Gooding, David: 3 - God’s Judgment and the Moralist

When we broke off, we were discussing the judgments of God and their justification. That is to say, the statements of the judgments of God that maintain that man is not only a sinner, but a guilty sinner. And therefore discusses the evidence that a man has, and the way mankind has treated that evidence. And because he has had the evidence, he will be held responsible for how he has treated that evidence, and such like things. We considered, therefore, what many commentators have called the evidence against the pagan. Those terms are understandable, I suppose, but are a little irrelevant nowadays because countries like England are fast as pagan as the ancient pagan world was, in many respects. So here is mankind in general, first of all, and their attitude to the Creator, and the evidence of creation, and what they have done with that evidence, and those who deliberately reject it, find the judgment of God operative in that it has some inevitable consequences. For the viewpoint that there is no God creator affects men's rational systems. And from that it goes on, uh, to their evaluation of the human body and its dignity. And then it's liable to go on to perversions of sexual processes. And finally, it affects people's moral judgments. From that, we moved on to consider what in the ancient world you would have called the moralists. And there were many, of course, and we should not despise them. It wasn't Christians who were the first ones to think seriously about ethics and morality. In the West, Greek philosophers very early on came to think about these things. It happened because in what was then Asia Minor and then in mainland Greece, people began to wonder what this universe is made of and how it works. And from doing that, uh, they made their theory. Some of them are very interesting still. It was two Greeks, Democritus, uh, uh, and his colleague, who invented the atomic theory, for instance. And they were bright geniuses indeed for perceiving that the universe is made up of tiny, uh, bodies, which they called atoms because they held they could not be split. Atom means not cuttable. We know nowadays, of course, that atoms can be split, but that was a genius of an insight into how the universe works that they came up with, Leucippus and Democritus. Uh, uh, that the universe is made of atoms. But then, of course, people like Socrates began to say, it is helpful to know how the universe works, but what is the purpose of the universe? And more important than knowing how the universe works is how we ought to behave. And so began the moral philosophy in civilized Europe. And they came up with their theories of morality. They are not to be laughed at. When Paul addressed the Stoics and the Epicureans on the Areopagus in Athens, he showed himself knowledgeable of what those two systems of fil- philosophy held. And the great big systems of philosophy normally held an ethics, system of ethics related to what they conceived to be the way the universe works. To moralists of any kind, chapter two is written in Romans. People that have a genuine concern for morality. We ought not to talk in our Christian public or in private as though all atheists were the worst of immoral people. There are many atheists who spend much time thinking about morality and what system of morality to have, to follow. Whether you would follow that of Jeremy Bentham, utilitarianism, or whether you would follow the more rigorous ethical philosophies of Kant, or the more recent ones, caring philosophy. As Christians, it does us no harm to be aware of the fact that some of the pagans have thought about morality and ethics far more than the average Christian thinks about it. Mm. But now morality as a topic and as a whole, moral people, nevertheless, Paul here says in chapter two that they are only sinners, but guilty sinners. And we went through some of his early arguments on this score. We come to his, uh, um, basic statement in verse six of chapter two, that in his judgment, in the day of wrath, God will render to every man according to his works. As Christians, we need to think about that. What follows is not Paul saying how we can be saved. He's about to tell us in chapter three that salvation is not by works. But God's judgment is according to works. And the final judgment, as described in the book of the Revelation, is exceedingly careful on this matter. The dead shall be raised and judged according to their works. The description of the final judgment in the book of the Revelation, of course, is written as all scripture is, but is written with very careful and precise language. It is at the end of chapter twenty of the Revelation. Verse twelve, and I saw the dead, the great and small, standing before the throne. The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. So the books opened, the works registered, and the dead are judged according to their works. That is repeated in verse thirteen. and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. Our Lord Jesus is on record, and pray remember he shall be the final judge, of saying it will be more tolerable for some in the day of judgment than for others. The way he phrased it is interesting. He doesn't say it shall be harder for some than for others. He says it shall be more tolerable for some than for others. He knows he shall be the judge. And if you examine the context of his statement on that judgment, you will find that it is on, uh, uh, in that context, a question of how much evidence did they have, and what did they do with the evidence? For instance, our Lord said that the, uh, the, uh, Queen of Sheba shall stand up in the judgment with this generation. The term stand up in the judgment is, of course, an expression you would use in an ancient court, where, of course, the prosecution witness would stand up and have his say. And then witnesses would be called, and the witness would stand up and have his say. And in the judgment, said Christ, the Queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation. That is, she will be called as a witness. And the men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment. That is, they shall be called as witnesses or cited as witnesses. What for? To establish whether the men of Capernaum had enough evidence so that they can be accused of willfully rejecting the evidence. For the Queen of Sheba, all she had to go on was a rumor in her country that there was a king called Solomon, endowed with wisdom by God, and she came all those hundreds of miles from her native land to seek it. Such was her concern to seek the wisdom that is necessary, uh, for kings and queens to have, and which she heard that Solomon had in abundance given by God. She came to hear it. And a greater than Solomon is here, said our Lord, in the streets of Capernaum, and many of them couldn't be bothered to cross the door- doorstep of their houses to listen to him. And having heard him, rejected him. The men of Nineveh shall be cited as witness. They had the preaching of a Jonah, a man that had been down in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, and now was cast out on land, and, uh, he preached, and the men in Nineveh repented, at least for the time being. But the one who stood on the streets of Capernaum was a greater than Jonah. There would be the final evidence of his death, burial, and resurrection. The question at the final judgment will be, did they have enough evidence? Yes, that will also determine what the judgment shall be. Works then, and evidence. And therefore, verses seven, eight, nine, and ten are continuing this theme, that judgment is according to works. To them that in pa- uh, by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. But unto them that are factious or selfish and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no respect of persons with God. Now many Christians and evangelicals in particular, coming across these verses, are at first nonplussed. For Paul seems to be contradicting what he's about to say in chapter three. There he says that salvation is not by works. How can he here say that to those that by patience, uh, uh, uh, uh, and well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, there is eternal life. And so all sorts of theories are advanced as to how to reconcile this apparent difference between this passage and what shall be said in chapter three. We can help ourselves by noticing a particular case related in the Acts of the Apostles and what the Apostle Peter said about it. And it is proper to quote it here because you see what verse nine says at the end, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Verse ten: to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no respect of persons with God. Now that is highly appropriate to the case of Cornelius in the Acts of the Apostles. You remember Cornelius was a Roman centurion. Pagan, you might say, but he was a man that feared God. And one day an angel came to him and said certain things. And in case you should think I am making it up, I better read to you what Acts actually said, or part- in particular what this angel said. And I want to warn you in advance that I am not to be held responsible for what angels say. Do see. And this is, uh, Acts chapter ten, Verse three. Well, we better start at verse two. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to many, to the people, and prayed to God always. And he wasn't yet a Christian, was he? And in our terminology, he hadn't yet been born again. Nor had he received the Holy Spirit, as becomes evident at the end of the chapter, when, of course, he did receive the Holy Spirit. But he's described as a man that feared God, who gave alms to people, loved his neighbor, and prayed to God always. He saw the vision openly, as it were about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in unto him and saying, Cornelius. And he, fastening his eyes upon him and being affrighted, said, What is it, Lord? He said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God. Now, what shall we say about this angel? Shall we say it's not an evangelical angel, obviously? Telling this non-Christian man that his, um, um, alms and prayers have gone up before, as a memorial before God. But of course, gentlemen, it is true. I am very glad in my heart, even at this distance in the centuries, that when Peter came to his house, do you see, he said, as he met Cornelius, uh, that, um, when he heard what was said, he said, verse thirty four, of a truth I perceive, that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to him. Really? Well, of course, yes. I am so glad that Peter didn't say, look here, Cornelius, all your almsgivings and prayers, you know, your righteousnesses are as filthy rags before. I'm glad he didn't say that, because Cornelius might have answered, that's unusual, that's extraordinary, uh, Peter, because, with due respect, I had an angel here the other day, and he said, my prayers and alms have come up to God for memorial. Are you sure my, uh, uh, prayers and alms are filthy rags, uh, as you say? Well, in God's absolute scales, they all come short, don't they? We cannot gain salvation that way. But God is looking at the man's heart and what the man is seeking for. And God takes the evidence of his works and acknowledges it. And because God took notice of his prayers and his works and what he was seeking after, God sent him Peter to bring him to the knowledge of the gospel. And you will soon see, you'll see how, uh, genuine this man was. That, uh, when Peter preached, as he, uh, does towards the end, do you see how that Jesus Christ was crucified? At verse forty, fo- nine and forty. Him God raised up the third day and gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. He charged us to preach to the people and to testify that this is he which is ordained of God to be the judge of living and dead. To him bear all the prophets witness that through his name everyone that believeth on him shall receive forgiveness of sins. And you'll notice that at that point, Cornelius didn't say, now look here, Peter, don't be rude. I'm not that much of a sinner. You Jews might count me a sinner, but I'm not that much of a sinner. I don't need salvation. No, of course he did. He didn't start prating about his good works. But gladly heard the message of Christ crucified and risen, through whom God can grant us forgiveness, and of course eternal life. And he believed, and God gave him the spirit. He was born again, as we should say. But do notice the procedure and the processes that led to it. God watches people's works as evidence of their hearts and what they are seeking for. And if God moved Peter to go to Cornelius, this in answer, in response to Cornelius's alms, prayers, seeking of God. We may be sure of what Ro- Paul adds in Romans, that God is no respecter of persons. All our righteousnesses, in one sense, yes, are marred by sin. We cannot have salvation through our good works, but God is looking for good works. We must never give eh the impression to people that sit under us as we preach the gospel that God isn't interested in good works. God is interested in good works. And the judgment will be according to people's works. It matters what people do. And God reads the works, as he read Cornelius's heart and works. It is in that sense that I understand these verses in Romans chapter two. Who Render to every man according to his works, to them that by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. Example, Cornelius, who was seeking God, seeking to please God, seeking, in other words, for eternal life. God granted him eternal life, but not on the ground of the works, but honoring the man seeking, and saw that he came to salvation through our Lord, forgiveness, of course, apart from his works. So there is no respect of persons. It matters what people do. God has regard to people's works. The final judgment shall be according to people's works. Do bear in mind that the revelation, uh, that passage on the final judgment, do bear in mind exactly what it says. They shall be judged according to their works. But what determines whether anybody shall be sent to the lake of fire or not? Ah, there it is written. If any man's work, uh, if any man's name was not found written in the book of life, he shall be cast into the lake of fire. Whether a person is sent to the lake of fire or not, that depends on whether their name is written in the book of life or not. The works will be judged, each according to his works. The sentence and the penalty. The penalty will not be the same for all. It shall be more tolerable for some than others. And pray let us re- uh, remember, though it's a sidelong road from this. Our place in heaven is guaranteed by the fact our names are in the book of life by the grace of God, saved without works of the law, saved by grace through the blood of Christ. Yes. Do our works matter? The New Testament insists we shall be judged according to our works. Yes? It's so often said, I don't need to repeat it here. Another thing about God's judgments, that they are fair. Verse eleven, there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law, and as many who have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law. People will be judged by what they have been given to know about the evid- on the basis of the evidence available to them. The Jew will be held responsible, so to speak, for what he knows by God's special revelations to Israel at Sinai and subsequently. People that have never heard of that special revelation to Israel will not be judged by it. That's an important principle, isn't it? That doesn't say they won't be judged. They will be judged. But they will be judged, do you see, uh, by the law, as verses fourteen go on to explain, by the law that is written on their hearts. Yes. They won't be called a responsible for the special revelation of God to Israel if they never heard of it. You just imagine the impossibility of the situation. Man stands before the final judgment and the final judge. And the judge passes sentence of perdition upon him. And the man says, am I allowed to ask a question? Yes. Why am I being condemned? And suppose the ver- the voice answered, for not believing the Old Testament. And the man said, I don't know what you mean, the Old Testament, what you mean, the Old Testament. I never heard or met the Old Testament. And the judge said, don't be silly, man, of course you haven't. Hm. I, I sent a lot of missionaries out, but they didn't bother to come to you. And so, of course, you've never heard of the Old Testament. And the man says, and I'm going to be condemned for not believing the Old Testament when I never even heard of it. Well, of course it will never happen so. The judge will judge according to what law they had, what evidence they had. So here, that doesn't mean that the Gentiles who don't have special revelation have no law at all. For look at verse, um, fourteen: When the Gentiles which have no law, that is no revealed law, do by nature the things of the law, these having no law are a law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another, accusing or else excusing them. Now, there's some weighty observations there. When it says they are a law unto themselves, doesn't mean that they make up the law and are free to make up the law as they go along. A law to yourselves, instead of abiding by a fixed law. Doesn't mean that. It means that they have no revealed scripture. They haven't the revelation of God to Israel. But by very nature, they do the works of the law. They do. Find me a nation, if you will, I'll have to do a lot of research, where people take it as quite all right if one man steals another man's wife. I'll have to go a long way to find it out. Find, uh, people... that hold it okay if you steal another man's property without his reasonable, uh, consent. Find a people that believe it's okay to lie, and if you should accuse him of lying, he says, I don't know what you're finding fault with. I always lie. Everybody lies around here. We all do. What are you getting upset about? It is a fact of human nature that if I lie to you, ah, in spite of the fact that you sometimes have lied to others, but if I were to lie to you and you discover it, you will come and affront me most indignantly. You, you lied to me, you'll say. And if I said to you, what are you getting upset about, old boy? Of course I lied to you. What do you suppose? I always lie. What are you getting upset about? Well, why do we get upset? Because this is a law written on our hearts, even though we break it constantly. There are certain things that we know, and to sum up a few of them here, we know there's a God. The passage has pointed that out. We know we have a duty of gratitude to him and respect. We know that to blaspheme God is a form of trait- treachery to the Almighty. We know that we should not tell a lie in order to have somebody else condemned, though we know many people do it. We know that stealing another man's wife is wrong. Yes, there are certain things we know. Why? Because they are written on our hearts. Now notice exactly the wording of the passage. There is this law written on their hearts. Notice the distinction between that, the writing on the heart, and our conscience bearing witness therewith. You'll see people will sometimes tell you, I've no conscience against adultery. Well, that's poor stuff. But that doesn't prove that they don't have the law written on their hearts. The law is not written on the conscience. The law is written on the heart. Conscience does its job in a twofold way. If we propose doing something that will offend against one of these laws written on the heart. Conscience will raise a warning. You better not do that. That's wrong. You'll see. If my proposal in business means inflicting harm on innocent people, or even involves their eventual destruction. Then I know the law. If I s- propose a scheme that involves this breaking of that law, then conscience will warn me. And if I do it, conscience will make me feel guilty. But gentlemen, it is possible to stifle the voice of conscience. The Bible talks of people whose conscience has been seared as with a red hot iron, so that conscience no longer works. That doesn't mean that I have eradicated the law from my heart, for the heart is much deeper than conscience. Conscience is like an alarm clock, you know. You set it to wake you up at half past six. it goes off at half past six. ah, you bash it hard and intend to have another half an hour at least. If you go on bashing it hard, one of these days it won't work at all. That says nothing about whether you're rising up or rising not up, was late or early, or what. So the law be- is written on our hearts, and there are certain things that we know because the Creator has written them there. Conscience will work upon that. But even if people go against their conscience and in the end destroy it, that doesn't mean that they don't know the law. The law will still rise up. And then their thoughts, of course. Accusing and excusing one another, neither of which we would do if we had no basic sense of right and wrong. We wouldn't ab- bother to accuse anybody, nor would we excuse anybody if we didn't have a basic sense of right and wrong. In the day of wrath, in the day of judgment, God shall judge the secrets of men. Not only will judgment be according to works, but God will show men their hearts. It will be as though if a man objected, I didn't know it was wrong. God will play back his thoughts to him. This is what you were thinking when you did so and so. You knew it was wrong, didn't you? He shall expose the secrets of men's hearts. The third big section now that we've had what people used to call the pagans, but they better include the moderns, the evidence of creation, the evidence in the creation around us, and man's attitude to it. The evidence of the deep conscience, the heart, the law written on the heart upon which surface conscience works or is meant to work. And incidentally, gentlemen, you will notice how innate some of these things are, in the sense of inbuilt is better than innate, that some people, when they are as convicted and exposed all of a sudden of having done something wrong, they blush. I don't know if you find it easy to blush, but one of the prophets cries out aloud about this. So many such and such people of such and such a city were such hardened city- sinners, they couldn't even blush. We don't have much control about our blushing, do we? We can't say, now I will blush, or no, I won't blush. I don't know what happens to our black friend. But we who are white bear testimony to ourselves, don't we? Even against our will sometimes, by blushing. That's another thing. Now we come to, uh, the Jew in particular, that is the man with religion as distinct from ethics, the man with religion strictly so called, and that goes through the rest of chapter two and the first part of chapter three. And here Paul deals in particular with the Jew because he did have a revealed religion, not just the evidence of creation, not just the evidence of the law written on the heart, but now the revealed religion, historically revealed to his people. And of course, to this very present day, the Jew is proud of it, and rightly proud of it. God's revelation within history. And you know his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. They know the truth. Should be grateful for it, should put great emphasis on it, and not be afraid to say they are witnesses of God's self-revelation in history and the choice of that nation. That is an important part of the gospel. Just let's flip back to the beginning of chapter one and see what Paul has to say about it in relevance to our gospel. Chapter one, verse one: Paul, an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. The Christian gospel is based on the old Testament scriptures. You cannot impugn the authority and inspiration of the Old Testament without impugning the Christian gospel, but it's built on it. And Jesus Christ historically is of the seed of David, according to the flesh. For the gospel was promised by God in the Old Testament. And God laid down the pattern and even, uh, uh, dictated that Messiah would be born of the seed of David. This all has been fulfilled in Christ. It is an important part of the evidence for the gospel. And is to be used even in talking to would-be atheists, surely. In this sense, Christianity, the Christian gospel, is not a philosophy. And what I mean by that is this. Anybody, though you'll have to have quite a, a, a big wallop of intelligence in your head, but anybody, if he has a mind to and the ability, can produce a philosophical system. And such systems are to be evaluated according to their inner worth. But nobody can arrange to be born of the seed of David. I think not. Did you arrange to be born of your parents? We won't investigate the great mysteries of your origin, but um, don't investigate mine. You might find Dick Turpin in the line or something. You cannot arrange to be born of the seed of David, which means more than simple physical descent. It bids us think what David stood for, and who David was, and by whose appointment he became king, and all the prophecies concerning him, and so forth, and much more beside in the Old Testament with its promises and prophecies of the coming Messiah. The question is, does Jesus match up to those pro- promise- promises and prophecies and foreshadowings and such like things? Having said that, it is not a philosophy strictly so called. Christianity and the Christian gospel is the final product of a great movement of God's self-revelation in history. That's why the historical part side of our faith is exceedingly important. And why two of the gospels begin, and Luke's in particular, with specifying the exact time in history that the Lord was born and then began his ministry and then died. This is a historical thing. Philosophy is independent of history, of course. Not the Christian gospel. But anyway, we come back to these Jews. They had God's self-revelation, and they were disposed to teach it. The danger is that by teaching it, you think you've done enough. You teach the glorious proposition that we are to love our neighbors as ourself, based on Leviticus, of course, and think we've done all that we are required to do in that connection by teaching others that they ought to love their neighbors as oneself. And can forget that just teaching it is not enough to put us in the clear. For if having taught that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, we don't love our neighbor as ourselves, we've added to our condemnation. Listen to James, don't be many teachers, brethren, knowing that we shall receive the stricter condemnation. Secondly, that that is the point, of course, eh, of verses twenty one following. Then, uh, following there, thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preacheth a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, do thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? Thou who gloryest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. And there is a grievous stumbling block, isn't there? Christians, I among them, who preach Bible and preach salvation, and then in professional and business life, cut corners, and the gospel and the word of God gets a bad reputation. A friend of mine told me at one stage he came across a Christian businessman in town, seated in his car with his wife. And knew of a certain statement the man had made, which was an outright lie. And had occasion to face him with it. And pointed out to this man, who's professed Christian, that what he had said was a lie. And his reply was, ah, but that was a business lie. Oh. So there are two laws, are there? One for the ordinary populace and one for businessmen. And business lies are okay? God judges according to works. It's not enough to teach. If we don't do what we teach, the judgment, of course, is more severe. And then there's a matter of ritual and symbolism. Verse twenty five onward, the question of circumcision. For circumcision indeed profiteth if thou be a doer of the law, but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? And shall not the uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. Years and years ago, when I lived in County Durham, there was a dear Christian lady who was very much concerned about the young men that were students in the rabbinical, Jewish rabbinical college in that part of the world. And she had befriended one of them, and eventually it was arranged that I should meet the aforesaid rabbinical, Jewish rabbinical student, you see. When we met, he said to me, oh, I'm sorry the rabbi didn't come, but it's a good thing, because he would have spit at you. Hmm, I said, that's unusual. Say, yes. So we got to discussing, uh, uh, salvation, you see. No good talking to me about salvation, he says. We Jews are by definition saved. Who is like unto thee, O Israel, saved of the Lord? We are saved. I know the lot of us are a lot of rotters, says he, but that makes no difference, we're saved. Really. Circumcised the eighth day and all the rest of it. Got the outward symbolism right. The religious practice right. But what value the symbolism if it's not matched by practice. Paul points out that sometimes the uncircumcised Gentile lives a much more morally respectable life than the Jewish man. Even though the Gentile is not circumcised and the Jew is. Circumcision is of value, he says, because of its symbolism and what it stands for. But if it's an just an empty symbol, it's useless. And that leads him on to consider, um, that leads him on to consider whether there is any advantage in being a Jew. There is, of course, an advantage in being a Jew. As a nation, they have a special place in the historical revelation of God. That doesn't mean that their sins don't matter. Useless for the Jew to protest. Yes, well, we know we're sinners, and in the Old Testament, God says we're sinners. But that merely shows that God knew what he was talking about, and he, um, uh, when he said he was, we were sinners, he's right, and so we are sinners. And, uh, there's no reason to condemn me because my very sin has fulfilled what his word says. You see, we're sinners, so why does God condemn me for doing what he said I would do? Doesn't that prove scripture true? So I may sin, may I? Because God says we are all sinners, and if I sin, that proves God true. And so God has no right to condemn me when my behavior proves him true. Well, gentlemen, you can see through that fil- a fallacious argument without my explaining it. So Paul comes to his, uh, final conclusion on this matter. We are all of us sinful. And the climax of it is in verse nineteen. Now we know that what things soever the law says, it speaks to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin. So we have dealt with the question of God's judgment and the principles upon which it works. I repeat, it is important here to get the po- uh, to follow what Paul is saying and this technique. He doesn't explode with fiery pictures of hell, does he? Now, our Lord preached hell. It was he who talked about their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And he preached hell largely to the Pharisees, not to the publicans and sinners. You'll have noticed that too. In our modern world, we need to convict men of sin, not necessarily by standing and preaching hellfire, but doing what Paul is doing here in these three major character, ca- uh, these three major divisions of life, and bringing all to the conclusion that he now reaches, that all have sinned in the past and do come short of the glory of God. That true repentance, basic repentance, is thus agreeing with God, that we stand before his judgment bar, guilty sinners, deserving the penalty, and there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. And I wait one more general proposition. It's only a general proposition, not true in any every individual case, of course not. But in my experience over some years, the reason why many people have no assurance of salvation is because they have never understood what basic repentance means. They have never faced God's law. For instance, let me use an analogy. Here comes a man to a doctor, to a surgeon. He's got trouble with his lungs, cancer of the lungs indeed. It's been produced by smoking. And the medic has a look at him and said, I'm sorry, the cancer is very far developed. The only hope for you, my man, is for you to come and let me give, uh, give you a heart lung transplant. No, no, no, no, no, no, doctor, he says, no, no, I'm not as bad as all that, you see. I have now decided to give up smoking, and I'm never going to smoke for the rest of my life. Jolly good stuff. He realizes smoking is wrong and bad, so he's now going to give it up. I'm sorry, says the doctor. Even if you never take another cigarette for the rest of your life, your case is already hopeless. There's nothing you can do about it, actually. Either you let me perform this operation on you, or else you're as good as dead, old boy. You must take this seriously. All talk of we'll do our best from now on will deceive us if we don't first face this, that when we've done our best, we stand before the judgment bar of God, not only sinners, but guilty sinners, worthy of the penalty of his law, worthy of his wrath, and there's nothing we can do to gain or earn salvation. That is basic repentance. If I'm prepared to take that stand sincerely before God, oh, God has at once a mighty salvation. But it is on those terms of first repentance towards God, and then faith in the Lord Jesus. Yes? The rest of the first section of of Romans is given over to salvation in that context. Now I have spoken to a long while, and I was due to go to, um, fifteen hundred hours, which is, of course, three o'clock. So I'm really virtuous, in spite of all I've just said in this last half hour or so. I'm positively virtuous here, in that I'm about to stop at twenty minutes to three o'clock. Well, we've had enough to digest for the moment, surely we have, and these are things to be pondered and to let them sink down, as our Lord will put it, to sink down into our ears. So now I commit you to the mercies of the chairman, to how long a break he will give you before he summons you back to our final session.