Radio Broadcast Monday 10/21/2024

Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P10 (10-21-24)

No One Can Keep The Law, No One is Righteous Under Law

~ We continue on our study in the book of Romans. And we are now going into the second chapter of Romans and we see Paul speaking about the law. And the details of this matter. Many will take the following verses of scripture and try to convince a person that they must keep the law. But here is the thing, only perfection will do. And that is what the apostle Paul is getting at here. He is showing how strict the law is, and if you want to be justified by law keeping, you have to keep it all. Paul shows people that here they are judging others by certain law keeping, yet they themselves don’t keep the law either. And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the Hebrews or the Gentiles, because both are sinners, and gentiles have a law unto themselves, their own conscience. For they know in their heart what is right and what is wrong, and the word of God declares that. People think they are obeying the law, when in their hearts they know they are not. So it is written that no one will be declared righteous by obeying the law. Paul says that in a number of places in the word of God. That no man is justified by works of the law.

“Know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Galatians 2:16

And people will read that verse, and will say they believe it, yet they will go back to some form of law keeping to pretend they sustain their salvation by obeying the law. They are BIG hypocrites, actors, pretending they are something that they are not. And God is looking at the heart. God knows all of us and he knows what we are thinking. A person can say one thing, and may even fool some people, including themselves into believing they are keeping the law, but a person cannot fool God. Our study on the book of Galatians showed that also.

So instead of sharing the Truth of the word of God, that man is saved by faith in Jesus and not by works of the law, which is the true gospel, these people focus on the law and hammer people over the head with it. They use it for the lie of ongoing forgiveness, because they know no one can keep the law, so when you mess up, they say you have to go to God to get your sins forgiven. They are not sharing the work of the ministry, to believe in Jesus. Instead they are sharing the lies of Satan for self interest. They have a hardness of heart about them and will not change their mind (repent) of their evil beliefs. So the wrath of God remains upon these people. They are dead, and remain dead in their unbelief. So the judgment of God is death, and that is where they stand before God and will stand before God, dead in their sin of unbelief. For they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them for Life. Doing good is sharing the work of the ministry to believe in Jesus. Doing evil is telling people they can keep the law themselves. There is only one good work that is acceptable to God, Faith in Jesus.

Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” John 6:28,29

~ "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, each one who is judging. For in that which you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, for you, the one judging, do the same things. But we know that the judgment of God upon those practicing such things is according to truth. Now do you suppose this, O man, the one judging those practicing such things and doing them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are treasuring up to yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who “will give to each according to his works,” to those who indeed with endurance in good work are seeking glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those of self-interest and disobeying the truth, but being persuaded about unrighteousness, wrath and anger; tribulation and distress upon every soul of man working evil, both of Hebrew first, and also of Greek; but glory and honor and peace to everyone doing good, both to Hebrew first, and to Greek. For there is no partiality with God.

For as many as have sinned without the Law also will perish without the Law; and as many as have sinned in the Law will be judged by the Law, for not the hearers of the Law are righteous with God; but the doers of the Law will be justified.

For when Gentiles, not having the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these not having the Law are a law to themselves, who show the work of the Law, written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or also defending them on that day when God will judge the secrets of men according to my gospel, by Christ Jesus.” Romans 2:1-16

Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ “And so God doesn’t pick this sin and that sin and this sin all sin is sin, and it doesn’t have a numerical value to it, that adultery gets you 10 points, and stealing only gets you nine, and then lying and that kind of stuff we do all the time just gets you two or three. And God doesn’t grade on the curve. I used to hope that he did, and that maybe, hopefully, if I lived long enough, I could do more good works and I do bad and if I’m just 1% over 51% I’ll get in. And you would be amazed how many people believe that. God doesn’t grade on the curve. He just merely said that the wages or the consequence of sin is death, period, and all of you are dead. And if you’re dead, there’s only one solution to death, and that’s life. And that’s what he came to give us, was life. That’s what salvation is. Life. In order to get life, you had to be forgiven. But forgiveness is not life. Forgiveness is what cleared the deck for the divine action of bringing life to the dead. And that’s what salvation is, being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God, which is life.

So he dealt with this issue of how perverted a person’s mind can get, because he said that this is the root of all sin. It’s suppressing the truth. It is realizing that I do not need anymore to think about what God said, that it doesn’t make any difference what God says. The issue is this is what I feel about something, and that’s the state of morality today, and literally, as and happened in Russia, that in order to do that, ultimately, you’ve got to destroy the church. Because if your government ever gets to the point of saying, we will determine what’s right and wrong, we’ll establish laws that determine what’s right and wrong. In order to do that, I’ve got to knock the church out, which is what happened in communist Russia till there were no more churches, and to name the name of God, put you in prison. That’s what happened years ago there, and it’s happening here. Whenever you get down to the point where the government is going to be determining what is right and wrong and good and evil, instead of the Church, which should be the moral factor in this land, you’re headed toward anarchy. And so nothing is new under the sun. And so the Apostle Paul is dealt with that subject of what can happen when your minds get down to the point where you say to God, God, I don’t care if you made me a man. I like men. He said, that’s unnatural relations. And as we talked about last week, he said you had to rebel from what was natural. So that shows you you were born natural, and you had to rebel against that in order to do unnatural behavior. So there’s no one born a homosexual. You’re born, if you’re a man, to like women, and if you’re a whim a woman to like men, you’re born that way. You learn the other. Now, that’s told out of the Bible. That’s not me. That’s the Bible talking.” ~ Bob George

Bible Study Booklets

Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the letter to the Romans. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Romans. Romans has been described as the most dynamic, life changing document ever penned. It is a study in systematic theology, a defense of the Gospel, and a practical guide to Christian living all in one.

Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:27
Well, let’s turn to the second chapter of the book of Romans. Paul said in the first chapter that I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, He entered into Rome, which would be like entering into Washington, DC. It was the center of all power in that type in that time of the world, the Roman Empire controlled the vast majority of the world as it was known back then. And he entered into that atmosphere with all of the pomp and all of the power and all of the knowledge that was attributable to Rome, and he said, I’m not ashamed of this gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, first for the gent or first for the Hebrew and then for the Gentile. And the apostle Paul was stating that there neither was he ashamed, and neither are we ashamed today of the gospel of Christ. It’s the power of God for salvation. And when you’re talking about power. You’re not talking about the big power like we think about power. We’re not talking about the Lions and the Tigers and the things we name our football team out. We’re talking about a gospel of grace that was ushered in by the man who identified himself as the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world, that God came to do something for us, that there was no way that we could ever accomplish on our own, and that was salvation, meaning sins forgiven and to be raised from the dead, because we were all born dead spiritually. And when you’re dead, you need life. And Jesus said, I came that you might have life, and I am that life. So he said, I’m not ashamed of this gospel.

Last week, we talked about a very pertinent subject, and it’s a subject of homosexuality, not that that is the only sin in the world, but it appears to be that Paul in some way that God called him in this teaching to call that particular sin out and to discuss it in detail, and how applicable that is today, where it goes ahead to say that the people who are practicing this type of sexual perversion, it says that they not only do these things, but they approve of those who practice them. It’s one of the few sins that I know of where people flaunt it. I don’t see people, as we talked last week, having a parade in Disneyland, an adulter’s parade, or a thief’s parade, or a liar’s parade or a pedophile’s parade. And I don’t see people flaunting their sins. Most of us try to hide them, do we not? But this is the only sin that I know of in existence today where the sinner is flaunting their sin. They are trying to get people to accept the sin. And like I say, why don’t all the adulters go out and try to get everybody to accept that, except their wives? But So you see, what is strange about this is the flaunting of it and the pride that the people say, that I have pride over the way in which I like to have sex, it’s unusual, and we have bought that in our country, have we not? We’ve bought that acceptance, tolerance. And folks, what we have to understand is that, yes, God loves the people practicing homosexual the same way that he loves people practicing adultery or the thieves or the murderers. He died for all of those people. He died for Hitler. He took away Hitler’s sin at the cross. Do we understand that folks? They say, How could he do that? I got a better question. How’d he do yours? He neutralized the entire world by saying, I’m going to go to a cross and I’m going to deal with this thing that caused spiritual death once and for all, and I’m going to deal with it at the cross. And there, I, who know no sin, am going to become sin for you, for everyone, back to the days of Adam for everyone, forward to eternity. And I’m going to cover the entire issue with one act at the cross. And when that has been completed, I’m going to cry out from the cross, It is finished. And the reason I’m going to cry out it’s finished is because it’s finished. He did that for the whole world. Christ died for the sins of the whole world, homosexual sin, heterosexual sin. He died for all of those sins. So it’s not the case that God does not love you or love people practicing sin, because in one state or another, we all practice sin. Do we not? Is there anyone out there that does not sin? Don’t see any hands, because we all do. And so we have to understand the truth of this, that if any of us were standing before God in our own righteousness, we couldn’t stand there. Do we understand the truth of that?

And so God doesn’t pick this sin and that sin and this sin all sin is sin, and it doesn’t have a numerical value to it, that adultery gets you 10 points, and stealing only gets you nine, and then lying and that kind of stuff we do all the time just gets you two or three. And God doesn’t grade on the curve. I used to hope that he did, and that maybe, hopefully, if I lived long enough, I could do more good works and I do bad and if I’m just 1% over 51% I’ll get in. And you would be amazed how many people believe that. God doesn’t grade on the curve. He just merely said that the wages or the consequence of sin is death, period, and all of you are dead. And if you’re dead, there’s only one solution to death, and that’s life. And that’s what he came to give us, was life. That’s what salvation is. Life. In order to get life, you had to be forgiven. But forgiveness is not life. Forgiveness is what cleared the deck for the divine action of bringing life to the dead. And that’s what salvation is, being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God, which is life.

And so he was dealing, basically, in this first chapter, with the heathenistic Gentile world, which most of us are, because there was nothing any more heathenistic than Gentiles. We were the worst. Who’s Gentiles? Anyone who’s not a Hebrew, as God looks at the world, you got Hebrews and you got Gentiles. So that’s all the Arabs, that’s all the Chinese, that’s all the Japanese, that’s all of us who aren’t Hebrews.

And he dealt with them in this first chapter. Now he’s going in the second chapter. And. To begin to talk to the Hebrews, because, as we discuss the Hebrew was the only people on the face of this earth who were declaring the one true God, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Jesus, came to identify who that God is, God the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit. You must worship Him in spirit and in truth. But the Hebrew was there very judgmental about the acts of the Gentiles, very judgmental and very critical about the acts of the Gentiles. When you go into Corinth today, which was probably one of the most heathenistic cities on the face of the earth, you will find right next to what is called the Bema Seat, which was where you got your rewards for the race that you just ran. And now has been uncovered a Star of David right there on the ground. They were, they were right in the midst of this heathenistic City proclaiming the one true God, very judgmental. If you were looking at the Hebrew world back then, you didn’t have conservative Hebrews. You had only dogmatic Hebrews that were that were absolutely like you see today in Israel with the hats and the rings, they are absolutely Orthodox Jews. That’s all you had back then, orthodoxy. You didn’t have these other branches that have come up later that are more liberal. They’re called liberal part of the Hebrew religion, you had Orthodox, and that was it, and they had become mean as Hornets, and they had become controlling. And so Paul was going to deal with them.

Folks, until you see yourself, you’re not prepared for the cross, are you? Until I see that I am wretched as a human being. I am not prepared for the life of Jesus. I’m not prepared to exchange my life. And so Paul, first of all, talked to the Gentiles and said, Here’s how you are, and here’s how low you can go if you just allow yourself to continue denying God and His teaching, and now he’s going to talk to the Hebrews. You therefore, you Hebrews, you religious Hebrew, who pass judgment, who you who pass judgment on someone else. For at whatever point you judge another, you’re condemning yourself, because you, who pass judgment, do the same things. It’s the same thing Jesus said, You hypocrite. You try to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye, and you got a log on your own. So before you try to take out the speck, take out the log. And Paul is in essence saying the same thing, that you’ve got the law, you have the morality that was given to you by God. And you say, I’m a law keeper, but you’re not. So who are you to pass judge on the Gentiles, who don’t have the law, who are acting sinful when you yourself have the law and you too are acting sinful. Kind of nails, it, doesn’t?

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Bob George 13:48
So he says, Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. When God judges, it’s based on truth, not on circumstances, on truth. So it says, when you a mere man, when God judges something, he judges it according to truth. But you a mere man, you pass judgment on something and yet do the same things, don’t you? Do you think you’ll escape God’s judgment? So in other words, God, when He judges something, he judges it because it’s true. He sees what’s in the heart and he judges it. We we don’t do it that way. We say you’re doing something and you haven’t caught me doing it. And so he says, Do you think you’re going to escape God because no one knows what you’re doing because you’re hiding what’s going on underneath the skin? Or do you show contempt? Now he says, Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness? In other words, are you absolutely forgetting about his kindness? Because all you’re bragging about is you and yours? You’re telling people how kind. And here’s this word, folks, tolerance. You. Uh, tolerance, that’s a new word, and you think you’re so tolerant of everybody. And he said, Have you shown contempt for God’s tolerance and his kindness and his patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance. Friends, what leads you to repentance? The kindness of God in Titus, it tells us it’s the grace of God that teaches us to say no to unrighteousness and to lead self controlled, upright lives in this present generation, while we wait for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s Grace, it’s mercy, it’s kindness that draws a person to the heart of God. It also draws a person to each other. When you have a person that is kind to you, forgiving of you, tolerant, patient. You’re going to be drawn to them. When they’re not, you’re going to go away from them. It’s that simple. If you’re going to judge me, it’s going to be hard to be your friend. Is that true or not?

So he says, but because of your stubbornness, he says, this is a stubborn and unrepentant heart. In other words, you’re so judgmental about others, but you’re not looking at yourself. You’re not looking at what’s going on underneath the skin where you and I live. All you can do is to see the errors out there. That’s all you see is what people are doing wrong. You don’t ever look to see what you’re doing wrong, and if anyone does point out what you’re doing wrong. You’re mad as that wet hen. You can’t take it, because self righteous people can’t take criticism. And so he says that you’re stubborn. You got an unrepentant heart, and you know what he says, You’re storing up wrath for yourselves, for the day of God’s wrath, and his judgment is revealed. God knows what’s going on underneath the skin, folks, and we can pretend to be so good on the outside, but God sees the heart, and when he sees the heart, we realize that the only salvation and the only hope that I have is in him, because I sure don’t have it in myself. Do you?

God will give to each person according to what he’s done now to those who, by persistence in doing good, seek glory. God’s glory, God’s honor, God immortality, he said he’ll give eternal life. But for those who are self seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath of anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first the Hebrew and then for the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Hebrew and then the Gentile. For God is not show favoritism. Now folks, these are passages that you can look at, and unless you read the whole book, if you stop there, you could say, looks to me like God’s judging on what we’re doing. He says, Those who by persistence and doing good, seeking glory and honor and immortality, he’ll give eternal life. You know what the problem is, folks? Who’s seeking God’s glory, who’s seeking to honor God? We’re seeking to honor ourselves, and this is what he’s getting at. And we have to understand, we’ll see that in just a minute, those who are self seeking, who reject the truth, follow evil. There’ll be wrath and anger. So wouldn’t that lead you to believe that God is going to judge on what you’re doing? What kind of lead you to believe that? Wouldn’t it? Well, he says there will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Hebrew and then for the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good for the Hebrew and then for the Gentile, God doesn’t show favoritism. What’s he saying here? I’m going to treat the Hebrew and the Gentile exactly alike. The gentile doesn’t have the law, the Hebrew has the law. I’m going to treat them exactly alike. No difference at all. How’d he treat us all alike? What’s the consequence of sin? Death. Who did death come to? All Gentiles and all Hebrews.

Now look what he’s saying here, all who sin apart from the law. Who’s that? The Gentiles, all who sin apart from the law, will also perish apart from the law. So was a Gentile ever given the law according to scripture? Well, what are we doing with it, then? Is that a good question? What are we doing with then, if we were never given it? And who are the strongest proponents of the law, the Gentiles, aren’t we? And like I said, we went over, stole the old, beat up clothes of Israel, put them over our new suit, and said, I’m looking good. We have to understand folks, the Gentiles, were apart from the law. We never had it. The law was given to the Hebrews to keep them out of chaos when they left Egypt into the desert, the dietary laws and the laws of the land, better known as the 10 Commandments, was to keep society out of chaos given to the Hebrews. Now he’s saying this, all who sin under the law going to be judged by the law. All who sin apart from the law are going to perish, in other words, both under the death sentence. For it is not those who hear the law that are righteous in God’s sight, but it’s those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Now, what does that say to you, if you’re going to stop there, that where does righteousness come from? Where does it come from, according to this? Obedience to the law. Is that right or wrong? Is that right? But it says it, what’s he saying it for? To bury us.

You want to turn to Galatians two. Turn back to Galatians two. Galatians, 2:16, what does it say we? We who are Hebrews by birth and not Gentile sinners, know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, so we too have put our faith in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law, no one will be justified. Now turn over to Galatians 2:21, down to 2:21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing. Turn over to Galatians. 3:11, clearly, no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous shall live by faith, and the law is not based on faith. On the contrary, a man who does these things will live by them. You’re going to be under the law. You’re going to have to live under the law. And under the law, the wages of sin is death. So Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. And what was the curse of the law? Death. By becoming a curse, death for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith, we might receive the promised Holy Spirit. So what is Paul saying over here? No man is going to be justified through the law.

Now turn over to Romans 3:20 and what I’m doing this for is so that you can see, don’t stop reading. Don’t read something like this and say, oh, there it is. Keep reading, and you’ll get an explanation of why it’s there, because it is there. And here’s a reason why it’s there, and we’re going to point out the reason. So go over to 3:20, verse, 3:20, what does that say? Therefore, now there’s the therefore, guys, what’s a therefore, therefore? It’s a conclusion. It’s the conclusion to all of this. Therefore, I’m going to put a conclusion and a period on this thing. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in the sight, in God’s sight by observing the law. Rather, it’s through the law that we become what? Conscious of sin. What was the purpose of the law then? To make you what conscious of what? Sin. What was the purpose of making you conscious of sin? To let you know that you’re a sinner. Are we all together, all alive and well and awake? If I’m made conscious of sin, then it makes me conscious, then I then I must be a what? Sinner, and a sinner is dead. And what does a dead person need? Life. That’s the purpose of the law to show me I’m a sinner and that the consequence of sin is death. Death, and a dead person needs life, and there’s only one person that can give life to the dead, and that’s the resurrected Jesus. You think Buddha can bring you back to life? Mohammed, the Pope, Luther? Only Jesus can bring death to life. And that’s the purpose, that’s the therefore of this passage is to show us that no man will be declared righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law. Well, then what’s he saying this for? It is not those who hear the law who are righteous, but it’s those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. What is he saying? Has anyone ever obeyed the law? Has anyone ever been declared righteous through obedience to the law? No. So what’s he saying that for? To show you, if you’re under the law, this is how you’re going to be declared righteous under the law, total obedience. James said it did he not, if you’ve kept the whole law and yet violated. And just what? One point you violate how much of it? All of it. What do you say to that? Well, watch my smoke. You say, I’ve had it. And God says, now you got it. When you know you’ve had it, you got it. Now you’re ready for the cross and the resurrection. So we read these things, folks, and many times you will find people who want to teach legalism. They’ll use these passages like this and try to bury people with it. Say, See there. It says right there, and that’s what I there, right there, right there. You gotta obey the law.

Announcer 27:11
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