No one gets a pass. Not the flagrantly immoral and not the private idolater. This is Paul’s argument so far: God judges each person—Jew or Gentile—according to his works. The standard for judging those works is God’s righteousness, explicitly stated in his laws. Both Jews and Gentiles have failed to keep God’s righteous standard. 

What should we do when we hear a word like this? Paul already told us. Stop our mouths. Make no more excuses. Hear the oracles of God as his mercy to us. Conviction over sin is such a gift. If you feel conviction, rejoice! That is a sign of life in you. God is so kind to expose the ugly hypocrisy in our hearts so that we can repent of it and be free of it. 

But next week we'll see that following this universally devastating revelation of God’s wrath on all unrighteousness comes the glorious revelation of a righteousness APART from the law. Your works will never measure up to the righteous standard of God’s law. But there is another way… the way of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation from his just wrath, and it is the best news you could ever hear.