Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Romans 2:11 There is no partiality with God, used as the anchor statement for the whole passage
11 For there is no partiality with God.
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Keep this verse
Romans 2:12-16
All who sinned without the law will perish without the law; conscience accuses or defends; God will judge secrets through Christ
12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
13 For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified
14 (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
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Romans 2:17-24
Jews who boast in the law but break it cause God's name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles
17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,
18 and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.
21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?
22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law?
24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
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Romans 7:24-25
Mentioned briefly as a forward skip to reach the statement about no condemnation in Christ
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.
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Romans 8:1-2
Mentioned briefly alongside Romans 7:24-25 to affirm no condemnation in Christ
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
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James 1:22
Prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the continuation of a series through Romans, working through chapter 2. Pastor Ray walked the congregation through one of the harder stretches of Paul's letter, the section that levels every person before God, religious or not, and offers no exit. He described it plainly: there is no hope in this passage on its own, but it is the foundation everything else gets built on.
What was said
Pastor Ray began by returning to where the previous week ended: there is no partiality with God. He pointed out that this is not a passing remark in Paul's letter but a structural anchor. Using what he called a chiastic construction, a Hebrew pattern where the first and last point mirror each other, he showed that "God renders to each person according to his deeds" and "God shows no partiality" are saying the same thing from two directions. The middle point, wrath and anguish for those who do unrighteousness, is what those two bookends are squeezing together.
He then moved through Romans 2:12-16, noting that Paul makes a claim that lands hard: people who sin without ever having the law of Moses will still perish. Ignorance of the law, Pastor Ray said, is no excuse, and he traced that principle back through Romans 1 where Paul has already argued that everyone carries some knowledge of what is right. The conscience, always either accusing or defending a person, is Paul's evidence that this knowledge is universal, written on the heart.
From there Paul narrows his aim and points directly at the religious person, the one who knows the law, boasts in God, considers himself a guide to the blind and a light to the darkness. Pastor Ray has been drawing a parallel throughout this series between the Jew in Paul's letter and the churched person today, and he made that explicit again here. The person most confident in their religious standing is the person Paul is most directly confronting.
The confrontation is blunt. You who teach others not to steal, do you steal? You who preach against adultery, do you commit it? Pastor Ray connected this to a book he read in seminary, "Unchristian" by David Kinnaman, which documented what outsiders most commonly think of Christians. The top of that list, judgmental, holier than thou, people who do not act like Christ, sits uncomfortably close to what Paul is saying: the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.
To help carry the weight of the passage, Pastor Ray turned to a translation by Ellis Deibler, a Bible translator he described as having worked with Wycliffe for 57 years and whom he had met personally on a trip to the Middle East. Deibler's aim is to make every piece of implicit cultural information explicit, so that readers with no background in the Jew-Gentile dynamics of first-century Rome can still receive the full force of what Paul wrote. Reading from that translation, Pastor Ray let the passage land again, harder in some ways for having nothing hidden in it.
He closed by being honest about why he was at the building late the night before: he was trying to find hope in this section and could not locate any. That is the point, he said. Paul is not being cruel. He is being thorough, building a foundation solid enough to hold the grace that is coming. The Lenten season, he suggested, is for sitting in exactly this recognition, how destitute we are outside of Christ, because that is what makes the hope in Christ mean something.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor said he spent the night trying to squeeze hope out of this passage and came up empty. Have you ever sat with a section of scripture that offered no comfort? What was that like for you?
- The sermon described God showing no partiality as something that 'lands hard.' In what ways do you find yourself tempted to think God might make an exception for you because of your background, your church involvement, or something else you are holding onto?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,770 words
0:00
Sentence for our sin. There's one God. There is only one God. There is only mediator standing between God and man. He's the only way to salvation.
0:35
He found the captives. He found the captives, broke the bondage of our chains. We have redemption through the price that he has paid. He gave his life to purchase freedom from the fall. Our mediator was the ransom for us all as one God.
1:01
There is only one God. There is only one mediator standing between God and men. Is the only way to salvation. Is only one God. There is only one mediator standing
2:03
have a seat. I have a few announcements again this this week. And I hope that I wake up before the sermon starts. Will see. Oh, Wanda.
2:16
Oh, Wanda. It's happening tomorrow night right here in this room at 06:00. Monday nights at first B at the same time down the
2:23
hall. Nehemiah chapter two.
2:25
Nehemiah chapter two and that was fun. Old old old testament. That's good. Meal, music, and a message. Carl's got the message covered and he's been studying on it all week.
2:35
The connect hour is happening between services down the hall in the fellowship hall and there will be coffee down there. Honestly, I might go during the offering and get some. I'm sorry. I usually don't sleep much and y'all know that. Y'all hear me say that a lot.
2:51
I didn't hardly all last night and when 08:00 got here, Tanya woke me up. That never happens. I've been married for twenty four years. I think it's happened three times. So, bless our hearts.
3:02
There's a kitchen renovation meeting today at 12:15. This is a speak now or forever hold your peace meeting. We are remodeling this kitchen. Our board of trustees has been working diligently up to this point. They have input from a bunch of y'all.
3:16
If you're a frequent user of the kitchen and you feel you've been ignored, please be there. Okay? Do you understand? It's the last big meeting like this but you're still welcome to put your input in 12:15 today. That's after the second service and there's a women's ministry meeting this Wednesday at one hundred forty five after the lady study to discuss ideas and this is ideas for the women's retreat for planning.
3:39
So, anyone that's interested in helping out, anybody that's interested in helping out with the women's retreat, please plan on attending that. Alright and the young adults. It's more announcements than I thought. Young adults, the 20s and 30s are taking a trip today down to the Pinedale Rec Center and that's going to be Chris Darren. Chris is in my office right now.
4:01
He is gonna be driving down the church van. They're meeting in the parking lot at 11:00. So, we start up the second service here. They're heading to Pinedale to go swimming and water sliding. That is today.
4:13
Tuesday night, there's a Carl, do you wanna tell them about this? Would you, please?
4:18
Yeah. This is just a a night of worship. So the River Crossing van and our band are gonna get together at River Crossing from seven to 08:30 and, and just worship together. A few song sets. So if you're interested just to come and sit and soak and worship and sing with us, you're you're very welcome to come.
4:36
In fact, the more the merrier. It'd be fun to have you.
4:39
So 07:00.
4:40
That's what's happening.
4:41
Cool. Thank you. And I've got one more. We have traditionally done a breakfast on Easter Sunday morning. Dave Kaufman, would you raise your hand?
5:45
Yep. Also. That's Hill Climb Weekend. So, which is the same weekend as Easter this year. Alright, we'll tell you more about that next week and that's it.
5:53
Would y'all stand up and give each other hugs, high fives, handshakes, maybe a small cup of coffee.
6:19
The world. You were. And now you're reigning still enthroned above all things. Angels and saints cry out. We join them as we sing glory to God.
6:45
Glory to God. Glory to God forever. And we sing glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever forever and he gave us breath so we could praise.
7:12
Let's sing it to Creator God, you gave me breath so I could praise your great and matchless name all my days, all my days. So let my whole life be a blazing offering. A life that shouts and sings the greatness of our king. Glory to God. Glory to God.
7:42
Glory to God forever. And we sing glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever. Forever.
8:13
Here in this morning we land, here in this morning we land, many a dream has died. I'm like a tree planted by the water never will run dry. Living water foam, living water foam, being through. God, we thirst for more of you. Fill our hearts, but our souls would want desire to know and make them known.
8:51
Just to know you and to make a note. We left your name on night. Shine like the darkness It's time for us to more than just survive. We were made to thrive. And to your word, and to your word, we're digging deep.
9:35
You know our father's heart. And to the world, we're reaching out. Show them who you are. Can we sing that first verse again? So good.
9:50
And to your word, we're digging deep to know our father's heart. That's why we are here. And to the world, we're reaching out to show them who you are. Living water flowing through, living water flowing through. God, we thirst for more of you.
10:16
Fill our hearts and flood our souls, one desire. Just in all you wait until making known, We left your name on night, shine like the sun made darkness run and hide. We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives. It's time for us to mourn and just survive. We were made to thrive.
11:12
Amen. God, that is true. You have made us. You've given us life and breath and meaning and purpose, and we were made to more than just survive, just to get by. We're made to thrive.
11:24
And when we are in you, we produce fruit and that good kind of fruit, that kind of fruit that makes you known. And I pray, God, that you would continue to produce that good fruit in us, and our lives would be marked by worship, not just singing here on a on a Sunday morning, but just our everyday stuff that you'd set a song in our heart, and we'd be in communication with you all day. Just enjoying your company and enjoying your presence because in you, there is fullness of life. Amen.
12:22
Darkness you give hope you restore every iron that is broken great and You're one it's the that we sing it's your breath in our lungs so we pour So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your bread in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you We'll sing all the earth will shout your praise. And all the earth will shout your praise hearts will cry these bones will sing praise are you lord?
14:50
One more time. Let's sing that again. And all the earth will shout and all the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing.
15:17
We pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your braille and our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.
15:36
This verse says, for the spirit of the Lord has made me, and the breath of almighty gives me life. Let's sing that chorus one more time, shall we? It's your breath in our lungs.
15:50
It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your bread in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.
16:34
God, once again, it is good to meet with you. It's good to it's good to worship you in always through our voice and through the through the studying and get just diving into the word through this worship of giving. I pray, God, that you'd bless these gifts and these offerings and that you'd be pleased with us just offering an open hand to you, saying we love you, we trust you, and thank you, God, for just richly satisfying our lives, not just not just with material things, God, but in the spiritual sense, giving us hope and peace and joy and so much other things. I pray, God, that that would continue to be the truth for us and that, again, that fruit of the spirit, it would just it'd be it'd be showing itself. It'd be showing itself to the world that really we are in you.
17:25
We're remaining in you. We're enjoying you. We are enjoying your company in you. There is fullness of life, and we give you thanks. In Christ's name, amen.
20:19
Alright, it's time for the children's church to start downstairs. There they go. So cool. So, like I said, waking up this morning was a little rough for me and kind of a rude awakening almost and that's normal for normal people, I think. For everybody else, I don't sleep much.
20:46
It doesn't usually bother me that I don't sleep much. But waking up when Tanya says, it's time for you to go. That's very, very rare. Like I said. And I was here last night till really, really late.
20:58
And I was here trying to squeeze hope out of this section of scripture. And there's not any hope in this section of scripture. And I'm all a grace guy. Y'all know that. We we love to talk about the message of the cross.
21:13
I love to talk about the grace. But I feel like it's really important. And actually during the Lenten season, you know, building up to, we're baptist. Yeah. Baptist Church but I know there are 30 different denominations represented out just with the people who are here and we're trying to preach exactly what's there.
21:29
The Lenten season is not exactly biblical, you know, where you give something up but it's a good spiritual discipline. What we have given up for the last month is the grace. I mean, I've tried to include definitely included it last week after the sermon, added a tag on the end to be able to go into the time of the Lord's supper and communion but my goodness, the the are y'all getting this foundational approach to Romans that Paul is laying the groundwork for the cross by saying, no, really, you too. No, I mean, you too and if you think that I don't mean you, wait a second, let me catch you this way. You too.
22:06
He's going to do that again today. So, here we go. There's no partiality with God. That's where we ended up as far as the sermon went last week. Look at the snow outside.
22:16
Yesterday, had you been at the village yesterday? Everybody was like going, well, it was one good last slushy day. Looks like there's going be some more good good days. This is cool. There is no partiality with God.
22:28
That's where we ended up as far as the sermon and then I skip forward to Romans seven twenty four and twenty five and eight one and two so we could say there's no condemnation in Christ but this is where we stopped last week on verse eleven, two eleven. There's no partiality with God. Another way to say that is God does not play favorites. That's hard. He doesn't play favorites because you've been in church your whole life.
22:54
He doesn't play favorites because you're good looking or ugly. There's no preferential option for the poor. Although a lot of people say that and teach liberation theology in Latin America, there's a preferential option for the poor. Maybe easier for the poor to look out to God because they have nothing else that they can depend on but God does not play favorites. It is a hard issue individually for every single human being ever.
23:19
God does not play favorites. That land's hard. So, I went back when I was looking for hope in this one. I thought maybe if I step back into what we did last week, I can find some and I can bring it forward. Well, I've got a structural issue here that I want to bring out.
23:35
I always go back to grammar when I'm feeling like I don't have a handle on what's going on. This God does not play favorites or there's no partiality with God is drummed really hard in the text and last week, I think that's what it came up with. That's why it was so big on that last slide but there's a chiastic construction that I didn't bring out last week. It's a Hebrew way of thinking. Paul, thoroughly Hebrew but also in Greek when he's writing.
24:02
It's a normal thing to do a chiastic construction. It's called like that because it looks like a goes to b and then b goes to a. And the way that that is forms they saw an x. I see a z myself, but that shows what's important. So if you look back at verses six through 11 and this is just going give us a springboard for this week.
24:25
A, the point number letter A is, God, who will render to each person according to his deeds? The B there is to those who do good. Life eternal. But to those who do unrighteousness, wrath, and anger. Affliction and anguish.
24:45
To those doing evil. But glory and honor. To those doing good. God shows no partiality. Now, to us, we think, well, yeah, he just said the same thing twice.
24:57
Well, he saves redundancy for it's for times where it's important to say things twice, okay? And the the way that he said this points to both the first and last point and the middle point. Is a commonly accepted thing everybody knows. It's that way of thinking. Sorry, that color is not looking all that great.
25:19
The who will render to each person according to his deeds corresponds exactly with God shows no portionality. If you go through each one of em, B is the same, right? C is the same. Life eternal, glory, honor but to those who do unrighteousness and this is the point of that whole thing. Like I said, you can try and try and try and squeeze hope.
25:39
Wrath and anger, affliction, and anguish. If we're going by our deeds, if God were to show mercy So, here we are. Romans two, I have in the bulletin 12 through 14 or 12 through 24 but I'm including 11 in it. For there's no partiality with God. I think that sets us up for everything that comes after that and I'm going to walk through this.
26:05
This is the way it's going go, hopefully, today. I'm going to walk through this one time and I'm going to explain things the way that I usually do and then I'm going to go to this version of the Bible which is not something that I normally use. It was written by a guy. I'll talk about in a few minutes but he is known as mister implicit information, okay? Because a lot of this stuff throughout the ages, we don't have the same Jew Gentile situation that they had in Rome.
26:31
So, we don't get everything that's going on. We're going to go to mister implicit information and close out just by reading it again. Okay? Are you with me? Alright.
26:40
For there's no partiality with God. When you look at that, what do you see? You see two white lines with some squigglies coming off of it or do you see a black line doing this and it's a continuous line all the way. That's the way Romans is. This is called the Greek key.
26:57
If you're a tile man or you're an art major, you might know know this thing but that Greek key, it's a meander. So, there's a meandering that's happening. It's foundational as Romans is and as linear as it is, everything ties into the thing. Absolutely, everything ties in. So, Romans two eleven through 16, there's no partiality with God sets it up.
27:19
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. That is a harsh statement. That's a very harsh statement because we feel like, well, you gotta know the rules to be guilty of breaking em, right? What happens when you roll through a stop sign when you're 15 or a red a flashing red light? Flashing red light in Jackson.
27:38
This happens after midnight. I saw it last night. If there's a flashing red light and you stop, you're used to stopping at a red light, right? And then you figure out, oh, this thing's not going to change. It's just flashing and then you eventually go.
27:50
You have done the right thing but as a teenager, you see a flashing red light and you roll straight on through it, you don't stop. What happens? You you get pulled over, you get a ticket. Why? Because ignorance of the law is no excuse.
28:03
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. That's actually a biblical concept. Now, we we have already covered in verse in chapters one from about 18 forward that all of us really know. When you're approaching that intersection, all of you know you better stop. There's no partiality with God.
28:26
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law and there's no doubt about where what's happening to them. They're perishing. Without the law and who all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law and how are they going to come up? Are they going to come up glowing reviews? No.
28:46
No. Everybody who's judged by the law is is guilty. We've already covered it multiple times and he'll make it very very obvious next week. For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God but the doers of the law will be justified. That makes it sound like it's possible.
29:04
It's not possible. It's not possible to do that. For us, Jesus is the only one who has ever done it. It's not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. James one twenty two points to this, he says, prove yourselves Christians, Jewish background Christians, prove yourselves doers of the word and not mere merely hearers who delude themselves.
29:33
He's talking to good old religious folk, church folk. So is Paul. For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law are a law unto themselves. Now, that has generated tons of paper right there. That they're a law unto themselves.
29:52
That's kind of a hard one. Mister implicit information, I agree with. When we get to the end of this, I'll I'll say it but it, he's saying, right here, when Gentiles who do the right thing. He's not saying they always do the right thing but when Gentiles do the right thing and they don't have the law, they're showing that conscience exist. They're showing that there's a difference between right and wrong.
30:17
I know people have come to Christ and come to church, come to Jesus and to the body because they recognize that right and wrong exist. Outside of really any church experience or any biblical experience. They just recognize that right and wrong do exist. This is what this is saying. There's a recognition in the world of right and wrong that it exist.
30:41
In that they show the work of the law written in their hearts. This is conscience. Their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts. Alternately accusing or else defending them. You agree with that?
30:54
Even if you were outside of church, you would think, ugh, shouldn't have done that or I'm I'm a pretty good guy. I did that, right? When you're passing somebody who's hitchhiking up the past and you think, ugh, got tons of stuff in here but I can move it over. I'll just pass him anyway. I shouldn't have passed that guy.
31:11
Dog gone. You got the, everybody has that. That's not just Christians that have that. Some of us have that and we say everything that happens is is the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit's active in Christian lives for sure.
31:25
Conscience is always either accusing or defending our actions, always. On the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ. Your own conscience is either accusing or defending you and it's alternately. It goes back and forth. He says, but that's not the ultimate judge of what's happening.
31:52
The ultimate judge of what's happening is the secrets of men are going to be judged through Jesus Christ. It's pointing forward forward to judgement. Eventual harsh but just judgement based on truth. So, that's 12 through 16 and that was for everybody, okay? That's for everybody.
32:17
The moral pagan, some people think, or the Jew, the religious, the one who sets themselves up as having done something, achieved something, who's holding on to something whether it be an amulet or an ideology, something that they've signed off on, they feel like they have gained access to God through that and they're trusting in that. Apart from Jesus, he hasn't mentioned that in this section at all and then he goes and he makes it explicit for the Jew. If you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are essential. You know your theology. You got it figured out.
33:11
Being instructed out of the law, you had it from the time you were little, you know it, and y'all know I have been equating this Gentile or pagan and Jew to the unchurched and churched since we started this section, this study but I want you to think about this for right now. For the Jews, they knew there's one God. They knew this from the beginning. They knew all of this and now they're having to adjust their thinking, their their theology that they have studied is a bit off and it's where it deals with people that it's a bit off. They're supposed to be a light to the Gentiles bringing in others and they weren't.
33:52
They weren't being a light to the Gentiles. They thought it was just for them. They were turning inward. For you, if you bear the name Jew and you rely upon the law and you boast in God and you know his will and you approve things that are essential, being instructed out of the law and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind and a light to those who are in darkness. A corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and the truth, you therefore, who teach another.
34:25
Do you not teach yourself? Rhetorical question. You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
34:39
They're rhetorical questions, but he's saying you do these things. That makes sense? The holy holies, holy of us would say, well, I don't do those things. He's saying, yeah, you do. You who boast in the law, through your breaking of the law, do you actually dishonor God?
35:01
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Just as it is written and that's a quote. Couple of different places it says that. I read this book when I was in seminary. It's not the greatest book in the world.
35:13
It's called Unchristian by David Kinnaman. What a new generation really thinks about Christianity and why it matters. So, I actually really, really like the book for the I sent it to Renzi a while back, and I've got the since I bought this thing digitally, I can share it with nine of you. The first nine of you that want it, let me know. I'll share it with you.
35:36
It was done by David Kinnaman who's right now president of the Barna Research Group, and they did a study leading up to 2007. The book's a little dated. It was 2007. I read it in seminary. And he was saying that the primary thing that outsiders, people who are not church folk, think about God and think about Christians is that they're unchristian.
35:59
They don't act like Christ. The top seven things that he listed judgmental, homophobic, holier than thou. They were like, it was just awful. It's just awful and for me to read that, I mean, I'm excited about the gospel. I'm excited about the good news and I read that and I think, man, but you have to consider the merits of the murmuring.
36:28
Am I doing something wrong here? It's under my arm somewhere. Who knows where it is? I didn't clip it on. Sorry.
36:34
Thanks. That coffee never did show up. There we go. Is that better? Thank you.
36:45
Y'all can tell me stuff like that. Thank you. Thank you, Blake. I'm Christian. Thank thank you.
36:56
Thank you very much. Drink deeply from this cup. Goodness gracious. Thank you, lord. Unchristian.
37:13
The name of the of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles is hard enough for those of us who love God. It's hard enough to hear that that God is being blasphemed, but he doesn't stop there. He says, the name of God is being blasphemed among the outsiders because of you, because of the way you live your life. Now, he was saying that to the righteous holy Jews, you know, who are following things but I think he's saying that to us. I think he's saying that to us today.
37:43
Unchristian. So, Ellis Deibler. Ellis Deibler is a guy that has been working. He worked with Wickliffe for fifty seven years. He doesn't work with him anymore but he worked with Wickliffe Bible Translators for fifty seven years.
37:56
He and his wife. He's the one that I said was known as mister implicit information because he doesn't want for there to be any doubt about what it says And so if you take it that everybody knows what it says, this guy and his wife worked in rainforest and all over Central Asia, different places in the world. Actually, he's written all of these books and if you look at the titles, they're all in different languages. He he is proficient in like seven like he can do Bible translation in seven different languages. He's a really smart guy.
38:36
He did the first dictionary of Alecano to English. Smart guy and he lectures and does things. Well, the way that I know him, the way that I met him was when we went, Todd Seaton and I went with Eric Watt a while back, run ministries. We went over to Nepal, talked about human trafficking, and we were trying to help out with kingdom investments to Paul that helped save girls from slavery. We did that.
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It was one part of the trip, and then we came back through The Middle East, and we stopped in a place. And they had regional representatives from all over The Middle East. So there were about 26 different language groups represented. Some people were bilingual. And we met together with a bunch of guys.
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And Ellis was there to train these guys on scripture translation, Ellis Deibler. So he's been studying for fifty seven years. He's done all this work. He actually has done this. This is one of his books.
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A semantic and structural analysis of Romans. I'm probably the only person in here that loves would love this book. Maybe not. I could be wrong. It's pretty amazing but the detail, oh my goodness.
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He gets down not just into the weeds but into the kernels in the weeds. And he's studying it, he's straining it, and he's trying to make it as obvious and as clear as possible. Now that's what Paul was shooting for in Romans. We're to that context. Ellis is trying to transmit it to every tribe, tongue, and nation.
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I'm trying to transmit it to y'all. We're trying to transmit it to every tribe, tongue, and nation. We want the message to get out. We want for it to be clear. What I've just gone through is pretty heavy and you can hear it and it goes, man, do we have to listen to this another week?
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We know we're junk. We know that. We know we're bad. I want to hear some hope. I want to hear something good.
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Well, I started to say this a minute ago. The Lenten season, the giving up something, whatever it is, or to consider. It's a somber season. It's looking at the cross ahead of time and considering it and thinking about it and going, wow. Wow.
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Last week was, oh, man. Oh, man. It's been somber. It's been really hard for me. Probably because I grew up in church.
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And whether I wanna admit it or not, I kinda trust in that. Kinda trust in knowing the book and knowing about the ways of God and understanding the mysteries. I still sin though. I still have sin. I still have something that I can't pay for and that's what he's pointing out.
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He's pointing out that we're all level. Now, I wanna read it just straight up from mister implicit information here. I hope that it's helpful to you. It was helpful to me and this is it. Romans two twelve through 16.
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We'll look at that first and he has some little symbols in here which are helpful to translators. He wrote this translator's translation so that he's identified every different little rhetorical feature. If it's a metonymy, synecdoche, all of these different little literary features that I love so much that I dig. And he's pointing them out so that a translator will look at it and go, okay, I don't wanna get lost in that, the literal stuff right there. I want to get the message of it.
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I want to get the meaning of it. So, this is it. Although non Jews do not have the laws that God gave to Moses, all non Jews who sin will be eternally separated from God. It's just as harsh in Ellis' version. That's hard to see, right?
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Especially in our society. It's super tolerant. It is super tolerant. It's great. Although non Jews do not have the laws of that God gave to Moses, all non Jews who sin will be eternally separated from God.
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That is harsh and true. He will not consider whether or not they knew the laws that he gave to Moses because ignorance of the law is no excuse, right? And all the Jews who have sinned in spite of knowing the laws that God gave to Moses will also be punished. And it's either passive. It's an ambiguous form, so it includes both.
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Moses will also be punished. God will also punish them. Okay? That's that's both. They will be punished for disobeying God's laws.
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It's right for them to be punished for God to punish them because it's not those who merely know God's laws, whom he considers to be righteous. On the contrary, it is only those who continually have obeyed all of God's laws of the laws that God gave to Moses whom God will consider righteous, whose record of sins, God will erase. Whenever the non Jew who do not have the laws, God gave to Moses, naturally obey those laws. They prove that they have a law within their own minds even though they do not have the laws God gave to Moses. They show that they know in their own minds what God commands in his laws.
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As each person is in his very own conscience, either accuses or excuses slash defends. He doesn't wanna leave any stone unturned. Right? His behavior. God will punish them at the time when he will judge people according to what they have thought and done.
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He will judge them even for the things that they have done secretly. He will judge people by authorizing Christ Jesus to judge them. This is what I tell people when I preach the good message to them. This is part of the good message. Oh my goodness.
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Y'all, a lot of y'all, I've been saying this is bad news for like three weeks. And a lot of y'all have stopped me or called me or texted me and said, you know what? It's not. It's not bad news because we're all in the same boat and we all have the same offer. So, it is a part of the good news and this is what I tell people when I preach the good message to em.
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This is what Paul says about my gospel. Up to 17. Now, I have something to say to anyone of you Jews to whom am I I am writing, you, singular, again, okay? It's not y'all. It's you, singular.
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You boast about yourself saying, I am a Jew and I'm going to say right here, Ellis doesn't say this but if you're a church folk and you say, I'm a Christian. Praise God. If you're identifying with Christ but if you're putting it in your church membership or your baptism or your sacraments or whatever it is, if you're putting in any external, not an internal matter of the heart, then you put your name right there where it says Jews. Now, I have something to say to anyone of you Jews to whom I'm writing. You, singular, boast about yourself saying, I'm a Jew.
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You, singular. Trust that God will save you because you possess the laws that he gave to Moses. That was their thing. That was what made them different. We have the law, Torah, Torah, Torah.
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That's what it was all about. That's what made them different and that was their amulet. That's what they were holding. God gave this to us. Yeah, he gave it to you to share with everybody else.
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Anyway, you trust that God will save you because you possess the laws that he gave to Moses. You boast that you belong to God. You know what God desires because you have been taught, people have taught you. God's laws. You're able to know which things are right and choose to do them.
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You are certain that you're able to show God's truth to non Jews. As gods, show the road to those who are blind. You are certain that by what you say, you can show God's way to the non Jews who do not understand as a light shows the way to those who walk in darkness. He's pointing out the rhetorical features in there, which he has made very explicit. You're certain that you can instruct or correct non Jews whom you consider foolish because of their not understanding God's message.
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Because you have in God's laws a written expression of true knowledge, you are certain that you can teach people who being like children do not know God's truth. Since you claim that you have all these advantages because you're a Jew, it is disgusting that you who teach other people that they should obey the laws God gave Moses do not obey the laws that you yourself teach. Why is it that you teach other people that they should obey the laws God gave Moses and do not obey the laws that you yourself teach? That's the rhetorical question. He frames it both ways.
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One way of seeing it is it's just a straightforward sentence. This is the case. And then the other is questioning you. Why is it that you really why do you do this? Okay?
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It's fallen pretty heavy on me too. You who preach. That people should not steal things. It's it is disgusting that you yourself steal things. Why?
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Do you yourself steal things? You who command people not to have sexual relations with someone whom they are not married. It is disgusting that you commit adultery yourself. Why do you commit adultery yourself? You who detest idols, it is disgusting that you rob temples where people worship idols.
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Why do you rob temples where people worship idols? You who boast saying I have God's laws. It is disgusting that you disobey those same laws. Why do you disobey those same laws? As a result, you're insulting God.
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You must not be like our ancestors about whom were written these words in scriptures. The non Jews speak evil about God because of the evil actions of many of you Jews. They, non Jews, say, God must be a hypocrite if he condones the behavior of people like you. You see why I was here so late last night trying to squeeze hope out of this? Ain't no hope in this.
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There is no hope in this, in this, but he's building something. He's laying a foundation that is steady. It's rock solid. There's no doubt about it. It is profound.
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And on this, we can build. That's it. I'm sorry. That's all I got. For today, I could go into the next section 25 through 29 talks about the conditional value of circumcision and so he's saying, circumcision, yes, I gave it to God gave it to us as a sign for sure.
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Yeah, come on up, man. We're we're finished. God gave it to us as a sign but you took that and you felt like what you did that, you're good. If you're trusting in anything except for the blood of Christ, anything except for the blood of Christ. Anything.
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You are without hope. Dang. Let's sing something happy. Would you stand with us?
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This week, I read that text and I went, Ray, what song do we close with? I said, can I pick something about grace? And he said,
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yeah. Yeah. You can. You lead us by still waters and to mercy. And nothing can keep us apart.
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So remember your people, remember your children, remember your promise, oh God,
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And your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is
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enough for me. You lead us in the song of your salvation. And all your people sing along. So remember your people. Remember your children.
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Remember your promise, oh God.
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Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. And your grace is
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enough for me. Let's sing that again. Our grace is grace is enough.
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Grace is enough, and your grace is enough, your grace is enough for me Amen.
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So, I mentioned Lent a couple of times and wandered away from it a couple of times. It is a somber time to look and realize how destitute we are and so denying self and looking forward to Christ's salvation. Concentrating on spiritual things, concentrating on the lack of hope we have outside of Christ amplifies the hope we do have in Christ. That make sense? Are you with me?
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Okay. God, would you bless this week? Would you make us cognizant of how you are blessing this week? God, we ask that you would never be blasphemed because of us. I've changed that to singular.
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God, I I pray that you would never be blasphemed because of me. Would you give us the strength to follow the leadings of your Holy Spirit? Would you give us opportunities and have us recognize them, Lord, to show your love and your mercy Amen. And your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
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Amen.
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