In his sermon, Pastor Steve Hopkins expounds on Romans 2:1-11, emphasizing that all humanity, both Jew and Gentile, stands guilty before God without excuse. He underscores that God's judgment is impartial and based on truth, not appearances or social status. The sermon highlights the concept of 'judicial abandonment,' where God allows those who reject Him to follow their sinful desires as a form of judgment. Pastor Hopkins warns against the dangers of outward religious behavior masking inner sin, stressing that such hypocrisy leads to storing up God's wrath. He explains that God's goodness should lead people to repentance, but many ignore this call, treasuring up wrath instead. The sermon also contrasts those who seek eternal life through perseverance in good deeds with those who are contentious and reject the truth. Ultimately, salvation is presented as being available through faith in Jesus Christ, who offers righteousness and safety on the day of judgment. Pastor Hopkins concludes by urging individuals to trust Christ alone for salvation, emphasizing that God shows no favoritism and that all will be judged according to their deeds.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. If you would, turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Romans once again. Lord willing, we'll be picking up with chapter two and working our way from verse one through verse 11. And if you've been looking for any relief from the Apostle Paul's relentless pursuit to lay the entire world and all mankind Guilty before God, we're not going to find it, I don't think, today in these passages.

Before the good news comes the bad news. And Romans 2, 1 through 11 is filled with bad news for mankind, both Jew and Gentile. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of God, you would read along with me verses 1 through 11. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doeth the same things.

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasureth up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile, but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God." Let's pray.

Father, we tremble at your Word. We take it very serious, Lord, and we ask, Lord, that you would Send your spirit to wield the sword of the Spirit your word upon our hearts God open up our understanding Bring conviction where conviction is needed We pray God that their souls that do not know you here today, that you would draw them, for it's our desire, God, that there'd not be one lost in this congregation, but that everyone would be brought to the saving knowledge of Christ for His glory, for the glory of Your name, Lord Jesus, amen. Let's be seated. So as we return to our verse-by-verse study of the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, the first word that we read in chapter 2 is therefore. You've probably heard pastors say this before, that if you ever see the word therefore, you want to figure out what it's there for, right?

What he's saying is, when he says therefore, he's saying, what I'm about to say is connected to what I have just said. Another way of saying it would be for this reason, or taking into consideration everything that I've just said previously, understand what I'm about to say. And then the apostle uses that phrase again, The same phrase he used in chapter 1 and verse 20 when he said, they are without excuse. They are without excuse. Those Paul spoke of in Chapter 1 are without excuse before God.

And those he's speaking of now in chapter 2 and verse 1 are also without excuse. Here it's rendered inexcusable. It means without any grounds for defense. Without any grounds for defense. In chapter 1, Paul said, all men are without excuse.

All men are without any grounds for defense, remember? They are without excuse, because though they knew God, they refused to glorify Him as God or even be thankful, even though God had clearly and visibly manifested Himself to all men and has, and all mankind through nature through the created order all around them and in them. And though He has given them the internal witness of conscience, rather than glorify Him as God, they suppressed the truth. They knew about God, that He clearly manifested to them, and they did so in their unrighteousness, in their wickedness, in the corruption of their nature, and with a desire to erase the very image of God, the very thought of God, any notion of God from the hard drive of their minds, so to speak. And then they went on to exchange the worship of the God they knew for creature worship To worship and serve Created things rather than the Creator who's blessed forever remember that from our last study and so having given up the knowledge of God we read in our last session on Romans 1, God gave them up.

You give up the knowledge of God, God gives you up. God gives them over, is another way he put it, to a reprobate mind, to a depraved mind, to a mind that is no longer even able to reason rightly. He cuts them loose to follow their heart's lusts, and it's an act of what theologians term judicial abandonment. God hands them over to their hearts lusts to pursue their vile passions unrestrained, like when you cut the dog's leash loose and let him run. And he goes where he always wanted to go.

And Paul says they will stand before God on the day of judgment without excuse, without any grounds for defense, Even if they never heard the gospel because God revealed himself to them through nature clearly and Visibly and he gave them a conscience and they suppressed it all and they refused to glorify the God they knew who had revealed Himself to them through nature in their unrighteousness, and they weren't even grateful. They never looked up to heaven once to say, thank you God. And then in our text this morning, Paul uses that phrase again as we pick up with verse 1 of chapter 2, without excuse, without any grounds for defense, inexcusable as it's rendered here. And this time the indictment is directed at the Jews. First chapter is directed at the Gentiles and really all men, but here it's directed at the Jews.

The O-man that Paul is speaking to here in verses 1 and 3 are identified further in verse 17. If you go skip down a few verses and look at verse 17, you see that this is who he's talking to when he says, oh man, it was a common way that the Jews spoke to each other, oh man, when they were speaking to their brothers according to the flesh. He's speaking to fellow Jews. He's speaking to Israel. He says, therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges.

And he lays this indictment upon them. And the indictment is this, for wherein you judge another You're really condemning yourself Because you that judge are doing the same things You're doing the same things Paul speaking under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will have all the world, both the Gentile world and the Jewish world, under the same indictment. Guilty before God. Without excuse before God. Inexcusable on the day of judgment.

Without any grounds for defense before God on that day when the righteous judgment of God is revealed from heaven. And I can see the Jews who are maybe reading Paul's epistle, shaking their heads in agreement with all he said in chapter 1, saying, yeah, those vile Gentiles, nail them, Paul. And then falling silent as Paul begins chapter 2, Therefore, O man, O Jewish man, which Paul makes perfectly clear in verse 17, who he's speaking to, therefore understanding everything that I've just said previously, that everyone knows God through the revelation of nature, everyone suppresses the knowledge of God, that God has visibly and clearly shown them, and men who do this exchange the worship of the Creator who is blessed forever for creature worship, for idolatry, knowing this and knowing that God gives such over to a depraved mind and cuts them loose to pursue their vile affections and lusts unrestrained as a judicial judgment, knowing that the righteous indignation and wrath of God is revealed from under heaven against all such, now understand, O man, O Jewish brother, that you also are inexcusable And you also will stand without excuse, without any grounds for defense before God on the day of judgment.

And you will not escape the judgment of God. Now they're silent. You will not escape the judgment of God. Why? Because you judged all the things that I mentioned in chapter 1 at the end of chapter 1 as things worthy of death.

Look back at chapter 1 at those descriptions of the corrupted human nature wickedness covetousness maliciousness envy murder debate deceit malignancy Whisperers backbite as haters of God Despiteful proud boasters and veners of evil things disobedient to parents on and on and on and on. You judged all those who practiced such things and approved of others who practiced such things as being worthy of death. And yet in your condemnation of others who practice these wicked things, you condemn your own selves because you that judge practice the same things. By the way, no preacher of the gospel, no professing Christian who has ever lived or whoever will live will escape the judgment of God either, who condemn those sins in others and yet practice the same things secretly in their own lives. God is no respecter of persons.

Yet we, Paul says, referring to true believers, whether Jew or Gentile, are sure. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the judgment of God is according to truth, not hypocrisy against all who practice such things, whether openly, like those you condemn publicly or secretly like you yourselves? Friends, the apostle will have Every mouth stopped. Do you really think that you will escape the judgment of God who condemn others openly and publicly for doing the same things you do in secret? No.

God is no respecter of persons. God is a just judge and He is an omniscient judge and every sin, whether committed openly or secretly, will be judged on the day of judgment when the righteous wrath of God is revealed and every sin exposed. Everything gets judged one way or the other. We'll speak more about that, what that looks like in a minute. But what he's saying here is, You thought that you had escaped the judgment of God because God did not expose your sin on earth.

You thought that you had escaped the judgment of God because He didn't bring you to account for your secret sins on earth. And you flattered yourself because you openly condemned those sins in others And you thought maybe that that would satisfy God on the day of judgment, but you were wrong. In the words of our former elder, the late Don Stubblefield, it's all coming out. It's all coming out one day. What's spoken in secret in the inner ear will be broadcast from the housetops.

It's all coming out. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 14 says, for God shall bring every work into judgment. You believe that? With every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. You believe that?

Everything. It's all coming out. Every work into judgment with every secret thing. Paul is telling his brethren according to the flesh, and it applies to every one of us here this morning, you continued to practice and secret the very sins you condemned openly and publicly in others. But you didn't consider what he goes on to say in verse 5, that after your hardness and impenitent heart, you didn't really consider this, that after your hardness and your impenitent heart, your stubborn heart that refused to quit those sins, You were treasuring up, it's a financial term, you were treasuring up like laying up money in a bank account, only here it's wrath.

You were laying up wrath. You were treasuring up wrath against yourself to be revealed on the day of wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is made known. Because in your hard-heartedness and impenitence, in your stubbornness and your refusal to quit those sins, You knew were worthy of death, proven by the fact that you condemned those very sins in others. You treasured up an ocean of wrath that will one day break forth upon you on that day when God's forbearance is taken out of the way, and His wrath is let loose upon you, and the day His righteous judgment and indignation is revealed upon both open as well as secret sinners." You won't find much relief in Romans 1 and 2. Again, we might be tempted to say here, I'm really, wow, I'm glad Paul's talking about the Jews here, but the apostle is addressing, When he addresses the Jews here, he's addressing outwardly religious people.

Do you understand that? Outwardly religious people. People who, whether they attended the local synagogue in his day or attended the local church in our day, are under the impression or were under the impression that they would escape the wrath of God because they openly and publicly condemn sin God has no respect or of persons outward conformity to the law of God coupled with secret violation of God's law is a treasuring up of wrath. That's what we need to understand here this morning. And the wrath that the Secret Center treasures up will be greater than that of the Open Center who violated the law and openly said, hey, I agree with this, I know I'm doing this, whatever, that the secret sinner treasures up more wrath.

He condemns those things publicly, but he lives in them secretly. He treasures up more wrath. Paul has issued the indictment against all sinners, both the religious as well as the irreligious. But it's not all. He could have stopped here, but he does not.

The apostle Paul goes on And he says this, here's another thing you didn't consider. You didn't consider that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. And he's not saying that the fact that God's goodness is manifested to all men means that all men will be led to repent. That's not what he's saying here. No, the inference is the goodness of God should have led you to repentance.

God's goodness is displayed before all men every day. He causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. He gives food and drink and clothing and shelter to every person on earth. His daily goodness manifested to all men should be enough to break the hardest heart. It is The obligation of all men to respond in repentance to the goodness of God.

God has been so good to you. God has been so patient with you God did not punish you as you went on in your stubbornness day after day and continued to practice sin And maybe you became convinced that well, maybe he never would and so you ignored his goodness and you spurned his patience and you went on in your sin but God will render to every man according to his deeds because it is his character and nature to do so. He is a just and a holy God. He is a just judge and he will deal with every sin ever committed by men one way or another. You understand this?

One way or another. And Paul hasn't gotten to the other yet. He's just gotten to the one way. As I said before, he's speaking here more specifically here to the Jews. We see further on in verse 17, at the end of the chapter, a note in my RHB, Reformation Heritage Study Bible says, privilege does not prevent guilt, but rather increases it.

Understand that? And we, like the Jews, have been very privileged. Look what you're holding in your hand. The Jews were a privileged people. To them were committed the oracles of God, the law, and the prophets.

Look at what you're holding in your hand. And yet they had, in the words of R.C. Sproul, a judgmental attitude towards the Gentiles." They condemned the Gentiles for doing the very same things they were guilty of. And many professing Christians are doing the exact same thing today in our world and maybe even in this church house. Paul says God will render to every man according to his deeds.

He is no respecter of persons. Synagogue attender, church attender makes no difference. Some will say, but I thought God judges men purely on the basis of faith in His Son. Yes. But saving faith or the lack thereof is evidenced in the life of men.

It's evidenced in the lives of men. The lives of believers and unbelievers are set in contrast one with the other by their works. Do you know that? Yeah. That's why Jesus said trees are known by their fruit.

Pretty simple. In verse 7 he says, to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. This is a description. This is a description of those whose hearts are evidently set on eternal things. Immortality, eternal life.

They're seeking for glory. They're looking to that day. They're seeking to be honorable before God. They're patient and continuing in obedience to God. This is a description of those whose hearts are set on eternity.

Remember, Jonathan Edwards once said, oh, that God would stamp eternity on my eyeballs. I've looked around on the internet to try to find some eternity sunglasses. I can't find them. You know, where you look through and everywhere you look you see eternity. So you're driving along and keep your mind on the right things.

But remember, Jesus spoke of laying up treasure. Remember? He spoke of laying up of treasures as well, treasure in heaven, not wrath. Treasure in heaven where moths do not corrupt and rust does not corrode. And that's a description of the life of the true believer in Christ.

Here, Paul says these seek things consistent. They, by patient continuance and well-doing, seek, okay? They seek for things consistent with those who possess life eternal. These are men and women who are pressing towards the mark of the high calling of those who are in Christ Jesus. But they're contrasted here, aren't they?

Look at the contrast. They're contrasted with those who are contentious, with those who have a quarrel with their maker, and their lives evidence it. I don't want to get off track here, we're just about to close here, we're getting close. They've got a quarrel with their maker. You got a quarrel with your maker, I'll just rabbit trail for just a moment here, many times a quarrel with your maker is evidenced by a quarrel with authority, God-ordained authority on earth.

You got a quarrel with your parents, you got a beef with your parents, under their God-ordained authority. In all things lawful, children are to obey their parents and honor their parents. In all things lawful, the bounds of the parents jurisdiction are limited in Scripture, we see that, not to obey things that are unlawful but only those things which are lawful. Wives are to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord. In all things lawful, the bounds of his jurisdiction are defined in Scripture.

You have a quarrel with your maker, many times it's evidenced by a quarrel with those that your Maker has put in authority, God-ordained authority. In the church, Hebrews 13, 17, submit to those, they have authority. In all things lawful, their jurisdiction is limited. Don't ever do anything that they tell you to do that's not lawful, according to Scripture, or outside of their jurisdiction. But you have a beef with God-ordained authority.

You've got a coral with your maker, your life will evidence it. So that's the end of that rabbit trail. He says, unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, That is, who do not live in obedience to the gospel. Let me go back to that rabbit truck because I left one out. Peter and Paul, when Peter and Paul write about the jurisdiction of the civil government, and they say obey the civil government.

We're to obey the civil government in everything that's lawful. The bounds of their jurisdiction and their limitations are defined in Scripture. We obey everything that the government says to do as long as they're not telling us to disobey something that God has told us to do or not to do. When Paul and Peter were writing and saying, look, obey the government and submit to them in all things lawful. Nero was the head of state and was impaling Christians and covering their bodies with tar and lighting them on fire to give light for his debaucherous garden parties, which I won't describe in this setting.

He was saying submit to the government in all things lawful. It's hard, it's difficult. You got a beef with your maker? You don't like the God-ordained authority He's placed over you? It's evidenced in our lives.

It's evidenced in our lives. Now, when they ask us to do something that He forbids, that God forbids, we're obligated to defy the government and to defy a parent or defy a church leader or defy a husband who asks us to do something that God forbids in his word or forbids us to do something that God commands in his word but in all things lawful we're to obey within the bounds of the jurisdiction and the limitations that God has placed on them in Scripture. Okay, but they obey unrighteousness under them that are contentious and they don't obey the truth. They don't live in obedience to the gospel, but obey unrighteousness. They practice those things Paul condemns at the end of chapter 1.

They practice sin, whether openly or hypocritically in secret, doesn't matter. What they can expect is indignation and wrath, God's indignation and wrath, eternal indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, upon every soul of man who will not quit that sin. And when I say that, maybe everybody has one thing that comes to their mind, they go, you know what? I need to quit. And I just haven't repented.

Remember, one of the elements of true repentance is to forsake sin. And when a sin is forsaken, it is abandoned with the intent never to return to it. And if the sin is not forsaken with the intent to never return to it, then that's not an element of true repentance. It's just confession. Well, I'm going to confess it and just go on.

I've heard that false doctrine out there. Well, we just confess and rebound. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Part of true repentance is there's no reservation of mind where you say, I know I'm going to go back to that. It has to be a forsaking of sin with the intent never to return to it.

That's one of the elements of true repentance. You quit it. You give it up. Does it mean you might not go back? Maybe you did go back.

But if you confess it again and you repent again, then you have the same mentality, I'm not going back to this. If you've got a reservation of mind that, oh, I know I'm going to go back, nothing I can do about it, God forgives, don't worry, I'm not going to worry about it. That's leaving out an element of true repentance. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, that is upon every man that continues to practice sin. I don't know where we got away from it, But you can look at the sermons down through American history and you can see where we started to get away from this kind of preaching.

It's just, it's just, we incrementally got away from it until all of a sudden Joel Osteen was the number one best seller selling author in the so-called Christian world. It's not even Christian. And the number one selling book of all time is, what was it, Your Best Life Now, a Christian book. John MacArthur once said, if you're having your best life now, you're on your way to hell. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.

Every man that continues to practice a sin, you won't give it up, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. But look at what he says in verse 10, glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good. Again, this is evidence in the life of the person who is truly saved. Glory, honor, peace to every man that worketh good, not saved by your works, but there's evidence in the life of true believers. Paul, of course, says to the Philippians, and we need to remember this, it is God that works in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

So let's not forget this. Paul's going to be going forward here and we're going to get into the good news, but right now it's been some pretty bad news. But those who seek glory and honor and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, there's going to be a life that ends in glory and perfect conformity to the image of Christ on the day that we see Jesus as He is. And there will be honor and there'll be peace and to every man that works good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And God is the one who works that in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

But oh brothers and sisters, remember there is no respect of persons with God. We've got to get that into our minds. When I preach on the streets, I commonly tell men, you don't want to face God on the day of judgment clothed in your sins. This past Wednesday out there, I was preaching that. You don't want to face God on the day of judgment clothed in your sins.

This past Wednesday out there I was preaching that you don't want to face God on the day of judgment clothed in your sins or naked before God in your sins as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when God came to them. It's not safe. Again I'll quote Paul Washer, our God is a dangerous God. I tell men you want to face the thrice holy God clothed in the righteousness of his son. You want to be covered.

You want to be covered. You don't want to enter into his presence in your sins and the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness on that day. On that day when every secret thing you've ever done will be exposed. People say, well, I don't think it's all coming out. It's all coming out.

It's all coming out for one purpose or the other. It's either going to come out to bring glory to God because He has rid the earth of sinners and given them their just due, or it's going to bring glory to God and that he had grace upon miserable sinners like you and me. But it has to come out, right, so that the glory of his grace can be manifested before all creation. It has to all come out. So everything we ever thought, never done, and the motivations for that, all of it is exposed.

It comes, in the words of one theologian, it comes under review. It comes under judgment for the sinner, but it comes under review for the believer. Under judgment for the sinner because the righteous wrath of God is going to be justified against them when the earth is rid of those reprobates to the praise of the glory of his grace to the praise of the glory of His grace, and that He saved His people from their sins. Amen? But do you want to stand before God on that day clothed in the righteousness of His Son as we close?

You want to be covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that comes by faith in Him. It comes by trusting in Jesus alone for your acceptance with God. It comes through trusting in Christ alone for your salvation, for your safety, for your eternal security. If you're saved, you're safe. Forever saved, forever safe.

If you're not trusting Jesus alone, you're not saved and you will not be safe on that day. Paul has made it clear to both Jew and Gentile alike, God is no respecter of person. All the world lies guilty before Him. No man will escape His tribunal and only those covered by the perfect righteousness of his Son Jesus through faith in him will escape the wrath to come. I encourage every one of you today if you do not know him, if you've never closed with Christ as Spurgeon used to put it.

Close with him today. Close with Christ. Close with him. Repent and believe the good news. Call in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The only name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved if we would be saved. Close with Christ today. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved all ye ends of the earth. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, oh God.

It is hard. A lot of it is very, very hard, Lord, and it's difficult for us to to drink it in, but we thank you for it because it is truth, and it is the truth that sets men free and we thank you God for making your truth known to your people. We thank you God for the regenerating power of your spirit. We thank you Lord that your spirit does wield the sword of the spirit, your word upon the hearts of men, and has wielded that sword upon our hearts. We thank you for the life-saving power of the gospel and that you've made that known to your people And that you've given us eyes to see and ears to hear and raised us from spiritual death to spiritual life We thank you God.

We give you all the glory and the praise. We know that salvation is all of you and none of us. It's all of Christ. And we thank you for the sacrifice of your Son. We thank you that He came to earth, took flesh, was in all ways man except without sin, and at the same time full nature of God, all the attributes of God and all the attributes of man yet without sin in one person and that he took upon himself our sin debt, having lived a perfect and holy life, went to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

We thank you for that. We thank you Lord that through Him we have life eternal. We thank you that through His sacrifice we are accepted in your sight. We thank you for the death of your son, and we thank you that he rose again the third day, and that we are justified in your sight, declared just in your sight on account of him and his mediatorial work. Thank you so much, God, for giving us salvation through his name.

Lord we pray that you would be with us now as we examine ourselves in the light of the things that we've heard before we eat of that bread and drink of that cup showing the Lord's death for us. I pray God that we would be serious in our self-examination and Lord that you would speak to every one of us by your word and that your spirit, oh God, would convict where we need conviction and give comfort where we need comfort. We love you Lord and we offer up this time to you in gratefulness and thankfulness as we participate in this table set apart from all others showing Jesus died for us. It's in his name we pray, amen.