Romans – God’s Glorious Gospel
Understanding the Judgment of God
Romans 2:1-16
* It was on a Monday in 1994 that I first heard the news. Actually, that Monday was my Mom and Dad’s anniversary (June 13). From the news on the radio I heard, “Last night in Los Angeles the x-wife of O. J. Simpson and a friend were found murdered outside of her apartment.” Believe this or not, my first thought was this, “wonder if O. J. had anything to do with it?” Already most of us are rolling our eyes as we recall the 150 witnesses, the 134 days of televised testimony, and the long protracted trial. One of the sad outcomes of O.J.’s trial is this; while the jury acquitted him, most of those who watched came to an entirely different conclusion. Many, if not most, believe he got away with murder. Let me put this in terms which help us understand why I even mention this story: O.J. stood before a judge, the evidence was laid forth, a verdict was rendered, and (popular opinion seems to be) he beat the system.
* Although the message today from God’s word is not a popular one, here it is; Hebrews 9:27, “it is appoint for people to die once – after this, judgment.” Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5 speaks to every born again child of God and says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Revelation 20 speaks of a “Great White Throne” judgment where all those outside of Christ will be judged. The Bible teaches us that EVERY PERSON who has ever lived, one day, will be judged.
* If I’m going to be judged, I want to KNOW what the standard will be. One of the reasons that I have little interest in International travel is because I do not know the legal system of other countries, so were I to do some-thing which was illegal, I would have little defense.
* Today we come to Romans 2, please turn there. Many of the translators call these first 16 verses “God’s Righteous Judgment.” After reading literally hours of commentary on this passage, I was to offer you a message entitled “Understanding the Judgment of God.” I believe when we understand, it will impact our lives.
* (Read Text) Hebrews 4:12-13 says; “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. 13 No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked & exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.
* Please do not miss this truth; every person will indeed give an account of their lives. This means that no one is exempt, no one can “plead” their way out, and most importantly, no one can fool the judge.
* John McArthur offers 6 principles of judgment, however, with a great deal of respect for a great man of God; I offer you 7 principles of God’s judgment.
1. The first principle which is apparent in this text is KNOWLEDGE – God will judge us on the basis of the knowledge which He has given to us. Verse one begins with the word “therefore.” In my first preaching class, Dr. Bob Greene taught us that when we see the “therefore” in scripture; find out what it is “there” “for”. In this case we are called to remember many truths already spoken in chapter one. John Piper preached 22 messages on Romans 1. Let’s review;
* The Righteousness of God has been revealed & already explained. It was said that the righteous believer lives by faith, in faith, and to faith. He began His journey with faith in Christ, faith for forgiveness, cleansing, healing, and life. Additionally, his life is on a journey of faith to follow the teachings and will of Christ which leads to everlasting life in a place called the “New Jerusalem.”
* Next, the Wrath of God has been revealed from Heaven & has been fully explained. It comes from Heaven and opposes all the ungodliness and unrighteous of people who suppress the truth. For you see, people who suppress the truth of God invite consequences which are far beyond our imagination. Verse 29-31 reveals a virtual laundry list of qualities which fill their lives and we are told that “God will turn them over” to the evil they love.
* But it gets worse. People who resist, reject, or replace God cannot plead ignorance, because God has shown to all of us what we need to come to Him (read 1:19-20). Did you hear this? Wicked people are without excuse.
* It’s worth noting at this point that many believe Paul wrote this section to the “Gentile world,” that would have been those whom the Jews would have called “dogs.”
* In the eyes of the Jews, the Gentiles didn’t have a chance as they were simply corrupt. Quite likely, as this first section (know today as Chapter 1) of the letter was read, the Jews became the “Amen” section. Why is that?
* Because the Jews had no concept of personal judgment for the Jews. They believed in 2 things; 1) Legalism – this is salvation by works. Because they were in the nation of Israel, kept the traditions, their physical and religious identification they were exempt from personal judgment. Since they were a “chosen nation” they thought God was obligated to the whole nation. As a result, they had NO concept or felt no consequence for personal sin. They kept the traditions with the letter of the law and they help the nation ‘be all she could be’, 2) There was also “the covenant.” Dr. McArthur calls this “Sacramentalism”. Because they were circumcised on the 8th day (the ritual) or sacrament, then they were in the covenant and would escape the coming judgment.
* In case you think “how could they believe this?” We have those among us who believe in Sacramentalism today. Ask them about their faith in Christ and the response is “I was baptized on”, or “I am a member of such-n-such’s church”, or “I believe in God.” One theologian suggested that inside of every heart is a little voice who says, “It’s going to be okay in the end.” Yet Paul writes in Chapter 1:20, “you are without excuse.” This message, given to those considered despicable, is now echoed to those who considered themselves decent. You have no excuse.
* (Read verse 1) This verse echoes the principle given by Jesus in Matthew 7. You betray that you KNOW God’s standard when you apply them to others. The first principle of God’s judgment is based on knowledge.
2. The second principle of judgment is TRUTH and not just any truth but God’s truth. (Verse 2) We best not miss this. We “know” (KJV “are sure”) means this is commonly known & patiently obvious that God will judge by truth.
* How and why is this known? Look at chapter 3:4. God doesn’t tell the truth, He IS the truth. Psalms 96 says that “He’ll judge the peoples of this world with truth”. Jesus says, “I am the truth and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
* God’s judgment according to truth should sober us. There will be no evidentiary hearing, no legal wrangling, no manipulation, and no fooling the judge. God will judge each one of us according to truth. Here is the frightening part, “He knows the truth.”
* For years we have described Jehovah God with 3 big terms, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. To begin to understand these terms means we know that “Omni” mean “all”. So God is all powerful, all present, and all knowing. Consider what this means for you & me.
* This means God is the judge and God knows the truth about us. Those things you desire to hide, forget, and erase, God knows them. Because He is all present, He witnessed it.
* Many theologians view Romans 2 as being written to the hypocrite. This is the person who has self-cleaned their exterior. It could be they stopped smoking, drinking, and carousing, or maybe they started attending church, but internally there has been little change. The prayer of the hypocrite is that God will judge them by their outward appearance and not what they are inside. In fact, their biggest fear is that “someone will find out.”
* Please listen, “if” this thought has put a knot in your stomach or a weight on your shoulder; please be aware that God knows. He knows the truth, about me & you.
* It is this knowledge which causes us to carefully consider verse 3. Do you THINK that you (if you judge) that you will escape the judgment of God? This is a rhetorical question thus, it requires NO ANSWER.
3. The third principle of God’s judgment is GUILT. Paul points out that we are guilty! We are guilty of rejecting God’s goodness, of abusing God’s mercy, of ignoring God’s grace, of spurning God’s love, of mocking His kindness. In every sin we commit, we show contempt for God.
* Let’s read verses 4-5. Verse 5 speaks of a hard and unrepentant heart as well as the storing up of wrath for you in the Day of Judgment. A hard heart is one which resists and rejects the truth of God just like the hard ground in the parable of the sower. In Acts 2, Dr. Luke records these words, “they were cut (pricked or pierced) in their hearts.” Why is this important? It is in the heart that we feel, trust, and believe. Our heart makes us who we really are and a hard heart makes us a hard, cold, and sinful person. And if we are such a person, we will not repent of anything. We’ll be too proud to admit we’ve even made a mistake let alone committed any sin. Catch this progression; a heart is hard and thus, unrepentant, by nature becomes “unfeeling”. So reverse progression sets in; since the heart is unfeeling, it feels no remorse for sin. If the heart feels no “Godly sorrow” it won’t lead to repentance and if there is no repentance, the heart remains unchanged, unrepentant, ungodly, and GUILTY!
* I’ll submit to you that one of the reason this altar remains so empty and dry is that we have become an unfeeling people. Years ago, we determined that we didn’t want to be like those crazy folks who were emotional in their worship of God, so we extracted all the emotion from our expressions. When this conscious choice was made, I believe, Satan won a great victory. Now, we have become a people who are largely unmoved, undisturbed, and unaffected by the gospel because the feeling of godly sorrow has gone, repentance has no place, hardness has taken hold, and we have made our faith an intellectual activity. The problem is this; we are still guilty and we’ll be judged as guilty! We may know the right words, we may have the church membership, we may even have the right level of giving, but all this tells is that we have the knowledge, the truth, and yet remain guilty before God.
* This is not a popular message and we’ll finish the last four next weeks, but hear this, O. J. was able to “beat the rap” because Judge Ito and the Jurors didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the events. Jehovah God knows and will judge each of us accordingly. Be Ready.
