Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to look at a passage of scripture from Romans chapter 2
Roman’s 2:5-8
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,…
First of all, the Apostle is teaching here that a person is storing up wrath for themselves because of a hard and impenitent heart. That is where we’re going to begin today. What does it mean to have a hard heart.
Somebody who has a hard heart is lacking in sympathetic understanding and completely unfeeling and pitiless. Hard-heartedness is being unfeeling or unmerciful.
Hebrews 3:8
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Hebrews 3:15
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Our Lord God is full of pity he is very very merciful.
James 5:11
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1st Peter 3:8
8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
Someone who is hard-hearted is incapable of being moved to pity. When we come boldly to the throne of grace and confess our sins to the Lord He is moved with pity and grants us His forgiveness and Grace. When people cried out… thou son of David have mercy on me… our Lord was moved with pity towards them.
Somebody who is in the church who is hard-hearted is incapable of having those feelings towards others. Hard-hearted people are incapable of being tender. They are completely without feeling.
People like that just shut those feelings off like a light switch. You may try to reach out to them because you care and love them but they shut those feelings completely off inside their hearts. Our study passage teaches that those who are a hard-hearted and impenitent are treasuring up for themselves ref against God’s judgment.
Tenderness is a feeling of concern and gentle affection or being warm-hearted.
Someone who is impenitent does not feel any shame or regret about their actions are attitudes. They are the kind of person when you say, hey you hurt me, they will not apologize. That’s why if people didn’t try to reconcile and at least say I’m sorry and confess your sins to others who they wronged in the church, they were given two or three opportunities. If they weren’t going to apologize it was caused by a hard unforgiving heart and you were supposed to keep separate from them.
If you wrong somebody and you can’t make a simple apology saying I’m sorry I did that then they’re hard-hearted. That’s not the heart of Christ because they don’t feel any shame or regret about what they’ve done enough to say I’m sorry to another.
A synonym for the word shame is to feel guilt. If you feel guilt it means you realize that you’ve done something wrong. You realize that you violated some moral or ethical code. An impenitent person does not have those feelings.
You approach someone and tell them you did this to me and that hurt but they don’t care. The reason why is because instead of a tender heart their heart has become hard and unforgiving. Soft hearted people are very forgiving and merciful. They understand how much Jesus Christ has forgiven them and they extend that same forgiveness to others around them.
Impenitent people are obstinate and very stubborn. An impenitent person doesn’t feel any remorse, which means they’re not sad about what they’ve done wrong, they’re not sad enough even to apologize.
Remorseless actually means to be unsorry. Remorseful means to feel sorrowful. If you feel sorry, your going to regret what you’ve done. Actually the word sorry means to feel regret. If you’re sorry, you are apologetic for some fault or error.
When we are sorry before the Lord Jesus Christ and regret what we done, what do we do? We confess our sins to him because we know he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Faithful means He will do it when we confess them to Him. Those who are hard-hearted do not confess their sins and they do not admit fault, or apologize to somebody else. They’re incapable of saying I’m sorry or being merciful. In that state what they are doing is treasuring up unto themselves wrath.
God someday will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honor and immaturity eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and Wrath.
Remember if you take a step back a few verses in our passage today look at verse 28 of chapter 1 he talks about this group of people. He says..
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
When somebody is involved with contention it means that they struggle in opposition. They openly oppose something that they don’t want to obey. Instead of believing the truth of God’s word, they’ve turned completely against it and fight against it. Contention is a striving and rivalry or to fight actively against something.
We have to receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls. Being meek means you submit or you are submissive and humbly obedient. The Bible is filled with verses about submitting to God’s word and to your Authority.
Hebrews 13:17
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Parents have the rule over children. When they rule it means that they control others or have dominion over them.
Parents have control over their children that have been granted to them by God. I was at a grocery store one time where it said if you’re not going to control your children we will control them for you. As I’ve said numerous times, lots of people in the professing Christian church today have a problem with control. They do not want to be controlled or to submit.
When you control others it means you exercise authority over them. When you have control it is defined in the dictionary as power to influence or to direct people’s behavior or course of events.
In the church we want to allow ourselves to be controlled by those who have the rule over us. A husband has the rule over his wife. If she doesn’t yield herself and submit to his authority that’s called Rebellion. I refer to it as marital mutiny.
Children are controlled by the parents. They need to do what they are told. In the church we are under the control and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We want to submit to them.
We can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need but God ultimately wants us to get forgiven and to become obedient and faithful children. Isn’t that what you dads out there in the world want for your children?
We are supposed to obey those that have the rule over us. The reason why, is because they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief because that is unprofitable for you.
Paul cared greatly for the church as did Timothy. They spoke the truth to others so that they would believe and submit to it.
Ephesians 5:21
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
If you truly fear God, children will submit to their parents. A wife will submit to her husband and so on and so forth. No submission to their authority means no fear of God or love for Him either.
James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
Ephesians 5:24
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
The church is subject to Christ which means we are under his authority.
1st Peter 5:5
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
So whoever is your Authority you need to obey them.
Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Once again if you are in contention you are opposing the other party. That means actively resisting. Ultimately before the return of Jesus Christ the Antichrist is going to oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is gone.
2nd Thessalonians 2:4 the devil will oppose and fight against the things of God. He’s been doing that since the beginning of time.
In order to inherit eternal life someday, we need to accept biblical truth. We need to take a look at our own hearts and minds and realize the wrong things that we have committed against God and others. Someday God is going to render to every man according to his deeds.
The simple truth is that we are all sinners. What we need to do is come to Christ and get forgiven for our sins so that they can be blotted out.
Remember the Apostle James taught that faith without works is dead .1 we should desire to get forgiven with God and others and seek to do what’s good and right with our lives because ultimately those are the people who are going to inherit eternal life someday.
God doesn’t want any to perish and He gives us Grace in order to grow. For some, it takes more grace than others but those who are contentious are a completely different group of people. They will not submit themselves at all to the teachings of Christ. They completely turn away from it because they have no remorse for what they’re doing. They are an open opposition and contention with Biblical truth.
People in that state, without a repentant heart and belief of the truth are going to inherit wrath from God someday.
So these are some serious things to consider today. Turn to Christ. He loves us and cares for us. He wants to cover our sins and forgive us. He wants us to reconcile with others and to walk in love toward Him and with our neighbor. By this shall know truly if you are a disciple of Christ if you have Love in Your Heart.
Think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to some more tommorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 