Sand Mountain Sermonette 97
Romans 2:11-16; Romans 1:20 and 3:23; Genesis 18:25
Judge Uncle Leo!
“For God does not show favoritism. God will punish the Gentiles when they sin, even though they never had God’s written law. And he will punish the Jews when they sin, for they do have the law. For it is not merely knowing the law that brings God’s approval. Those who obey the law will be declared right in God’s sight. Even when Gentiles who do not have God’s written law, instinctively follow what the law says, they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong. They demonstrate that God’s law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right. The day will surely come when God, by Jesus Christ, will judge everyone’s secret life. This is my message.” Romans 2:11-16 (New Living Translation)
When I was in Junior High School, my dad had visited Uncle Leo Johnson’s store in Husselville, Alabama, where my mom grew up. As a matter of fact, my entire family used to love to visit Uncle Leo’s old-fashioned country store. There, you would find all kinds of neat things from ice cold Coca Colas to moon pies, to packages of peanuts, to grocery goods and clothing apparel. However, this day dad visited Uncle Leo, he came back with one of the funniest things he said he believed he had ever seen. Dad was drinking a coke and eating a pack of crackers and talking with Uncle Leo when a young boy walked in and began to gather a few items from the store for purchase. Dad said he began to watch the boy gather the items when he noticed the boy slipped a box of Kodak film into his pocket. After that, the boy headed for the old-fashioned cash register where Uncle Leo was standing and laid the visible items onto the countertop. Uncle Leo picked up each item and began to ring up the sale: “That’ll be fifty cents for the coke, twenty-five cents for the comb, thirty-five cents for the Moon Pie, two dollars for the roll of film in your pocket, and twenty-five cents for the package of peanuts.
Dad said the young boy sheepishly reached into his pocket and brought out the box of film to which Uncle Leo compassionately invited him to put the film back on the shelf, which he did, and then proceed to pay him for the other items, which he did. Then, the boy walked out of the story experiencing the mercy and forgiveness bestowed upon him by Judge Uncle Leo and hopefully, the desire to do the right thing in the future.
Paul tells us in our Scripture for today that every person on planet earth has a God-given conscience (a standard given of God within their minds and hearts to know right from wrong), whether living in the farthest bush region of Africa and having never heard of Jesus Christ, the moralist (like the Jews of Paul’s day) who felt their being “God’s chosen people” automatically placed them right with God, or the young boy who stole the film in the Alabama country store.
Many people believe that either God, being a loving God will let everyone into heaven when all is said or done or that there are many different roads (religions) that lead to heaven in addition to Christianity. But this is a false presumption-this is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that all of us stand condemned already by conscience and by creation (See Romans 1:20 and 3:23). And Abraham asked God a rhetorical question in Genesis 18:25, “Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” In other words, “Yes, He will!” God knows every heart including yours and mine and He is and will be fair, but He is both loving and holy and He cannot overlook our sin. That’s why Jesus willingly went to cross, to take SIN upon Himself, so you and I could be dead to sin and make alive in Christ through His death and resurrection. Remember, you and I stand before the Lord without excuse: within (your conscience) and without, via creation itself. Have you repented of your sin and received God’s mercy and forgiveness? If you have, you are heaven bound!
Pastor Louie