting teaching recorded in the heart of the Holy Land, Pastor David unpacks important truths from God's relationships with Israel that impact your life today. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request yours.

Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Now back to today's teaching. Verse six, who will render to each one according to his deeds. Interesting verse. Now we need to understand something because God gives us grace and mercy. And I absolutely believe in the grace of God that we come to salvation by grace through faith, not of works. The Bible talks about that.

But we need to understand because I've had frequent conversations like the one I alluded to before where somebody says, well, look, I'm saved. I'm not going to church. I'm not tithing. I'm not serving.

I'm not doing anything. Not telling people about Jesus, not doing it, not reading my Bible, not doing any of that. And it's like, okay, there is a biblical concept that we're supposed to be doing things for God. Once we come to that acceptance of grace, you don't earn that grace and that favor. But once you've received that grace, once you understand the goodness of God, friend, it is natural spiritually for you to begin to do things for the Lord. And according to the Bible, we will be judged according to what we do for the Lord. Let me give you some verses. Second Corinthians 5, 10 says, for we must all, all appear before the judgment of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. And Jesus talks about rewards. Matthew 5, 12 says rejoice and be exceeding and glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5, 46 for if you love those who love you, what reward have you do not even the tax collectors do the same.

That's a cutting verse, isn't it? Because here's the reality. You know what? Here's the thing. You folks, let me be honest with you, you're lovable. You're just lovable. It's easy to, well, most of you. It's easy to love most of you. It really is. Some of you, God's still working in me to love.

But those emails are helpful. So we love each other here. And we've had, you know, one of the things that we hear a lot staff and leadership is people come in here and go, you know what? I've never sensed this community, this feeling, this love, this acceptance, a genuine thing that happens here.

And that's like music to my ears. And if you're struggling, like I'm struggling to love somebody here, Jesus is saying, you know what? You don't even get anything for loving somebody here. There's no reward in that. The rewards come when you begin to love the unlovable. That's a challenge.

When you begin to love people who are getting in your face, calling your names, accusing you of this, that, and the other. Now, God can allow you supernaturally. He's done it in my life. In ministry sometimes, oh, man, I'm so challenged with this one. Because one minute, you know, somebody's patting me on the back, oh, you're the world's best pastor. And I said, I love you.

And just that. And then, you know, it's like two days later, you're a cult leader. I hate you. You're filled with demons.

You know, it's like, did I change that much in two days or did, and that's a challenge. You know why? Because the Bible says, I'm supposed to love them. I'm supposed to love them. Not just when they love me, but even when they don't love me. And God says, you know what? I'm going to give you a reward.

I'm going to give you a reward for that. Matthew 6, 1. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory for men.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have the reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand's doing, that your charitable deed may be done in secret. And your father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly. So apparently this rewards ceremony in heaven will be a very public one.

It won't be done behind closed doors. And in that moment of time, friend, do you think you're going to wish that perhaps you had done more for the Lord? I sometimes play this out in my head because I realize when I get there, you know, the Lord's done incredible work in this church and through this ministry. But I think when the rewards start getting handed out as far as rewarding people openly, it's probably going to be the people that pray for me on a regular basis in their prayer closet that Jesus is going to call forward first.

You know, I'll probably stand up and he'll go, yeah, you're on TV and radio. You know, you did your works openly, man. I'm going to call forward the people that were praying for you in the silence of their homes who did their works behind closed doors.

I'll go through a few more. Matthew chapter 10, verse 42 says, and whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple. Assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. So once you do something good for God, according to the Bible, you can't lose it.

You're storing it up. If you do something good in the name of the Lord, you're storing up these rewards. If you encourage somebody in the Lord, that's a rewardable thing. Give somebody a cup of cold water.

How easy is that? And God says, I'll reward you for it. First Corinthians three, now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Did you know Moses looked forward to the rewards of doing what he did? So what the Bible says, Hebrews chapter 11, 24, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, and steaming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. So see, as I'm talking about the reward, somebody going, well, you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be focused on rewards.

You should, no, no, no, no. Why is the Bible talking about them? Why is the Bible all for them? Say, look, if you do this, God says, I'll reward you because we are motivated by rewards sometimes. And that's not always a bad thing. That's not always a bad, you know, if you went into work tomorrow morning and your boss said, Hey, we got this new little program we're going to be doing at work.

And guess what? You're not getting a paycheck anymore. What will you do?

God bless you. Bye. If there's no reward for going to work, you're probably not going to stay there long. Now, some of you may be in blessed positions where, you know, you would do it anyway. I mean, if something happened and I was told that I'd be here next Sunday, you know, and most of you are aware, I did this for like a year and a half full time before I even accepted this out. But see, I can't really say I'm not, I'm doing that without reward.

Right? Cause I'm still, I don't understand. I'm storing up having the rewards. As a matter of fact, in the closing verses of the Bible, Revelation 22, 12 says, and behold, I am, this is Jesus speaking and behold, I'm coming quickly. And my reward is with me to give to everyone.

According to his work, it's a closing versus just like a closing play. The close of a book, the close of a teaching, you kind of get to the more important parts right there. And you say, Hey, you know what? I'm coming. I've got a reward with me.

I'm going to get whoever has done what I told them to do. Final life lesson. The things that we do for the Lord earn us heavenly rewards. The things that we do for the Lord earn us heavenly rewards. We understand about, yes, we're saved by grace, but you need to understand, according to the Bible, we're rewarded for what we do for the Lord. Now I talk about serving in the church and I firmly believe that I do not believe in spectator Christianity.

I do not believe that's something that you watch other people do. Jesus says, as people come into his presence in heaven, he's going to say, well done now, good and faithful spectator. No, no, no. Well done now, good and faithful servant friend. Do you want to hear those words?

I know I do. I don't want to be standing there on that day going, Oh, well, you know, God, I, uh, you know, if you didn't come back when you did, I was getting ready to sign up for sparkle and get involved. I was, I got, I, you, I, I thought about doing that VBS thing where I was like, all right, it's going to be too late. And I'm telling you this openly because see, I don't want you to get there and, and, and, and God say, okay, I'm going to hand out rewards rewards.

What are you talking about rewards? Cause God's going to look at you and go, boy, where'd you go to church? Did your pastor never tell you about this concept of heavenly rewards?

Who's your pastor? I don't want that to happen to me. So when love is not on me anymore, but here's the reality gang. We have the ability, the authority, the power to change the world. And then we have the decision whether to use it or not. If somebody had the cure for a deadly disease and they kept it at home in their closet, locked up, never showed it to anybody.

What would you think about that person? But there's a disease that's killed far more than any human diseases put together. And that disease is called sin. And there's only one cure friend and that's Jesus. And if when the lost and the unbelieving people filled with shame and guilt and fear was important to Jesus, it should be important to us. If you're here this morning and you're hearing all this, you'll go, okay, so, so God, he wants me to do a bunch of stuff for him.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. First thing God wants from you is not your deeds. He wants your heart. He wants your life.

And if you're sitting in here this morning and you've rejected the Lord, you've not asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins. God's not interested in your deeds. He wants your heart.

He wants your life. And as a matter of fact, you may have never heard a pastor say this. God's not, if you don't believe in him, if you've rejected him as your savior and as Jesus, he's not interested in your money. I don't care what any teaching or pastor or television show says to you. God wants your heart.

He wants your whole life. If you're here this morning and there is any doubt in your mind, there's any wondering in your mind on whether you know Jesus as your savior, friend, you need to settle that this morning. Maybe you've been thinking, well, I'm just kind of, you know, I thought God was interested in my good works and I was hoping that I would do the best I could and my good would outweigh my bad when I get to the end of this life. That's not what this book says.

This book says plainly, your good will never outweigh your bad. You've got to come to him understanding he's merciful and he's graceful and he wants to forgive you again, as we spoke, once you come to him, your life should begin to change and you should begin doing these things that we talked about this morning. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you. Please pray this prayer with me out loud, right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Before we go, we want to encourage you in your faith so that you can experience more of the grace and love of God for you. That's why we'd like to send you Pastor David's teaching video recorded in the heart of the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible and You. This encouraging look into the history of Israel and God's covenant faithfulness to his chosen people will help you take bold new steps in your relationship with God. Israel is the Bible and you is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit cross the bridge.com now to request your copy.

You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord. Visit cross the bridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the Holy message from the heart of David McGee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com and be sure to join us next time on cross the bridge with David McGee to hear more from the book of Romans. We'll see you then.