Sermon Tone Analysis

MBC - 9~/12~/2004 - Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“Patience and Wrath”/*

Romans 2:4,5

 

Ø      ROM 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Ø      ROM 2:2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

Ø      ROM 2:3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Ø      ROM 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Ø      ROM 2:5 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,

 

This morning we’re going to talk about the patience of God with sinful men.

If you have the KJV, the word in v.4 is /longsuffering--/God suffers long with sinners.

The Gk. is makrothumia = long fuse.

God’s fuse is long--but it’s not forever.

And while God is waiting for sinners to repent, He is continually showing them goodness and kindness.

But His patience won’t last forever.

And when His long fuse finally reaches His wrath, it will explode.

Listen to what I’m going to say--

 

“Behind every display of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience, is a threat of judgment if that kindness, tolerance, and patience is rejected.”

How are you responding to the kindness, tolerance, and patience of God in your life?

 

*I.

Review: Two questions for the moralist.*

Paul is leveling the playing field when it comes to salvation: In ch.1, he shows that Gentiles who don’t have God’s written law are condemned because they have sinned against the light of His revelation in nature.

And in ch.2, Paul shows that those who have God’s special revelation—specifically the Jews—are condemned because they sin against that revelation.

As we put it in our study last week, the bad people are bad and the good people are just as bad!

All people stand condemned before God because all have fallen short of the standard of absolute perfection that He demands.

Paul is destroying any and every hope a person might have of being good enough to go to heaven when they die.

No one is good enough to get into heaven—not even one.

And maybe you have noticed that here in ch.2, Paul has shifted into his debate mode: he’s speaking to an imaginary opponent—a self-righteous Jew, anticipating his objections and firing back questions.

This was a rhetorical device known as a diatribe.

And look at the two questions that Paul asks of this Jewish person who judges others for their sins, but does the same things himself:

 

1.)

ROM 2:3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

 

I.e., /“Do you think that the standards that you apply to others don’t apply to you?”/ Well, that’s /exactly/ what he thought!

Now he would have /said/ that he believed that God is fair and just when it comes to judging.

The Jews had a strong sense of the fairness of God that goes clear back to what Father Abraham said to God in—

 

* GEN 18:25  "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike.

Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

But they just assumed that they were on the side of the righteous because they were Jews and Abraham was their father.

Remember what we saw last week: The Jews at this time believed that they wouldn’t be judged individually for their sins.

They were part of a group—the nation of Israel, the chosen, covenant people of God—and that group was going to heaven.

We said that the rabbis taught that Father Abraham sat at the gates of hell to turn back any Jews who happened to take a wrong turn!

In the book The Wisdom of Solomon, right after a passage on pagan idolatry, it says this:

 

* 15:1-3: “But Thou, Our God, are gracious and true, longsuffering, and in mercy ordering all things.

For even if we sin, we are Thine, knowing Thy dominion; but we shall not sin, knowing that we have been accounted Thine; for to be acquainted with Thee is perfect righteousness!”

 

Do you hear the tone of presumption in that?

But isn’t it human nature to say the same thing?

“God I know that there is a hell for really bad people, like Saddam Hussein, and Hitler, and Madonna, and Geraldo Rivera—bad people.

But not people like me!”

 

Well where do people think God draws the line between those bad people, and the good people—like them?

Try to get an answer to /that/ question!

But you know where they will end up: “Well wherever the line is, I’m sure I’m on the right side!” but they neglect to see those 3 devastating truths about sin that we saw last week:

 

1.)

Sin is any lack of perfection.

Anything less than the absolute perfection which belongs to the holiness of God is sin.

2.)

Sin is measured by the heart, not just the actions.

Even when you restrain yourself from sinning, you still sin in your heart, in your motives, in your attitudes.

3.)

When you break one law, you have broken the whole law.

So everyone is condemned by /this/ standard—a million times over!

So ask the question again: You believe that God’s judgment is right and just—that God is like Fox network: “Fair and balanced”--and you want to see Him judge those bad people for their sins?

Then don’t you think, if God is fair and balanced, that He must judge /you/ by the same standard that you want Him to use on others?

That’s just what Paul says:

 

Ø      ROM 2:11 For there is no partiality with God.

Those who think that they will escape the righteous judgment of God are deluded, they are living in a dream—but one day they will awaken!

As Jonathan Edwards preached it in /Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,/ “In due time, their foot will slip: As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next, and when he does fall, he falls at once, without warning. .

.and there is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”

The truth that Paul is establishing is that all have sinned, all are deserving of condemnation, and all will receive that—unless God has provided an escape, a pardon, a salvation from His judgment!

And that’s where we ended up last week: God has provided a way to heaven, not through law-keeping, but through trusting in His Son.

But now look at the 2nd question that he throws at this opponent:

 

2.)

ROM 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

 

Paul is like Isaiah here: “Come now and let us reason together!

You know 2 things: you know that you are a sinner who deserves to punished for your sins, but you also know that God hasn’t executed the sentence yet—you’re still here!

Do you take that lightly?

God is being patient with you!

Don’t you see His goodness all around you?

You see it in the countless ways that He has blessed you: your job, your possessions, your health, your family.

You have had many more good days than bad days.

He has even allowed you to hear the good news of salvation in His Son—not everyone has had that opportunity—but you have!

Don’t you see the goodness of God in allowing you to get up in this morning?

And don’t you see that the only reason you are still alive is the kindness and mercy of God?

But His goodness and His patience have a purpose: He is allowing you the opportunity to respond to His kindness and tolerance and patience with /repentance/ that you might escape His judgment!”

Do you hear me?

Before we talk about the purpose of God’s patience, we need to talk about the abuse.

*II.

The abuse of God’s patience.*

Until God does His work of grace in a person’s heart, that person will misunderstand and abuse God’s patience.

How?

 

*/1.)

/**/By slandering God’s justice./*

He will say.

“Hey, God’s a wimp.

I’m spittin’ in His eye, and He’s not doin’ anything to me!

I don’t see any lightning bolts.

This hell thing is just a myth that people made up to try to keep bad boys like me in line.

Well it won’t work.”

Listen to the Word of God--

 

Ø      PSA 94:7 They have said, "The Lord does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed." [i.e., God obviously isn’t watching what I’m doing!]3

Ø      PSA 94:8 Pay heed, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones?

Ø      PSA 94:9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear?

He who formed the eye, does He not see?

Ø      PSA 94:23 . . .

He has brought back their wickedness upon them, And will destroy them in their evil; The Lord our God will destroy them.

Ø      PSA 50:16 But to the wicked God says, "What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth?

Ø      PSA 50:17  "For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you.

Ø      PSA 50:18  "When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers.