“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. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 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? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? 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. God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:1-11, NIV).
Why would others suffer the wrath of God, while there are those who are saved from it?
Are you saved, because you are better than the rest – that you are not “self-seeking” and you embrace the truth and follow what is good?
Did God save you, because you are not stubborn -- unlike the rest who do not repent?
While it is easy to believe that we have at least a little goodness in us, that on our own we are able to repent, we need to tremble at God’s Word – believe instead of what He declares:
“What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’" (Rom. 3:9-12, NIV).
Perhaps, others would contend that even before we are converted we could do some righteousness, we were seeking God but we did not know the way; or there was a great “chasm” in the road going to Him and we could not just jump over it, so we couldn’t approach God.
In our human standard, perhaps, we could also clothe ourselves with “righteousness.” But it would not match the standard of God, as we read: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isa. 64:6, NIV.)
We also read that “no one seeks God.” Jesus did not come to be found by those who were seeking for God. Rather, He “came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10, NIV).
God Himself seeks for His sheep. We read in Ezekiel 34:11-16, “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.”
And we were not trying to find our way to overcome what hindered us in coming to God. Rather, we “have turned away” from God! We “have together become WORTHLESS; there is NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD, NOT EVEN ONE”!
It’s hard to accept our worthlessness, but Paul wrote the Christians at Ephesus, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. LIKE THE REST, WE WERE BY NATURE OBJECTS OF WRATH” (Eph. 2:3, NIV).
We read Romans 1:18-23:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles” (NIV).
Just like the rest, we claimed to know God, but we didn’t glorify Him as God. We were ungrateful to Him. Our thinking became futile and our foolish hearts were darkened. We thought we believed God, but actually we exchanged His glory in accordance with our own human reason and imagination.
We rejected the God of the Bible – or how He defined His Glory – and substituted Him with our own image of God. On the stone, wood, or in our imagination, we carved a “glorious god” who would just agree with and could grant our own human desire.
We “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23, NIV).
In the words in Ephesians 2, we “…followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (verses 2-3, NIV).
But how are we saved from God’s wrath?
Ephesians 2:4-5 states, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.”
Could we not believe God’s Word that He made us the objects of His mercy and “made us alive with Christ”; while the rest, He gave them up or gave them over (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) to their own stubbornness and become “the objects of His wrath” (Rom. 9:22)?
Could we not believe His Word that in His kindness He led us “toward repentance” (Rom. 2:4)?
Or, could we not believe that God Himself granted us repentance (2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31; 11:18)? Could we not believe that it is not our own desire or work, but “…it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13)?
Could we not believe that if ever we are able to repent, or to persist “in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality,” it’s because God removed our stubborn heart and gave us His Spirit?
Let’s listen to God’s Word than to human reason:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:26-28).
We are saved from God’s wrath NOT because of our own goodness that we are able and choose to repent. On our own, we could not do so, or even desire to be saved, for we have no “spiritual consciousness” --- spiritually dead!
We read in Romans 8:5-8, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires… The mind of sinful man is death… the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
Nor we are saved because of any goodness in our heart. For we read in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
But because of God’s goodness or kindness, because of His mercy – because of His Sovereign choice (Rom. 9:16; John 15:16) – because of His grace, He made us alive and led us toward repentance and saved us from His wrath!
It’s really grace, because our salvation does not depend on our own desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. It does not depend on our own will and performance, but on God who works in us to will and to act according to His purpose.
Believe that we were chosen to be saved not because of any good thing we’ve done, planned, or desired! It’s not for our sake (Ezek. 36:32). It was God’s Sovereign choice (Rom. 11:5).
We cannot choose Him, unless He chooses us. We cannot come to Him, unless He draws us to Himself (John 6:44, 65). We cannot understand His Truth, unless He gives us His Spirit to understand and behold His Glory. We cannot repent, unless He leads us to and gives us repentance
And believe that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
PRAYER: Our Merciful Father, we acknowledge our unworthiness and Your Mercy for saving us from Your Wrath. Your Grace is truly amazing and we kneel down before You in great humiliation. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
