So let me begin reading to you. We're in Romans chapter 2. We're going to be looking at beginning at verse 11. I'll pick verse 11. I'll read to verse 16. We'll get into our study. Romans chapter 2, beginning at verse 11, just picking up there, it says, there's no partiality with God, for as many as have sinned without law, will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law, will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in between themselves, their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. And so the last time we were together, and I'll lay a foundation just to pick up our study, the last time we were together, we saw that there were certain earmarks of the unsaved that Paul had been speaking of. Paul was writing concerning those things. He spoke of them as being, for example, self-seeking. In other words, he says those who are unsaved have lives that are earmarked by selfishness. Somebody once said selfishness is the great unknown sin. No selfish person has ever thought of himself as selfish. There was a Russian author by the name of Leo Tolstoy. He said, everybody thinks of changing humanity. Nobody thinks of changing himself. And so he says that they are selfish. Their lives are self-centered. He said that they are, they are disobedient, meaning they're rebellious. They reject truth. They reject the truth that's found in scripture. And as a result, they continue to cling to lies. We saw that. He said that they are, they are unrighteous, which speaks of them being unjust or unwilling to follow the Lord. And so he was giving to us the earmarks of those who were unsaved. Now in chapter one, he had outlined the way they live because these are those, he says, in chapter one verses 29 following to verse 32, because they reject God and that results in righteous judgment, which speaks of indignation, God's wrath and tribulation and anguish on those who have rejected him. So as he's been laying that foundation for us in verse 11, he makes a statement. He says, there is no partiality with God. God is not, he's saying, a respecter of persons. God judges fairly based on the character as well as the conduct of the person. In Colossians 325, it says, he who does wrong will be repaid for what he's done. There is no partiality. So he's speaking of God who's going to be bringing judgment against humanity. He begins with the Gentiles in chapter two.   You see, in the end, both Jew and Gentile will be judged fairly. And the Jew, as he's been laying his case out, is judged based on the law of Moses. But the Gentile is judged by his conscience. And we'll see that in just a moment. So in verse 12, he says, as many have sinned without law, will also perish without law. As many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. In other words, those who have sinned without law is speaking of the Gentiles. The Gentiles never knew of God's law, but they still, he's saying, will be judged fairly because they have ways to know of a God and they're accountable for what they know. Not knowing the law, they'll receive fair judgment based on what they have known. So Jews and Gentiles who knew the law receive stricter judgment because God takes into account the amount of spiritual life people have. The Jews, because they have the law, have a stricter accountability. You see, the Jew has a standard that applies to him. It was the law of Moses. Just hearing the law doesn't exonerate him of guilt. He's still judged according to his knowledge and faith that has been revealed in his obedience to that which he knows. But the Gentile doesn't have the law, but he does have conscience. So they may not have the law of Moses, but they do have moral principles.  So he says in verse 13, for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. In other words, just because they are aware of the law doesn't exempt them from judgment. Hearers of the law are not saved. It's the doers of the law. It's like what James said in chapter one, verse 22, he said, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. You see, one of the purposes of this law is to bring us to faith in Christ. Paul made that case in the book of Galatians in chapter three when he said in verses 24 and 25, the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come we're no longer under the supervision of the law. The law had many, many intents, but one of them was to be our schoolmaster, a tutor who brings us to the master himself, Jesus Christ. It was intended to lead us to Jesus. Now that we have a relationship to God through Jesus Christ, he says we're no longer under the supervision of the law. Well, he goes on in verse 14 and he says, when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law are a law to themselves. So he speaks of them as Gentiles who do not have the law, but they by nature do those things that are spoken of in the law. So when he says by nature that speaks of doing something on their own without coercion. They do these things through the prompting in other words of their own consciences. Now in some ways the unsaved, in some ways they live according to certain moral laws and even can live according to certain commands that are found in the law. For example, they may honor their parents. You'd, you don't necessarily have to be a Christian or Jewish for that matter to have regard for your parents. So they may honor their parents. They may not, they're not murderers, so they do not kill. They don't commit adultery or they're not thieves. They don't bear false witness. They don't covet other people's things. They're doing things that are morally right even though they don't have the law and they don't abide by it. So these are things that people do and they're today referred to simply as moral values. But to the Jews, these were commands. To Gentiles, these things are a good way to live. And so that makes them a law unto themselves because they've adopted this as a code of life. And so they're doing the things according to the law by nature, not coercion. And because they do those things, they are a law unto themselves. He says in verse 15, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in between themselves, their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Now, God had written commands on stones, but there are also certain impulses that are written on our hearts. He's saying that God has given to mankind certain moral instincts and these people can live by them. There are certain moral instincts that they can live by. They shouldn't commit adultery. They shouldn't steal. They shouldn't bear false witness. There are certain moral instincts. These are things that they approve of. They think are the right things to do. They're basic instincts of sorts, a spiritual kind of direction that they have in their life. And these can be looked on or be considered their conscience. So the fact that they will violate their own conscience, he's saying, actually condemns them. So our Gentiles exempt from eternal punishment because they don't have the law of Moses. Now, he's not saying that. He's already dealt with that. He says they have something that points them to God. They have conscience. They have creation and the consciences they have and the conduct that they perform, it works together to produce actually condemnation because good Gentiles condemn themselves by doing what is good. You see, by doing good, they reveal God's law written on their hearts and because of this, they're condemning themselves. This is because they don't live up to what they know and believe to be true. So they violate their own conscience and their own moral code.  He's simply speaking concerning the fact that people who have consciences cannot be excused by their conscience because their conscience actually will finally accuse them. Later in scripture, as he continues to develop this, by the way, it's pointing to our need to turn to Jesus Christ because if we don't, we all ultimately end up hardening ourselves against him. When he was writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 verse 2, he said it like this. He said, having their own conscience is seared as with a hot iron. So we're hardening ourselves against him by not listening to what he has to say. He says in verse 16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now our hearts hidden secrets are revealed as God righteously examines us. This is something interesting. Psalm 90 verse 8 says it so well. The Psalmist said, you have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. It's so easy to be, what's the word, to act as if we're righteous. It's not hard to do that for us to put on that righteous face and people can speak so highly of us. You know, look at that person. He's such a good man. He loves his wife. He loves his children. But on the way to church, they weren't driving in the same car. You know what, some of you parents understand what I'm about to say.  But you can be coming to church, even coming to church on a Sunday morning. And you got up. You started getting ready. You got the kids ready. They're small. And then one of them steps outside, falls into a mud puddle. You got to bring them back in. You got to clean them up. You're looking at your watch. It's time to get to church and you're starting to get stressed. You finally get in the car. Everybody always has one more thing they have to do, whether it has to go to the bathroom or whether I don't know if they have to. You get in the car. You're starting to drive.   You get driving down here. The kids are crying. They don't want to come to church.  She doesn't either, but you're coming.   And the second you get to the holy driveway of the church, the halos come out. The smiles come out. The tears dry up. And everybody thinks that you're the most holy thing in the world, right? It's not hard to appear holy. That's why Jesus referred to them as hypocrites, because the word hypocrite is simply a word that was used to speak of an actor. You're just putting on the face of, right? So people can look good.  I'm not saying everybody is as evil as they can be, but nobody without Christ is as righteous as he should be. And that's the whole point that Paul's making. He's actually saying all humanity is guilty before God. The Gentile has a conscience. And the Gentile has a witness of creation. You know, there have been people who have actually become aware that there's a God through the birth of their first child. There are husbands, I've heard them testify in this way. He said, I really didn't have a knowledge of God, but then I was in the room with my wife and I saw her go through childbirth and the birth of my child. And it hit me in a very spiritual way. And I became aware of the fact there's something greater than myself. These things work together ultimately. You have a conscience where you, you know what's not right to do a certain thing. And when you do that thing that violates your conscience, you feel a guilt because of it. And so Paul is saying that humanity, and he'll get to that in chapter three, but humanity is guilty before God because Gentiles have creation and conscience and they can violate their conscience even though they see the reality of creation. The Jews, well, the Jews had not only the witness of creation and not only a conscience, but they had the law of Moses. So the law of Moses was committed to them. 613 commandments found in the Old Testament and they had the witness of God's Word. And so both Jew and Gentile, Paul is saying very clearly as we go through these chapters, are found guilty before God. The Gentile violates conscience. The Jew violates the law. Some do good, but even in the doing of good, when they don't do that good, they show that they have a conscience when they actually have a conscience accusing them because they know they violated something that was right for them to do and yet they didn't do it. That's the point he's making here. And so we can act in a certain way as if we're righteous whether Jew or Gentile, but ultimately a man isn't going to judge you, God does. And it's God who looks at the inner recesses of our heart. And again, that's where he said in Psalm 90, verse 8, you have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. In Jeremiah 17, verse 10, we read, I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So our hearts and motives are going to be openly revealed by the message of the gospel. And the ultimate judge is Jesus. In John 12, 40, 80, he said it like this, He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. That's why we as believers pray that God would renew our hearts. Psalm 51, verse 10, we used to sing this song. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, renew a right spirit within me. When he goes on in verse 17, he says indeed you are called a Jew. You rest on the law and you make your boast in God. Even as Gentiles stand condemned, so do outwardly moral Jews. And he begins to say what they as a Jew, as Jews would consider to be their advantages. They first prided themselves on being descendants of Abraham because they would speak of Abraham as the father. He's the father of the Jewish nation. They thought that they had spiritual advantages because of that. But unfortunately, many had come to believe that salvation for them because they were Jews was automatic. Because they're Jewish, they thought they would enter paradise. Remember in Matthew 3, 7 through 9, John the Baptist said this. He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism. And he said this to them. He said, oh generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bring forth their four fruits demonstrating repentance. And do not think to say within yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. So don't think that you have a physical relationship to Abraham because you're a descendant. Don't think that that guarantees you salvation because it isn't your physical. It's the spiritual relationship that makes you one of his children. He also says in verse 17 that they rest or they rely on the law. The Jews were blessed. They were blessed with the word of God. And they thought that they were secure in the law. But in this they were wrong. Jesus said it like this in John 5, 45 through 47. He said, do not think that I shall accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believe Moses, you'd believe me for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? So they thought they were secure as children of Abraham. They were secure in the law. And then he said, and you make your boast in God. As those he's saying, who have special favor, it's interesting in Deuteronomy chapter four verse seven. In the Old Testament, it reads what other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him. So they failed to understand that God has shown special favor to them. It wasn't because of their greatness. It was because of his faithfulness. In Deuteronomy seven verses seven and eight, listen to what it says, the Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples. For you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath, he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. One commentator said this. He said, Israel is a special treasure to God. He has showed he has showered Jacob's descendants with unparalleled blessings because of Abraham's faith. God intended Israel to be the right example to the rest of the world. So the other nations would want to follow God. And so he's saying you have these advantages. You boast it in God. But the problem is he's saying when you boast it in God, you're actually boasting in yourself.  He's saying you have pride and somebody once said spiritual pride is the most dangerous of all kinds of pride. He says in verse 18, and know his will and approve the things that are excellent, excellent being instructed out of the law. You know his will. He's saying and you've been instructed. It's interesting. He says that you approve it. That means you have tested or discerned excellent things intellectually. You've seen and agreed with God's revelation. You know what truth is. And this is where the condemnation comes in, but you don't obey and your knowledge is going to be used against you. In John 5, 39 and 40, you diligently study scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me.  You know, but you really don't know. You know enough about what is right and what is wrong. But in this knowledge, you have even more to be accountable for. He continues on in verse 19, are confident that you yourselves are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.  In other words, this is interesting that the term guide to the blind speaks of being an instructor of the spiritually ignorant. That would refer to them as being instructors to the Gentiles. Remember when we were studying Ephesians, how it says they know not God, they're without God in the world. So he's speaking concerning them being a guide to the uninstructed. In other words, considering themselves to be guides to the Gentiles, because the Gentiles are spiritually ignorant people living in darkness.  That reminded me of Matthew 23, 24, when Jesus said blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.  He says in verse 19, you think of yourself as being a light to those who are in darkness. Now remember, that's what Israel was supposed to be. Israel was supposed to be the light, that God was working in them and therefore light from God was to be shining to other people through the nation of Israel. Isaiah 42 verse six says it like this, I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light for the Gentiles. So the Gentiles were to see the life of the Jew and say truly God is amongst them. That's how they were supposed to live.  Now, when he speaks of them being light, it'll take a little further here. The word light speaks of knowledge or instruction of true religion.  He goes on and boy, it's one condemnation after another. He says, you consider yourself to be a teacher of babes. You have the form of knowledge and truth in the law. Now, babes would speak of good-looking women. No, I'm just kidding. I don't know why I said that. I'm just seeing, I'm jet-lagged. Forgive me. Babes would speak of those who are uninstructed like children who have yet to learn something. Again, that would apply to them thinking that they're instructors to Gentiles, the ones who do not know God.  You have a form of knowledge and truth in the law. That word form speaks of a shadow or an outline or a sketch. You have an outer knowledge, but you don't have the inner knowledge. Now, he goes on in verse 21 and he says, you therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?   And so he begins to speak very strongly to them and speak in this way. If you know all of this, he's saying, why don't you do it? For example, verse 21, you preach that a man shouldn't steal, but do you steal? Remember in Matthew 23, 14, how Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees. He said, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. And he went on to say, for you devour widow's houses and for a pretense, make long prayers, and therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Do you practice what you preach? In verse 22, you say, don't commit adultery, but do you? Now, this was interesting as I was studying this. The commentators that I use pointed out that the sin of adultery during that day seems to be a fairly common sin. Remember in Matthew 12, 39, Jesus said this, a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. So it seems that there was an adulterous trend or tendency within the people of that day. So you say, don't commit adultery, but do you? Verse 22, you abhor idols, do you rob temples? Now, idolatry was forbidden, but do you plunder temples? That was an interesting thing. So I looked into Acts 1937, and it says there, you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. Robbing temples apparently was something that was somewhat common during that day where they would go in and steal the things out of the temples. And for some reason he's saying, you say you abhor idols, and yet you take the money that belongs to those idols. You're invading pagan temples and taking the valuables. And he keeps going. Verse 23, you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. That is powerful. Let me give you some things. When those who claim to know God are openly sinful, it's been said, God's name is reduced. I'll spend just a moment here. I'll camp on this for just a moment. I want to make application to us as believers in Christ, and how can I do that? Sometimes when I go on the Internet, I'm looking for something. I'll encounter a quote unquote church service, and there'll be some person who doesn't know the Lord will post something from a church service from some place. A very seldom look to see what the church is, you know, what city or what state or whatever. They just post it and it says, so this is church. And those shows some outlandish thing. Somebody's screaming, running around, jumping on amplifiers or doing some outlandish thing. And then I just saw that just yesterday, an example of that.  I don't make statements, but I think within myself, there are quite a number of people who really has, have blasphemed the name of Jesus who have, and again, this is really speaking to the Jews, and I'm applying it to the church today, but it really specifically speaking to the Jews who make their boast in the law and violate it, but by application for the church. I'll give you one story. Many years ago, we went to Israel and I had a particular guide, her name was Helen. My wife, Marie and I really liked Helen. She was a straight shooter and I liked her. She was just direct and I don't mind people being direct as long as they're direct to somebody else, you know, so. But I liked her and she got the likeness because she was our guide more than once. And so one day it was Marie and I and Helen and we're visiting and Helen said to me, and I, I don't remember the names of the people, but were I to remember the names she was referring to, many of you would know those names because they're, they're well-known names in the Christian community. I don't remember the names and it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't mention them by name anyway, but I will say this. She said, you know, so-and-so when she gave me this guy's name and I said, yeah, I know of him. She says, yeah, he brings tours here. I said, yeah. She says, you know, when the people on the tour are, have gone to the rooms, he and his friends all go to the bar and they're drinking and this is her quote from her. She said, they don't care about us because, and this is her quote, because after all we're just Jews. And when she said that, it broke my heart. I thought, how sad that you would think that and how sad that that's the way you would look at these, these people who are professing to be Christians and these are well-known people. And I've seen a lot of that in the years that I've walked with the Lord. Again, I don't want to bring judgment on, on, on people in an unfair way and all of that. I don't want to do that, but she didn't want anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul makes it very clear that the blessings that God pours out on the church is intended in one way to cause the Jewish people to become jealous. And I still remember hearing a Jewish person say, I've never met a Christian that has anything that makes me jealous because they're all the same the way they think. And sometimes I'm telling you, because of a, of a carnal person who professes Christ, the name of God is blasphemed. Because sometimes when Christians don't live up to the claims of Christ and the claims they themselves make concerning him, it causes unbelievers to look at us and to make judgment on the gospel. So the gospel is intended to transform, transform life. If any man be in Christ, he's to be a new creation. Old things are to be passed away, right? All things are to become new. We're supposed to live lives that are exemplary. So the Jesus said, you're like a city on the hill. You know, city on the hill cannot be hidden. You are the light of the world, he said. You are the salt. So he's speaking concerning us, the church, and, and you're to illumine those who are in darkness. You're to, you're to, you're to have a, a, a kind of a work in the world that, that retards the corruption of it. You're salt. You flavor the world. This is what you are. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven. That's what Christ tells the church, right? But unfortunately in these latter days, many have forgotten that we're examples of a believer. And even as the Jewish people are being right now brought into judgment by Paul by saying, you claim to be these things, but in fact you're not.  And because of you, the name of God is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles. So that's a warning to all of us.  And because you're openly sinful, his name is reduced. In second Timothy 2, verse 19, Paul said it like this, let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. May God help us to realize that we are in many ways a living gospel. People who won't read a Bible will read me. They will watch me and they will make judgments concerning the way I live and the God I profess to worship. And so in the days of Paul writing to these, he is saying, this is what the Jewish people have been guilty of. They claim one thing, yet they do another. He says in verse 25, for circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law, but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you even with your written code and circumcision as a transgressor of the law? He's not a Jew who has won outwardly, nor a circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he's a Jew who has won inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not from men, but from God. Sinfulness is passed from generation to generation. See, Adam and Eve, when they fell, Adam passed on his nature through Eve when she had a child. The child born to Eve had what is called an Adamic nature. So the man is the one who is passing on his sin nature in the birth of the child. That child is born with a sin nature. So sinfulness has passed on from generation to generation. Circumcision, and I'm not giving a teaching on that particular right, but circumcision is actually an illustration of a new nature because when the male is circumcised, that is a picture of the creation of new life. And so circumcision is an outer emblem that is supposed to reflect an actual transformed heart. So true circumcision isn't cutting away flesh because true circumcision, Paul just said, is of the heart. In Deuteronomy 30 verse 6 it says it like this, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live. And so he's not a Jew who has won outwardly because physical circumcision is not what saves. The point he's building to and making is what saves his faith in God through Jesus Christ. And he'll make that more clear later on when we get to chapter four in about three years and in Romans chapter four verses one through three, it says, what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Paul is making that case just because somebody has physically gone through a right, a religious right that doesn't change the heart. I have my baptismal certificate. I was baptized in December of 1950 in a small church in Los Angeles, the Little Plaza Church there by Alvera Street where every other Mexican in California was baptized.  That didn't save me. All that did was it washed a bit of the dirt off my outer skin. I went through communion classes, received my first communion. I went through my, I had the sacrament of penance and did my first communion and then I received my confirmation like many people in my church. So out of the sacraments that were presented by the Catholic Church I had four of the sacraments. So I had all of the outer trappings but none of the inner transformation. That's what Paul's talking about. You make your boast in the law. You think of yourself as a light. You see yourself as an instructor in those who are in spiritual darkness. You teach people not to steal, but do you steal? You don't live out is what he's saying. You just bring in the fact that humanity is in need of a savior. That's what he's saying. So no matter how you may make your boast in the law because you've received so many advantages through that law, the fact of the matter is you're still blind. The Gentile has conscience. The Gentile has a witness of creation but his conscience can accuse or excuse him when that conscience accuses him. He has found guilty before God and God who is a righteous judge will judge him according to that. The Jew who has the law makes his boast in it and even says that he's one who holds it is actually someone who breaks it and in thought and word and indeed and is in need of a savior. The point he's making is that no matter if you're a Gentile or a Jew you all need the same thing, salvation. And that's what he's pointing to. And the only way you're going to be saved is through the one who kept every element of the law and was never found guilty of breaking a single point of it. That's why Jesus himself could say, which of you can convict me of sin? He could say that to his mom. He could say that in front of his brothers. He could say that in front of his disciples. He could say that in front of anybody. And he could point to the religious leaders and he can say, which of you can convict me of sin? And the answer was none of us. Why? Because he was the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that's what Paul is pointing to. All humanity needs salvation. God provided it to his son Jesus Christ. All of us are guilty. All have sin and fall short of the glory of God. But God has given to us a savior and that's the point we'll be seeing when we next week get into chapter three.