Romans 2: 1-29 - God’s Perfect Judgment

 

Intro: In Ch. 1 Paul outlines the guilt of the Heathen / as we come to Ch. 2 we will see how Paul outlines the guilt of the Hypocrite / moralist / religious

A) As the chapter unfolds Paul turns his attention to the Jew who represented the moral religious person of that day

 

B) Upon reading Paul’s arguments in Ch. 1 the moralist & the person who puts their confidence in their own religious affiliation would give a hearty AMEN to Paul’s statement

 

C) I can hear them - stating their approval Go get them Paul - lay it on those perverts & Homosexuals / those Heathens

 

D) But Paul would respond don’t get excited to fast - you yourselves are not off the hook ! Read v. 1-16

 

 

In reading this passage you are immediately hit w/ an us & them type of a mentality

A) That mentality that says those people are wicked / they are sinners / but me I’m ok / I’m a good person / law abiding /clean living  / Love country

 

B) It is this type of person that Paul addresses here in the 1st part of ch. 2

     in doing so he also gives us some interesting insights into sin Judging

 

C) To set this up I want you to note 4 things about the Hypocrite that Paul outlines for us in v. 1-6

1)  V.1,2 What the Hypocrite feels

2)  V. 3   What  “    ‘’  ‘’    Finds

3)  V. 4    What  “   “”     Forgets

4)  V. 5,6    What  He     Faces

 

 

1st What the Hypocrite feels : The Hypocrite feels that other men’s sins are worse than his Own / note some common characteristics of this type of Person

A) 1st  They constantly compare themselves w/ others but they usually compare themselves w/ people who appear worse off than them

 

B) The guy who is insensitive to the needs of his wife/ but compares himself to the adulterer who left his wife & 3 kids for another woman /

1)  Could think I’m a great husband compared to that guy

 

C) High school - Played Baseball / compared to the little Leaguer - star

1)  Guys on  my team - One of the Best

2)  Our League - Preseason Pick top Pitchers in our League

3)  NY Met Scout team - best High school players in So. Cal - suddenly began to realize “ I’m not as good as I thought “

4)  Played  College teams & Angels & Dodger farm clubs - Actually I’m

   not very could at all

5)  Dykstra & Strawberry show up I’m horrible

 

 

D) All a matter of who you are comparing your self w/ & as we will see in a minute we are not to compare ourselves to each other but to Jesus

1)  So first he compares himself to others - especially those worse than himself

 

 

2nd The Hypocrite in his comparison of others is often blind to his own sin

Jesus great example of guy  looking for splinters / two by four

A) Another Classic example is David : His sin adultery & murder

 

B) Nathan’s story - David over reacts / tell me who he is / put to death 

 

C) Its the attitude you see in the Parable Jesus told in Luke 18 of the Pharisee & the tax collector who went to the temple to Pray - listen read

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11  "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

'God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.12  'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'

13  "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'

14  "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

D) That is the attitude of the Hypocrite who is blind to his own sin & ignores his own heart / and who forgets that God sees his heart

1)  That is the point Paul is really making in this in v.1 when says Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

 

E) See Jesus said it is not just a sin to commit adultery - but if you look on a woman w/ lust - you have committed adultery in your heart

1)  Covet is like stealing -

 

F)  So Paul says you are in excusable oh man who judges another because you are guilty of doing the same if not in actions / at least in your heart

 

 

V.2  But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

A) Who is the truth ?   Jesus: Way/ truth & Life / Jesus is the standard that we are to judge ourselves by - guess what ? We come up way short

 

 

2nd thing : What the Hypocrite finds : His sin will find him out v.3   And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

 

A) Again we see this in the story of David - who thought he had successfully covered his sin !/ Hero /   But not from God ! / Exposed

1)  Bible tells us that your sin will find you out ! / story of couple

3rd thing see is what the Hypocrite forgets V.4   Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

 

A) Goodness & Grace of God in His own life / The Hypocrite is so fast to come down on others for their sins & not extend any grace

1)  but forgets the grace that God has extended to him !

 

B) Again Jesus told a story illustrating this point in Matt. 18 guy who owed the King 10 thousand talents

1)  Begged & Pleaded for time & mercy & was forgiven his debt /

 

C) Went & found a man who owed him 100 talents who also begged for mercy & time / but forgetting the grace &  mercy he had just been shown

1)  he threw the man into prison!   That is what the Hypocrite does / that is what those who are judgmental do

 

D) They are also looking down their noses at others / judging others / failing to see the sin in their own life / and make excuses for their own

1)  They lose their temper or act unkind or insensitive & it is excused because they had a bad day or were stressed out / not feeling good

 

E) But if someone does the same thing to them - they are horrible sinners !

   They fail to see their own sin

1)  And forget the grace the Lord has shown them !

 

F)  See this attitude often in those who had instant conversions / God instantly took away their desire to drink / smoke / do drugs / NO DESIRE

1)  For others it is more of a struggle /   person who had the instant conversion doesn’t relate to that struggle / But only by grace theirs instant

 

G) Guys so important that we don’t lose sight of God’s grace that he has shown to us & seek to apply that grace to others

1)  Remembering what the Lord has saved us from!

 

 

4th Thing Paul shows us is what the Hypocrite faces v. 5,6 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

6  who "will render to each one according to his deeds":

 

A) This word treasuring is a radical word it means to store away day by day a fresh deposit of wickedness for the coming Judgment day

 

B) It is like making deposits in your bank account / On the day when men who trusted in own goodness stand before the Lord / lets see what’s in the account

1)  Open up this account where all their deeds are going to be seen and God is going to Judge them according to their deeds

 

C) Their hard unrepentant Judgmental hearts will condemn them

 

 

Question is there any place for Judging in the body of Christ ?  Answer is yes but we must understand the context

A) In Matt. 7 Jesus is giving a teaching on Judging - basically sums up what we have been saying here

 

"Judge not, that you be not judged.

2  "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

3  "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

4  "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

5  "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

 

A) See when I realize that I had a 2 by 4 in my Eye I am going to be a lot more gracious in seeking to help w/ the splinter in my brothers eye

 

B) Jesus proceeds to give some warnings about the Pharisees in v. 15 / in fact turn over there

15  "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

16  "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

17  "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

18  "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19  "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20  "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

21  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

 

 So Jesus is stating that You will know a tree by its fruit - tells us that we are called to be fruit inspectors

A) But this is what we need to understand is that we are not to make judgments in condemnation - that is the Lords doing - he will judge the sinner

 

B) Our judgment is not to be for condemnation but for identification / to be able to discern if someone is a wolf or not!

 

C) important that we understand this : Our calling is to be fruit inspectors to identify the fruits in a persons life to discern if true believer or a wolf

1)  Our calling is not to be sin sniffers who go around sniffing out the sin in the lives of our brothers & sisters / so we can judge others

 

D) Because as Paul said there in Romans you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.    BACK TO ROMANS

 

 

So Paul says in v. 6 that God is going to judge man according to his deeds & he continues in v. 7

eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8  but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness;- -  indignation and wrath,9  tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;

10  but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.11  For there is no partiality with God.

 

Now some have become confused in reading this - is Paul suggesting that Salvation is according to works ? they ask - answer is no

A) But what Paul is stating is that Judgment is according to works / and our works are going to show that we came up very short

 

B) In John 6 Jesus was asked Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"29  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

 

C) Those who don’t believe in Jesus will find that they are going to fall radically short & their deeds are going to condemn them / No partiality w/ God

12  For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law

13  (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,15  who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)16  in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

 

 

D) Paul declares that the person who knows the law will but Judged by the law -

 Doesn’t matter if know it only if do it !

          1) But what about the Person who doesn’t know the Law ?

 

E) He will be judged by his conscience which reveals the law written in their hearts

1)  See man knows intuitively in their hearts what is right & wrong

 

F)  In no culture is murder ever allowed / or adultery accepted - know in their hearts it is wrong - built in there by the Lord

1)  So Person w/ the law ( Jew ) is judged by the law / person w/out the Law ( Non Jew ) is judged by the law in their hearts / conscience

 

G) Both will find that they come up short ! Lacking haven’t done the work of God by Believing in Jesus Christ !

 

Now in these view verses Paul includes the Jew in his argument that God is going to Judge men by their deeds

A) The Jew is included here in Paul’s accusation against the hypocrite because they were the religious moralist of that day

 

B) They clearly represented those who knew the truth but who didn’t put it into practice !

 

C) So in V. 1-16 the Jew is included in Paul’s case in a general since as he exposes the guilt of the Hypocrite

1)  But in v. 17 Paul’s attention is turned toward the Hebrew Specifically

    Read V. 17-29  

 

The Jews imagined themselves to be clothed w/ a righteousness that was non-

existent / they resemble the King in H.C. Andersen’s Emperors new Clothes

A) Remember that story -  Only wise can see it / 1st kings aids / next king / then people / finally day of the big parade

 

B) Little boy says Mommy why is the King naked - That one innocent yet honest remark of that little boy stripped away the hypocritical pretense of whole nation

1)  So Paul like the little boy strips away the layers of delusion which deluded the mind of the Jew !

 

C) There are 8 garments so to speak that the Jew clothed himself in & put his confidence in that he was ok w/ God

1)  Paul described outlines these garments in the passage we just read

 

1)  Their name - called a Jew = Praise to Jehovah

2)  V.17   They possessed the Law

3)  V.17   They made their boast in God - ( Didn’t know Him- but boasted of Him)

4)  V. 18  Prided themselves in knowing His revealed will

5)  V.18   they could approve or discern the things that were excellent

6)  V. 18  They received their instruction from the law

7)  V. 19 Teachers to the Blind & instructors to the foolish

8)  V. 25 They bore the special mark of circumcision

 

They had all the right tools but they didn’t use them !

A) Name that meant Praise to Jehovah / but their lives reflected everything but living worship to Him

 

B) They possessed the Law but they didn’t keep it !  / They made their boast in God ( Our God is Jehovah - But they didn’t know Him)

1)  Knew about Him ! exploits & Power - but they didn’t know Him / Michael Jordan

 

C) Prided themselves in knowing his revealed will - yet they didn’t follow it

1)  They were instructors for others but they didn’t teach themselves

 

D) The same thing can happen today w/ People in Ministry

1)  Danger in ministry of falling into a trap where you begin to think that you are ok because God has placed you in a position

 

E) You Know the word / teaching the word / you can boast in the things God is doing & has done but the problem is you don’t practice what you know

1)  And you are out of fellowship w/ the Lord ! BE CAREFUL

 

How  happen ? Note 3 things

1st Lack of Humility - see yourself as above others

2nd A Complacency - You think that you are ok

3rd A self Confidence - You are the one God is using ! You are special

 

B) Begin to listen to the Praises of Men instead of God

 

 

 

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?

22  You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?   23  You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?

 

A) Now they might respond when did we steal - covet ? Same similar thing in Your hearts / Adultery ?  Lust

1)  Rob temples ?   Malachi. 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.

 

B) Paul says because of your poor witness / your sin & your hypocrisy the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles

1)  That is probably the saddest thing about Hypocrisy is that it turns people off to the Lord

 

C) I don’t know how many people I have met who have a bad taste in their mouth of what it means to be a Christian because of  hypocrisy / church / Business

1)  Fish - or scripture / lousy work & unreliable /

 

D) Don’t even identify your Business w/ the Lord unless you can back it up / quality of work / ethics / your Professional manner 

1)  All examples & testimonies of the Lord ! / Café - people better be able to distinguish us from Vista Ice box or Sub way - want to come back !

 

 

Well after being stripped of all those things the Jew would fire back - what about circumcision ? We have a special mark that we are the people of God

A) We talked about this in detail on Sunday -  Circumcision was for Identification

Marked Abraham & Descendants As the people of God

 

B) Trusting God to keep His promise / But the Mark was of no value unless they were living like the People of God ! & keeping the Law !

         

C) Then he gives a Hypothetical example in v. 26   Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law,

 

D) this is a Hypothetical question because Paul knows that no man could keep the 10 commandments to the Letter - if means speaking Hypothetically

1)  It is like he is saying lets just suppose a non Jew an uncircumcised person kept the Law will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

 

27  And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?  28  For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;

29  but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

 

Paul is  pointing out that the Lord is more concerned about a persons Heart &  actions than He is their Knowledge or symbol / their affiliation

A)  True Circumcision is of the Heart - Person who has been born again has the mark of the H.S. in His life/ a  testimony that he knows the Lord

 

5:1  For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3  if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.   4  For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.  5  Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

6  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.    7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

8  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.  9  Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.  

 

guarantee. 4 things mark the persons life who experienced true Circumcision

A) First love for God - H.S. in our Hearts cries Abba Father - intimacy & relationship of one who realizes how good the Lord is

1)  Saved them from so much !

 

C) 2nd A Love for others - Fruit of the H.S. is Love ! Evidenced by love for others !

1) 3rd Live by faith  V. 6  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are   at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

 

D)  4th Desire to live Holy !V 9  Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.