Series: Romans – the Line in the Sand
Message Title: Straddling the Line
Scripture: Romans 2:1-16
2:1 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.
Augustine said, “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
Introduction:
What you believe is important. Your philosophy of religion, your doctrine, your firm foundation and stance on Biblical issues is an important matter. Do you know where you stand on the basic, foundational doctrines of the Bible?
What is doctrine? Doctrine is a particular subject, principle, position, or policy that is taught or advocated whether personally or corporately. The book of Romans presents several different doctrines for us to study. It covers the doctrine of justification, sanctification, salvation, sin, man, Jesus, God, and several others.
As we move through this first section of Romans, Paul has been making it painfully clear, that all men are sinners, and are aware of it. Yet, that is not the entire point of these beginning chapters of Romans; the main point is that not only are men sinners, but that all men will be subject to the terrible consequences of that very fact.
In the first chapter, Paul told us that all men are without excuse because the truth of God had been written by Him across the face of the universe. In verse 19 of chapter one, Paul doesn’t use a lot of seminary-level learning to get his point across. He says,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
Then in verse 31 of chapter one, Paul gives us probably one of the most damning verses in the Bible when he says,
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
This speaks to the lies that the intellectual, professor, teacher, or student maintains that man is the founder of the standards of morality. Quite the contrary. It tells us that God is responsible for setting the standard of moral right and moral wrong, and it is man’s responsibility to follow that standard.
Yet despite all the warnings, despite all the declarations, despite the innate moral sense of moral right and moral wrong, man still persists in practices deserving of death in God’s sight.
Paul has given us a lot to think about, a lot to digest. Yet, he’s just getting started.
In this second chapter, Paul begins the first verse with a word that we generally regard as bringing everything together for a conclusion. He uses the word therefore, which usually means we should look backward, because he’s about to draw a conclusion about what he’s just talked about. However, that’s not the case in this instance. In this case he’s telling us to look forward; he’s saying ‘for the following reason…’
Therefore, our points today are:
No Excuses!
Someone Else?
Pointless?
Levels of Civilization?
No Excuses!
You, therefore, have no excuse,
In the first chapter, Paul was basically telling us, God is revealed in everything good that is around us. He asks us the question, “Haven’t you ever looked upon nature and seen the work of a Creator?” Then he tells in not so many words, “Since you have, you’re without excuse.”
Now, in chapter 2, Paul is asking us another question. “Have you ever criticized someone?” Then he declares, “If you have, then you are without excuse.”
Why does he do this? Well, criticism comes from the fact that you have a conscience. And that conscience is now seeing and recognizing a sin in someone else. And, since you know and recognize sin, then that is enough to be judged by God. That is why we need to be saved. That is the evidence of our fallen state that we live in. We are without excuse. When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he opened mankind’s eyes to sin.
Criticizing, judging, condemning, disapproving of, etc., is simply evidence that we are in a fallen condition and are helpless. Your conscience, that makes you aware of an imperfection in someone else or whosoever, finds written on itself the guilt of its own imperfection.
The only judgment that is allowable in the world is scriptural judgment. Scriptural judgment is holding up someone’s actions, words, or deeds in comparison to the Word of God. And, it’s not the person that is holding the Bible that is doing the accusing; what is doing the accusing is the Word of God. It’s God, it’s the Word of God that convicts, not the messenger. Like salvation, in a sense, it’s not the messenger that saves, it’s Jesus.
Chapter two of Romans is an extremely important chapter, especially to the unsaved. From this point on, Paul will set forth the principles by which all those will be judged who have not met God in Christ, and it is only by the Word of God that will they be judged.
This chapter will present to us the principles on which men will be judged, openly declaring man’s sinfulness and laying out the principles of God’s judgment in such a way as to leave no loopholes, even for that person that thinks they are better than someone else.
Someone Else?
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else,
Someone else…in the King James Version it says whosoever. It doesn’t matter who it was that you passed judgment on, Paul says. It doesn’t matter who you were talking about. Maybe that person committed a crime more heinous or terrible than you according to the judicial system or man’s way of justice, but he’s no different than you. Maybe he robbed a bank or a liquor store and maybe you knowingly took a pen home from work. Which one is worse in God’s eyes? They are the same. And, when we, who do the same things, judge others, we are in fact passing judgment upon ourselves. Again, because we recognize sin in others, then that fact condemns us before God. What is our recourse? What is our way through that mess? It is only through the shed blood of Jesus that we are justified in standing before God.
Before and during Paul’s time, there were many men, both Christian and non-Christian, who wrote and spoke upon the good and evil of mankind. It was especially to these men that Paul wrote these words. They wrote volumes about the good and evil of Rome and Greece, yet they are declared to be without excuse before God. And, this is not the judgment of a man, rather this is the declaration of God. Yet, these were not the only people Paul was, and is speaking to, because the someone else, the whosoever in this passage is just as broad as the whosoever that is offered in the gospel.
(Mark 8:34b)
…Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me…
BECAUSE
(Romans 2:1b)
for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
YOU SEE
(Romans 3:22-23) This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Pointless?
You may say that there are not points on which you judge others, but there are. You may say that it is pointless to say that you don’t judge others, yet in your heart, in my heart there is judging going on all the time. Isn’t there?
There is Racial Judgment
(John 4:9) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
There is racial unrest in the U.S. There is racial and ethnic unrest, uneasiness, and sometimes violence throughout the world. Paul accuses the Jews of racial judgment in verse 17 of Romans chapter two,
(Romans 2:17) Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God;
Genesis 46:34b
“…for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
There is no basis for racial judgment on any nation of the world. There is no reason to judge someone simply because they are Russian, Korea, American, Italian, or Martian. It’s not scriptural. It says in
(Acts 17:26) From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
You are standing in judgment on someone else because of their race, then your judgment is unfounded, it’s pointless. And your actions are inexcusable.
What other pointless areas do we judge people? Some judge others based upon their ancestry. Even in a modern country like the U.S., people are still judged, in some areas, according to their ancestry. In Hawaii, there is a school that will only admit people of Hawaiian ancestry [blood]. There are country clubs where, yes you must have money, but if you’re not from a well known and well to-do family, you’re not getting in.
We judge people according to ancestry when in fact we are all children of God. God has no grandchildren. The moment we take a snobbish position and rest upon the basis of a so-called superior blood line then we are in fact snubbing God. We instead are recognizing our blood line instead of God.
2:1 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.
Levels of Civilization?
Are there other areas, other ways that men judge each other? Sure. People are judged on the basis of their culture or their civilization.
There is an organization today that is called “One Laptop Per Child” or OLPC. This organization thinks that every child in a developing country needs a laptop computer which has internet access and a self-generating power unit. How did they determine that every child in a developing country needed a laptop? They judged them against the standards of living of children in so-called civilized countries and reached the conclusion.
Other areas of judgment include education. And this one really gets me. Many times I hear someone say, “Well, don’t expect too much out of them, they didn’t go to college.” WHAT? Give me a non-grad that hasn’t had his or her head filled full of nonsense and we’ll change the world. I don’t think it was a Harvard, Yale, or Liberty grad that said,
(1 Corinthians 1:20) Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
I’ve often said that the difference between a person of above average intelligence and a person of normal intelligence is one point. Why do I say that?
Well, an IQ score of 100 is average. By the way, only one person in the world has an average IQ. You see, half of everyone else has a higher IQ, and the other half has a lower IQ.
Generally, the average IQ range is about 90 to 115, talented is about 115 to 125, gifted is about 125 to 140, and about 140+ is commonly believed as having the potential for genius. So, if you’re 115, you’re normal, if you’re 116 you’re talented…and so on.
But what’s the difference between a moron and a person of average intelligence? Again, just one point.
Where else do we judge each other in levels of civilization? We judge others in character attainments or what we call human ethics.
You know the Bible tells us that God hates it when we take pride in civilization, culture, race or education. And, it teaches that God especially dislikes any glorification of human ethics. When any man takes a stance against another solely based upon a difference in character attainments that man is in fact denying God’s stance on reconciling the world to Him.
Well, that culture eats with their hands.
They wear their shoes in the house.
They don’t wear shoes outside.
Their women don’t wear shirts or blouses.
What are ethics? Ethics are the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, in not so many words…human righteousness, which by the way doesn’t mean anything before God. Yet, when ethics are used to judge others to the exclusion of the Bible, then we are sinning against God. The greatest insult to God is to present any ethical attainment as a basis for salvation.
Does the Bible say:
For it is by education you have been saved, through textbooks?
For it is by ancestry you have been saved, through blood lines?
For it is by civilization you have been saved, through ethics?
No, the Bible says,
(Ephesians 2:8-9) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Summary:
General Robert E. Lee was a devout follower of Jesus Christ. It is said that soon after the end of the American Civil War, he visited a church in Washington, D.C. During the communion service he knelt beside a black man. An onlooker said to him later, "How could you do that?" Lee replied, "My friend, all ground is level beneath the cross."
Yes, all ground is level beneath the cross. You need to know that. You need to know that I am no better than you in God’s sight, and you are no better than I. You and I both need to know that those people outside this church are no better than you or I, and, we are no better than they.
We are all on equal footing. But remember, that equal footing doesn’t mean we are immune to falls or slips, or trips, if we don’t allow Him to guide our steps.
