The Bad News Concerning Judgment (Romans 2:1-16)
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we finished chapter one. One of my professors at Bible School, Dr. John Mitchell summarized chapter one of Romans with these words, “So when you read Romans 1, you find the universality of sin, especially in the Gentile world. God gave the Gentiles up—they had spurned the God of creation, they had changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image. He had given them over to uncleanness, and because they changed the truth of God into a lie, He gave them up to vile affections. Then because they refused to have God in their knowledge, He gave them over to a reprobate mind to do despicable things. This is Romans 1.”[1] After reading Paul’s words on how man has been handed over by God, as I said last Sunday, because man abandoned God, God abandoned man. But what about those people, those societies that are more moral, that hold to a higher moral standard and have not gone the path of those described last week, or the religious person who has a sense of right and wrong, and on the outside seems to live a moral life. These kinds of people would agree with Paul’s assessment of the grossly immoral lifestyles of the people described in the latter part of chapter one. Those kinds of people obviously deserve God’s judgment. The majority of Jews in Paul’s day believed that if you lived a moral life and did certain religious works that this would produce righteousness. They believed if they kept the Mosaic Law, they could earn God’s favor and eternal life. These outwardly moral people, both Jews and Gentiles, are often harder to reach with the gospel then those who have hit bottom and know they are sinners.
So, beginning here in chapter two Paul with power and clarity shows these outwardly moral and religious people that before God they are also guilty and condemned to God’s wrath and judgment. This morning we are going to look at man’s judgment, God’s judgment, and thirdly we are going to see what it means to store up wrath. Let’s pray and read our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Verses 1-16 is the first section of this chapter, so we are going to read it all, but this morning we will cover verses 1-5. So, turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:1-16. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 2:1-16,
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:1–16, NASB95)[2]
MAN’S JUDGMENT (Romans 2:1)
Paul begins this chapter with “therefore” referring us back to the verses that we looked at over the last two Sundays. It refers us back to verses 18-20 to Paul’s opening statement on man’s abandonment of God. Paul wrote, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18–20, NASB95)[3] Having told the immoral man that he has no excuse, that he cannot not escape the wrath of God, in chapter 2 Paul now turns to the moral and religious Jews primarily, but it can also be applied to moral and religious Gentiles, including those who profess to be Christians and Paul says, “don’t think you are off the hook, that you have escaped the wrath of God, because you also are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment.” The Jews were always passing judgment on the Gentiles, they considered the Gentiles to be spiritually inferior, that God’s mercy and care did not extend to them because they were not God’s covenant people. Both the Jews of Paul’s day and even professing Christians today think that they will escape God’s judgment because they are not like those described in chapter 1, they have not stooped to do the immoral acts of those already mentioned.
Paul writes that when you judge another you condemn yourself. If you are able to judge other people then you apparently have a standard by which to judge, in other words, you know the truth about what is right and what is wrong before God. We learned two weeks ago that even pagan, immoral man knows the basic truth of God’s eternal power and His divine nature through the witness of creation. We will learn next week that they have a built in sense of right and wrong called a conscience. The Jew had all this and also possessed the written or special revelation of God’s truth and God’s standard of righteousness in the Scriptures. Most Jews in Paul’s day would have some knowledge of Jesus Christ and His teaching and His claims even though they did not believe He was the promised Messiah. This knowledge made the Jews to whom Paul was speaking even with less excuse then those described in chapter 1, because they had a greater knowledge of God’s truth through His Word this made them more accountable to Him. This is also true of professing and true Christians today, we have the full revelation of God, because of this we are more accountable to God and we are without excuse when we self-righteously judge others by it.
Paul goes on to say that it is not just that those who judge others are wrong in their evaluation of the moral standing of those they judge, but they are also wrong in the evaluation of their own moral standing. Paul says, “You who judge practice the same things.” John MacArthur writes, “The self-righteous make two grave errors: they underestimate the height of God’s standard of righteousness, which encompasses the inner as well as the outer life, and they underestimate the depth of their own sin.”[4] Did you know that it is a great temptation to exaggerate the sins of other people while we downplay, or minimize or justify our own sins? Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 7:1-3 where He said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1–3, NASB95)[5] Jesus is saying the same thing as Paul, we need to judge our own lives by the same standard that we want to judge others before we look at another person’s life. Deal first with the sin in your own life, including the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 said the thoughts and intentions of the heart were the same as committing the sin, and you are guilty. Man’s judgment is self-condemning because if you have a standard by which to judge others you must judge your own sins by that same standard. You will find that you are without excuse.
GOD’S JUDGMENT (Romans 2:2-3)
Paul now switches from man’s judgment to God’s judgment. Paul states the obvious that God’s judgment falls on those who practice such things, the such things are that list of sins that Paul gave at the end of chapter 1 in verses 29-31. The word translated “know” in verse two is a word that means that what is known is commonly known and obvious. Paul had said that those who practice such things know that they are worthy of death in verse 32 of chapter one. The Jews that Paul was speaking to here in chapter two knew that those who practice such things would incur God’s judgment.
God is righteous, everything He does is right and is in accordance with truth. God’s sees and knows all and because of this His judgment is right and true. Man tries to tell us that everything will be alright, God is too good and merciful to send anyone to hell. Paul is warning us here that is not true, God’s holiness demands that He act righteously in His judgment on sin. The writer of Hebrews writes, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:13, NASB95)[6]
The Jew thought that because he was a part of the covenant community that he had an automatic in, was he not one of God’s chosen people. Paul goes on to say to this self-righteous Jew, or maybe it is the self-righteous professing Christian, Paul says, do you really believe that when you pass judgment on those who practice the sins I listed, and you do the same at least in the intentions of your heart, that the one you judged will be condemned and you will escape the judgment of God. Paul is saying that by doing this you will bring greater judgment on yourself. In other words, you will not only be judged for the evil practices which you are committing but also for your hypocrisy of judging others while thinking that you are righteous and not judging your own heart, not dealing with the log in your eye as Jesus would say, not judging the glaring sin in your own life rather than justifying it. If man judged himself, he would find that he cannot avoid his own judgment, so how can he escape God’s wrath? If we are forced to condemn ourselves, will we not be condemned by the perfectly holy God? You might look nice on the outside, but inside you are just as wretched as those who practice such things openly. Paul makes his case that even the outwardly moral, religious person, who seem pious on the outside is without excuse. There is only one way that a person can escape God’s judgment and that is by repenting of our sin before God and putting our faith in Jesus Christ, believing that His death paid the price for our sin, that He was buried and that He rose from the dead the third day proving that sin was paid for and death was conquered. This is the only way to escape God’s wrath.
STORING UP WRATH (Romans 2:4-5)
In verses 4-5 Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s judgment is based on man’s true guilt, a guilt that is common to every man, woman, or child who has ever lived, including those who view themselves as righteous and exempt from God’s judgment because of their high morals, their religious affiliation, or their good works.
Paul sounds a warning to those who are self-righteous not to think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance and patience. This phrase translated “think lightly of” is a single word in Greek and literally means “to look down on” or “to think down on” or “to despise” someone or something and to underestimate the true value. Paul warns his readers to not do this, but to recognize that every person has experienced the kindness, the forbearance, and the patience of God. Every time we draw a breath, every time we take a bite of food we do so by the kindness of God. God is the only source of goodness; all that man has that is good or worthwhile has come from the graciousness of God.
Kindness refers to the goodness and benefits that God gives, forbearance means to “hold back” was often used of a truce, which meant a ceasing of hostilities. God’s forbearance refers to the judgment that He withholds at this time. Patience is from a Greek word that means “longsuffering” a word that refers to “that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger, and associated with mercy.”[7] Until the final day of judgment God’s kindness and forbearance and patience is spread out to all mankind, because God does not desire any to perish, but all to come to repentance. If it were not for God’s kindness, forbearance and patience, no human being would be alive. It is only God’s mercy and grace that allows us each to draw another breath.
Paul goes on to tell his readers is that the purpose of God’s kindness is not to be seen as God excusing man’s sin, but instead it is to bring conviction of sin which leads man to repentance. What is repentance? The Greek word translated ‘repentance” means “to change one’s mind about something.” When used by Paul, its means to change your mind about sin, from loving it to renouncing it and turning in faith to Jesus Christ for forgiveness.
A person is guilty because of their stubbornness and their unrepentant heart. The word “stubbornness” might be better translated “hardness.” The Greek word is sclerosis which you might recognize in the phrase arterio-sclerosis which refers to the hardening of the arteries. This physical hardening is an ideal example of the spiritual condition of the hearts that have become insensitive and unresponsive to God’s kindness, forbearance and patience. While hardening of the arteries may cause death, spiritual hardening will take a person eventually to hell.
The stubborn and unrepentant heart that refuses God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ is the worst sin of all. When we refuse God’s gracious offer man increases his guilt because he has taken God’s goodness for granted, he has despised God’s kindness and has rejected His mercy and grace and has refused His love. For the person who does this, he increases the severity of God’s wrath upon himself in the day of God’s judgment. This is what is meant when Paul says, “you are storing up wrath for yourself.” Storing up literally means to gather, save up, reserve, and is used of treasure or wealth, to save up and reserve it for the future. When a person consistently and persistently despises, looks down on God’s goodness, the result will be definite and equivalent judgment on the day of God’s wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
“In the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5b, NASB95)[8] is a reference to the Great White Throne judgment which we looked at when we were in the book of Revelation. At this throne all the wicked, unrepentant people of all time and history will be resurrected and stand to be judged by Jesus Christ. All the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever. I believe according to what Paul has written here that the torment in the lake of fire will be proportionate to the wrath they stored up on earth. For some the torment will be much greater than for others, but all will suffer torment forever. But remember, “an eternity in hell is not enough for a sinner to erase his or her own debt.”[9] The day is coming when God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience will come to an end, then His wrath will be unleashed against sinful mankind in judgment, judgment that will be right and true because it will be administered by God whose character is righteous. There is only one way to escape this judgment of God’s wrath, that is through repentance and faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Otherwise you will be found guilty and you will be without excuse.
CONCLUSION:
Last week we looked at those people who have suppressed the knowledge of God, who have denied the existence of God and exchanged the truth of God for a lie and refused to even acknowledge God, they abandoned God and God abandoned them to the lusts of their impure hearts, God abandoned them to degrading passions, and God abandoned them to a depraved mind to be filled with all unrighteousness and wickedness. This morning we looked at the moral and religious person who from the outside seem to live a life of virtue and piety, but we found this person is without excuse as well, because God judges the intentions of the heart and not just the outward appearance.
This morning’s message should cause us to examine our own hearts to make sure that we are not being hypocrites ourselves, looking good on the outside, but on the inside, in the intentions of our hearts we are just as wretched as those we looked at last week. We must be careful not to think lightly of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience, but should daily thank Him for them. If it were not for Jesus Christ dying as our substitute, paying the penalty for our sin, being buried and rising from the dead, then we too would be judged by God’s righteous wrath.
This morning you need to ask yourself what you are trusting in for eternal life? If it is anything other than the forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, then you are storing up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Repent and agree with God that you are a sinner deserving His wrath, and believe that Jesus Christ died for you, paying the penalty you deserve for sin, that He was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, proving sin was paid for and death was conquered. When you believe this about Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven, and you are saved from God’s wrath against sin and you inherit eternal life. What are you trusting in this morning?
[1]Mitchell, John G., with Dick Bohrer, Right with God : a devotional study of the Epistle to the Romans. Portland, OR : Multnomah Press, 1990
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]Vine, W. E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. McLean, VA : MacDonald Publishing Company
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]MacArthur, John, The Gospel According to Paul. Nashville, TN : Nelson Books, 2017