21-2 WHERE THERE IS NO LAWDecember 29, 1963
Henry F. Kulp
Romans 2: 12 - 16 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; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 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: 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;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Here in the book of Romans, Paul in the second chapter is talking about judgement for sinners. He is proving here that all Gentiles are sinners, who live in sin, relish sin. They may try to suppress sin, and judge those who live in open sin, but God is bringing out through Paul that there is absolutely no difference. The Gentiles are sinners, and then he proves that they are going to be judged. In verse 12 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
He says this judgment will be according to truth, and then he tells us it will be in proportion to the mercy that has been flaunted. Then he says the judgement will be according to deeds, and then the judgement will not be in respect of persons, because God does not have respect of persons, He is completely an impartial God.
1/ Now he comes into the 12th verse of those who have sinned without the law. In other words, there are folks who do not have the law—never had the law. How are they going to be judged? I think it is necessary, this morning, that we understand the law. By the law, we mean the Ten Commandments, and also the Mosaic law, the ceremonial law. God gave the law to only one people—He gave it only to the nation Israel, the Jew.
2/ I want you to notice that phrase, For as many as have sinned without the law. There are folks who have never had the law.
You say, is that possible? Yes, it is, Galatians 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
It says the law was added unto them because of transgression until the seed should come.
Notice, the law was added that means there was a time when there was no law. The Ten Commandments were not known to man. Notice that Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah lived without the law. They knew nothing about the law. Then you can say, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph knew nothing about the law. As a matter of fact there were 2,500 years when there was no law. From Adam to Moses there was no law. As a matter of fact, Moses was 80 years old when the Lord gave the law to Israel at Sinai. These folks, up to the 80th year of Moses lived without the law about 2,500 years.
3/ In case you want more proof that the law did not exist before Moses, let’s go to
John 1: 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law had a beginning.
Romans 5: 12 - 14 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Here is another proof, for it says until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. Notice, he said there was no law from Adam to Moses—this is a clear point.
4/ But you will remember God judged sin in that 2,500 years. Remember what happened to Cain? God judged him. Remember what happened to the people of Noah’s day when their sin came up to God—He sent the flood. They knew right from wrong—they didn’t need the law to know this. The Scripture says, they are a law unto themselves.
Let us for just a second go to Genesis 5: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Enoch walked with God. He lived in a wicked day—he lived in a day without law. But he was a law unto himself. He lived by the law which he understood, which was right and wrong. He didn’t go into the sin of the day. He became a preacher, according to Jude, and you will notice, he became a preacher of judgement, and he preached against sinners, ungodly sinners, Jude 14,15 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
He didn’t live under the law, but he knew right from wrong. And he knew that God was going to judge sin.
5/ I always like to think of that man by the name of Joseph Genesis 39: 7 - 9 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
Joseph was a law unto himself. There was no law in that day—there was not law, no Ten Commandments that said, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not steal thy neighbor’s wife. But yet, he refused to do this sin. In most cases the man would have fallen into the trap, not just because the woman was enticing, not just because his flesh lusteth for this sin, but because of her position that she could cause him great harm, which she did and had him cast into prison. But he refrained from this sin. He was a law unto himself. He said how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He was able to resist. No law, but he realized he couldn’t commit this sin.
6/ We are using the phrase in Romans 5: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
We know there was no law for 2,500 years, but man will still being judged according to their sins. But now let us notice what it tells us in Romans 2: 14 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:
Now we see, when the law came, He gave it only to the nation Israel. He never gave it to the Gentiles. They still remained without the law. You say I never heard that.
Let’s turn to Psalms 147: 19 - 20 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.
Now notice what God tells us here—He hath shown His word unto Jacob—His statutes, His law, and his judgements unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, with any Gentiles—this is only the nation Israel, and as to His judgements, His law, they have not known them. The Gentiles have never had the law at any time. Exactly what Paul brings out in Romans 2: 14 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:
7/ Let us go to the Scriptures that tells us of the giving of the law.
Exodus 19: 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
Exodus 20: 1 - 5 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Notice here, Moses went down unto his people. Here we have Galatians 3: 19 This is the beginning of the law. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
This is when the law was added. Moses went down to the people. What people? The Egyptians? Of course not. Any Gentiles? Of course not. He went to the nation Israel, and God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord, Thy God, which has brought you out of the land Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Notice, I have brought thee. In other words, here is the separation that God made. He took the Jew, the Nation Israel, out of the Gentile nations. He separated them and said, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, thou shalt not make unto me any graven image. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them. This law was given only to the nation Israel. It is clear right here.
8/ But I want to show you something just for a few seconds here about the giving of the law. How thankful we can be that God did not give the law to us. Have you noticed the result of the people getting the law?
Exodus 20: 18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Right here we have the result of people listening to God speak from Heaven, and this was the giving of the law. Notice they were not attracted, they were driven away. The law does not attract, they were afraid. It says here at the end of verse 18 They removed and stood afar off. The word, removed, could be translated by our English, they reeled backward.
Have you ever seen a crowd of people standing along the street when a parade is passing, and I have noticed this in Philadelphia many times, the mounted police came along on a horse and the people are afraid of the horses, they don’t want to be trampled, so they all try to get back, and the people will reel back. That is the picture you have here. They are crowded around the mountain when they heard the voice of God, and saw the smoke, and heard the trumpet and heard the thundering, and saw the mountain shake, they just reeled back. They were afraid. That is the effect of the law. It brings fear. But God gave this law only to the nation Israel.
9/ But it matters not. Man is a sinner, whether he lives under law, and whether he has no law, and God will judge man according to his sin, and all that can happen to a man that is a sinner and doesn’t have his sins removed, is that he must be judged by God and eternally separated from God.
Romans 3: 1, 2 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
They had a blessing. God gave them a great advantage—there was advantage in being a Jew, but there was also a disadvantage—they lived under law, they sinned under the law, and their judgement will be greater because they had this added revelation. Now how can we explain this? I think it can be best be set forth in the following illustration.
If I were a judge trying a case of two young men who were arrested and convicted of armed robbery. I think I could speak to them individually in the moment of passing sentence. I might say to one of them. This court will sentence you to five years in the penitentiary. We give you a light sentence, because we take into account your background. Your father had a prison record, your mother was a women of ill repute. As a child you were allowed to drift in the streets—your schooling was finished early, because you had to make your own living, and I believe that five years may well teach you that you have to reform and take your place in society as good citizen.
But to the other young man I would say, this court gives you a sentence of ten years in prison. It is not that you are more guilty in this offense than your companion, but you have committed a greater crime because you have sinned against your background. You have fine parents, they were honored members of the community, you had a sheltered life, you were educated in the finest schools but you have left all this, cast it aside, and you went into sin, into crime. The wound in you is deeper, therefore, you need ten years to bring you to your senses.
So will it be in the day of judgement. The Jews who rejected the grace of God will pay a far greater price than the Gentiles who had not the advantage of the Jew.
11/ Romans 2: 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Then we come to this verse that sets forth one more principle of man in his sinfulness. And here we find that God is going to judge man according to the secrets of man, and then we see that the judgement will be by Christ. Third, we see that it will take place on a certain day, and lastly, it will be in accordance with what is called here the Gospel of Paul.
12/ Now when we speak of the secrets of men, we enter into a hidden world—hidden to all mankind, but of course, you have to recognize, hidden not to God. Reputation is what men think you are—character is what you are. Men know you by your reputation, but God knows you by your character. Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart. This is a frightening thought. God knows the hearts of men. He knows your thoughts.
Psalms 94: 11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Then let us go to Psalms 44: 21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
He knoweth the secrets of the heart—you haven’t hid a thing from God—He knows all about you.
13/ Up until about fifty years ago, there were some folks that could have said—and they were probably honest in their thoughts—how can anyone understand the secrets of mind? How is it possible that God would know what we are thinking when our thoughts are not expressed? They are hidden to everybody. But today, with man’s inventions, it is easy to understand that God will know our secrets, for man has radar now, and with this apparatus, he can search into the distant clouds and see planes that are coming. As a matter of fact on many weather programs on TV they use radar.
When I was down in Florida, every night they had the radarscope on TV, showing if there were are any storms within a 250 mile radius, and then this radar can go into the sea. Boats can use it to search out submarines that are hidden to the eye. Then you have Geiger counters that can find minerals beneath the surface of the ground. A man’s body can be probed by x-rays for broken bones and even find tumors in the body. Powerful rays can penetrate steel beams and detect flaws. Every year at the Indianapolis race, the 500 mile race, I understand that the frame of the cars are examined by x-ray to see if there is any metal fatigue in the automobile itself to make it dangerous.
Yes, God knows your secrets, He knows all about you. You cannot escape, and you will be judged by secrets—something that your wife does not know, something that your husband doesn’t know, something that your father your mother, they do not know about, but God is going to bring them out.
14/ Then there is an important fact, that the judgement is to be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 5: 21, 23 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
AMEN
Ref: 12/29/1961 / 21-2 WHERE THERE IS NO LAW / 01/14/2021
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