Religious But Lost
Romans 2:1-16
· Last Sunday AM & PM we studied the wrath of God. We looked at WHY God’s wrath is exercised upon mankind(gentile world)(1:18-22).
1) Man’s rejection of God’s revelation of Himself(Conscience/Creation)
2) Man’s Exchange of giving God’s glory to giving it to other objects of worship.
We looked at WHAT God’s wrath entails: Eventual day of Judgment but even now a present tense ‘giving over’ to three things:
1) Impure hearts – allowing to go in direction so intent on(Little Dog on lease)
2) Degrading behaviors – more in common with animals than God
3) Depraved/reprobate minds – absent of a sense of God
· Today: The Judgment of God
1) Many who heard read Romans chapter 1 might have cheered as they understood that those ‘pagans, heathen, godless’ finally get what they have coming to them. WITHOUT EXCUSE
2) Then beginning with Chapter 2 Paul shocks his readers by saying that others also are ‘without excuse’.
a) Quick to amen that those people who own the bars, every other word is profanity, exchange God for a fishing pole or golf club, reject God in their lives are really going to be in for it and get what they have coming to them. They are obviously lost!!
3) Romans 2 is going to tells us that nobody is so good that they don’t have to be saved. No ins on God. God you are my debtor and owe me eternal life.
a) Might look at the extremes spoken of in Chapter one and say that that identifies a lost person. How they think and what they do.
b) Judgment is not based on how extreme your bad behavior was but it all comes down to one thing that we are going to discuss this morning.
HOWARD CARTER: Searched for the tomb of King Tut and in the 1920’s he found it. He go to the Circofergus and opened the COFFIN, in it he found another Coffin. This one was elaborated with GOLD LEAFING on it. It was opened and a THIRD COFFIN. It was opened and then there was a SOLD GOLD FOURTH COFFIN. It was opened and a GOLD CLOTH on top of the body. Under the cloth was a GOLD MASK. Underneath it all was an old, dry, withered, dead body. Elaborate outward display and find underneath something old, dry, withered and dead spiritual reality.
A person may impress the world around to be very religious and put on a big production when it comes to their spiritual life.
MAN IS A VERY RELIGIOUS CREATURE.
World is filled with religion: Muslums, Buddist, Shinto, Confusision, Mormons, JW, Christian Science, Catholocism, tribal religions…..Christianity is the predominant religion in the United States and many people are born here and begin practicing their religion in Christian circles but never ever have a relationship with Jesus Christ. THEY ARE RELGIOUS BUT LOST. Dry and withered in an environment of gold.
QUESTION THIS MORNING: Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ or are you just practicing your religion.
It was a surprise one morning at Eastwood Baptist Church when our Sunday School Superintendent walk the aisle to make a decision. The big surprise was that it was a salvation decision. Dennis Brown came forward to say ‘I have been a very religious person all my life but I have realized that I never had a relationship with Jesus Christ’.
Dennis had grown up in church: learned to say the right things, do the right things, pray the right prayers, stand and sit at right time but had never met His Savior until that morning, never had his sins placed on the cross until that morning.
Had learned all the rote of Christianity.
It wasn’t long before we left Immanuel Baptist Church that a young man with a new baby walked the aisle. Chad Ford came to give his life to Jesus Christ. Chad flatly stated, ‘I have been playing a big game’. Chad played it well, well enough to be the interim youth pastor. Chad was a great guy but his sins which seemed to be very few were still on his account until he received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
Imagine the shock years ago at 1st Baptist Norman, OK when the pastor, Preacher Hallick, came forward during his own invitation and gave his life to Jesus Christ.
He knew what to say, how to say it, what was expected but he never had a relationship with Jesus Christ until that morning.
· For some of us those three events seem like the craziest things you have ever heard. Three very religious and moral individuals: faithful, serving in the church, and even tithers(Pharisees: perfect church members) and yet they do not know Jesus Christ.
1) Paul is sounding an alarm in chapter 2 that we know enough to pass judgment on others that we should make sure we know that we ourselves have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
(1) Therefore, you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. (2) And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.
(3) And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself that you will escape the judgment of God.
(4) Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
(5) But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, (6) Who will render to every man according to his deeds…
THREE TYPES OF JUDGMENT
(ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH – ACCORDING TO OUR DEEDS – ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL)
· Behind what Paul wrote is a theme that we also have to look at this morning and that is the theme of HYPOCRISY.
HYPOCRITE: Came from someone who was an actor who would have worn a mask placed on a stick. It demonstrated different emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, confidence…
One day the mask would come down and behind it the real person existed. Many of us may be wearing a mask today, the real you remains unseen.
The hope of the hypocrite is that God will judge him on something other than the truth.
Professional wrestling in the 1960’s usually had some guy wearing a mask. They were always trying to get the mask off. One particular time the good guy finally had the bad guy and was pulling at the mask to remove it. Finally he succeeded and everybody saw the real face. On judgment day your mask is going to be ripped off.
You may appear to those around you many different ways but on that day it will be may evident to all the true person God knew you to be all along.
· The devil would love to send you to hell from a church pew as much as from a gutter. Prefer it in fact. He is not as you might think against religion. For him religion is an inoculation that keeps many people from the real thing.
JUDGMENT ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH: Therefore you are without excuse(without legal defense), every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another you condemn yourself
· When you cast a judgment on someone else you are in a sense saying, “I have a sense of what is right and wrong, that sin is a serious issue’. That is to say that if you are are guilty yourself of sin then you are condemning yourself. You who judge practice the same things.
1) Horrible things mentioned in 1:24-32. Sinful practices of the lost gentile world: immorality, homosexuality, reprobate attitudes.
2) SAME does not mean identical but things which are in the same category of being offensive to God. PRODIGAL Vrs ELDER BROTHER.
3) We like to make other people’s sins the worst sins. Ours are excusable but Paul says you are doing the same things.
And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. And do you suppose this, ‘O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same things yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? NO!!
· No a person here is perfect but we sure like to go lightly on our own imperfections. God will understand how had life is for me, how difficult that temptation is, BUT THEM, ‘They should know better, they really have it coming, how could they do something like that?’ LOG/SPECK illus
LOOKING in the paper this week while in hospital waiting room.
SPORT’s SECTION: OU verses MU. Statements came out in a KC paper said by MU coach about OU’s defense. Article stated that the statements were false, had never even been said but were hanging on the bulletin board of the OU football team.
When one player was asked what he thought about the things in the article never even had been said, ‘Doesn’t matter because it helps us get motivated for the game’.
TRUTH DOESN”T MATTER. Rather have a falsehood that moves us in the direction we want to go. MY THOUGHT: Sounds like the average church.
They said, we heard, I know this happened, what about this, who did that, what are we going to do about….
DEVIL SITS THERE SMILING AND SAYS THIS IS LIKE SHOOTING FISH IN A BARREL
SEMINARY: Had what I thought was the easiest job in the world: Fancy tennis clubhouse: do your homework and keep an eye out BUT the easiest job in the world is what Satan does(horrible retirement). Attacks the church: has so much help, just gives a little push. People run with half truths, take up offense for somebody else, upset that their way is not the chosen way. SATAN LAUGHS because his greatest prize, the target he aims at destroying in every church he can is UNITY.
They will know us by our love….otherwise we look just like a lost world.!
EPH 4:13 Sign of maturity ….until we all attain to the UNITY of the faith
JOHN 17:23 Sign to the world that Jesus is real …that they may be perfected in UNITY that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them…
PS 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in UNITY
MET FOR LUNCH: I could preach at pews or chair, at any color of carpet or paint on the wall, from any type of platform or pulpit, I could work with full time or part time staff regardless of what my own personal opinion might be on the matter as long as I am guarding with my attitude that which is most precious: UNITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.
· Bottom line of all that if we ‘suppose’ we can be so hard on others and even disrupt the body of Christ then we are making a gross miscalculation and will receive the same judgment ourselves.
· If I know enough to condemn your behavior then I demonstrate that I myself am even moreso responsible to do what is right and more accountable for the wrong I do.
LOOK AT VERSE 4: Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.
· Jews quickly condemned the lost heathens and forgot how many blessings God had bestowed upon them and yet they still acted in sinful ways.
How many spiritual benefits do you take lightly: born in America, Christian parents or friends, God’s blessings on your life, patience with your sinful behavior.
The Jews enjoyed more blessings from God than any other people and yet it did not lead them to repentance but to become even more critical of others.
When you really get a sense of your own sin, the offense against God your life has been, then you will be less quick to be so judging of others.
Jesus’ story of the man who owed millions and was also owed a few hundred.
· God has allowed His goodness in order to give you space to repent and not to make you think you are something special and have a right to look down your nose at others. Jews stumbled at this point.
(5) But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are STORING UP WRATH for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
* Exact same word Jesus used when He spoke of laying up treasures in
heaven.
1) We are storing up one of two things.
2) God could not be righteous and not respond to sin.
3) The greatest sin is that which is sinned against the greatest light
JUDGEMENT ACCORDING TO DEEDS: (6) Who will render to every man according to his deeds;
· We like to think that God will judge on a curve.
You always hated the kid who man 100 on a test when the grade was on a curve. When the best grade was maybe a 84% it made you feel good.
God doesn’t use that approach: Billy Graham sets the curve, high marks but not perfect. We like to look around and measure ourselves by others who also have faults
When we look at a lost world we feel good: SF(Drive on bridge) Belton(Golf Course) Here(joggers down Riverside) Lake, neighbors work in yard – NEWS: Bars, buy beer at Homeland. A lot better than they are: There they are_______, those are the ones, some day, WE ARE AT THE TOP OF THE CURVE – Top already taken: JESUS He is the standard and all will fall short.
GREATEST SWIMMER IN WORLD: Drop him and me out into middle of Pacific. I might make it a few miles, he might make it 20-30 but we both will end up at the same place: BOTTOM
AGE 10: Estes Park Mountain: Brother’s took me up above tree line. Camp looking for. Looking over top of peak. Mt. Everst climber ‘that is nothing’ but if object is to climb to the moon then Everst is nothing. None of begin to compare with the righteousness of God.
· We are not saved by works but we will be judged by them.
GREAT WHITE THRONE: Rev 20 All will be judged by the books. You will have a book with your name on it: Every thought & deed. (MY OWN LIBRARY WING) Books will be opened. Never used against me. BOOK OF THE LAMB: Name written in of that book of those under the blood of Jesus Christ.
· That which evidences true saving faith is seen in verse 7: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life
1) A consistent life lived for the purpose of giving glory and honor to Jesus Christ. Persistent to the end.
· That which evidences the life of a lost person: Verse 8….selfishly ambitious…no obey the truth….obey unrighteousness
1) ‘all wrapped in themselves’ ….not that they don’t know the truth but
just don’t obey it…….slaves of unrighteousness
2) Roads with two different destinations: immortality & eternal life verses wrath and indignation(threshing of grain).
· There will be a day of accountability to all mankind beginning with those who have received the greatest light, the greatest evidence of the truth.
(9) There will be tribulation(treading of grapes) and distress(narrowing cave, no escape) for every soul of man who does evil, of the JEW FIRST and also of the Greek. (10) but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the JEW FIRST and also to the Greek.
JUDGMENT ACCORING TO THE GOSPEL: (11) For there is NO PARTIALITY with God.
· This one statement was the most shocking one in this whole passage. It went against everything a Jew believed. They were GOD”S CHOSEN ones. Just being a Jew meant heaven was assured. Paul’s point is that just being a Jew makes you even more accountable before God.
1) Living in America, raised in a church we might think God owes us something but Paul would say that makes us more accountable to the light we have been exposed to.
· NO PARTIALITY: Lit means ‘God’s doesn’t seen anybodies face’:
Someone has once quipped that the definition of a jury is: “twelve people chosen to decide who has the best lawyer.”
1) American Judicial System: who is your lawyer, how much power and influence you have, God is not partial, won’t lift the face to see who it is before He acts.
2) All accountable to the same Gospel which declares all of us as sinners.
EVANGELISM EXPLOSION group at South Padre Island: Muscled up weight lifter working out on the beach. Most shyed away from but a weasly little guy went up to try to witness to him. He began with the basic questions: If you died today do you know that you would go to heaven…..2cnd If standing before God today and God asked why should I let you into My heaven… WHAT WOULD HEAVEN BE WITHOUT ME.
God is not partial…some people are going to be literally shocked by where they will spend eternity….amazed that all their good deeds, there religious activity, there false hopes didn’t get them into heaven.
(16) on the day when ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
· The gospel will be the greatest opportunity for you or the greatest evidence against you.
1) The gospel message is God shouting to the world that sin is a problem. It must be dealt with. God has made a provision for it through His Son but we must exercise our faith and deal with it.
2) Our judgment will be based on what we have done with the Gospel. Jesus Christ with either be our Savior or our Judge.
ACTS 17:30-31 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, GOD IS NOW DECLARING TO ALL MEN that all people everywhere should repent, because HE HAS FIXED A DAY in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.
· There will be no inadmissable evidence on that day. God will judge the SECRETS OF MEN. Everything will be admissible on that day. Everything that God knows to be true of you. Whatever is not placed under the shed blood of Jesus Christ will stare you in the face on that day.
· All come down to one issue: Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ or are you just a religious person.
ARE YOU READY FOR THAT DAY? day could be today, night could be tonight.
During the years of WW2 there was a Jewish man who lived in Germany and went through the horrors of the Holocaust. He actually did eventually escape with his life but he recounts what he and other Jews went through.
1) Time when they asked us to register: didn’t like it but this will pass
2) Wear armbands:
3) Live in same vicinity of the city: only trade there, could not leave, poverty
4) Night they came and took certain individuals
5) Came for my family: boxcars to ‘work camps’. This will pass
6) Large room for community shower: Locked…gas came out…AT THAT POINT there was this horrible moan that finally communicated to them: THIS IS NOT GOING TO PASS.
Fooled themselves all the way down the line until it was too late.
· I will get serious with God some day. Get more and more callus in our hearts. God will not hold me to the same standard. God is not partial. We will all be judged: 1) Truth that says that all mankind is accountable 2) Deeds which declare us as sinners 3) Gospel that declares we must deal with our sins through Jesus Christ.
