Peter Barnes | Romans 14:10-12
SERMON NOTES
ANSWERING TO GOD
(Romans 14:10-12)
1. Knowing that God is the judge softens us.
– 14:10; most people today believe that if we know that God will judge us, it will harden us
– see Matt.18:21-35
– Heb.2:11-13; James 4:11-13; Calvin: ‘Anyone … who assumes the part of a judge is behaving insolently.’
2. Christ is God.
– 14:11; Paul takes an Old Testament text, Isa.45:23, and applies it to God in Romans 14:11 and to Christ in Phil.2:10
– like Romans 10:13 and Joel 2:32
– the judgment seat of God is the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 14:3, 6 for God, and 14:4, 8-9 for Christ)
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones: ‘The church should not divide on matters that are non-essential.’
3. Remember the universal judgment of God.
– 14:12; Lloyd-Jones says that this has nothing to do with salvation but with rewards as in 1 Cor.3:9-15
– can be both. What other issues?