Romans 2:8-11 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Summary: God has no favorites, but will judge each person on the fruit of your life. The fruit of your life matters both now and into eternity. The fruit of your present life shows whether you are born of sin, or born again of the Son.

In 2017, Pope Francis said “Is it possible God has some children He does not love? No! We are all God’s beloved children.”

That’s not what God tells us. We have seen that there are two categories of people according to God. There are those who are “Beloved” (Agapetos) and those who are “Of Humanity” (Anthropos). The “Beloved” are beloved children of God because they have believed on God’s Beloved Son (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; 2 Peter 1:17). Receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit causes the heart of the recipient to be “born again”. Those who reject Christ are “condemned already, because they have not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). These people are “in the flesh” (Romans 7:5), they are “of humanity” (Anthropos). They are a creation of God, but are not children of God.

God can look at a person and see what is in their hearts. He can look at you right now and tell if you are saved by faith in Christ (Beloved), or lost and in the flesh (of humanity, Anthropos).

1 Samuel 16:7 … (ESV) the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

The Fruit Of Your Life Matters To God. The Beloved produce good fruit from born again hearts. The Anthropos, the fleshly, produce bad fruit from spiritually dead hearts.

Jesus said in Luke 6:45 (ESV) The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

When you surrender your life to Jesus, our Lord sends the Holy Spirit of God into our hearts to change them, to make us “born again”. Jesus said “You must be BORN AGAIN” (John 3:3). The New Birth is a supernatural event, engineered by God, purchased by Christ. You cannot make yourself “born again” no more than you made yourself come from your mother’s womb in your first birth. This is a Spirit created state. The Biblical synonyms for “born again” are:

Converted (John 12:40; Acts 3:19)
New Birth (1 Peter 1:3, NIV)
New Life (Acts 5:20; Romans 6:4, NIV)
Transferred (Colossians 1:13)

Once you give your life to Jesus, He gives life to you. You are changed. Your heart is changed. Following salvation, you follow Christ. With a new heart, the fruit of your life changes.

And God will judge that fruit.

The Lost Produce Dead, Godless Fruit

Romans 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath

Word Study: The lost who continue to reject Christ as Lord and Savior are “contentious”, the Greek eritheia, which means “to court distinction, to put yourself forward as first”. The contentious are those who are constantly focused not on others and their welfare, but on “I, Me, Mine”. These people – though they may be on a church roll – are NOT saved. The basis of salvation is to first REPENT, that is, to DENY YOURSELF. Jesus said:

Mark 8:34 (NASB) … If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

The mark of the lost contentious person will put themselves FIRST, and God LAST. The lost person also will not “Obey the TRUTH” (John 14:6), that is, obey Jesus Christ. The lost person follows the crowd. The lost “OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS”. They do not care what God has said, but minimize the will of God and the word of God in order to celebrate themselves. God promises to those who leave this life without Jesus that they will have “INDIGNATION AND WRATH”.

Jesus’ greatest critics were the Jews, His own people. They hardened their hearts against God, against Jesus. The Jews – particularly the Pharisees – were PUFFED UP because they kept the ceremonial Laws of God. Since they kept these Laws, the Pharisees felt that they had a front row seat to Heaven. They didn’t. Rejecting Jesus, “The Way, the TRUTH, and the Life” (John 14:6), the Pharisees hardened their hearts to God and did evil.

Beware The Leaven Of The Pharisees And Of Herod

Right after Jesus fed upwards of 4000 with seven loaves of bread and a few fish (He had previously done this same thing with 5000 Jews) (Mark 8:1-9), Jesus had His disciples go with Him to the district of Dalmanutha. The disciples got on the boat, but forgot to bring the seven baskets of leftover bread with them. Jesus told them,

“Beware of the LEAVEN of the Pharisees, and the LEAVEN of Herod” (Mark 8:15)

Now you’ll not understand this unless you understand what “LEAVEN” is. “LEAVEN” is the rising agent that you put in flour when you are making bread. Yeast is a leaven, as is baking powder. If you make bread without leaven, it will be hard and difficult to eat, like the bread we partake of during the Lord’s Table (Communion). Leaven or yeast feeds on sugars in the dough mixture, and expel a non-poisonous gas that causes pockets and rises to form in the bread. Leaven makes bread soft because leaven “puffs up” the bread.

When Jesus warned us “Beware the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and the LEAVEN of Herod” He was warning us to not let that which “puffs up” the Pharisees and Herod enter into our lives. What was the “LEAVEN of the Pharisees”? It was self pride, a puffed up attitude because they kept the ceremonial laws perfectly. They went about arrogant, judging others, mocking those they considered beneath them. The Leaven of the Pharisees says “I am so good, I’ve earned my way into Heaven”. Yet the Pharisees in keeping the ceremonial laws ignored the most important things. They ignored the suffering of those around them. As long as they had their Synagogues and their pew and their fame among the people, they were satisfied. They cared for no one else but themselves. And they will be judged.

The “LEAVEN of Herod” was also a puffed up attitude, but it was without the Law of God. This is the root of Humanism. Herod felt that he was king, and thus better than anyone else. He had little love for the people he ruled, as long as he was center stage. What were the Pharisees and Herod missing?

They were missing Jesus. Jesus told the disciples:

Mark 8:17-21 (ESV) … “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

The Jews (like the Pharisees) thought because they kept the Law, they were right with God. Herod felt that since he was king, he was above God. It was Jesus Who fed the 5000+ Jews. It was Jesus Who fed the 4000+ Gentiles.

We are not to be “puffed up” by religious ceremony nor by human ability. We are to be surrendered to Jesus Christ! We are to be empowered by the Spirit of God.

Your works matter. Your fruit matters. If you do evil, you have God’s promise:

Romans 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every SOUL of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

A judgment day is coming where the SOUL of every person will stand before God. For the Jew who wallowed in the Leaven of the Pharisees, they shall have tribulation and anguish. Judgment day for those who have rejected Christ in favor of their own good works apart from Christ will not have a soft landing in eternity. Yes, dear ones, Jews WILL go to hell, just as do Gentiles. For those who “DO EVIL”, they shall receive the wage of their evil one day. Neither Jew nor Gentile shall escape.

Romans 2:10-11 But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

To those who are “born again” by faith in Christ, who are following Jesus and doing God’s Will, they will receive “glory, honor, and peace”. There is a joy in following Jesus both now and into eternity. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 32:17 (ESV) And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

Jesus took our punishment on the Cross so that we could be born again. Once born again, we are “MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM” (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we are saved, we

Isaiah 2:5 … walk in the light of the LORD.

1 John 1:7 … we walk in the light, as He {Jesus Christ} is in the light ..

Those who are saved walk with Jesus, for Jesus, to honor Jesus in this life. Those people we be honored and blessed both now and into eternity.

Keeping The Law Cannot Save You,
But Sin Will Curse You

If you do not invite God into your life – if you do not repent and call on the Name of Jesus for salvation – you shall stand in judgment before God judged by His Law. God does not wink at sin. Sin is an affront to God, an abomination, a bad decision made in the darkness that ultimately destroys God’s best for us. There is no respect of persons with God. When you stand before God, He will not care whether you are Jew or Gentile. He will not care whether you are black, white, brown, yellow, red, or polka dotted. God doesn’t care!

What God cares about is “Did you obey My Son
– or did you obey Sin?”

Romans 2:12-13 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Those who sinned “without Law”, a reference to the Gentiles, “shall also perish without law”. When you stand before God one day you will not be able to say, “But Lord, I never knew”. Every person – Jew or Gentile – has the basics of the Law of God written in their hearts. People know that it’s wrong to steal, wrong to kill, wrong to rob others. The Ten Commandments were written on stone and given to Israel, not to the Gentiles. But the Gentiles know. When we sin without the Law that Israel had, we still perish though without law – for the wages of sin is ALWAYS death (Romans 3:23).

For the Jew, those who sin in the Law will be judged by the very Law they hide behind. God doesn’t care that you KNOW the Law, but that you DO the Law. When a policeman stops you, his first question is always “Do you know how fast you were going?” He wants you to know that you have broken the law. If you say, “Yes, and I was 15 miles over the speed limit”, the next question is “Then WHY didn’t you obey the Law? Here’s your ticket!” If your reply was, “Was I going too fast? I thought that WAS the speed limit!” Then the policeman will say, “No, you were breaking the Law. Here’s your ticket.”

We all know the Law of God. The Apostle brings this out in:

Romans 2:14-15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

We may delude ourselves. We may harden our hearts. But we all know that there is a God, that He made us, and we know what is right and wrong. We shall all stand before Jesus Christ one day and be judged.

Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

We hide our sins from others, or else deceive ourselves into believing that what is clearly sin is not. Judgment day is coming. Every sin we kept secret, every thing we hid or thought we his from God and others, we will be judged by Jesus. All judgment belongs to Jesus. Jesus told us:

John 5:21-24 (ESV) For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

We will all be judged by Jesus one day. For those who were contentious, that chose to ignore the truth of His Gospel and live their lives without Jesus, they will find a bad judgment day. But those who have repented and called on Jesus for salvation, who followed Him in this life, will have their works judged. Yet their salvation will not be in danger for Christ’s sake.

The Jew Without Jesus Is Not God’s “Chosen”

The Lord now addresses the Jew through the Apostle Paul. Before Paul was “Paul”, he was “Saul”, a Jew of Jews, a Pharisee, a member of the ruling council of Jews called the Sanhedrin. As Saul, Paul felt that he was serving God as he pursued and captured Christians, bringing them back to the Temple to be judged and executed. Saul was a Jew, but he was not one of God’s chosen. Why? Because – until his Damascus Road experience – he rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Romans 2:17-20 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and rest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

Saul like other Jews who have rejected Jesus thought that their knowledge of what the Law of Moses taught – the ceremonies, the feasts, the tithing, etc – made him God’s “Chosen”. Though Saul and other unsaved Jews wrapped themselves in the cloak of God’s Law, the fruit of their lives was still that of a lost person. Why? Because they were still lost. We read:

Romans 2:21-25 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

There are people who, like the Jews, wrap themselves in the Law of God or the Laws of Humanism. They look good on the outside. But like the Pharisees Jesus chastised:

Matthew 23:27 (ESV) … you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

You can paint the mausoleum, but what’s inside is what matters. The Jews declared they were God’s “Chosen People” because they were Jews, because they kept the Law. And yet the fruit of their lives was just as evil as those around them. They may have been outwardly circumcised according to the Law of Moses, but their hearts still belonged to sin. We saw this at the trial of Christ. The Bible says:

Matthew 26:59 … Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none …

They actively looked for people who would lie about Jesus’ ministry, a clear violation of the 9^th Commandment. The fruit of their lives was evil. Why? Because they were not saved by faith in Christ. They were not born again of the Spirit. No, they were pigs dressed up in silk finery. They were wolves wearing sheep clothing.

By violating the very law they proclaimed to love, the fruit of their lives proved they were “uncircumcision”, that is, not of the Family of God.

Romans 2:26-29 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

The Jew said “The Gentile cannot be of the Family of God, for he has not been circumcised”. Yet though the Gentile who believed in Christ was not circumcised, that Gentile strives to follow the Law of God, the Ten Commandments. If the Gentile strives to follow the Law of God – if the FRUIT of that person’s life strives to glorify God – then isn’t that person a member of the Family of God? This is what the Apostle is asking in verse 29:

Romans 2:29 he is a Jew, which is one INWARDLY; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God

It doesn’t matter what you look like outwardly. Are you living your life to glorify God? Are you striving to please Jesus in the fruit you produce? You may be outwardly called “Jew”, “Baptist”, “Christian”, “Pastor”, “Teacher”. But is the fruit of your life honoring to Him Who saved you? Or do you just possess a title, but your works are ungodly?

Judgment day is coming for us all. We will all stand before Jesus Christ one day, and our works will be judged. What will Jesus say to you in that day? Will He say,

Matthew 25:21 …. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

or will He say,

Matthew 7:23 (ESV) …. I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Your fruit will be judged. Give yourselves to Jesus today. Do not delay.Billy Graham wrote:

“A born-again Christian is someone who has repented of their sins and turned to Christ for their salvation, and as a result has become part of God’s family forever. All this takes place as God’s Spirit works in our lives. … Jesus Christ came to save us and to make us part of His family forever! He did this by dying for our sins on the cross and by conquering death through His resurrection. You see, as a human being you were born into a family—and nothing can ever change that. But when we come to Christ we are spiritually reborn into another family—the family of God. The Bible says to Christ’s followers, “You have been born again … through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).”

Repent! Deny yourselves. Take up His Cross. Embrace Calvary. Believe that Jesus gave His life for you, and that He gives eternal life to as many as receive Him. Oh Beloved, do not delay! Surrender to Christ this very day. Amen and Amen.