Week 5 - Sunday

The Deeds of the Unsaved

but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. (Romans 2:8)

Three things characterize the deeds of the unsaved person. One is that they do not obey the truth. Instead of following God's law, they rebel and go their own way. Another characteristic is that they obey unrighteousness. There is no middle ground or neutral position as far as God is concerned. A person either receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior or they don't. They are either saved or unsaved. They either obey God's law or they obey unrighteousness. It isn't that the saved person always obeys God and the unsaved person always obeys unrighteousness. The difference is in what motivates them to do what they do. The saved person chooses to follow Christ and sometimes disobeys. On the other hand the unsaved person chooses to follow their own way, which results in unrighteousness. A third characteristic of the unsaved person is they are selfishly ambitious. The world tells us that fulfilling your own desires is what's most important in life. We often hear things like, "You've got to take care of number one", or "You only go around once in life so grab for all the gusto you can". This is the exact opposite of what God wants us to do. Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27). This means that pleasing and obeying God should be the most important thing in our lives and helping others should be the next most important. Loving your neighbor as yourself, goes a lot further than just being friendly to them. It means we give them what we have, if they need it. God expects us to take care of those who are in need, the same way that we take care of ourselves. If you were hungry, would you give yourself something to eat? If you needed clothes, would you buy yourself some? Too often we neglect to help others in need because we want to keep what we have for ourselves. A selfishly ambitious person lives their life doing things for themselves, rather than for God. Their possessions are more important to them than God. So are their money, time, careers, family and friends.

Just as the deeds of the saved person give evidence they have been saved, the deeds of the unsaved person show that they have not. Because they are selfishly ambitious and choose not to obey God, the unsaved person will suffer the consequences of God's wrath and indignation. The word wrath is from the Greek word orge, meaning the strongest kind of anger. Indignation (thumos) is agitated, relentless anger and was often used to describe a person's heavy breathing as they angrily pursued an enemy. God may be being patient now but His anger is building. The day is coming when His righteous indignation is going to explode against those who have not repented and received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Readings for today: Matt. 7:21; James 3:16; Luke 10:25-37; John 3:36