Romans 2:11-24 (#10.2025.02.09)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:48

Well, we're walking our way through the book of Romans, and the spirit of God through the apostle Paul is dealing with the gospel and every response to the gospel. And if you've been a believer for a while, share it with someone who doesn't know and even dealt with the question yourself, you always ask, what about those people who never have heard of Jesus? What about those people? Right? And so today, Paul is going to deal with that issue. So stand with me if you will. Let's read from Romans two. For there is no partiality with God, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternatively accusing or else defending them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. The word of the Lord.

Roger [: 00:02:21

Thanks be to God. What was this long sentence? Law, the law. You know, it's like, fancy you gotta really make sure you do that. Yes. Yes. We're gonna do today. Right? Well, he starts out where we should all start out. In anything, when we think about how do we think about things, how do we think about things, it's usually a perspective issue.

Roger [: 00:02:47

Right? It's the, it's the old Irish joke, the guy in the middle of Ireland. You know? How do I get to Dublin from here? And the farmer says, if you wanna go to Dublin, I wouldn't start here. And so in the mall, when you have that map, always remember, right, the most important thing is you are here. You are here. If you don't understand where you are compared to the map, it's it it's confusing. So he reminds us where we should start. He says, for there is no and this issue, there is no partiality with God with God. So you underline with God because that's the starting point.

Roger [: 00:03:24

The starting point is God. To think about anything, Other than that, we get very confused, particularly when we start if you start here, this is man in their thinking, this is a bad place to start. It's bad perspective. So he says with god. With god, he lets us know for there is no partiality. What does that mean? The word literally means favoritism. Favoritism. I know what favoritism is.

Roger [: 00:04:02

I give you a better deal because I know you or I like you. Right? Or I, right, lean a certain way. It literally means to receive. Two words, to receive face. So it means a respecter of persons, that god is no respecter of persons. So with God, there is no favoritism. The scripture also reminds us, therefore therefore, God cannot be bribed. He cannot be bribed.

Roger [: 00:04:44

For Yahweh, your god let's read this. For the lord, your god, is the god of gods and the lord of lords, the great and the mighty and the awesome god who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. This is an interesting concept today. As we see full unfolding before us, there is everywhere people taking bribes. Right? There is everywhere. Things are now becoming to light that everybody's got their hand in the till taking a bribe. And as a result of that, well, he says, so it's really clear that all will be judged. All will be judged.

Roger [: 00:05:35

And the scripture says there's three kinds of people. Those who are born Jewish and those who are not born Jewish. Right? Those are the two. Right? And he says, all will be judged for their actions. And then he starts with those without the law, but also those under the law, Jews and Gentiles. So he starts with first, for all who have sinned without the law. So they don't have they don't have the law. They don't have the Torah.

Roger [: 00:06:12

They don't have the penitent tube. Right? They don't have the the scriptures, if you will. These are Gentiles, those who are born not Jewish. So from the standpoint of there's there's Jews, those who are born Jewish, and there are everyone else. Everyone else, no matter their background, is a gentile from scriptural standpoint. So those who are born without the law, gentiles, and they do not have the law in their hand. He says they don't have it. They haven't read it.

Roger [: 00:06:46

They haven't seen it. He says they have a law underlying within, and they'll still be judged by their deeds. And so the space is that is called your conscience. Your conscience. So they said they he says, for when Gentiles who do not have the law, yet they do instinctively some of the things that are in the law, they'll do some good things. Right? And they'll call them good. These, though, that not having law, they have a law to themselves. In other words, god has placed in us because he says in in Romans one, he shows us that's the conscience.

Roger [: 00:07:31

It's within us. Even the idea that there's good and evil. How can we know good and evil? Because Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even the idea that there's good and evil came as a result of that god shows it. And he says that their conscience simultaneously accuses and defends. Our conscious accuses and defends our laws and our actions. What does that mean? That, generally, that deals with you can put to the left of it the excuse. That deals with the excuse.

Roger [: 00:08:12

How do I know what god wants? The excuse, which is Gentiles were good. What do you mean? I didn't know. I didn't know. So Calvin says he indeed shows that ignorance is in vain, pretended as an excuse by the Gentiles since they prove by their own deeds that they have some rule of righteousness. Even the fact that we argue over good and evil, what's good and evil. So this is the excuse. As gentiles, we're really good at making excuses. I'm not accountable.

Roger [: 00:08:52

Why are you holding me accountable? Right? I'm not accountable. And which made me think there was a conscience in us. And over time so you think about how many came to Christ would say under 10 years old? How many between 10 and 20? How many 20 to 30? How many over 30? Okay. The longer you go without him, the more we are able to manipulate our conscience, or I would say, silence it. So I put down there how skillfully we silence conscience, how skillfully we silence it. And the longer you go without knowing the Lord, the more skillful you become. And there fundamentally, it seemed to me there are three ways. Number one, I turn up the music.

Roger [: 00:09:53

And you could put, above that, that's distractions. Return up the music. Those are distractions. Yes. It's true. I'm not listening. Right? So our conscience, right, a conscience, right, how many over time you've done something, right, even before you came to the Lord and you said, that's not right. That's not right.

Roger [: 00:10:24

You know? Before I came to Christ, I committed adultery with a woman, and I knew it was and I knew it was wrong. I knew it was wrong. But then my friends and I said, what's the big deal? What's the big deal? It's okay. What's the big deal? Come on. Everybody does it. Jump on in the boat. Everybody does it. Now I'm reading the scriptures.

Roger [: 00:10:48

So, anyway, distractions. Right? First of all, distractions. And today, we have HV digital distractions. And so if you're the enemy and you wanna keep you from coming to Christ, I'm gonna make more distractions. Right? Then, of course, this little thing in your hand is designed purposely to get you distracted, to keep you distracted, to literally turn up the music of your life. Secondly, we numb the voice. What's that? Pleasures. Pleasures, which can lead to lots of pleasures, which are addictions.

Roger [: 00:11:34

Right? We numb the voice. We can numb the voice. Do that. We can take that which is meant to be good. Right? Even alcohol meant to be good, meant to be celebrate celebratory. Right? And turns into we numb the voice. Right? We numb the voice. Do that with drugs.

Roger [: 00:11:52

We can do that with lots of things. Right? And the third thing is we call it a disease, which is we just blame. We just put the blame somewhere else. We call it a disease. I love it. We feel shame. Let's call it a disease. So in the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy so Beth worked for Abbott Labs for ten years.

Roger [: 00:12:18

She was in pharmaceutical, sales, not on the street, but legally. And she said in the Merck Manual, they would list in there diseases and therapies. So I look back in 1960, there were 1,200 pages of medical issues, diseases, and therapies. By, February, it had grown to 1,800 pages, and by 2021, '20 '5 hundred pages. So now I just take my sin, and I call it a disease. So it's not my fault. Not my fault. But we blame.

Roger [: 00:12:58

Right? So what do we do? We distract, we numb with pleasures, or we just blame others. How skillfully we silence our conscience. And, again, the longer you go without Christ, the more skillful. I was very skillful using all of these to numb, right, turn up the music or to call it a disease. Well, it's interesting because at at the very last in verse 16, Paul says, on the day on the day when? The day when according to my gospel, god will judge. The gospel includes god's wrath and judgment. The gospel is good news, but it's only good news because it's also bad news. It's only good news that we understand the bad news of the gospel.

Roger [: 00:14:00

He's saying included in the gospel is god's wrath and judgment. It's part of the deal. Not a fun thing to preach on, to teach on, to share, is it? God's judgment. But I would think in a world where there is no righteous judge, what is that world like? It's like our world today. There are very few righteous judges. We see unrighteous judgment everywhere. We see the world has gone insane seemingly, isn't it? Gone insane. They're releasing the reports on the assassination of John F.

Roger [: 00:14:43

Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy. I think a lot of people are gonna be, oh, conspiracy is reality. Right? A lot of unrighteousness. Wrath and judgment. What if god, although willing although willing, what is he willing to do? Demonstrate. Make known. What's he willing to make known? His Wrath.

Roger [: 00:15:09

Wrath and his power. His wrath and his power. In other words, his righteous judgment and his ability to carry it out. Right, his ability to carry it out, what if god endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? It's hard to comprehend that god patiently endures sinners. He patiently endures sinners. Not hard to comprehend, which means he has patiently endured you until you came to a knowledge of him. Jonathan Edwards said, nothing keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. So the gospel includes it.

Roger [: 00:16:02

It's just not good news. It's bad news with good news. It's bad news with good news. Patiently endures vessels of wrath. Well, it gets worse. Because up here, he said, right, that it's not the hearers of the law who are just, but the doers of law. So you intend to think the deeds. Right? The actions that we take.

Roger [: 00:16:36

God says, no. It's more than that. It's the secrets of men. God will judge the secrets of men. Bang. Dang. Dang. Dang.

Roger [: 00:16:57

I mean, all the stuff that I get to keep behind closed doors, all the stuff that nobody really sees. I mean, you see that stuff out here. And today, I get to manage it. You know, I get Facebook and social media, so I can show you the Christmas letter life. But god sees the secrets behind closed doors in the darkness, the secrets of men. Dang. Which means he sees the things that are even secret to me because I tell myself secrets, don't I? I tell myself lies about myself. It's true.

Roger [: 00:17:40

But he says in here, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare. What do they lay bare to? The eyes of the lord with whom scripture says we have to do. With whom we have to do is the blank there. With whom we have to do in that scripture. What does that mean we have to do? Which means we have to be accountable to, answer to, with whom we have to do. So all things are laid bare before god. All things are laid bare. In other words, there are no secrets, no secret actions.

Roger [: 00:18:27

No. No. No. I thought I could keep that stuff secret. Double judge the secrets of men, which means not just deeds, but god judges the heart. Judges the heart. I love this in Psalms. Would not god find this out? In other words, woah.

Roger [: 00:18:57

Wait a minute. Oh, well, I just did this in secret. But he said, no. For he knows what's he know? Secrets of the heart. The secrets of the heart. Yeah. But I have a way that's right. And every man and every man's way is right.

Roger [: 00:19:21

And it's right. It is Own eyes. Own eyes. It's Try it in its own eyes. I can self justify just about anything. I'm really good at it. But the lord weighs the hearts. He says, I, Yahweh, search the heart.

Roger [: 00:19:41

I test the mind even to give each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. So in other words, he's saying, there is nothing there is nothing that is hidden. There is nothing that is hidden and that god will judge through the lord Jesus Christ. God will judge through Jesus Christ. And it says, god the father gave him the son. What did he give him? Authority. Authority. You have to have authority.

Roger [: 00:20:16

Not authority is to execute judgment. Righteous, just judgment. Why? Because he's the son of man. He stands in the place to judge man because he is the son of man. And it actually says he has fixed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. The father has fixed the day, this day and that day, that day in which he will judge the world. How will he judge it? In righteousness, justly. Right? In fairness? No.

Roger [: 00:20:51

We don't want fairness. In righteousness And he will judge the world in righteousness through a man, and he's appointed that man. Who is that man? The lord Jesus Christ. And he showed the world He said, I'm I'm proving that this is the one. How did I prove it? Raising. By raising him from the dead and seating him at my right hand, the right hand of authority. The lord Jesus Christ has power to judge. Well, that doesn't seem like a lot of good news.

Roger [: 00:21:33

But he said that's the gospel. That's the gospel. And so he said, if you're a gentile, you've never seen the law, you've never read the law, you've never heard about Jesus Christ, you are accountable because of your deeds and because of your heart and because of your conscience. He said in in chapter one, also because of nature. Now what does that mean? How many have heard? Well, what about the people? What about the ones in the jungle? So the answer is, in scripture, all are guilty. The answer in scripture. If I'm having a conversation with an unbeliever, that's not the answer. What what about those people? God will deal with those people, and that's between god and that person.

Roger [: 00:22:23

However, we're not those people. What about the people who have heard of Jesus Christ like you and me? Because that knowledge is only understood if you're a believer. It's hard if you're a believer, isn't it? I mean, everyone everywhere, whether they've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ is accountable. Yes. Why? Because of conscience and nature. God has made it clear for all. How's that work? I have no idea. But I know that God is good, He's just and he's righteous in how he works.

Roger [: 00:23:00

But if I'm talking with an unbeliever, I don't need to defend god. The lord will deal with those people as he will. However, that's not you and me, is it? We've heard. So what do you what do you think he does with those who've heard of Jesus? Does that make sense? Right? Depending on who I'm having a conversation with, that's but, no, at the at the core, god is saying, there is no excuse. Those who have the law, that's a different category. These are those without the law. Whether you've seen the law or not, I've written the law parts. God has put eternity in our heart.

Roger [: 00:23:38

We know. We know there's a god. That make sense? So as as Gentiles, we love to make excuses. Well, flip over. He said, well, what about those who are called Jew? Well, they rely upon the law and boast in god, know his will, approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, yet having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you therefore, who teach one another, do you not teach yourself? So he says, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This is you. You're gonna teach yourself? Well, what do you mean? You who preach that you shall not steal. Do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? And so Jesus said, if you look upon a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery with her already in your heart, which means before you committed it, Scott, you even did it in your heart.

Roger [: 00:25:03

Oh, dang. Dang. He says, you who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the law. So he's saying, you who have the law, so this is the Jew, you have the law. You you break the law. Well, what's worse than breaking the law, you dishonor god. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you just as it is written. Right? So he says, for all who have sinned with the law, for all who have sinned with the law, You're Jewish by birth, you have the law in your hand.

Roger [: 00:25:49

And it says that those people you boast in the law. We have the law. We have the law. We're confident. We teach others, yet you break the law. He said, worse, you dishonor god, and you cause his name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. So in Ezekiel, the lord god, Yahweh, says to the nation of Israel, he says, when they came to the nations where they went right? So they were to carry my name. They were to represent me.

Roger [: 00:26:33

They were to be my people out into the world, if you will. He said, when you went out among the nations, what did you do? They profaned my holy name. They were to carry my holy name. They profaned it. Lord says, I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned underlined in their midst. So you were you were to go out and be in their midst, and you were to not profane my name. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, declares Yahweh God, when I prove myself holy. That says, I will prove myself holy even though my people are dishonoring me and profaning my name.

Roger [: 00:27:33

So it says you who were born Jewish, great advantage to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. We're latecomers, if you will. Understand the priority to Jew first and then to the Gentile. He says you boast in the law. You have great confidence. You teach. You're great at teaching. Yet you're breaking the law.

Roger [: 00:27:56

You dishonor me and cause my name to be blasphemed. So I went through that. So at the end of that day, he says, all are guilty. It doesn't matter whether you were born Jewish or not. All are guilty. And the judgment of God is not just deeds. The judgment judgment of God is the heart. The hearts, all are guilty.

Roger [: 00:28:23

All are guilty. Awesome god, awesome judgment. The day is coming. The day is coming for all. Day is coming. The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is indeed. Right? It's an awesome thing to fear, the judgment of almighty god.

Roger [: 00:28:42

So I thought, so how do we consider our ways in the midst of this? Because we've been rescued out of darkness. Right? We've been rescued out of darkness. So second Corinthians nine fifteen, through to god through the apostle Paul says, thanks be to god for his, underline, indescribable, indescribable gift, beyond comprehension, incomparable, indescribable, in inexplicable gift. The gift the gift of salvation. You have been called out of darkness. You who had darkness in your heart, god spoke light into your darkness, it says. He's taken your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh. He's put a new spirit within you.

Roger [: 00:29:36

He's put his spirit within you, which will cause you to walk in his ways. He's taken his law, a new covenant, and put it inside of your heart in order that you would follow him. And all of a sudden, your eyes are open. You go, woah. Holy smokes. So don't forget his indescribable gift. By the end of Christmas, the gifts are over there on the side, and you go, yeah. They were really cool when I got them.

Roger [: 00:30:05

But it's hard day by day, isn't it? Kinda day by day goes on, day by day goes on, day by day goes on. So we remember, give thanks. He says give thanks. Thanks be to god for his indescribable gift. Put that up by your bed. Put that on the mirror in the morning to remember. In fact, if we wake up today, his, we wake up today, rescued. We wake up today, and we will have eternity with him.

Roger [: 00:30:34

Thanks be to god for his indescribable gift gift. Second thing I thought, he said, those people who were called to go out among the Gentiles, these were called to go out among the Gentiles, right, in order to honor me, represent me. And he says, for those who honor me, I will honor. So I put there seek to honor god out in the world, seek to honor God out in the world, and literally says that they blasphemed him. Right? They profaned him in their midst, which means we are to be in their midst. Light in the dark world. Light in the dark world. A city set on a hill.

Roger [: 00:31:35

Right? A light. You don't put a bushel over. We are to be in their midst. We are to honor God out in the world. In whatever world yours is. Whatever world, right, that he has placed you in, we are the light in the midst of that. Deep daily gratitude for the gift of salvation. Seek to honor him out in the world.

Roger [: 00:32:01

That's what we're called to do. And then lastly, I put ask God to do hard work, or you could write there the hard work or the hard work. It's hard work, isn't it? This is scary to pray. But to the left, to the right, this is scary not to pray. It's scary not to pray this. It's scarier not to pray it than to pray it. Search me, oh god, and know me. See the anxious thought in me.

Roger [: 00:32:40

Right? God knows. Right? See if there's any hurtful way in me. Not see if there is any. As if God like, okay. So all of a sudden, look, Lord. No. He already knows. So I'm asking God to search me in order that who would know? Him or me? He knows.

Roger [: 00:33:01

He knows the hurtful way. It means I don't. So he says, sir, just search me, lord, and lead me. I love this. Lead me in the everlasting way. The lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

Roger [: 00:33:20

He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. That's what it is. Guide me in the path of righteousness. Lead me in the everlasting way. Search me, oh lord. Do the hard work and examine me, Lord.

Roger [: 00:33:46

So if you think about this, we begin with God. Where do we start? Start here. So God with God, there is no partiality. Right? So in what ways, Lord, do I show favoritism favoritism? Oh, dang. Now you will naturally go to a PFO. You know what a PFO is. Right? A proverb for others. A proverb for others.

Roger [: 00:34:19

There are so oh, lord. There are so many people who need to hear this. I when I think about favoritism, there are some people who come to mind, who they need I'll I'll send them a link to this. When does this come out? Right? So he says, do not hold your faith in our glorious lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. Right? For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring dressed in fine clothes and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, you pay attention to the one who's wearing the fine clothes and you say, sit here in a good place. You say, the poor man, stand over there. Have you not made distinctions among yourself and become judges with evil motives? So in this, he's not saying, right, do you or don't you. He's saying you do.

Roger [: 00:35:12

Right? Everybody get you do. If you think you don't, you're lying to yourself. We do. It's it's it is natural. So, Lord, just show me just show me how that plays out in my life. I definitely do. No favoritism. I definitely do.

Roger [: 00:35:30

God shows no partiality. And in that, it's not to become perfect. It's to become intimate with him and understand with him, there is none. And to recognize in mind how glorious it is that with him, there is none. Because he says in Corinthians, right, that he he nullifies the things that are. God has chosen the things that are not in order that he could nullify the things that are. In fact, he shows that the the scales of the world are messed up because the scales of the world is I I I I show favoritism to those who have typically have something I want. Right? So I show favoritism toward them.

Roger [: 00:36:16

Aren't you glad that God is not like that? That's what he said. So this is not only for God to cleanse that in me, but for me to recognize, lord, I am so grateful that with you, there is no partiality. Because I wouldn't have measured up because that was one of the things that wasn't. He also says you shall not distort justice. You shall not be partial. You shall not take a bribe for a bribe does what? Blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. So I thought in what ways do you slide the line? In what ways do you slide the line? Because we all do that, don't we? Yeah. Right.

Roger [: 00:37:03

We have a line of of and then we kinda slide it like this depending on where I am. Right? So this is me, so I've gotta slide the line. Right? Lines like this. So what what areas do we kinda slide the line? And he says, you could do it for gain, maybe, or you could do it for the favor of someone else. Does it happen among God's people? Yeah. Does it happen in your life? Yeah. Dang. I know I shouldn't have come today.

Roger [: 00:37:38

Exactly. Yeah. But, again, we have two things when we do this. One, we get real with God. This is in my heart. Lord, change it. And two, we we kneel in gratitude. Lord, I am so grateful that you don't slide the line, that I can't buy you off, that I can't push you in the corner, that I can't bribe you, I can't make you do anything.

Roger [: 00:38:01

No one can make him do anything. God is free. God is free. We're not, are we? You can make you can make me do anything. And, again, I I remember the story of the the, during the war war crimes, story of a a an old man who had made it through Alstewitch, and he was in the war crimes trial. And at he was just weeping at the end, and a reporter came to him and said, this must be hard, just recounting all that you went through. And he said, is that why you're broken? He said, no. He said, I'm broken because when I saw those people on the, on the stand, I realized I'm just like them.

Roger [: 00:38:47

That would have been me. And we realized, right, in the right circumstance, we all would do things we would say we would never do. We never do. Our god is not like that. Our god cannot be bribed. He cannot be coerced. He cannot be pushed into our corner. Aren't you grateful that our god is free? And so as we tangle with these issues in our life, we need the grace of god, the mercy of god.

Roger [: 00:39:15

Or as he say, come boldly before the throne of grace. It's throne of grace that we may receive mercy because we've sinned and grace to help in time of need. But we also have increasing gratitude that our god is not like us. That's a really good thing. And then if you think about the Jews, I thought, so what is it with the Jews? Right? Well, we have the law. I mean, they would say, I'm I mean, we have Moses. We have the law. Like, what's up? You know? That's called spiritual smugness.

Roger [: 00:39:56

Mm-mm. Smugness. Spiritual smugness. Right? Spiritual smugness. What's that like? I'm evangelical. I'm not like those religions religious people. I'm not like those big denominations. I'm evangelical, kind of spiritual smugness.

Roger [: 00:40:23

I know everything that's right. I believe everything that's right. There can be spiritual smugness, arrogance, pride. Oh, where he says, for through the grace given me, through the grace given me, through the grace given me. The apostle Paul says, don't forget from whence you have come through the grace given me. He says, I say to everyone, to who? Everyone. Everyone. Not to think more highly of themselves than he ought to think, but to think so as to as to have sound judgment.

Roger [: 00:41:05

And so if you go through this and let god do the hard work, it's hard to be spiritually smug. Right? Then you walk in grace. Hey. But for the grace of God, there go I. Then we're asking, okay. So in what things? Because the Jews were saying, well, you know, I'm I'm good because we have the law. The Gentiles says, well, I'm good because I don't have the law. So he's saying, in what things do you boast for your salvation? Well, I know that god chooses.

Roger [: 00:41:48

Therefore, he must have chosen me. There must be something. Right? There must be something in which he chose me, so he reminds it. But by his doing who's doing? His doing are you in Christ Jesus. And Jesus became to us our wisdom from God, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Is there anything else? That's it. That's your salvation. Sanctification, your righteousness, your sanctification, your redemption.

Roger [: 00:42:28

That'd be all. And he says he did all that. Why? Let him who boast, boast in the lord. Good choice, lord. You got me on your team. I can do a lot for the lord. Right? So it's a great reminder. Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.

Roger [: 00:42:57

Boast is what flag do you hang out. Right? When you go into army, what's the flag? What do you identify with? Daily, what's your flag? Our flag is the lord Jesus Christ, the grace of almighty god, the mercy of him. Right? And lastly, so I've prayed this before, pray this. Everyone wants to have IQ. Right? So pray for IQs. IQs. Pray for IQs. So I stands for incline.

Roger [: 00:43:43

What's the scripture? Incline my heart to thee and to thy testimonies. Incline my heart. Is that a good prayer? Incline my heart to you, Lord, in your testimonies. That's a good one. Right? Tip it that way. Tip it that way. Then he says, cleanse my heart. Create in me a clean heart and an upright spirit.

Roger [: 00:44:06

Right? Cleanse my heart. Create in me a clean heart and an upright spirit. Next, he prays, unite my heart that I may hear your name. Unite my heart. What's that mean? My heart is divided. It's divided. I need him to unite my heart. In Ephesians, he said that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.

Roger [: 00:44:37

The eyes of your heart may be enlightened, that you may know the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I love this. And the surpassing greatness of his power toward you as you believe. So enlighten my heart. Enlighten my heart. Then he says in in in tongues, he said, I will run the way of your testimonies because you have enlarged my heart enlarged my heart, given me the capacity to run the way of your testimonies. And lastly, he prays that God would strengthen you with power through his spirit so that Christ can dwell in your heart by faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints with us of breadth, length, height, depth. So that is strengthen my heart.

Roger [: 00:45:29

Strengthen me with power. Isn't that cool? So you wanna have increase your IQ? Get IQs. So, yeah, that came really inspired from John Piper. I just added a couple of things to it, but the IQs. Right? So ask god to do hard work in you as a result of this. So we realized there is no excuse. Right? Born Jewish, not. There is no excuse in the world.

Roger [: 00:45:59

So the result for us is that we need God to do the hard work, to rid out our favoritism, to rid out our desire to slide the line, to gain something, to rid out our spiritual smugness, and to stand in the grace that God is not like that and to be grateful and thankful for that every day and to boast in our lord Jesus Christ that he is our wisdom from god, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. And lastly, pray for god to do his work in my heart. Incline it, cleanse it, unite it, enlighten it, enlarge it, and strengthen it. Lord, do your work. Do the work that I can't do. Do the work in here in my heart. Alright. Write down an inside or an application.

Roger [: 00:46:48

Okay. So he says let's pull it apart. He said, so when? So notice how that begins. So he says, for when? Okay. So if you see, I've got friends who are Mormons who are are who do a lot of good things. Right? Who have have integrity, who do good things. Right? So when you say for when they, they don't know the Lord. For when they do instinctively, because they're not believers, the things that are in the law, There is a law inside of them.

Roger [: 00:47:20

He says, what does that show? And in that notice in that. What do they show? In that. See that phrase? Yeah. In that, they show what do they show? Work of the law. The work of the law written where? In their heart. What is it? Their conscience, and it bears witness. So he's saying, out in the world, you're gonna see people who seem to do the some right things. And you say, wait a minute.

Roger [: 00:47:47

They're not believers. I mean, they haven't come to Christ. Right? They seem to you know, other than the fact that, you know, they don't drink coffee, I don't know what that has to do with anything, but they act very you know? I have one of my coaches who's very I mean, talks about Jesus Christ. He's a he's very committed, and he's he does a lot of good things. But you say, so what about that? So you say, what about for when Gentiles do those things instinctively, they show that there's a law. There's a law written in their hearts, and that law is their conscience. And that law is written in everybody's heart because god has given everyone a conscience. Does that make sense? So you look in that in or that with your watch, that's that that's the the the focus of it because the the be it's it begins for when? Gentiles.

Roger [: 00:48:40

So in this case, you see that. And it's in that, they show. What are they showing? The work of the law. Where is it written? In their hearts. What's that called? Their conscience. And their conscience bears witness. Bears witness to the fact that there's that there's right and wrong. It's written inside of everyone Right.

Roger [: 00:48:58

That we would call good and not good. His heart his heart is deceitful. But in the core there, everyone has a sense that there's right or wrong. Some with a greater sense of it. Some, it's been, it's been taught more than others. But, essentially, no no one anywhere is without excuse because god has put that sense of right and wrong. We may argue what's right and what's wrong. We may argue whether right and wrong even exist.

Roger [: 00:49:25

We may argue all that. The mere fact that we're arguing about right or wrong suggests there is a law. There is a law of what's right and what's wrong, good and evil. Right? Does that make sense? Even the fact that, you know, you would say, how could you what what is evil? Well, why would you even be able to say there's evil? In a random world, all good and evil is irrelevant. If there if there is no god, then there is no standard. If there is no standard, then why are you asking good and evil? Because in a in a random world, if it really is a random world without god, I just do what's right for me. I'd just do what's good for me and whatever I call good, that's good. That make sense? He knew in his yeah.

Roger [: 00:50:06

That's where he fell. Yeah. He fell apart. That's right. That make sense? Yeah. Because we can't, of course, know good and evil and not fall. Like, you can't know good and evil and not fall. Right? Which is why, of course, the introduction of evil to younger and younger kids through this piece of machinery means evil is showing up aberrant ways even more earlier, right, even more sooner because kids can't make a decision about that kind of stuff.

Roger [: 00:50:40

And he I you know, I like the picture of the laser level because the laser level doesn't you know, the plumb line can kinda waver, but laser level, I there is not, grateful. Who else did you get from today? And I thank the Lord because he says that's the new covenant. I take your heart of stone out, and I give you a heart of flesh. I give you a new spirit, and I put my spirit within you. Now I have a new heart. I have a new spirit that that now communicates and and connects with god, and his spirit's within us as well. And his spirit confirms with our spirit that we are children of god by which we respond, what? Abba. Right? Papa father.

Roger [: 00:51:22

Right? That's the confirmation, right, if you will. Right? That's the confirmation. Good. Good day? May the god in whom there is no shadow of turning. May he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom deep in your heart and your soul, and may you walk as a child of the most high God.

Roger [: 00:51:52

May he bless you and keep you. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:57

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.