Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Romans chapter 2 as we continue our study through the Word of God. As you remember from our last study, Paul, acting like a prosecuting attorney, condemns the unrighteous heathen because creation itself testifies that there is a God and yet they have rejected Him and they will be judged for their actions. We saw this in Romans 1:18-32.
Tonight we will continue to see Paul bring charges against sinful man, as he is showing us that “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. He is showing us that “. . . There is none righteous, no, not one. . . There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10b, 12c. Now this may seem to be a very dark section – all this condemnation and the judgment of God, but please understand that Paul spoke of the Good New in Romans 1:16-17 before he got to this, as he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
Thus, this bad news is for those who have rejected the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have refused to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior and they are guilty before God and they will see the wrath of God upon their lives as God judges them for their sins! With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 2 starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSE 1
Here in Romans 2:1-16 Paul is going to show how the self-righteous moralist is condemned by his conscious, and he starts out with a powerful condemnation against those that feel this way. You see, as you look at, examine others and judge them it just shows you have a set of standards of what is right and what is wrong and in that you are also guilty before God. Why is that? Because, as much as you hold others to those standards, you yourself do things that are just as bad, but you don’t hold yourself accountable. Thus, you will be judged for your actions! Also, those that feel this way don’t understand the height of God’s righteousness, His standard which is perfection! In fact, Jesus made this outrageous statement in Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, you can’t reach up into heaven, you can only get there as God reaches down and pulls you up, you will only get there through Jesus!
VERSES 2-3
Because God’s judgment is delayed, many have come to faulty conclusions. Some say that God approves of their sin, for He has done nothing against what they are doing, which is a poor picture of God. Others say that God doesn’t care about sin, what we are doing, which again is wrong. And still some say God can’t do anything about their sin, He won’t intervene, which again is wrong.
And Paul clearly is telling us that if you feel that way, you are wrong and God’s judgment will come. You see, God is patient, He is longsuffering as Peter tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” II Peter 3:9-13.
Also, some see God as this vindictive God who loves to punish people, He is ready to squash them, wipe them out as soon as they cross the line. I don’t know what Bible they are reading, but it surely isn’t the one I am reading. In Ezekiel chapter 18 listen to the heart of God in regards to judgment, as He tells us, “‘The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. . . Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord GOD, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’ . . . ‘Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!’” Ezekiel 18:20, 23, 31-32. That is the heart of God, He does not want to punish anyone and yet, if you refuse to repent and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He will judge you because He is a righteous Judge, but His desire is to save you, although He will never force you, you have a free will to chose Jesus or reject Him. But Paul wants you to understand that if you reject Him, His wrath will come upon you!
On this verse, I like the way that Donald Grey Barnhouse paraphrases it, as he says in this powerful way:
“You dummy – do you really figure that you have doped out an angle that will let you go up against God and get away with it? You don’t have a ghost of a chance. There is no escape. Do you understand? No escape – ever. And this means you – the respectable person, sitting in judgment upon another fellow creature, and remaining unrepentant yourself.”
VERSE 4
God pours His blessings on the just and the unjust for His desire is to draw people to Him. The word “repentance,” METANOIA in the Greek, speaks of turning from something, changing your mind. In other words, instead of moving away from God, you turn towards God, you love what He loves and hate what He hates! It is as Paul said in I Thessalonians 1:9-10, “For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
I like the way that Spurgeon put it in regards to God drawing us to him like sheep to a shepherd instead of driving us like cattle. He said:
“Notice, dear friends, that the Lord does not drive you to repentance. Cain was driven away, as a fugitive and a vagabond, when he killed his righteous brother Abel; Judas went and hanged himself, being driven by an anguish of remorse because of what he had done in betraying his Lord; but the sweetest and best repentance is that which comes, not by driving, but by drawing: ‘The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.’”
VERSE 5
Paul uses the Greek word SKLEROETA for “hardness” and it is a word from which we get our English word “sclerosis.” We know that arteriosclerosis is a hardening of the arteries which will send a man to the grave if it is bad enough, but here Paul is speaking of a hardening of the heart towards the things of God which will send a man to Hell! Thus, as you continue to harden your heart to God there is a day of reckoning that is coming when God will pour out His wrath upon you. The thing is this, what are you treasuring up for yourself? Jesus gave us some insight on what we are and what we are not to treasure in Matthew 6:19-21, where we read, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Again, what are you treasuring up for yourself, things that are eternal or things that are temporary?
VERSES 6-10
Please understand that Paul is not speaking of salvation here because all have missed the mark of perfection. Paul is speaking of rewards for those who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and judgment for those who have rejected Him and both the rewards and the degree of punishment will be based on their deeds, what they had done in this life. If salvation was of works, then the over 150 passages in the New Testament that speak of our salvation being based solely on our faith or believing in Jesus would be out of place! The most famous passage that speaks of our salvation being not of works but of faith is given to us in Ephesians 2:8-10 where Paul tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Also, in Titus 3:4-7 we are told, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” I think that is very clear, very straightforward!
As hard as this may be for some, there is only one sin that will keep you out of heaven! I know, what about murder, adultery, homosexuality and-so-on? Listen carefully to what Jesus tells us as He sends to us the Holy Spirit, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” You see, the only sin that will send a person to Hell is the rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Why is that? Because you have rejected the only one who can forgive you of your sins and thus you will die in your sins because of that! Thus, when we come to the final judgment, The Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation chapter 20, we are told, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:10-15. You see, they are judged according to their works for the degree of punishment because they have rejected Jesus. We, on the other hand will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ or the Bema Seat and receive our rewards for what we have done in this life!
Paul says that judgment will come to the Jew first and then to the Gentile, why? Because the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God, the Words of God, they were to be the vessel by which God would revel Himself to the Gentiles, and with all that knowledge comes responsibility, they are accountable for what they know and what they do with it and so are we. Today, we as Christians have been entrusted with so many things from God, we are to bring the Good News not only to the Gentiles, but also to the Jews and with that comes responsibility, we are accountable to God for what we know and what we do with it.
VERSE 11
In our court of law there are times when judges show favoritism to those on trial, juror’s can also do this, because of the position the person on trial has in the world, the money they have, they may be celebrities or whatever, and this is unrighteous, it is unfair, but it does go on because the wickedness of man and how easy man can be influenced! But with God, He does not show partiality to anyone, He is a righteous Judge and He will judge accordingly. Some ancient Rabbis actually believed and taught that God shows partiality to the Jews, they taught that “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another.” Obviously that is inconsistent with Scripture! God is not a respecter of persons and to understand where He is coming from, just read John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He loves us supremely, so much so that He paid in full the penalty for our sins when we were in rebellion against Him, He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world because He loves the world!
VERSES 12-13
What is Paul’s point here? He is comparing the religious person who thinks he is saved because he has kept the Law, but he falls far short, or as James says “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10, and then he looks at the moral person who thinks he is good, he is saved because he doesn’t have the Law to correct him of his sin but his own conscious condemns him as he falls short of the glory of God!
Simply put, Morris says “People will be condemned, not because they have the law or do not have the law, but because they have sinned.” It is as Paul said in Galatians, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. . . . I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” Galatians 2:16, 21.
VERSES 14-15
By their own actions they show there is right and wrong, good and evil even though they don’t have the Law. They do follow a standard, even though that standard might pale in comparison and does pale in comparison to God’s standard of perfection! You see, if they truly searched they would see that their own conscious is condemning them before God, and many have that and struggle with it because they don’t know what to do, they don’t want to surrender to God, they just want those feelings to go away!
VERSE 16
As good as some people think they are, how would they, or for that matter, any of us like to sit down in a crowded movie theater with family and friends with us, and there up on the screen God shows the things that are in our hearts? None of us would like that and yet; some feel they are good enough to get into heaven! Sorry, God searches the heart and the façade you have placed outwardly is stripped away as God looks at and exposes those things that are in your heart! For the Christian, it is as Paul said in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” God’s Word cuts the hardness of our hearts away!
We have seen in this portion of Romans Paul condemn the self-righteous moralist as he is condemned by his conscious, knowing that he is a sinner, he is not perfect. And so, we see two kinds of lives here; the redeemed life that reflects holy living, not perfect but the desire is to serve the Lord and live their life to please Him; and the unredeemed life that lives for itself, to satisfy the flesh, living an unholy lifestyle and yet thinks they are good, thinks they are saved! Genuine salvation is based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ and that is then manifested in the things we do, the fruit that is born in our lives!
VERSES 17-20
Now Paul moves on and speaks to the super-religious person in Romans 2:17-29 as Paul, acting as a prosecuting attorney, condemns these people by the commandments of God, that they can’t keep them, and we will see that as we move on.
The Jews were prideful in that God gave to them His Law and yet they had the Law and didn’t keep it! Read through the Old Testament, even when they were living in sin they would not believe that God would judge them because they were His people, the children of Abraham. Listen to what we are told in Micah 3:11-12, “Who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity: Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, ‘Is not the LORD among us? No harm can come upon us.’ Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.” Do you see how prideful they were of their Jewish heritage and even when they were living in sin they thought they could get away with it, they had a special dispensation, but they didn’t!
Listen to how Jesus saw their hypocrisy, their prideful ways in Luke 18:9-14, “Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” 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!” 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.’” You see, it is not a matter of your physical birth that will save you, but are you born again and that is reflected in your actions! Some today wear their church as a badge of honor, that it is their church that will get them into heaven, but again, it is not true, only Jesus can!
VERSES 21-24
The idea here is “Do as I say not as I do!” and God says “Not so, you are not only to teach these things but you are also to put them into practice in your own life!” In fact, James tells us “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James 3:1. Why is that? Because you have been given so much and thus God requires much from you!
Now, as these Jewish religious leaders boasted in the Law, as they were instructed in the Law, as they guided others in the Law, as they taught those that didn’t know the Law as they did, as they then broke the Law they held in such high esteem they brought dishonor to God! David said in Psalm 51:4 as he sinned with Bathsheba, listen to what he declared, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight . . .” And here Paul drives home his point by quoting out of Isaiah 52:5 stating that as the Gentiles see these things they use it to justify their blasphemy against God. The Jews were to be a light to the Gentiles regarding the true and living God and now they dishonor God as they walked in darkness and were prideful that God was not going to do anything about it!
For us as Christians, we are even more accountable before God because we have the Holy Spirit in us to direct us, but as we continue to sin we quench the work of the Holy Spirit and we dishonor God, allowing the unsaved to mock God because of our actions. Folks, like it or not, we are His representatives here on this earth and how people read us, how they perceive us, they tend to apply to the God we serve be it good or bad!
VERSES 25-26
The Jews came to believe, because they were descendants of Abraham and carried the sign of the covenant, that is circumcision, it didn’t matter what they did. Some would argue that this is not true, but just listen to their own religious leaders. Rabbi Menachem said this in his commentary on the Book of Moses: “Our Rabbis have said that no circumcised man will see hell.” Another put it this way: “Circumcision saves from hell.” And midrash Tillim says “God swore to Abraham that no one who was circumcised should be sent to hell.” And another Rabbinic saying said “Circumcision is equivalent to all the commandments of the Law.”
But think about that, you could be a lying, murdering, coveting, cheating Jew and because you were circumcised you would not go to Hell but to heaven? That is absolutely ridiculous! In Deuteronomy 10:16 we are told, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” You see, it is a matter of the heart and not the flesh, not an outward ritual! And Paul elaborates on the salvation of Abraham in Romans 4:1-5, 9-12 where he says, “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. . . Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. . .
. . . How
then was it accounted? While he was circumcised,
or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised,
but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe,
though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not
only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of
the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”
You see, Abraham was saved by faith and not by works, like circumcision, for then he could have boasted! The illustration fits perfectly because the Jews boasted about their heritage, being children of Abraham, circumcised, and yet, Paul says that is totally empty for if you don’t keep the Law, you will die by the Law!
For us as Christians, we see this in many churches, with baptism, confirmation, the keeping of this and the keeping of that. Do you really think that infant or even adult baptism saves a person? Of course it won’t, only Jesus saves. Baptism is an outward sign of what has taken place in your heart just as circumcision was to the Jew. It won’t save you but if you are saved, you are letting the world know that as you are dipped into the water you are dead to sin and as you come out you are a new creation in Christ. Baptism is just a sign to show what has already taken place in your heart! (See Colossians 2:9-11).
Theologian Charles Hodge put it this way: “Whenever true religion declines, the disposition to lay undo stress on external rites is stressed. The Jews when they lost their spirituality supposed that circumcision had the power to save them.”
VERSES 27-29
Listen to how Donald Grey Barnhouse updated these verses for us today. He said: “For he is not a Christian who is one outwardly, nor is that ‘church membership’ which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly; and ‘church membership’ is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.” You see, God wants our hearts and as we give them to Him we then, out of a love relationship, not the Law, love to please Him.
Isn’t it amazing how man can praise you for all kinds of things and yet, the praise from man does not earn praise from God. Again, as I have said, the true evidence of a saved life, of God working in a person’s heart, is the fruit they produce, it will be good!
Now for some, they would say, “What about the Pygmy in Africa who has never heard of Christ?” Let me say this, God is a righteous Judge and I have no doubt that if that Pygmy seeks after the God who created the heavens and the earth, God will bring to him what he needs to be saved. Jeremiah 29:13-14a says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD. . .” There truly is a bigger issue than the Pygmy in Africa who doesn’t know God, and that is you who have heard of Him and still reject Him, you will be judged because of that!
As I close this evening we have seen Paul come against the self-righteous moralist who is condemned by his conscious. He came against the super-religious person who is condemned by the commandments of God, he has broken them. Thus, the judgment of God will come upon them if they do not repent and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Let me leave you this evening with a summary of Romans chapter 2 by William Newell as he gives to us the Seven Great Principles of God’s Judgment. They go like this: