By Faith - Romans 2:1-16

Pslam 150

Psalm 150 CSB

Hallelujah! Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty expanse. Praise him for his powerful acts; praise him for his abundant greatness. Praise him with the blast of a trumpet; praise him with harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and flute. Praise him with resounding cymbals; praise him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

Romans 2:1-16

Romans 2:1–16 CSB

Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For there is no favoritism with God. For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

This week what we are reading is Paul saying the Jewish people violated the law. Last week he was arguing among other the Gentiles were guilty as well even though they did not have the law. We summed it up to say that we all have sin and what our response to that sin is.

Proclamation of Truth

Brokenness, including Lament and Confession

Remember part of Paul’s reason for writing was to help two different groups of people coexist and to help them both understand that all people need the Savior and what He offers, namely justification and righteousness by faith alone. 

The Greeks needed to understand that they needed it and the Jewish people needed to understand they needed it. 

We are not Jewish people and do not live under the law but under grace. That being said I think there are some very important things I believe we can exegete or draw out of the text.

This week we can pull a few different things out. 

Hypocrisy 2:1-11

Paul is arguing that the Jewish people thought that because they had the Law they were ok. The problem is they were sinners under the law. They were guilty of hypocrisy.

The people were hypocrites because while they had the law they did not keep it and instead used it as a weapon not a tool of love and correction. 

Hypocrisy is saying you believe one thing and then acting in manner contrary to that belief. Christians and non Christians can be hypocrites.

I have a little test for you to determine if you are a hypocrite. It is real simple. Take you two first fingers and place them on your radial artery. If you feel pulse congratulations you are alive and more than likely a hypocrite. If you do not feel a pulse you are probably doing it wrong and still a hypocrite.

There are levels of Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy can be blind spots. We all have areas where we don’t see that an action is contrary to what we say we believe.

For example, you say you are trying to save money and then spend money on trinkets.

You say that you do something out of love and then become resentful because you do the thing.

It can be saying you follow the Bible and then watching movies or TV shows that are contrary to the Bible. Maybe that one belongs in the next category.

On a side note I would encourage us to be careful with the entertainment we let into our homes and into our minds. We cannot say we condemn certain things or that we call some things sin and then let them into our homes and minds as “entertainment.” It is hypocrisy.

I cannot in good conscience, which we will address shortly, stand here and say that sex outside marriage is sin and then watch programs that encourage, highlight, and promote that. Even last night, I had to deal with this. I sat down to watch somethingI really wanted to watch but I had to turn it off because it conflicted with my convictions. I had to turn it off even though I wanted to watch it.

Maybe some might say I am weak in my faith and that it does not bother them. To that I say,

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions. Romans 14:1

I would also add and remind that we are talking about things you have a conviction about.

Hypocrisy can also be larger problems.

Hypocrisy is proclaiming you love your spouse and then having an affair.

Hypocrisy is claiming you believe the Bible and that you are to be honest and then cheating on your taxes or cutting corners at work or embezzlement.

Hypocrisy can be saying you are a godly person and then acting in ungodly ways.

Hypocrisy is claiming you love God and then acting in unloving ways towards others.

Perhaps, this is the one the outside world charges against the church the most. It is also difficult because we somewhat define love differently than others but we spoke about that last week.

Hypocrisy is an area where your faith or worldview collide whether consciously or unconsciously. So often people’s complaints with the church is that we are full or hypocrites and while this is true so is the doctors office, so is the mechanic, so is the grocery store, so is the Rangers stadium but yet people still go. Christians are not perfect but we are supposed to be trying to see our hypocrisy and change by the power of Holy Spirit and the convection of God’s Holy Word.

It is not about perfection, we are all in process. We are still baking, we are not done yet and we never will be.

The problem is not just Hypocrisy but what we do with the truth when we encounter these conflicts. That is where the truth of what you believe gets flushed out.

Matthew 7:3–5 CSB

Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

When we realize we have hypocrisy in some area what do we do with it? How do we respond.

It is of great importance how respond when confronted with the truth.

If we respond with humility and repentance then we walk in growth and newness. This is called sanctification. Sanctification is both something that happens when we come to Christ and something we continually walk through. We become more like Christ.

No favoritism with God

God does not play favorites. He accepts all, welcomes all, and judges all. We are all on the same footing with God.

As we mentioned last week, God desires that all people come to faith, He wants all to come to repentance, and He is drawing all people to Himself.

Relationship does not equal favorites. Instead, relationship implies responsibility.

Because we have a relationship with God we are held to a higher standard and God expects more from us because we know Him. This is what the people Paul was writing to forgot. They assumed because they had the Law and a relationship with God they were ok.

We as followers of Jesus can easily fall into this trap as well.

When we come to know the truth we are now responsible for it. This is accountability. Because you know something you are now responsible for that information.

This is so important. We are held to the standard we know about and to our conscience which we will address in a moment.

I think we can all understand that. Have you ever had a job where your boss did not tell you something was your responsibility and then got upset with you because you did not do it? You get frustrated and annoyed because they are trying to make you accountable to something you were unaware of. That is what we are talking about.

Matthew 21:28–32 CSB

“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

No one gets in without doing the work. What is the work?

John 6:29 CSB

Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

God does not play favorites. Everyone is held accountable for what they were given.

We all have a conscience 

On top of being accountable for what we know we also have a conscience. This is a little different because knowledge is head information where the conscience is often information of heart.

I want to give you two good definitions for conscience.

The first is from the Greek word for conscience syneidēsis (soon I did isis)

the soul as distinguishing between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one, condemning the other

It is what the soul knows. It is similar to what Blaise Pascal once said,

The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing

The second is from the old French and Latin conscientia (con she ent cha) which is a compound word. It is con - with and scire - to know. It just means with knowing. It is a knowing that you just know.

Our conscience is what we know to be right even if we do not know why.

Our conscience is not perfect though. We can defile it and harm it. Sin has corrupted our conscience.

Titus 1:15 CSB

To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled.

As we follow the Messiah, as we are renewed by the Holy Spirit , our conscience too is made new. By practice and listening we can have our conscience renewed.

Ephesians 4:23 CSB

to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Yes this is about our thinking but it is also about our internal thoughts and conscience. When we come to Christ our spirits come alive and we get a new way of being. We are no longer spiritually dead but made alive in Christ. We have a conscience because we were born with one but we also have a spiritual conscience that came at our new birth. God will hold us accountable to what we know.

Conclusion

Let’s put it all together.

God does not play favorites, and we will all stand before God.

We all have a conscience at a base level but those who follow Jesus have been made alive in Christ and have a new conscience.

We all at times play the hypocrite but how we respond when our hypocrisy comes out is important.

Response Time

Maybe today you have been made aware of some level of hypocrisy. Deal with it.

Maybe you have realized that you need to be accountable for the truth you have. Take accountability.