 The title of our sermon this morning is, You Have No Excuses, You Have No Excuses, Romans chapter two verses one through 11. This morning in our study of Romans, we now move from chapter one into chapter two as Paul, our prosecuting attorney, now continues to make his airtight case against all mankind who sits in the seat of the accused. Now let's remember as we consider our text now, let's remember the details of our text together. First, let's think about what the case is, what case is Paul making? The case that Paul is making is a two-part case. It's a case for the universal condemnation of all men in their sin, and it's a case for the righteousness of God's judgment in pouring out his wrath against the sinner, a two-part case. Secondly, there are two basic reasons for why Paul begins his argument in this way with the universal condemnation of all men in their sin. First, it's to vindicate the righteousness of God's revealed wrath. God is righteous in pouring out his wrath upon the sinner. David said in Psalm 51 verse three, "'Lord, I acknowledge my transgressions. "'My sin is always before me against you. "'You only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight "'that you may be found just when you speak "'and blameless when you judge.'" Well, God is certainly just when he speaks. God is certainly blameless when he judges. God is righteous in pouring out his wrath upon the sinner. Secondly, the second reason for why Paul would begin his argument in this way is to point you and I to the gospel. It's to point sinners to the gospel. The revelation of God's righteousness through the person in work of God's own son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We brothers and sisters are to have no confidence in our flesh. Within us dwells no good thing. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we must flee to Christ by faith who is our righteousness for his righteousness, the righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel. He is our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, amen. And there is therefore in him now no condemnation. We learn from verses 16 and 17 in our study in chapter one that this letter is about the good news. The good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the free offer of Christ's righteousness, the free offer of God's grace contained in the gospel. And what magnifies the gospel as such good news is the horrific extent of the bad news. And that's something that we have to contend with. That's something that Paul wants to hit us in the nose with this morning as we consider chapter two together. Paul is preparing your heart, he's preparing my heart for the truth of the gospel. And so Paul then will bring us face to face with the reality of our own sin against God. I would submit to you brothers and sisters that as we consider what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we have to be reminded of our sin against him, right? Reminded of our fallen condition so that against that black backdrop of our own sin we can see the beauty that is the gospel, the beauty of what Jesus Christ has done for us. For that reason, Paul then begins in chapter one with a bitter, scathing indictment of man's sin and a terrifying revelation of God's retributive wrath. So we carefully worked through the details of Paul's opening statement in chapter one. We made note of the various reasons for why God has revealed his wrath. Although God has sufficiently revealed himself in creation alone, it is a testimony to the depravity of man that men suppress the truth of God in their unrighteousness. They refused to glorify him as God, nor were they thankful. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. In all of this, God is vindicated in pouring out his wrath against the sinner. All men, Paul is speaking of here in a general way, all men universally are condemned by the law as sinners. And Paul's gonna reach that verdict at the end of chapter three, chapter three verse 20 and verse 21, where all are found guilty before God. All their mouths are stopped, they have no defense, they are inexcusable. So then, in righteous and retributive justice, God then abandons them in chapter one. He abandons them to uncleanness. He abandons them to degrading and vile passions. He abandons them to shameful and unnatural abominations like homosexuality. He abandons them to all manner of wickedness, the rotten fruits, if you will, of a debased mind. And eventually, he abandons them to that which they ultimately deserve, temporal and then eternal death. Now, having made a case against all men in general, Paul concludes then his opening statement with a devastating personal application in chapter two, verse one. And it's this statement of Paul and his explanation of this statement that follows that we're going to consider this morning in Romans chapter two, verses one through four. I've planned for us this morning to consider our text under four headings. If you listen fast, we're gonna get through all four this morning. It's 11, 11, 20, listen quickly. Point number one, the inexcusable man from verse one. Point number two, God's infallible judgment from verse two. Point number three, God's inescapable judgment from verse three. And then we'll see in point four, man's irrational response in verse four. You have outlines available if you need one of those to follow along. Consider with me first, point one, the inexcusable man, the inexcusable man. Look at verse one with me. Therefore, Paul says, you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. Now notice with me at the beginning of verse one, the word therefore. That word therefore, the opening of verse one, connects this statement with statements that come before. It connects verse one with what comes before it. The climax, if you will, the apex of Paul's opening indictment comes in chapter one, verse 32, right there at the end of chapter one. The depth of man's depravity is expressed in people, not only doing those things they know are deserving of death, doing those things that they know violate God's law, but also their depravities expressed in approving of others who do the very same things, right? It's a deeper level of depravity, if you will. It's a digression. It's a step on the ladder lower than all of the perversion that we saw leading up to that in chapter one. Men in this state, what we find in chapter one, verse 32, men in this state have thoroughly degraded themselves. They thoroughly desecrated themselves. They highlight their depravity by not merely withholding condemnation from those who practice such wickedness, but actually by approving of those who practice such wickedness. And in that, we see the depths of their desecration. Paul, then thinking of this statement in chapter one, verse 32, Paul then, as it were, acknowledges someone else in the room. He acknowledges an antagonist, so to speak, an expected antagonist in the room. Someone who doesn't see himself under the indictment of chapter one. He doesn't see himself as a blatant idolater, like those Gentiles were. He doesn't see himself as abandoned to the immorality that's described in chapter one. He sees himself differently, right? This one, this expected antagonist, this other person in the room, so to speak, believes himself at this point to be acquitted of the charges that Paul has made so far, as if that were possible, right? He believes himself to be acquitted of the description that Paul has given in chapter one. That description he would think to himself doesn't apply to him. He doesn't see himself in chapter one. Unlike those in chapter one, verse 32, he's got enough sense to condemn people who practice such things. He certainly wouldn't approve of them. And so what does he do here in chapter two, verse one? He sits in judgment of them. Maybe, maybe he even senses a moral superiority over them. Maybe he sees himself as better than they are, not as sinful or depraved as they are. So this man, this expected antagonist, this other person now in the room, represents another category of people altogether, doesn't he? A people, a class of people, a category of people, or a group that you might find in a church like this on a Sunday morning, or at other churches all over the country on a Sunday morning, or any other day of the week for that matter. Those who see themselves as righteous, those who see themselves as acquitted of Paul's indictment here, they sit in judgment of those that they see in chapter one, maybe even sensing a certain moral superiority over them. So Paul now, Paul in chapter two, verse one, turns and he addresses this man, this representative of that group. This man, Paul knows, must be brought under the conviction of his sin. Paul is building a case. It's a case that began in chapter one. It's gonna last all the way to chapter three, verse 20, wherein Paul intends to convict the entire world under the law of God. And so if Paul is going to attain the goal of his case, so to speak, Paul is going to have to bring this man under the conviction of his sin. Paul is gonna have to convict this man under the law. Now, rather than using the third person plural pronouns than from chapter one, when Paul would refer to them and they, Paul now turns and employs the second person singular you to confront this man directly, verse one. Therefore you, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, who judge? For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself because you who judge practice the very same things. Now, what is Paul saying here in verse one? You, O man, whoever you are, whoever you are, sitting in judgment of them for the sin that I just exposed in chapter one, maybe feeling a sense of moral superiority as you do, I now warn you as well. Paul's not gonna let anybody off the hook, is he? You are also, Paul would say, you're also without excuse. Having condemned others, you condemn yourself. How? For you judge, for you who judge, practice the very same things, all things, including your heart and mind are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. God doesn't look on the outward appearance, because he got looks at the heart. God sees this one. Paul knows he exists, Paul knows that he's there, and this one is going to come under the condemnation of the law. Dr. Murray, John Murray describes this man as condemned in hypocrisy and blindness, hypocrisy because he judged others for the same sins of which he himself was guilty and blindness because he failed to see his own self condemnation in the condemnation and he prounced against others. His very judgment of this sin as unrighteous, Paul's judgment of this particular sin as unrighteous places this man in the very same category with all of those from chapter one who were wicked idolaters. They're all equally deserving of death, do you see? All equally deserving of death. Now thinking about this particular person, I'm reminded of the Pharisees. Lord rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, particularly in Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, as the Lord called them hypocrites and explained their hypocrisy, a lawyer spoke up and said, Lord, by speaking of them in these ways, you approach us also. And what does Jesus say? How does the Lord respond? Woe to you too, lawyers, you hypocrites. And then he begins to explain the hypocrisy of the lawyers. Paul is essentially doing the same thing here. No one gets off the hook. No one's off the hook. This is essentially a knife to the heart of self-righteousness. It's a punch to the gut, right? You will not escape the righteous judgment of God. Now first, I want you to notice with me the identity of the inexcusable man, the identity. He is defined in verse one as whoever you are who judge. The identity of this man is whoever you are who judge. Now many commentators, if you read commentaries on this passage, believe that this man represents the Jews, right? Paul was addressing the Gentiles in chapter one. He turns now to address the Jews in chapter two. Well, this attitude, isn't it? This attitude of moral superiority, this attitude of self-righteousness certainly was characteristic of the Jews, wasn't it? Certainly prevalent among the Jews, but just as the sins of chapter one didn't apply only to the Gentiles but also applied to the Jews, in just the same way the sins of chapter two mark both Jews and Gentiles. Now in chapter one, we don't only see idolatry and homosexuality among the Gentiles, do we? In Israel's history, we see rampant idolatry, we even see homosexuality, don't we? In the same way, this self-righteous attitude in chapter two is characteristic of both Jews and Gentiles and like. And so Paul is going to get to the point where he addresses Gentiles specifically and Jews specifically, but right now Paul is speaking in a broad manner, a more general manner, and he uses the word here whoever to apply to whoever, including you and I. Whoever you are, who judge. Now the whoever there would certainly include all moralists, those with an external, formal, ritualistic, heartless religion, all legalists. It would include all those who are self-righteous, it would include the hypocrite. We're gonna see more about that as we work through the text. It would include anyone who thinks of himself as somehow exempt from God's judgment. When you talk to people today, we run into them, don't we? You know, I'm a pretty good person. Never really seen myself as a sinner, right? People will say that on a regular basis. God's not that mad, I'm not that bad. Nothing to be worried about here, right? I've met numerous people who've actually said when you're taking them through the law that I've never broken those laws. I went, witnessed it one time with this Spanish speaking brother and we were speaking to a Spanish speaking person. I had no idea what was going on in the conversation and all I kept hearing was nunca, nunca, nunca, nunca in response to the law. And finally this brother reached out his hand to shake her hand and said, I've never met a perfect person before. I wanted to, you know, meet you. This would include anyone who somehow thinks of himself as exempt from God's law, self-righteous, outside of the judgment of God with respect to his law, with respect to their sin. This would certainly include, wouldn't, a countless innumerable host of professing Christians in the modern day professing church. Maybe some of you hear this morning, we're not speaking of those who judge with the righteous judgment. The Lord tells us, judge all matters with a righteous judgment. We're not speaking of that. We're speaking of the hypocrite, the one who makes a hypocritical judgment, the one who makes an unrighteous judgment. You condemn the very sin in others that you yourself are enslaved to. Therefore, oh man, whoever you are who judge, you are inexcusable. You're without excuse, without defense. Worthy of the judgment that you will receive on the last day. Now Paul gives two reasons for this judgment, two reasons for this judgment. The first, this man is self-righteous, but secondly, this man is self-condemned. It's right there in the text of verse one. He is self-righteous, he is self-condemned. He thinks of himself as a good person. He thinks of himself as right with God, justified on the basis of his own actions, on the basis of how he conducts himself. The self-righteous, the hypocrite, they're guilty of two terrible miscalculations, two damning deceptions. And I want you to understand this this morning. First, they fail to acknowledge the Lord's standard of righteousness. They fail to acknowledge the Lord's standard of righteousness. As we think about that, I want to go back with me to Matthew chapter five. I want to give you an example of this. The Lord doesn't merely look on the outward appearance. The Lord looks on the heart and the Lord expects from us heart holiness. We are to obey the Lord, obey the Lord's commandments from the heart. And we see that in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five. Look at Matthew chapter five and drop down to verse 21. Let me give you an example, right? The Lord is teaching on this very issue. And he says in verse 21, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. Remember the first time I went witnessing with a brother, he read this very text and then he said of himself, I'm a murderer. And my jaw hit the ground, my eyes got big. It's like I'm out witnessing with a murderer, a guy who's murdered somebody before. Then to me and to the person we were witnessing to, he explained the law. But I say to you, verse 22, that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. That's the heart level application, what God's law intends to communicate. We're to obey the law from the heart. If you're angry with your brother without the heart, you are classified, you're in the same category, you've broken the sixth commandment and are in fact a murderer and have violated God's law and are culpable to judgment. Drop down to verse 27, the Lord Jesus Christ again, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman, the Lord is not expanding the meaning of the law, he's explaining the meaning of the law, he's clarifying the meaning of the law. I say to you, verse 28, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. What does the Lord expect of us? He expects of us heart, holiness, external obedience and internal obedience from the heart. Heart, mind, soul, strength. The first terrible miscalculation that these self-righteous people make, the two damning deceptions, the first of them is that they fail to acknowledge the Lord's standard of righteousness. Secondly though, they fail to apply that standard to their own depravity. They don't apply that standard to their own depravity. Let's flip over to Mark and look at Mark, chapter seven. Let me give you another example of this. Next Gospel, Mark, look at Mark, chapter seven and look there beginning at verse five. We are to apply this heart holiness, this understanding of God's law to our own obedience, to our own hearts. Matthew chapter or Mark, chapter seven, verse five. Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashed hands? External formalism, right, external moralism. These were commands that the Pharisees had added to the law of God. Look at verse six. The Lord answered and said to them, well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites? As it is written, that's how to win friends and influence people, right? The Lord is truthful and the Lord is no respecter of persons, right? The Lord is gonna speak the truth exactly as he did. The Lord describes these men as whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones, clean on the outside, filthy, degraded, degenerative on the inside, right? Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites? As it is written, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. That kind of worship, the kind of worship that honors the Lord with your lips but your heart is far from him is an abomination to God, is unacceptable worship. In vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. So the Pharisees were guilty of. They weren't concerned about the heart. They were teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Well, they don't just leave it there at teaching the doctrines, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. They then, verse eight, lay aside the commandment of God. Laying aside the commandment of God, you now hold the tradition of men. The washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things as you do. Why were the Pharisees so bent, hell bent on doing this? It's because they thought that they could attain a righteousness apart from heart holiness. They thought that they could attain a righteousness through the law. And so they compounded law in order to, in effect in their heart and mind, compound their own righteousness. They're compounding their own guilt, right? They set aside the commandment of God and they hold to the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things as you do. So we said to them, verse nine, all too well then now you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and mother from the heart, Moses meant. And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me is a gift that is a gift to God, Corban, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down. Many other such things you do. They don't apply the standard of God's righteousness to their own depravity, to their own conduct. Not seeing their own sin as the offense that it is before God, they diminish or excuse their own sin while magnifying the sins of another. In other words, they pick at the speck in their brother's eye at the same time, failing even to acknowledge they've got a log in their own. In this self-righteousness, Paul says here, they are self-condemned. Why? Because while judging the sins of others, they practice the very same thing. You see? The moral sense from which you judge others, but does not restrain you from evil, only increases your condemnation. Only increases your condemnation. Paul concludes that this man, back in Romans one, is inexcusable. This man is without defense. Therefore, you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge, practice the same things. You are, Paul would say, very adept at applying your knowledge of the law of God to the conduct of others, but in hypocrisy, in self-righteousness, you refuse to apply that very same standard to your own conduct. In applying that standard, which you obviously and evidently know, they know the righteous judgment of God. In applying that standard, which they know, they condemn themselves. They ought to have applied it to themselves. Brothers and sisters, God is no respecter of persons. You will give an account to God. Apply that standard to yourself. Paul says, judge yourself, lest you be judged with the world. Judge yourself. We can all exhibit these tendencies. Even genuine Christian is not immune from these tendencies, are they? We tend to make excuses for our sin, don't we? If you're being completely honest, some of you may have been thinking as we were working through chapter one that none of these things apply to me. Why is that? It's because we tend to make excuses for our sin. We tend not to see or understand or comprehend God's standard of righteousness, and then we don't apply His standard of righteousness to our own conduct. We're often quick to apply it to someone else, but not to ourselves. Now, maybe you're not guilty of all those sins from chapter one. Maybe you're not guilty of those sins to the same degree as the idolaters were of chapter one, but you are deserving of death just the same because all who judge others in those respects are guilty of practicing the very same kinds of things, is what Paul is referring to here. Our pride can be militaristic in opposing conviction. When someone is convicted of their sin, they can become hostile, defensive, offended, easily offended. I've often thought that it is really difficult to offend a mature Christian. Why? It's because their hope is in Jesus Christ alone. Their righteousness is His righteousness alone. But this one can be easily offended. Self-righteousness rages against being exposed as a sham. And often, rather than owning up to our sin, we excuse it. Instead of hating sin, instead of killing sin, we're guilty of explaining it away. I was provoked, right? A guy cut me off. You don't know what it's like. I'm tired, or I'm stressed. I'm Irish. Those are called excuses. And we can build up complex defense mechanisms in excusing our sin from righteous judgment. We fail to acknowledge God's standard of righteousness, and then we fail to apply His standard to our own sin. Adam, it's that woman you gave me, right? Aaron, who made the golden calf. These people are set on evil. God puts, or Aaron puts the gold into the fire, and this calf popped out, you know? Israel refusing to obey, right? They're giants in the land, so we're not going in. Saul, who sacrificed the burnt offering. Samuel was late, right? We tend to make excuses for our sin. We tend to explain it away rather than owning up to it. Circumstances may reveal your sin, but circumstances are not responsible for your sin. You, and you alone, are responsible for your sin. There is no excuse behind which you can hide. Paul says you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge. You have no excuse. This is an exceedingly dangerous trap for Christians. Very dangerous trap, very dangerous deception. Robert Martin draws attention to a really important distinction in the text that I want you to see. In the text, verse one, there are two different words for the word another in Greek. Two different words that can be translated another. One Greek word refers to another of the same kind. The other Greek word refers to another of a different kind altogether, right? The word here, if you read verse one, therefore you are an inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, the word there refers to another of a different kind. The word here is heteros, another of a different kind. Verse one, those whom the inexcusable man is judging, he sees as different in a different category, a different group, a different class than himself. In other words, he puts himself in a different category altogether. Paul says, in whatever he judges another of a different kind, he condemns himself because he practices the same things. He puts himself into a different category, but he's doing the same things, do you see? In other words, he may see himself as different, for example, you may see yourself as a Christian. I see myself as a Christian. I would consider myself a Christian. I would put myself in a different category than those lost pagans we saw in chapter one, but you're doing the same things. You're guilty of the same sins. You're living in the same kinds of ways. Do you see the hypocrisy? Paul is saying that there is no difference here. There's no difference between the two. There's certainly no difference where the judgment is concerned. They're both deserving of death. They're both gonna face the same judgment. There's no difference in their conduct. He simply sees himself in a different category. He'll be condemned, condemned together with them. He'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ where every word, every deed, every heart motive, every thought, every affection, every desire, every imagination will be laid bare before the king of the universe and judged and he will be condemned just as they are. We have no excuse, no excuse before God. You can't appeal to your own righteousness, your own conduct. You can't appeal to the thought that you may be a good guy or maybe you're not as bad a sinner as those idolaters from chapter one. Point one, this is the inexcusable man, the inexcusable man. Having made the case that this hypocritical man is without excuse at the judgment, Paul then bolsters his case with point two, God's infallible judgment. God's infallible judgment. The inexcusable man may think of himself in a different class, verse two, but we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. Reminded of several texts in scripture that exhort the reader to be not deceived. Whatever a man reaps, that will he also sow. God is not going to be mocked in the day of judgment. Whatever you reap, that's what you'll sow. Whatever you sow, that's what you're gonna reap, right? God's judgment is infallible. It is according to truth and we know it. Verse three or verse two expresses an inarguable fact that we all know the judgment of God is according to truth. But Paul here again is speaking universally, universally of all men and he's stating a fact that all men know. In other words, it's general revelation. He's not referring to special revelation given to us in scripture. Paul is still in the subject just like general revelation in chapter one with respect to creation. Paul is still speaking of general revelation now in chapter two and this is a different kind of general revelation. It's a revelation that is given to all men without distinction. It's revelation for which we will be held accountable. It's not part of that revelation that God has given through creation. Paul now refers to that revelation that God has given through conscience. We'll see this more as we work through chapter two. Every thinking man knows this to be true. Why? Because every man has been given a conscience. The judgment of God is according to truth. The hypocrite, the moralist may judge according to his own perverted standard. God is going to judge according to the truth. Now according to truth refers here to the facts of the case. The facts as they really are. His judgment will be in accord with how things actually are. Not how this inexcusable man may want them to be or may hope them to be or imagine them to be or feel as though they are. He is going to judge according to truth. Chapter three verse four, let God be true but every man a liar. The judgment of God will not be according to the sincerity of some decision that they made. The judgment of God will not be according to the sincerity of that prayer that you prayed. The judgment of God will not be according to the the fervency of your religious experience. The judgment of God will not be because you grew up in the church or because you faithfully attended or because you sang at the top of your lungs or because you lifted your hands in worship. The Jews couldn't claim their religious heritage. Jews couldn't claim their descendants from Abraham. God is going to judge according to the truth. And what is that truth? The judgment of God is according to works and works according to his law. The truth of a holy God applied as the standard to every thought, every word, every deed, every heart motive. Again and again the Bible says that God is going to judge according to what you have done in the body whether good or evil. Look at verse six. God will render to each one according to his deeds. This is retributive justice or reciprocal justice if you will. Verse 11, there is no partiality with God. Each one gets what each one deserves according to his works. God's sentence against the sinner will be according to his perfect, inviolable law. God's judgment is, as verse two says, against those who practice such things. In other words, God's judgment is not just against the sin. God's judgment is against the sinner. God doesn't merely hate the sin but love the sinner. There is a sense in which God in a general way loves his creation, right? Loves in that sense the world because God reigns on both the just and the unjust. He gives men food and gladness in their seasons. Acts chapter 14. So there is a sense in which God loves the world but God hates unrighteousness and God hates the wicked man. God is angry with the wicked every day. God hates workers of iniquity, right? There is a sense in which God will despise that one, pour contempt out upon that one he sends to hell. And we know this to be true. The truth is imprinted upon our conscience. God's judgment is according to truth and therefore God's judgment is as infallible as God himself is infallible. Further than, Paul continues with point three on your notes, God's inescapable judgment. This judgment according to truth is inescapable. Verse three, and do you think this, oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? No way, right? The inexcusable man must not think that he will escape. I wouldn't want anyone to leave the room today believing somehow that everything's just gonna work out in the end for you if you don't turn from your sin and put faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If you leave here in your sin, if you die in your sin, you will face the just judgment of God according to truth and you will perish in hell eternally. Don't die in your sin, why will you die? God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked man would turn from his thoughts, turn from his ways and live, turn from your sin and trust in Christ. Do you think this, oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? The self-justifying sinner just imagines that somehow things are going to work out in the end. They just have this vain hope that it's all going to work out in the end, that somehow they're gonna make it. Not only is the judgment of God according to truth but the judgment of God is inescapable. You will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for your sin. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 25, see that you do not refuse him who speaks for if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven whose voice then shook the earth but now he has promised saying yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven. Our God is a consuming fire, amen. First Corinthians chapter six verse nine, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God? Remember witnessing to a man some time ago? He was living in adultery, committing adultery, looking at porn on the internet. And so I said to him, do you not know that adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God? No, no, no, but see I'm saved. I prayed a prayer, asked Jesus into my heart, I know that God has saved me, I know that I'm forgiven of my sin and yet he's living in a sin. Paul says, do not be deceived. Don't deceive yourself with those lies. Adulterers, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God? Why? Because God judges according to our deeds and your deeds are wicked, you will be held guilty in the day of judgment and you will face the wrath of God for your sin. Don't be deceived. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. No matter what religious trappings you try to cover that up with. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Turn from your sin in repentance and in faith, trust Christ and his righteousness will become your righteousness. And on that basis, you'll be accepted in the beloved. It's on that basis alone. The one who condemns sin in others while condoning a very same sin in himself is tragically deceived. Tragically deceived. Galatians chapter six, verse seven, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. Sometimes we think in self-justifying ignorance, in self-justifying irrational ignorance, we just imagine that some prayer that we prayed or some religious thing that we did or some mass that we attended or some bead that we rubbed is going to somehow magically make all of this disappear. And there will be no righteous judgment of God because God just forgives, that's what God does. We sin, that's what we do. God, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Do business before God with your sin. Acknowledge your sin. Acknowledge what the apostle Paul says about you. What God's word says about you. Turn from your sin. I don't want that filthy wickedness in my life anymore. I want to live for Jesus Christ. He is my righteousness. Put your faith in him and be forgiven of your sin. Apart from Jesus Christ, you will die. This deception is highlighted by point four on your notes in man's irrational response, man's irrational response, verse four. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? How is it that people are so easily deceived in their sin? Well, they're so easily deceived in their sin because they misunderstand, or one reason, is that they misunderstand or misinterpret God's common goodness, God's common kindness to them. They think of God's goodness, or they think of God's kindness to them as an indication that God will somehow overlook their sin in the judgment, that God somehow approves of them because everything is going well. Maybe they're prospering. Maybe things have gotten easy for them. Maybe they're comfortable. We don't face the kind of persecution in this country that others have. We don't face the kind of difficulty or adversity by and large that many other people face. And so somehow we think that because God has been kind, or because God has shown compassion to us, or he's been good to us, somehow we misunderstand or misinterpret that goodness for God's approval of our sin, or God's approval of our conduct, approval of our lives. The inexcusable man isn't worshiping idols. He's not involved in vile, abominable passions like homosexuality. Maybe he's not given up to uncleanness. So he thinks to himself, right? He misunderstands God's forbearance, which means the delay or the holding back of God's judgment. He misinterprets God's long suffering, which refers to his patience enduring offense. And he misunderstands his forbearance or misunderstands God's patience as tolerance of his sin. But somehow God is tolerating my sin. He misinterprets it as acceptance or even approval of his sin. He's not another of the same kind with those idolaters in chapter one. He's another of a different kind. He's different and somehow believes he's in right standing with God. On the basis of that, he somehow believes that it's all just going to work out in the end. That irrational deception, it's irrational because he knows, he knows the righteous judgment of God, right? But that irrational deception leads to an irrational response. This man looks at the blessings that he has received and he assumes God's approval. This man assumes that God's assessment of his life matches his own assessment of his own life. He sees no evidence, may not even experience any evidence that God's wrath is present active indicative being poured out against him, against all his ungodliness and unrighteousness, may not even sense that he is being abandoned to the very sin that he cherishes. Even though he continues in it unabated, Ecclesiastes chapter eight, verse 11, and because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. And he just continues in his deception. Matter of fact, he clings to it like a warm blanket, right? It placates a guilty conscience, gives him comfort in thinking about heaven and hell, life and death, comforts himself with a lie, do you see? He misinterprets God's common grace, God's goodness, God's forbearance, his long suffering and does not know, does not know that the goodness of God is meant to lead him to repentance. He does know the righteous judgment of God that is according to truth against those who practice such things and doesn't know irrational ignorance, right? Irrational ignorance, he doesn't know that the goodness of God is meant to lead him to repentance. He knows that every sinful thought, every sinful word, every sinful deed, desire, motivation, affection, imagination is deserving of immediate judgment and immediate wrath. The only reason that if you're apart from Jesus Christ, the only reason that you're here right now and that you didn't open your eyes in hell this morning when you woke up is because of the good pleasure of God, his goodness, his forbearance, his long suffering toward you. He knows that the wages of any and all sin is death and the fact that God doesn't, at that very moment, cast him into hellfire is an indication of his goodness, an indication of God's forbearance, an indication of God's long suffering. It is not an excuse to keep on sinning. And rather than rightly seeing his goodness, God's goodness and God's patience as that which should lead him to turn from his sin and to trust in Christ, the inexcusable man presumes upon the grace of God and imagines that God has somehow accepted him just as he is. It's an irrational ignorance, you see, because it rages against all wise counsel, it rages against the truth. It's a willful ignorance. It's a willful ignorance. These aren't things that he doesn't know, right? In reality, he knows. He's refusing to acknowledge. The reason the Bible gives for any delay in God's judgment is the good pleasure of God's own will. Another reason that the Bible gives for God's delay in exercising his judgment or executing judgment on the sinner is more time for repentance. The goodness of God, his forbearance, long suffering should lead you to repentance. Second Peter chapter three, verse nine, the Lord is intent upon saving all of his people. Second Peter chapter three, verse nine, the Lord is not slack, he's not slow, he's not delaying, right? The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance. The one who presumes upon God's goodness in this way, however, his ongoing sin can't be fully explained away as ignorance or ignorance only. His ongoing sin is also seen as contempt. Our actions, his actions, when we sin in this way, show an irrational contempt or hatred for God. Verse four, or do you despise? The word despise means to look on something with utter disregard. It's a worthless common thing to think of it lightly, right? To count it as worthless. Do you despise or count as worthless? The riches, do you see the contrast there, verse four? Do you count as worthless the riches of his goodness, the abundance of his goodness, forbearance, long suffering? The inexcusable man looks on the riches of God's goodness and counts that goodness a worthless thing, a worthless thing, something not worthy of his time, not worthy of his life, not worthy of his consideration. God's goodness to you isn't sparing, right? God's goodness comes to you in the form of great riches. God's goodness is lavished upon you in abundance. We're not to treat it as a light matter, amen, but should lead us to repentance. Christian brother, sister, listen. When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. When we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. We can go to the Lord Jesus Christ confessing our sins, expecting in faith that he hears us and that he forgives us, right? He is our righteousness. He lavishes goodness upon you. Don't despise his goodness. Don't despise his forbearance or his patience. Go to him, confess your sin. Lord is faithful. Paul has a purpose in all of this, in all of this. As we keep working through these texts and looking at the condemnation of men under their sin, Paul has a purpose in all of that. And Paul's purpose is to reveal the beauty of the gospel and to point all men to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven and so Paul says that the righteousness of God is revealed then in the gospel. God provides a remedy for the wrath of God against sin. God provides provision for our sin. He does that in the person and work of his own son, our Lord Jesus Christ, his own shed blood at the cross, bearing our sins in his body on the tree so that we who put our faith and trust in him might be saved. Many look at the sins of chapter one and they justify themselves that they're righteous. Not guilty of the kinds of gross perversion that we see there, but we are all guilty, Paul would say, of the same kinds of things, all deserving of the righteous wrath of God who will render to each one according to his deeds. Don't play the hypocrite, don't play the hypocrite. Be a student of God's standard of righteousness and then apply that standard of righteousness to your own conduct and pursue heart holiness, pursue a life that is pleasing in his sight and trust in Jesus Christ alone for that righteousness which reconciles you to the Father. All are deserving of the righteous wrath of God. Condemning sin and others which you condone in yourself is hypocrisy. Don't despise the riches of his goodness. Don't esteem it lightly, don't count it as a common thing. Turn to Christ and live. God's judgment is infallible, it is according to truth, God's judgment is inescapable, all will give an account. And listen, every one of us here, we are without excuse, without excuse, turn at Paul's rebuke. His purpose here is to drive us to the grace that is revealed in the gospel so that we might be saved, amen. All praise, honor, and glory to him who bore our sin. Let's pray. Father in heaven, would we thank you for these glorious truths that are revealed here. I thank you Lord that although Paul is in a lengthy section of text where he is dealing with our sin and dealing with our hypocrisy and dealing with our idolatry and confronting us in our guilt and shame, we see that Lord as a necessary grace and are grateful to you for it Lord because it in earnest points us to acknowledge our own sinful condition that we might flee to Jesus Christ for the remedy, might flee to Jesus Christ for his righteousness which alone justifies. We might be reconciled to you God and accepted in your sight. I thank you for these truths. Thank you for the clarity of your word. May we Lord meditate on these things. I pray they wouldn't just pass in one ear out the other that we wouldn't be merely hearers of the word, but doers that we might live for you. And I pray Lord that for those here who have never turned from their sin, they would see the sheer folly of continuing to live in that irrational condition and would turn from their sin to trust you alone that they might be saved and that we would worship as trophies of your grace to your everlasting praise and worship in eternity together Lord forever unfettered by sin for your praise we pray these things. Amen.