No Excuse . . . No Escape

From the civilized to the primitive who stand at that judgment day, they are guilty. From the educated to the illiterate, guilty. From the wealthy to the poor, guilty. From the upstanding person to the criminal, guilty. From the young to the old, guilty. From the generous giver to the greedy thief, guilty. From the religious man to the atheist, guilty.

From the well-connected to the homeless, guilty. God will not accept face. The truth is He will not play favorites on the judgment day. What happens to those who have never heard the Gospel? Will God judge them? This is one of the most common questions people ask, and Paul gives us a clear answer in Romans 2. No one will stand before God without an excuse.

The evidence of God's existence is everywhere, in creation, in the human heart, in conscience, and in the unrelenting memory of right and wrong. Yet, people suppress the truth, rejecting the very God who could save them. In today's message, Stephen Davey walks us through the sobering reality of God's coming judgment. This message is called, No Excuse, No Escape. Now our text for today, as we pick our study back up where we left off in chapter 2 at verse 9, our text will give us several more reasons why the world is guilty.

Let me give you the second one. The second reason the world is guilty and without excuse, according to Holy Scripture, is because of an unmistakable composition. Let's begin reading in verse 9. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, the Jew first and also to the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good. We've studied that phrase as it agrees with verse 7, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but those who are obedient or the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts.

Let's stop here for now. God has written his law according to the Scriptures on the hearts of every human being. In other words, every man and woman, every boy and girl has the moral law of God written on their hearts.

They know it intuitively. They know it without ever having read it. So the man who never read, thou shalt not steal, when he steals, whether he gets caught or not, he knows intuitively he's done something wrong. The woman who has never read the commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness, knows when she lies, she's done something wrong.

How does the world know it? Paul answers in Romans 2, verse 15, God has written a copy of the law on every man's heart. And he says, whenever a man admits to what is right and wrong, he reveals that truth is written on his heart. Even without a copy of the Ten Commandments, he has a copy of the law on his heart. You go anywhere in the world and you discover mankind has devised ways of not only keeping the law, but describing the law and punishing offenders of the law. Man then comes up with ways to atone for the fact that he's broken the law, whether it's worshiping the spirits or sacrificing animals or attempting to live good moral lives or making and bowing down to idols or withdrawing from society for some sort of aesthetic living or trying to achieve some mental discipline or physical discipline. These are only some of the ways that man tries to deal with the fact that he knows instinctively that there is a law and he knows what the law is and he knows he's broken the law. A few years ago on another trip to India, I remember watching an Indian priest step into the filthy polluted water of the Ganges River that stank.

It's hard to even be near it. And he stepped into the water and he put this white stuff on his body and from the top of his head to his toes, he scrubbed his body in that filthy water. I was told he was attempting to atone for his sin and wash it away.

Where did he come up with that? He has the law of God written on his heart and he knows he's violated it and he knows he has to do something about it. And so he's created this way. It's what Paul in effect is saying, that everybody violates the law and they instinctively know its truth and they then become a law unto themselves. So the world is guilty. And with that excuse, because of this unbelievable creation that men deny, because of this unmistakable composition written on their heart that they continually violate and they seek other ways to get around it.

But thirdly, the world is guilty and without excuse because of an unrelenting conscience. If you go back to verse 15, you read, and that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness. See, Paul here is using the analogy of a courtroom setting. A man has been brought in as it were before the tribunal of holy God. And God calls to the witness stand his witness. In fact, in verse 15, there are three of them. You could circle them, our heart, our conscience and our thoughts.

But let's just deal with this one. He calls to the witness stand the man's conscience. As if the conscience could separate itself, the conscience comes forward and takes the stand to give testimony.

And the man is trembling. He's hoping that his conscience says something that will defend the fact that he is violated and disobeyed the law. But conscience doesn't do that. Conscience takes the stand and says in effect, Your Honor, I have tried over and over and over again to tell this man that he has been violating the law and he has told me repeatedly, keep quiet.

You're ruining everything. I don't want to listen to you. So eventually conscience says, I stopped saying anything at all. Conscience bears witness. The text says to the fact that every human being has done wrong and they know it because when you did wrong, that voice whispered that was wrong. That was wrong.

That was wrong. And so the world continually attempts to find ways to turn the volume down on that witness until they can finally get rid of its voice. Mankind is guilty because of this unrelenting conscience. Fourthly, mankind is guilty because of an unforgiving consternation.

Look at the latter part of verse 15 and their thoughts. That is their memory alternately accusing or else defending them. And this is to me a really interesting humorous insight into the human mind and soul. The text says their thoughts are alternately accusing or else defending them. What this is saying is that within every person is this ongoing dialogue. In fact, even now there's a dialogue going on in your own heart. You're talking. You've done it many times.

You've done it publicly. You've pulled up at a red light and you've looked over at somebody and their lips are moving and there's nobody in there with them. They're having this dialogue with themselves. You're in the car and you're talking to yourself and you're saying, okay, now what are we going to do? And you answer, well, let's see, the first thing we need to do is this. And then you answer that with, but wait a second, you forgot about that. And you say, oh yeah, you're right.

I did forget about that. And the good news is you're not the only person that talks to yourself like that. The reason you converse with yourself like that and you're capable of doing that is this God-given innate ability to have a conversation between your heart and your conscience and your memory. Your heart says, I want to do that. And conscience says, you better not do that.

You shouldn't do that. And memory says, did you forget when you did that last time what happened? Oh yeah, you're right.

I forgot. Where did that conversation come from? Ultimately God created within every human being this resident prosecuting attorney and this resident defense attorney.

And they're constantly having conversation. Paul in effect states that the world will stand before God then not to discover whether or not they are guilty but to hear the verdict from holy God that says you are guilty and beyond that you already knew it. Creation is shouted. There is a creator in mankind that says there's got to be something else that I don't have to be accountable to besides God. Divine composition has declared this is right and this is wrong. This is the truth written on your heart. And humanity has said, I'll live any way I want to live. Conscience has whispered, but you know that's wrong. And man has said, be still and keep quiet and know what inner consternation this battle fought within the human heart and mind.

You cannot keep from remembering and the older you get, the longer the list becomes of violations to the law. Maybe somebody in here even now is having a battle rage in your heart. You say, maybe God will let me off some of the saddest interviews I've ever watched on television or interviews with aging celebrities who are asked about God. And I have heard many of them say something to the effect of, well, I hope God will just let me in. People say God will understand that I've tried. People say he'd surely never send a person like me to hell. I've done some good things in my life.

Don't forget those. I'm sure I'll be able to escape. Well, I've given you four reasons why the world is without excuse. And as I have dealt with people over the years and I've given them these reasons in effect, ultimately they go to this one last attempt, one reason. Maybe it's this that God will let me off.

Well, let me tell you why there is no escape. And it is this, there is the promise of an unavoidable courtroom. Verse 16, we read, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. On the day, what is this day referring to? Well, the entire paragraph is speaking about judgment in general. It even implies the judgment of the believer who will stand at the judgment seat of Christ, not to discover whether or not he's getting in, but to discover how he lived on his way there. This general judgment is specifically related to in Revelation chapter 20, where we're told of all the unbelievers who stand before God on that great and terrible day before this white throne.

Verse 11 says of that chapter, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from his presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne and books were open and another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged.

Every one of them according to their deeds. You remember that salvation is never on the basis of deeds but judgment is. They will see their life, replayed as it were, and the proof of why they are indeed guilty and without escape. Then death, verse 14, and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life and none of the ones at the great white throne are found written in the Lamb's book of life, he is thrown into the lake of fire. Now there are several myths that need clearing up about this coming judgment day.

Myths that people would like to believe in but are not true. Myth number one is that God at that day will play favorites. In other words, God will change the standard for some.

He'll go easy on some. And so there are people that you meet in life and you ask them about their assurance of salvation and they'll say, well, we don't believe in Jesus but we've done a lot of good things. And what they're in effect telling you is they hope that the good things they do somehow puts them on the good side of God. And that when they get to heaven or they get to that judgment hoping to get into heaven, God will say, oh, yeah, I remember you. You did a lot of good things.

Well, just come on in. Well, that's a myth. The truth is found in Romans chapter two, verse 11. For there is no partiality with God in reference to this judgment day. The word partiality comes from a Greek compound word, the first from a verb, lambana, which means to receive. And the other word is simply the Greek word for face literally means, to put it together, to accept someone's face. We use the same expression and the same thought that the early Greeks did in our culture today. We talk about a person losing face. What do we mean? We mean that that person has by some exposure or embarrassment lost their reputation. They have lost face. Well, the Greeks originated the word as a reference to someone who granted favors to someone else because of their reputation or their connections or their wealth.

They gain face with someone. But Paul says here, God is not partial to anyone. We translated it literally. God does not accept face from the civilized to the primitive who stand at that judgment day, they are guilty. From the educated to the illiterate, guilty. From the wealthy to the poor, guilty. From the upstanding person to the criminal, guilty. From the young to the old, guilty. From the generous giver to the greedy thief, guilty. From the religious man to the atheist, guilty.

From the well connected to the homeless, guilty. God will not accept face. The truth is he will not play favorites on the judgment day. Myth number two is that God will judge only those who had the Bible. Romans two makes it clear that God will judge people not by what they didn't know, but what they did know and what they did with what they knew. The issue on the day of judgment will not be did you ever get a chance to read a copy of the Ten Commandments? The issue will be why didn't you obey the commandments that are wrote on your heart?

You knew better and you violated the law. I want to show you something in verse 12. There's an interesting verb here for all who have sinned without the law will perish. The word perish means to be rendered different from that which God created you.

Without the law those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. The word for sinned is in the Aorist tense. It doesn't refer to the fact that an unbeliever has sinned a little bit or even a lot. It refers to the fact that he is by class and condition a sinner and he has chosen sin. It's a reference to the person who has made his life choice to be sin. In fact William R. Newell translated it that way in order to emphasize the tense of the verb. His translation read for as many as made a life choice of sin will be judged by the law.

It isn't that people didn't know any better. It's that people added sin upon sin. In fact earlier in the text it talked about men adding wrath, storing up wrath every time they sinned. You see people will tell you on the street well we've got this idea that somehow on the scales of justice that my bad deeds will be outweighed by my good deeds. I'll have a bigger pile of good things than the bad things. The truth is those who refuse to acknowledge the Creator, those who seek to turn off their conscience, those who violate the written law have chosen sin.

Myth number three. God will remember that people didn't know any better. But according to this letter here Paul did know better their conscience.

You remember their memory convicted them of right and wrong. Even a sports writer who may or may not know Christ can write in a magazine that some things that we would never admit on other issues in society simply because there isn't agreement on those issues even though there is very clear teaching in scripture. At least on this he knows he's writing to people that have a sense of fair play. He knows he's writing to people that know intuitively it's wrong to cheat and so he can talk about cheating being wrong and breaking the law and bringing about this hollow feeling of consequence.

Is the problem that people don't know any better? Look back at verse 14 again. In verse 14 Paul writes for when the Gentiles who do not have a copy implied of the law do instinctively the things of the law these not having a copy of the law are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts. The millions of people in Africa who've never seen a Bible there's no excuse. The millions in China who've never heard the gospel no excuse. The myriads in America who've been fed a lie who've been deceived by another gospel who've never heard it or read it as you've heard it perhaps many times no excuse. It's true because according to Paul even without the truth written in their language they have denied the truth written in their heart. If all of this is true and it is and there's only one more grasping of escape routes by mankind and whenever I have shared this with people it is an offensive message especially in our pluralistic age which seeks to validate all other gods and all other systems of belief.

Ultimately when the word is clearly taught is something that is indeed exclusive of faith in Christ alone for Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except by me. Typically I will hear something like well and this is myth number four. If you're right maybe God will let some things slide.

This is mankind's last gasp of defense. For some reason in the heart of even the worst of sinners there is this thought that maybe just maybe I will get off the hook and if I do indeed stand before him he will let things slide and he will let me into heaven. Ladies and gentlemen that is a myth.

The truth is even more horrifying. Look at verse 16. On that day when according to my gospel God will judge the secrets of men. We're told that he will judge not just the obvious sins that we would admit to not just the little sins that we've shoved under the carpet but we're told here that at that judgment day that God will go beyond all of that and uncover all of the secrets all of the motives all of the thoughts all of those hidden dreams all of those silent wishes at this judgment. Ladies and gentlemen God will empty out every unbelievers closet and display it for everybody. Hebrews 4 reads verse 13 nothing at all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

You don't have any excuse my friend either. In fact your judgment will be greater were you to die without faith in Christ because you've sat here today and you've listened and you have heard and you have seen. In Paul's day there was the belief in the goddess of justice. She was pictured in a way that we have incorporated into our own culture.

In fact it's reflected in the artwork behind this series. The goddess of justice in Paul's day was consistently pictured as a woman who had a bandage over her eyes implying communicating that she could not see the person who'd come before her. She would thus be impartial. She would not accept their face. She carried a set of scales.

Most people have taken that to believe that well you just put more things on one side than the other and hopefully if it tilts in your way you're all right. Now the scales then and should even today symbolize the fact that justice will be carried out with absolute balance with absolute precision with absolute accuracy. In her other hand she carried a sword without a scabbard which meant that she was ready to strike down all the guilty alike. Where did the Greeks get the idea of that kind of justice? It is written on their hearts in the courtroom of true and perfect justice.

There are no excuses and there is no escape. A piece of a letter was uncovered by archaeologists. It's in a book that I have of commentary on the scriptures dating back to the first and second century. This was a letter from a believer to an unbeliever. The believer's name was Theophilus and he was writing to his unbelieving friend whose name was Autolycus.

I don't know if Theophilus had before him Romans chapter 2 or not as he wrote but his words are very similar. He wrote this to his unbelieving friend. Quote to the unbelieving and despisers who obey not the truth but unrighteousness. When they have been filled with adulteries and fornications and filthiness and covetousness and unlawful idolatries there shall be anger and wrath tribulation and anguish and at the last everlasting fire shall possess them. You asked me to show you my God. This is my God and I advise you to fear and to trust in him. I would say amen to that.

The message hasn't changed and I would add this thought. You cannot hide from God. The very first sin in human history was Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit you remember? Removing themselves from their accountability to the creator God and they sinned and you remember what they did. They heard the sound of God coming and they did what? They hid didn't they? God said where are you? He knew where they were. He was pulling them out attempting to get from them a confession of their sin and they instead did what?

They accused one another. That's the first reference in the Bible and in human history to anybody hiding from God. And they said we hid from you because we were afraid. That's the first reference in human history and the Bible to fear. Ever since then man has attempted to hide from God in fear.

Intuitively known. Intuitively felt sin against God. My friend you cannot hide from God but you can hide in God.

Through Jesus Christ. The one that Paul will reveal in paragraphs that we have yet to come to. But I'm here to tell you again that the one who took your punishment, the one who took the wrath of God, the one who paid the penalty of all of your sin gives you the only hope. Hide in him and you'll be hidden from the wrath of God. For this one, this eternal spotless lamb hung on the cross and as it were held a cup filled with all of your sin and on that cross he raised that cup to his lips and he drank your damnation dry. God has left mankind without excuse but he's also provided the way of escape, Jesus Christ. Have you repented and placed your trust in him?

That was Stephen Davey and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Today's message was called No Excuse, No Escape. Our ministry is active on social media and that's a great way for you to stay informed and interact with us. We'd love for you to join our online community. By liking our Facebook page you'll receive updates and reminders about our daily lessons. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more content and inspiration. If you enjoy listening to our Bible messages, be sure and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we post our daily teachings. One of the best ways you can support our ministry is by sharing it with others. If a lesson encourages or blesses you, consider passing it on to your family and friends. We're always eager to reach more people with the truth of God's word and you can help us do that. When you visit our website and access any of our messages you'll notice that we've included links to share the content on all the major social media platforms. These share buttons make it easy for you to post our lessons directly to your own social media pages. By sharing you're helping to spread the teaching of the Bible to those who need it most. So, whether it's on Facebook, Instagram, X, or YouTube, search for Wisdom International on all the platforms. Thanks for listening today. Join Stephen next time here on Wisdom for the Heart. I'll see you next time.