Rendering An Impartial Verdict

Children’s Bible Page 1224

Introduction: Have you ever known someone who thought the rules did not apply to them?

We will not truly grasp the goodness of the good news unless we first grasp how bad the bad news is.

When Robin and I were in college, the son of the Chancellor of the college was about our same age, and we would see him frequently doing things that no other student would get away with.

Isn’t it frustrating when someone thinks the rules don’t apply to them?

The truth is, if we are honest, we have all been that person at one time or another.

I mean, have you ever thought, oh, I know I shouldn’t, but I’m going to do it this one time.

One time is not going to hurt anything.

Or you think, sure I do this thing, but that is so small in comparison to what that guy does.

But, not only can we make excuses about how small our rule breaking is.

It goes to another level when we start playing the victim.

No one understands the pressure I’m under, or why it is okay for me to sin in this way.

If they understood, they would agree.

We need to remember that the church in Rome was made up of Jews and Gentiles, which was a very new and startling phenomena that the gospel of Jesus was bringing these two groups together into one spiritual family, one church.

The Gentiles had lived their whole lives up until this point as pagan sinners following the culture and customs of Roman life.

The Jews had been religious people all of their lives seeking to following the Old Testament law and Jewish tradition.

And you see, as we have walked through Romans 1:18-32, the Jews would have been tempted to read those verses and say, “Yep, this is exactly what the Gentile people are like!”

They suppress the truth of God that creation has made plain.

In their paganism, they have exchanged the glory of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator.

They have rejected God’s good design and sinned in all these different ways and not only do they sin, but they approve of others’ sinning.

But, we are God’s chosen people, the Jews. We are the ones who have God’s law.

We are not like those Gentile sinners!

Those things don’t apply to us.

It is this exact kind of thinking that Paul speaks to directly in Romans 2.

Romans 2:1–5

1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

1. Expect God’s Judgment For All Who Do Not Repent

In chapter 1 verse 20, God’s word says that because of the truth of God that is evident in creation, all men are without excuse.

But, it would have been easy for the Jews to believe they are an exception to this rule as God’s chosen Old Testament people.

So now, at the beginning of chapter 2, God makes clear through Paul, you Jews who so easily judge the Gentiles, you have no excuse either.

He says when they pass judgment on the Gentiles, they are actually condemning themselves because they practice the very same things that they are judging the Gentiles for.

Now, it is important for us to understand that having a judgmental spirit and passing judgment on others is different than calling sin sin.

It is not wrong to speak the truth about sin.

But, you sinfully pass judgment on someone when you condemn someone in your heart over their sin.

You do it when you set yourself up as righteous judge over another sinner, when that position of righteous judge belongs to God and God alone.

It is good and right to see sin for what it is in someone’s life.

But it is sinful to condemn them for it as if you are the righteous judge.

No instead, God says, you practice the very same things.

And the judgment of God fall on those who practice such things.

Do you suppose, O Jews, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Do you remember the 23 sins listed in 1:26-32?

No one makes it through that list uncondemned, not even Jews who grew up with God’s law.

Yet, at this point, can’t you hear the Jews arguments?

Yeah, but, God chose us as his people,

and He set his love on us,

and He gave us His word,

he adopted us,

and gave us his covenant promises!

Paul responds to those kinds of arguments in:

Romans 2:4

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

In other words, yes, God did show you Jewish people incredible kindness and forbearance and patience in the way He has dealt with you over your history, but do you not understand that all that incredible kindness and patience was meant to lead you to repentance?

You see, God did not set the Jewish people apart and give them His word and His covenant promises because they were righteous and they could judge the Gentile sinners.

God gave them His word and covenant promises so that they could lead out in repentance and shine the truth of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience to the Gentile world.

They were not meant to say to the Gentile world, “You all are sinners who deserve the wrath of God, and we’re not.”

They were meant to say to the Gentile world, “You are sinners who deserve the wrath of God just like we do, but the one true God is kind and patient so we can all repent and reject our sinfulness and trust God together.”

But that’s not what the condemning Jews had done.

Instead, they refused to acknowledge their own sinfulness, and instead, only saw the sins of others.

Romans 2:5

5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

It is one of the most sobering verses in all of Scripture.

Those who thought they were right before God because of their ethnicity, family background, and religious tradition, are actually storing up wrath for themselves that will be fully revealed on the day of God’s judgment,

Because they did not have hearts of repentance over their own sin, instead, they had hard hearts of condemning judgment toward the sins of others.

While it is true that the wrath of God is presently being revealed through the consequences of sin and brokenness, it does not compare to the judgment that will be revealed on the day of wrath.

Other places in the Scripture call it the Day of the Lord.

Hear me clearly, it is possible to be the most religious person here,

It is possible to check off all the boxes, have the most Bible knowledge, having had done all the things of baptism and church membership and service and mission trips and personal prayer times, and fasting and all the things!

And in all those things, you could be storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath because you never from the heart confessed your sinfulness and repented under the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God.

It is possible to fill your life with all the religious activity, even in a gospel preaching church, when all the while, your heart’s posture is:

I’m doing the right thing. I’m righteous because I know the word of God, I’m a part of the church of God, I serve God, I share the gospel of God,

And those sinners out there need to be more like me, look at what God has given me, look how God has blessed me.

And all the while, God’s kindness and forbearance and patience was not meant to make you a successful religious person who could look down on all those sinners out there.

No, it was supposed to lead you to heartfelt repentance of your sin and trust in Jesus alone so that you would be saved from the wrath of God.

And when you have been convicted of your own sinfulness and you respond with a heart of repentance, while you can see the sins of others, you don’t condemn them for it, but you point them to the very thing we all need, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus alone.

Expect God’s judgment for all who do not repent.

Romans 2:6–11

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

2. Expect God’s Judgment To Be Completely Impartial

So, if God does not judge us based on our ethnicity, family background, religious rituals and traditions, how does God judge us?

He will render to each one according to his works.

God will be completely impartial.

He will not grade on any curve.

He does not consider your position, status, or background.

He does not honor any excuses or contingent circumstances.

He is not impressed with any amount of money, prestige, or worldly successes.

He will simply render to each according to their works.

And there are two different ways our works are classified:

If you have expressed patience in well-doing while seeking glory, honor, and immortality, and lived a life of glory, honor, and peace by doing good, he will grant you eternal life no matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile.

Patience in well-doing, seeking glory meaning the only true glory, the glory of God, seeking to honor God and live in an honorable way to reflect the character of God, and immortality meaning you do not live for what is temporary but for what is eternal.

But, if you have been self-seeking and have not obeyed the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury, tribulation and distress for all who have done evil.

Would you just note with me the severity of God’s judgment as utilizes four words to describe the experience of the wrath of God: wrath, fury, tribulation, distress.

God shows no partiality.

He judges based on what you have done.

Hebrews 9:27

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Are you ready for that moment?

Are you confident that God will judge you as one who was consistently patient in well-doing and seeking God’s glory, honor, and eternal things?

Or will he judge you a self-seeking evil doer who has not obeyed the truth?

Judgment day is coming!

And, our great problem is: none of us has sought glory, honor, and immortality by patiently doing good, none of us has lived the life of glory, honor, and peace.

We have all been self-seeking and not obeyed the truth.

That means we all deserve wrath and fury, tribulation and distress.

See, if you are here today and you are not a Christian, no genuine Christian with a heart of repentance believes they are better than you.

Sure, we can all sin and be hypocrites sometimes,

But, we all know and believe that we are all sinners deserving God’s judgment.

But, the greatest news of the gospel is that when God saw us in all of of sin, and storing up wrath against ourselves,

God sent His son Jesus.

And Jesus perfectly expressed patience in well-doing and sought glory, honor, and immortality, always doing good and living at peace with God.

Yet, in his great love, the sinless Jesus submitted himself to torture and death on a Roman cross where God the Father poured out all the wrath, fury, tribulation, and distress that we deserved on HIs son Jesus.

And Jesus died in our place for our sins,

And God the Father rose Jesus for the dead three days later defeating our sin for us.

And all who fall under the conviction of sin and confess their sinfulness and repent from the heart while believing Jesus died to save them, will be forgiven by God.

Not only are you forgiven by God, but God gives you as a gift Jesus’ perfect record of patience in well-doing seeking glory, honor, and immortality, and He gifts you with eternal life.

So, you will have Jesus’ works on your record.

And as you repent and believe God fills you with the Spirit of God that you actually do begin to grow in obedience, and you actually do begin to grow in seeking glory, honor, and immortality as you live at peace with God.

If you don’t know Jesus today, do not leave here without talking to someone about it.

It takes more than just being able to rattle off some facts about Jesus.

It takes a genuine work of the Holy Spirit to convict you for sin, and it takes you making a conscious choice to reject your sinfulness and embrace the gift of salvation through Jesus!

It’s a sobering truth: Expect God’s judgment to be completely impartial.

Romans 2:12–16

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

3. Expect God’s Judgment To Be Applied Based On His Perfect Standard

Surely, the Jews must be thinking at this point, okay, so we must have a heart of repentance not judgment, and God is going to judge impartially based on our works,

But what about the law of God? I mean, we have it, we know it, we have been memorizing it all of our lives.

Isn’t our diligent study of God’s law going to count for something on judgment day?

Now, make no mistake, the law of God is good and perfect, and Paul is going to tell us more about how God’s law benefits us later,

But, when it comes to the judgment day, God says in our passage:

Romans 2:12

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

This verse debunks a few myths we might be tempted to believe.

The first myth: the people who have not had access to God’s word cannot be rightfully judged for their sin.

Incorrect.

All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. More on that in a minute.

The second myth: knowing God’s law has to count for something on judgment day.

Well, no, all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

You can memorize the whole Old Testament in Hebrew, but that knowledge is not going to help you on judgment day.

Because it is not those who know the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law.

Hear me: you must have a perfect record of obedience to God’s law in order to gain eternal life and not perish on judgment day.

Why? Because God is perfect. And a perfectly righteous judge must judge in accordance with His perfect standard.

It is the doers of the law who will be justified; declared righteous.

Well, how can that be if the Gentiles don’t even have the law? How can they be held accountable to a law they don’t know?

Romans 2:14–15

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Just like in chapter one, nature reveals enough to show everyone that there is an eternally powerful God,

Here, the natural laws of nature are written on every human heart.

Leading us back to the idea of the conscience.

Every human being wrestles with what is right and what is wrong.

Every human believes in some standard of right and wrong.

A commentary I read this week said: the commandments God gave on tablets display the basic instincts God has written on the human heart at creation.

That doesn’t mean that our conscience is a perfect moral guide, but it is enough to render every person accountable to God.

But, even feeling bad about some of the ways we have broken God’s law is not enough to save us.

So, last week, we finished by God putting all humanity on the same playing field when it comes to our sin.

Then, now today, those religious Jews who thought he might just be putting Gentiles all in one category now understand that God’s judgement will come to all who do not repent, God’s judgment is completely impartial, and God’s judgment is applied based on His perfect standard.

All that has been written up until this point should be more than sufficient to shut every mouth and to leave every heart under the conviction of sin and convinced that they need salvation from outside of themselves.

But, if there is still a hold out, Paul ends our with our final verse:

Romans 2:16

16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Notice, God judges the secrets of men.

Jesus warned during his earthly ministry that all the secrets of men will finally be revealed to all.

All the skeletons in every closet will be plainly seen on judgment day.

All sin will be exposed to God’s light.

Jesus taught that we do not only sin in action, but we sin even in the intentions of our hearts.

I want you to imagine that everyone of your sins of omission and commission, sins in thoughts, words, and deeds, I want you to imagine that they could be listed and shown up on these screens for all to see.

Now, as unsettling as that thought is, I want us all to realize that God sees and knows every single one of them, and it says a lot about our hearts if you would fear the people sitting around you knowing about your sin more than you would fear God knowing.

Not only does it say that he judges the secrets of mens hearts, but he judges the secrets of men’s hearts by Christ Jesus.

It is Jesus who will finally give the judgment.

And that is good news, because the very one who exposes us in all of our sin is the very one who covers the sins of all who have repented of sin and trusted in Jesus for salvation.

I want to be covered on that day.

Are you covered by the blood of Jesus?

Have you ever felt the conviction of your sin against the Holy God?

Have you repented and believed for salvation?

For all of us who are followers of Jesus already, have you been actively fighting against sin through continual repentance and faith in Jesus?

Or is there some sin in your life that you have just gotten so comfortable with it hasn’t even crossed your mind to fight in a while?

Is there a sin in your life that you have believed the lie that you have a good excuse for or even that you see yourself as the victim and explain away sin?

It’s a mystery of the New Testament that though genuine believers are forgiven of sin and given the very record righteousness in Christ Jesus, we are commanded to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith,

And to not allow a sin to linger and create a root of bitter unbelief in our hearts and turning away from the living God.

What I am saying is, one of the evidences of God’s grace in your life is your constant renewal of repentance and faith leading us to fight against sin.

So, stay in the war against sin and self.

Let’s pray.