God’s Righteous Judgment and Kindness
(1) You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. (2) Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. (3) So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? (4) Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
(5) But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. (6) God "will give to each person according to what he has done."
(7) To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. (8) But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. (9) There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; (10) but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (11) For God does not show favoritism.
Who is the biggest sinner you know?
You should always be the biggest sinner you know.
(v 1-3) (1) You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. (2) Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. (3) So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
If I am the biggest sinner I know, and I completely believe it, then I should be focusing all my time and efforts on my sin and not someone else’s.
God doesn’t care what we think about someone else and there sins, He cares about what we think about our personal sin. He cares about what we are doing about it.
If you’re not the biggest sinner you know then it will be very difficult for you to become all that God wants you to become. If you feel that there are people out there that are bigger sinners than you, then it allows you a place of comfort. You will feel like you are maybe a step above others. And you’re not. The fact is we are all in the same boat together as sinners.
In Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Now the good news is that as Christians we are taken from that boat and put in another that is more sea worthy.
We know that as Christians that we are called to help our fellow brothers and sisters when they are in sin. We are even supposed to confront them in a loving way if they are having a problem seeing it. But that isn’t what Paul is talking about here. Paul is talking about the unconstructive judgment of others when we are just as guilty of sin ourselves.
God is telling us here that it is not our job to be judgmental. Who’s job is it? It is Christ’s job. (John 5:22) The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.
So who is it that will be judged? (2 Corinthians 5:10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
For the Christian – (v-7) To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
For the non-Christian – (v-8) For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
Now Paul is focusing I feel here mostly on the Jew at this point because they thought that being Gods Chosen People that they were above the rest. But I think this is as relevant to us today as Christians. We can get on our high horse at times also.
The truth is Christ as judge knows the truth about what’s in a person’s heart and what the reality is about their sin. Christ being perfect in every way is why He was given this task by God. How could we an imperfect human, imperfect in every way, ever truly judge anyone. We can’t.
We need to always remember Gods grace given to us who have faith as sinners and what Christ did for us on the cross to reconcile us to God. We need to apply the same grace to others, especially other Christians.
On July 8th, 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the most famous sermon in American history. That sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” it presents the true condition of fallen humanity and the need for salvation.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spiders web would have to stop a falling rock….
There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.
Most of us don’t want to think of God’s wrath. But we must, because without His just wrath on sinners who do not come to faith in Him, then we can’t really begin to truly understand His grace and love. The wrath makes His grace and love for us so much more meaningful. God is just in both His wrath and His grace.
We must remember that it would be just for God to strike us all down right now and send us all to hell. But because of His love for us, He waits, so that it will give those time, who have been called to Him but have not yet come.
John Mac Arthur in his book Our Awesome God says this about the purity of Gods wrath.
The wrath of God is not like human wrath. Most often when we get angry, we are offended and our pride gets in the way.
That is a reflection of the evil heart of man. Even when we are angry about the right things, our own sinfulness usually pollutes our anger. That’s why we must not impose our concept of anger onto God. God’s anger is pure and untainted by sin.
God’s wrath is pure because it is related to His holiness, which demands that He not tolerate sin.
God never makes a mistake in exercising His wrath. He doesn’t fly off the handle in momentary fury. When He is angry, it is the right expression of His holiness and justice.
God is always in complete control of Himself and His emotions. He can not be any other way. His being will not allow Him to.
Anger in itself is not sin, but when anger becomes out of control rage then that is when it becomes sin.
What it all comes down to - (v 3-4) (3) So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? (4) Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
In the first part we see a hypocrite, someone who thinks they are righteous and above others. I would even say that they show very little sign of having the Holy Spirit working in them.
Christ would say as He did in Mathew 25:12 "I tell you the truth, I do not know you.”
In the last part we see that God’s kindness leads us toward repentance. A message that God is being patient so that He can do His work in those He wishes, to bring them to repentance and faith.
