Condemnation According to Righteousness
Romans 2:4-5 · Jim Pool · Jan 1, 2006
Romans (2005-07), No. 13
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262340277261

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Romans chapter 2 and I thought we would do a little bit of a review this morning because we've been gone for two weeks so kind of refresh our memories and our minds as to where we are and what's going on so we're in this section of the righteousness of God is required and it brings condemnation and this section starts in chapter 1 and verse 18 and it continues on down through chapter 3 and verse 20. Bob covered for us 118 through the end of chapter 1 and then two weeks ago we looked at chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 and then today we're going to be looking at chapter 2 and I think we're going to get through verse 4 and 5. That's kind of our objective today. So we're in this section right here. Condemnation according to divine standards, impartiality and it's according to to righteousness. It's kind of a little bit of a review there.

So if you go to page 2 of your handouts there, what we're talking about is some different people groups. And all of these people groups are unbelievers. We kind of left off class two weeks ago, kind of talking about this, this big picture of what's going on here. So the unbelieving people groups described are, the first group is the pagan Gentiles are condemned, and Bob covered that for us three or four weeks ago now.

The moral Gentiles are also condemned, and then the Jews are condemned, and then he finally ends up with that the whole world is condemned. So there's really three different groups of folks are being described there, and Paul's point is to show that everybody, apart from faith in Christ, stands under judgment before God. It doesn't matter what you're doing, what you're not doing, how religious you are, how religious you are not, none of that matters. Everybody that has not put their faith and trust in Christ stands condemned under the judgment of God. That's really Paul's point here in chapters 1, 18 through 3, verse 20. So that kind of gives us an intro and paints for us the big picture. Let's go to 2 and let's read through here verses 1 through five. There we go.

Therefore, you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment. For in that you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things, and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, in revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

So if we were to look at these three verses here, and we covered verse three two weeks ago, We see there's really three things that are going on, that are actions of the moral Gentiles, which is the people group that we're talking about at this time. They're thinking this, or they're having some wrong thoughts or some wrong mindsets about judging others. They think that because they judge others, yet they do the same things that they judge others for, they're going to escape the judgment of God. and they're despising the riches, or thinking lightly of the riches of God's goodness and His kindness, and there's this hardness of their heart, and they're treasuring up for themselves wrath.

So this is the three things that we want to see in terms of what are they doing? What is their action? These are the three things that they're doing that are indicating a rejection, a hardness, in a sense, suppressing the truth, as we saw described back in chapter 1, verses 15, 16, and 17. So that's kind of the big picture as to what it is that they're doing.

So let's look closely at verse 3 here. So he says this, do you think lightly, or the KJV uses the word there for us, or do you despise? And so what I think is happening here, let's read through verse 3 again, chapter 2 verse 3, let's just read through verse 3 again. mindset in the folks right there.

They are supposing that they are above the judgment of God. They're putting themselves above the judgment of God. Prideful, arrogant, self-centered, self-focused. So I think that's what's happening here, and because of that, because of their prideful mindset, and of their self-righteousness, they are thinking lightly, or they're despising the kindness of God. They put themselves up above the kindness of God. I don't need the kindness of God. I don't need God's love. I don't need God's forbearance. I don't need any of this, because I am above the righteousness and the judgment of God.

To break it down, kind of word for word here, the idea here of thinking lightly It comes from two separate words, kata, which means down, and frones, which means to have understanding, or to be wise, or to think. So, what's actually happening here is they're thinking down upon, or they're not thinking highly of, or they're kind of looking down their nose at this, looking down their nose at it. And so, and it's also in the indicative mood, the present active indicative mentioned right here and what this means it joins together the declaration with the question and it goes something like this do you think lightly and oh yeah you do and so it's making the statement that you do do you think lightly and oh yeah you do so what is it that they're thinking down upon or not thinking highly of, or looking down their nose at. They're looking down their nose at, or not thinking highly of, of the riches of God.

I'm kind of standing in your house. Sorry about that. I kind of see you trying to... So, look at the verse there. Verse 4. Do you think lightly, or do you despise the riches of God? And, oh, by the way, you are. So, they are thinking lightly, and they are despising of the riches of his kindness and of his forbearance and of his patience. So let's look at this idea here of riches. And Paul mostly used this word to describe the quality of the divine attributes and gifts.

And let's take a minute and look at this in the book of Ephesians here. So let's go over to Ephesians. As we read through these in Ephesians, there's going to be this great description of the attributes and the characteristics of God described for us here in Ephesians, and these that we're going to read, these riches of God that are described here, are the very things that they're looking down their nose at, the very things that they are thinking lightly of, and they are despising and they're putting down. So just think about, as we read through these, think about it in that context. Bob, will you read for us there, Ephesians 1 verse 7 and then read first verse 18. Okay, Ephesians 1 verse 7.

Whom we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. His glory of His inheritance in the saints. So you can kind of get a feel for this richness of God that's being described here. And this is what the folks are putting down. This is what the folks are thinking down upon and looking down their nose at. Over in chapter 2, in verse 4 and verse 7. Cale, would you read that for us? Would you do that for us?

Would God be in rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us? In order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Okay. Being rich in mercy there. And he would show to us The surpassing riches of His grace. Now, the idea of surpassing riches of His grace is beyond whatever we can even comprehend there. You know, the idea that God is able to do more than we can even ask or think. That's what we're talking about when we think about the riches of God. And these folks are saying, nah, you know what, that's not important and I'm going to despise that. I'm not going to think very highly of that.

Incredible. Chapter 3. verse 8 and verse 16. Katie, would you read that for us? Thanks. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And 16, I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through the Spirit Okay. So we see there being described the unfathomable riches of God's grace and of His glory and of His mercy. And we go back to Romans in chapter 2.

Here's this group of unbelievers, moral Gentiles, and they are thinking lightly of this. They're despising this. They're looking down upon it. Now that's describing them. Now just, you know, just for Conversations say, here's a group, here we are as believers, is it possible for us to do the same thing at times? Sure, yeah. I mean, the context we're talking about, the unbelievers, the Gentiles that are moral, unbelieving folks, but at the same time, let's not put ourselves higher than them and say that, boy, they're doing that, but we can't do that. We can easily fall prey and fall into the same trap ourselves.

Okay, they're thinking lightly of, they're despising the riches of God's or of His kindness and His forbearance and His patience. So he says, he mentions three things there that they're describing the riches. The riches of God's kindness or of His goodness as the KJV says, the riches of God's forbearance, and then the riches of God's patience or the riches of His long-suffering. So it's important to mention that God is the author of all three of these things. It's the riches of God's patience, of His forbearance, and of His kindness. So, first of all, let's look at the kindness of God, or the goodness of God, as the KJV uses the word there, goodness.

And I think we're looking at the idea here in the fact of His goodness, that He's preserving them, He's providing for them, and He's protecting them. Oh, typo there, it should be them, not them. So, in His kindness, God's preserving them, He's providing for them, and He's protecting them. But what? They thought lightly of this. They despised it. It wasn't important to it. They looked down their nose at it.

Okay, slide four, page four. Okay, so we come to the next characteristics of God, which is here, mentioned. This is forbearance, or the holding back of God. Holding back for the time being, His wrath, and the judgment of God. His forbearance. He was holding back His wrath and judgment for the time being. And what did they think of this? It wasn't important, looked down upon it, thought lightly of it. This is the mindset of those folks there. And then finally, the patience of God. Even though they despised God's goodness and His forbearance, they thought lightly of those, He was still patient and He was still long-suffering with them.

We can't see the character of God coming out here towards these people who were unbelievers of Him. Boy, incredible stuff here. And also, His character and His attributes towards us. He deals with us in the same way, which is pretty amazing. Okay, so, let me just read through the verse, catch the flow here.

Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, of His forbearance, of His patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? So this idea here of not knowing is actually of ignoring it or intentionally not recognizing it. So it wasn't that they were not knowing in the sense of ignorant of it. They were choosing, on their own, to ignore it. Of their own decision, of their own volition, to intentionally not recognize this kindness of God. That's what it means there by not knowing.

And it's a present active participle, which means that they were, at that moment, and it was a reality, they were intentionally not recognizing this kindness of God. It wasn't something that they did every now and then, they were continually not recognizing this kindness, the riches of God, as He was wanting to communicate to them.

An incredible statement here, that the riches of God's kindness and His forbearance and His patience were meant to lead someone to repentance. When we think about being led to repentance before God. Don't we oftentimes think of the chastening hand of God when it comes to God leading us to repentance? Sometimes we can think of being drawn to God that way, as opposed to being drawn to God through His kindness and through His forbearance and through His patience. These characteristics of God's kindness were intended to bring these folks to repentance.

To me, that's an amazing, again, communication of the character of God and how he's interacting and how he's working with mankind. Isn't that also, though, how with Christ living through us, that's how people we come in contact with see the Lord? That's right. Those exact things, the kindness, the forbearance, the patience, that's what leads them to the Lord. That's right. He's not our chastening, or He's chastening through us. It's our kindness. It's our demeanor. It's His character. That's what they see. And so then they're drawn. They don't even know why they're drawn. Any other thoughts? Anything we've covered so far? I always wonder what You know, Hal's thinking when he's got us in here, when your Greek opened up over there, you know? So, okay.

So, this is what they were intentionally ignoring. They were despising, they were looking down their nose at this. And again, let's not think that we can't do that. We can. But we're talking about this unbelieving group of Gentiles, moral Gentiles. And this is what they were doing. And actually it was contempt when they ignored it, and they did not recognize the kindness of God. So this simply continues down the path of judgment before God. It's describing this people group, describing their actions, describing what's going on in their lives at this point, the same way that verse 3 did.

Any questions or thoughts? Don't be bashful or don't hesitate to speak out. One thing I just thought of was, do you think that they, in a sense, they had to despise certain things about God for them to be able to judge the other people? Because they had to set themselves up to do something better than the other person so they could judge them. And so then they couldn't see God as being ultimately righteous and as having long-suffering was their fault, because they couldn't see themselves as having faults.

That's right. Their position put them in that That's right. Exactly right, yeah. Everybody catch that? Good point. Okay, verse 5 here. We start off with this word, DE, or BUT, and it's a strong conjunction here. There are several different Greek words that can be used when you come to use this half BUT. and this is the stronger of the conjunctions that are used. So, I think it's kind of culminating to a point here.

He's describing their condemning of the other people, and then he's describing how they suppose they're going to escape the judgment of God, because they're judging other people. He describes how they're thinking lightly of the riches of God, and so it seems like he's kind of building a little bit here.

And then he comes to this, this very strong word, and he says, but because of two things, and the mention of two things here, because of your stubbornness, or your hardness of heart, and your unrepentant, or your impotent heart, you're storing up wrath, or treasuring it for yourself, and the day of wrath, and the revelation, and the judgment of God is the way that this verse is going to flow. So basically, because of two things, if we look at the verse, because of your stubbornness, And because of your unrepentant heart, is the way that the NAS reads, you're storing up wrath. So let's look at these two things here. Because of your stubbornness, or because of your hardness, as the KJV reads here.

And that word is communicating, it's a dry, hard, or obstinate heart, tough or calloused, and it's indicating a harsh or inhumane character, and that Greek word there is where we get our English word, skeleton, from. So, because of their tough, or callous, or hardened hearts, or stubborn, obstinate heart.

Then he also says, unrepentant, here. And, I'm not willing to change one's mind, or to think differently, or to reconsider. The idea here of repent is to change one's mind. or to think differently about something. We talk about repent, which is this word here, our English word here, metamorphosis, comes from that. But then when you put the ah in front of it, it means unrepentant, or you're not willing to change your mind, or you're not willing to think differently about something.

So, because of your stubbornness, because of your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath, The KJV reads, treasuring up unto yourself. So this idea of treasuring up or storing up, it's a verb and it's a present active indicative. It means that it's happening. They're doing it. It's happening right now and it's a reality.

It's not like, well, you're being stubborn and you're being unrepentant and watch out and be careful because you might someday start storing up for yourself treasure. No. You are, right now, storing up for yourself wrath. I've said treasure there, it meant to say wrath. You're storing up for yourselves wrath in the day of wrath. So, that's the idea that he's trying to communicate. You guys are right now storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God.

It's because of their stubbornness and it's because of their unrepentant heart. Again, he's just describing the mindset of these people in this whole passage here. He's trying to get them to see what their See how their thinking is wrong. Got a thought? I haven't given that much thought. What are you thinking?

Let's go there. We're going to spend some time there. So, in this day of wrath and revelation, of the Righteous Judgment of God. So, we're coming into this section here talking about the Day of Wrath and the Righteous Judgment of God. So, I wanted to take a minute and look at the major judgments of God to kind of set a stage for what event are we talking about. Is that kind of what you were going?

Yeah, because the King James has against, but I have in the margin that it's in, which makes me think the Interlunary Creed is probably in. What do you have there, Hal? Okay, it's in, in the day of wrath. I think in context, against and in carry very different messages. They can't be related, but they're very different. Okay, we've got 15-20 minutes left, so it's going to be interesting. Here we go.

So, as we talked about, coming into this section about the judgments of God, and we talked about it up in chapter, verse 1 and verse 2 and verse 3, all talked about the judgment the judgment of God. So, we will look at the major judgments of God. There was the Fall, the very beginning to describe the First and Genesis. The judgment there, they received the sin nature because of their sin. They were booted out of the Garden of Eden and eventually they died physically. All part of the judgment of God. There was the Flood, God judged mankind. by sending the flood which destroyed the whole earth except for Adam and Noah and his family.

And then the cross, God judged the sins of the world. Those who put their faith and trust in Christ received the benefit from Christ's work there for all of mankind. And then this arrow at Pentecost is where Christ ascended, where he went back up into heaven. He ascended back up into heaven. And so now, we are in this period right here, which is described as the Church Age. It's also sometimes described as the Age of Grace. The Church Age, or the Age of Grace.

When this New Testament was written, it was written right about, you know, very soon after the cross. And, you know, when Paul was writing, his scriptures here, he's writing Romans, he was here very shortly after the day of Pentecost and Christ's ascension, and Paul had no idea how long this period was going to be.

He didn't know. In fact, what was Paul's mindset about how long this period would be? Not that long. Come now. He was expecting this imminent or quick return of Christ. So here we are, we just chimed in the new year last night, we're 2006 years later. If we get chatted with Paul, he'd probably blow his mind that it's taken this long and Christ still isn't back yet, but he's not. So here we are.

Now there's going to be, at the end of this church age, there's going to be what is called the rapture, which is where the believers are are raptured off of the face of the earth. Christ comes and he raptures up the believers and they meet together in the air. Christ doesn't actually come all the way down to the earth, but he is in the air and he raptures believers. Even the dead believers, those that are alive, meet the Lord in the air, and even those that have died, meet the Lord in the air at the event called the rapture.

And then begins the tribulation, which is going to be seven years of tribulation. We're going to read about it. It's going to be a very difficult time on the earth. It's basically God's judgment that's going to be poured out on the earth. We're going to look a little bit into that. Now, while this tribulation period is going on, there's going to be the judgment seat of Christ.

Sometimes you can hear it described as the Bema seat. And what this is, is where the works or the deeds of the believers are judged. before Christ. So, it's going to be judged, were our deeds or were our works done in the flesh, or were they done in the Spirit? Were they done of man's effort, or were they done through Christ living His life in and through us? That's going to be the theme of Seed.

And then there's going to be the judgment of the nation, which is at the end of the Tribulation, Christ comes back. He actually comes back to the earth. He returns to the Mount of Olives. the judgment of the nations and he separates the sheep from the goats as described in Matthew chapter 25 I think it is 25 there for us and then we enter into this Millennial Kingdom which is a thousand year reign which is primarily set up for the Jews and the reason that this Millennial Kingdom is here is because back during this part God made some promises, and He made some covenants, and He made some agreements with the nation of Israel, all the way back here.

And many of those promises and many of those covenants have not yet been fulfilled. So, is God just going to go back on His word? Are those things never going to happen? No, God can't do that. It's against the nature of God. So, things that have happened, that were told by God to the nation of Israel, promises and covenants back here, these things are going to be fulfilled here, during the Memorial Kingdom, they're going to come true. And during this time, Satan is bound, and he does not have his free reign, to a degree, free reign within the sovereignty of God, as he does now. And so, at the end of this, Satan is going to be released, and there's going to be this one last final battle, where Satan gathers together some armies from the four corners of the earth, and tries one last time and God defeats him very quickly. And then comes the Great White Throne Judgment, where unbelievers stand before God, and they are judged, the Great White Throne Judgment, and then finally there's the purging of the earth, where the whole earth is destroyed, and then God creates a new heaven and a new earth described for us in Revelation chapter 21. This is a lot here. but it helps give us an idea as to what we're going to be talking about in relation to this Day of Wrath and the Judgment of God and the Great White Throne Judgment.

Any questions? The question that we want to ask, which is what Bob posed here, we're in verse 5. This is coming from the KJV here. So, what we want to ask, the question is, what is this right here? What is this Day of Wrath? Because you're treasuring up something for yourself, for this Day of Wrath. So, what is it and when is it going to happen?

So, let's look at this in a little bit of detail. This word here, day, it's used several different ways. A normal day or a period of undefined length marked by certain characteristics. So, that's when we look at the word day. We need to keep that in mind. So, when we think about the Day of Wrath, are we thinking about a 24-hour period or are we thinking that it can be a longer period distinguished by certain characteristics, events or judgments, etc. The idea here of wrath is a settled attitude of God's righteous anger with a view towards judgment. So, the day of wrath, that describes that there. So, when we look at this day of wrath, it's foretold in both the Old and the New Testament, and it's a future day.

It hasn't happened yet, it's something that's going to be down the road. sometime in the future. And now it also involves both the Jews and the Gentiles, when we look at it described, and it's characterized by a day of God's judgment on the earth, and it's for unbelievers. It takes place on the earth, and it is for unbelievers. Next page.

So let's read some of these Old Testament references that are talking about this day of wrath Job 21 and verse 30 says that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath described for us in Job yet future then and it's yet future now Ezekiel 7 19 they shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be removed their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of wrath of the Lord the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowls, because it is a stumbling block of their iniquity."

Zephaniah 1.15 and then 1.18 as well. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Verse 18, neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy radiance of all them that dwell in the land.

And in Matthew, the New Testament reference, and there's others too. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee? from the wrath to come. So, those are some of them, not all of them, of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament references of the Day of Wrath. So, what is the Day of Wrath and when does it occur?

Some possibilities are it's the Great White Throne Judgment, it's the Tribulation Period and the Judgment of the Nations, or it is both. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11 through 15, if we were to look that up and read that, it describes for us the Great White Thorn Judgment. If you go back to your chart there, it was Judgment number 8 at the very end over here. You can read about that. The Tribulation Period and the Judgment of the Nations is described for us in several different spots. Matthew 24, Chapter 24 and Chapter 25, and then Revelation 6-19, quite a lengthy part there describing it in detail.

Both of these are judgments. So, what is this Day of Wrath talking about? Some basic observations, which these are key. It doesn't appear that the Great White Throne judgment is referred to as a Day of Wrath in either the Old or the New Testament. up-front, clear observation. You don't see the Great White Throne Judgement ever referred to as the Day of Wrath. But it does appear that the Day of Wrath correlates with the Tribulation Period and the Judgment of the Nations at Christ's Second Coming for the following reasons. The Tribulation Period is summarized as follows. The Great Day of His Wrath has come.

Who shall I'll be able to stand in Revelation 6, verse 17, and then the church is not subject to God's wrath. We are now in Christ, we are the bride of Christ, the church is not subject to God's wrath, which would be the tribulation period. A couple of scriptures there that mention that. Okay, the Day of Wrath in the Old Testament prophecies is characterized by a day of trouble and distress, and we would see this clearly laid out if we were to read in detail the Ezekiel passages and the Zephaniah passages, okay? Just to make sure that we're clear as to where that's coming from. I won't take the time to read all those now.

It's described as a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction, desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness. Now, this is the same description of the tribulation period in Matthew chapter 24 and in verse 25. So, if we were to take the time and read through Matthew chapter 24 and Matthew chapter 25, which describe the tribulation period, we would see that these are saying the same and very similar things. The Old Testament passages in Matthew 24 and 25 and then Revelation chapter 6 through chapter 19 is also saying the same thing.

So it's all talking about the same event. Jim, I'd say a 13.6-16 is also very good here. Did everybody catch that? 13, Isaiah chapter 13. So, if the Old Testament passages that we looked at, including the Isaiah, the one that Bob just brought out, And if the passages in Matthew, and if the passages in Revelation are all talking about the same event, then the conclusion is that the description of the Tribulation period, the conclusion would be that the Day of Wrath is the Tribulation period.

And that would be what it is that's being described in Romans 2, verse 5. And again, we mentioned this earlier when we were looking at the timeline, Paul expected the imminent return of Christ. We call it the rapture, termed it the rapture. And he knew that the tribulation period, or the day of wrath, would be immediately following. So this is what Paul appears to be stating in Romans chapter 2 and verse 5. So, let's look at Romans 2 and 5. Again, let's read it with this observation, with this conclusion in mind.

So, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. So, Paul knows that the tribulation is coming, and Paul knows that it's going to be a time of great judgment, followed by the judgment of the nations. So, Paul's writing to these guys, and they're stubborn, and they're unrepentant, and they're thinking lightly about the kindness of God, and they're judging others, thinking, and he's saying, listen guys, you're building up wrath for yourselves on this day of wrath, which he thinks is very imminent. It could be, in his mind, it could have been that very same day, it could have been the next day, very soon. So listen, you're heaping up, you're storing up for yourselves wrath on the day of wrath. You know, we store up things, you know, everybody has collections of whatever we personally like to collect, we're storing up stuff. And he says, you're storing up for yourselves wrath on this day of wrath, which is going to be... our conclusion here is the tribulation followed by the judgment of the nations.

The righteous judgment of God, the righteous judgment of the nations at Christ's second coming, immediately after the tribulation, that's referred to in Matthew 24, 29 through 31. Let's go to Matthew and let's read, let's see here. Let's go to Matthew and chapter 25. Now just for your own reading, because we don't have time this morning, but chapter 24 describes the beginning of the tribulation. And then chapter 24 and verse 7 talks about the Lord coming at the end of this seven year period of time. And then the rest of chapter 24 describes, with some parables in there, describes some of the events during it and following it. And so look at chapter 25 verse 31.

When we talk about the judgment of the nations, which if you go back to the timeline sheet, it's judgment number 6, which takes place at the end of the tribulation, which is what Paul's warning about when he says the Day of Wrath. Christ comes back at the end of the tribulation, and so verse 31 picks up, but when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before Him. and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. So here's his judgment. I mean, this is real. It hasn't happened yet, but it's real and it will happen, just the way that it's told here. And the king will say, meaning Jesus, the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For when I was hungry, You gave me something to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? and the King, me, Jesus, will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me." So, there's a judgment, and what are they judged on? In a sense, they're judged on their deeds, right? He says, you did this, you did this, you did this, you did this, boom, you're in with the sheep. Verse 41.

Then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed ones, into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. When I was a stranger, you did not invite me. And naked, you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, you did not visit me. Then they themselves will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of you? And he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

And these will go away unto eternal punishment, but the righteous unto eternal life." There's the judgment at the end of the tribulation being described there. One more point. Go back to Romans in chapter 2, our verse for today. One of the two verses for today. Romans chapter 2, verse 5. But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. We'll look at verse 6.

Who will render to every man according to his deeds? We just read the judgment of the nations at the end of the tribulation in Matthew, and they were judged according to their deeds. And here he says, the judgment according to your deeds. Conclusion, the Day of Wrath seems to be pointing to this period of tribulation and the judgment of the nations, which is at the end of the tribulation. I didn't want to get too detailed, but I wanted to try to define what is this period of time talking about, and when does this period of time take place. We'll pick it up in verse 6, next week, talk about more of this judgment according to their deeds, down through verse 7. That's great. That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Praise the Lord for that. That's great.

If you think about this through the week, I know it's a lot of information, and you have questions, please, you know, we'll just, we'll talk them through next week. It's no problem at all. But we probably should go to the main service and enjoy Vern's sermon too. Alright, let's pray.

Lord, thank You for this morning, and thank You for Your Word, and let Your Spirit bring these things to our remembrance and continue to give us a clear understanding of what these mean, and not just that they're facts and things to do with stuff in the future that seems to have no relevance right now, but Lord, all your scripture is written and is profitable in our lives right this day. We're thankful for the praise of this grandson trusting the Lord as his personal Savior. Thank you. that now he will not have to go through this judgment that was just described. Thank you for that. In your name we pray. Amen.