Will I be Judged by God?

Romans Chapter 2 (This Week's Sermon)


Purpose: God judges impartially; possession of the law does not equate to righteousness.


•  Core Issue: The heart and character of man, not merely outward actions, heritage, or religious instruction.


•  Law's Function: Exposes inherent heart issues; cannot produce good or identify it.

Contemporary Pressure Points: Hypocrisy, superiority ("I know better"), religion.

Bad News…

Hook: WIndow

Something that is really challenging for my family and maybe yours to are transitions.

Im not talking about the big transitions like we are going through by coming to with a new church, new friendship, new excercise routines, or spiritual wellness plans. I mean the small transitions.

From getting out of bed to getting a shower and getting dressed.

From hanging out on the couch to the dinner table.

But the most infuriating transition in the life of a young dad...

Its that 1.5 hour block of time before you need to leave the house to get to easter lunch. 4.5 year old, 2 year old, wife, stroller, diaper bag, sippy cups, makeup being done as your running out the door so that you can be at your parents house.

Who, are sitting in their house wondering why we are already 30 minutes late expecting that phone call that says we finally made it in the car.

Every moment growing more and more frustrated, I walk out of the house to start the car, tempers, are flaring and we just need to get in the car and go.

As I sit in the car cooling it down or warming it up, i begin to sit and get angrier and angrier. Why is she taking so long… Cant we just get it together?

Why wont my wife just come out of the house, its not that hard to put together a diaper bag, so I do what every self respecting man does to help his wife understand that were on a time table.

Men what do we do?!? Honk that horn!

I just made every wife angry in here.

In that moment I was sitting staring out of the window at my wife and honestly I was being completely judgmental.

If you missed last week here’s a little catch up so that you can know where we are at as we jump into Chapter 2 of Romans.

Romans is a letter written to the Roman church between 56-57 AD. It was written to a group of house churches that have a pretty tumultuous 7 years.

Around AD 49, Emperor Claudius expelled many Jews from Rome. After Claudius died in AD 54, Jewish believers were able to return, creating tension with Gentile believers who had remained.

After Claudius died and Nero came to power, the conditions that had forced Jewish believers out changed, and many returned.

I want you to picture this for just a moment.

Imagine if all of the pastors, deacons, and elders that were here 5 years ago

… all came back to the church on the same day…

and were put back in leadership positions…

There would be some awkward conversations, and some serious tension. Needless to say this clash of culture and personalities caused some problems. Enough problems that Paul heard about it while he was in Corinth.

Paul had not planted the church in Rome. But Paul hearing about the challenges writes this letter to them.

Chapter 1 a letter written to the Secular/Pagan Gentiles, and The Gentile Moralists

The first: A group of people who were Gentiles but did not know Gods word or follow what it said

The second: A group of people who were Gentiles but followed the moral and spiritual teachings of God.

and then in Roman’s 2…

Paul flips the script from the Gentiles to the Law Abiding Jews. These were people who would have been following the law of Moses closely their whole lives and would be been circumcised in flesh. They were culturally Jewish and followers of the Way of Christ.

In other words the Gentiles who were what we would now call the world, and the Jews who are the ones who know the ways of God, they've got Gods rules, systems, and standards written on their hearts, literally cut into their flesh.

This cultural Group knew the right words, they spoke the proper prayers, they went through the CDC and youth group, went to a Christian university… they wore polo shirts, and preached from the King James Bible only.

The Jewish people are representative of many of us. Including me.

This news that I am going to share today is going to sting for some of us. It stung for me as I was preparing this message.

Many of us heard the word last week and deep down inside we behaved just like the Law Abiding Jews would have responded. How could “Those” people continue to behave in the way that they are.

We are looking out of the window at them wondering what is so wrong with them. But now Paul is flipping the script and speaking to us directly.

I want to challenge you to not get angry, don’t feel shame but as we go through the message today I want to challenge you to be gut level honest about what might actually need to change in your life.

Chuck really gave me an easy one for my first message today.

Take 30 seconds and ask God to speak to you today through this passage to soften and prepare your heart for this message.

Lets see what God word has to say about this type of situation.

HEAD (What is true?) — God’s judgment is real and impartial

READ Romans 2:1–5

Romans 2:1–5 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.

Let’s let that sink in for a second.

As Paul is writing this there is something really important that God is communicating through this scripture to us. First…

Show Verse 1

Romans 2:1–3 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?

The standard we use on others ends up applying to us. We might think that we are judging righteously but the standards we have can so easily be turned around on us. In fact often times we end up judging others for their sin and unrighteousness but we walk in that same unrighteousness masked as piety.

Paul is not saying, “Never call sin sin.” He is saying, “Do not use truth as a weapon against others while refusing to let it examine you.”

Romans 2:4 CSB

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?

Then God communicates very clearly that his kindness isn’t approval to continue in Sin...

He is saying It’s time for a change of heart. Time to repent.

When you judge others but do the same things, you’re not above it.. you’re exposed.

Romans 2:5 CSB

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.

A hard, unrepentant heart doesn’t stay neutral. It builds up over time.

"Because of your hardness 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."

The Harsh reality of this message from God is that…

1. God judges those who judge the world(Romans 2:1–5)

READ Romans 2:6-16

Romans 2:6–16 CSB

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.

As I was prepping for this sermon this week I was spending some time thinking through this passage with Pastor Angel. He and I were mulling verse 6 over and we were talking about how this passage seems to contradict most of Paul’s other writings.

Paul frequently talks about how it is by grace we are saved through faith. Not our works right. So why all of the sudden does He seem to be saying that we are going to be judged harshly for our works??

We have got to think about the context of the audience to which Paul is speaking…

Romans 2 does not contradict grace. Paul is showing that final judgment will expose the truth about every life. Works do not save us, but they do testify to whether our hearts have truly been changed by God.

This is a group of people who’s faith is in their action not in Jesus and as a result they believe that they will be storing up treasures in heaven because of this Right action…

Paul is speaking directly against this and saying it is not treasure that you are storing up but wrath.

You are no better than the Gentile… You will inherit the wrath of God just as they will….

No favoritism. Not your background, not your church experience, not your knowledge.

Those things dont get us into relationship with God see you and I can know a lot about God. But never actually know God.

Knowing what’s right doesn’t make you right.

Doing “Good” things doesn’t make you right.

The warning of Paul here is that Hearing truth and doing nothing with it actually puts you in a more serious place than the person who does wrong but is ignorant in their action.

The danger of this movement in the passage is that many of us think that if we know about God, than we know God.

Bottom Line (Head): We’re not judged by what we know—we’re judged by what’s actually true in our lives.

Whats actually true is that a lot of us have a social media relationship with God, we have read all of his status updates and seen all of his pictures but we rarely if ever pick up the phone to call or spend time with Him.

The truth that we see in our lives points to evidence that will lead to wrath.

2. God judges all; regardless of heritage or appearance. (Romans 2:6-16)

HEART (What’s going on inside?) — The danger of self-deception

For many of us we read the letter written to the Romans and we credit it as a theological paper about how to live and what to do but that’s not the purpose to which Paul wrote it! He is writing a letter to a church that is divided

Warning them that if they dont change something fast theyre going to face some serious judgement.

When we treat this letter as a theological position paper through the lens of John Calvin or Martin Luther to fill our Brains up with great information about God but the problem is that for so many of us this knowledge never gets past our mind and into our hearts.

Big Idea: The biggest issue isn’t that we don’t know enough—it’s that we don’t always do what we already know. The danger is that we might just be doing what we know because it all that we know and we don't even know why we are doing it.

I was catechized Lutheran, I took all of the sacraments, I had a banner hanging in the walls of my church, I sat for two years hearing the position papers on the sacraments, communion, baptism, and confession, yet while my mind was full of the things of God my heart was far from God.

I couldn’t tell you why it actually mattered for me to believe and practice in the faith that I had.

As a student pastor my heart breaks knowing that Many young adults drift from church not because they heard too much truth, but because they were never helped to see why that truth matters and how it changes the heart.

You can know the Bible and still not live it.

You can help others grow and still avoid dealing with your own stuff.

Some people hide from God by running from the church. Others hide from God by staying busy inside it.

Romans 2:17–29 CSB

Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law—you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal? You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

3. God judges by an obedient heart, not your religion. (Romans 2:17-29)


I think that this section of scripture is likely more convicting for the three individuals preaching the word today across our campuses than it is for anyone else… here we stand telling you the bad news knowing that we don’t always get it right.

Where this shows up:

Sometimes as the church we can be just like me sitting in the car frustrated with my wife cant we,

We stare out of our window at the world.

Why cant they just get it together.

We all know what's really going on.

they are sinners,

with their homosexuality,

and perversion, cant they just get it together.

Cant they just vote the right way?

We can look at people whose lives, beliefs, politics, sexuality, or values differ from ours and think, “What is wrong with them?”

But Romans 2 asks a harder question: what is going on in us when we use truth without love?

We stare out of our window and honk our horns at the world wondering what is wrong with them. Don’t they understand that they could have it so much better if they would just follow Jesus.

Our attitude feels right but its our judgement of the world that God says is the exact reason that we will be judged because you and me are just as depraved as the world…

Let it Land 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5

You expect more from others than you do from yourself.

When your late it’s a problem when I’m late it’s okay.

You obey in some areas but avoid others.

You stay close to spiritual things without actually surrendering your heart.

I used to be 360lbs, I didn’t lose the weight because I got a gym membership.

I lost the weight because I surrendered to my brokenness I repented of the heart that was hardened to unforgive-ness that I was carrying and God changed me from the deepest parts of my life. After 160 lbs it was the internal change lead to

The behavior modification and exterior appearance was just evidence of the work that God was doing in my interior.

Key Tension: It’s easy to use truth to point out what’s wrong in others and ignore what’s going on in you.

Bottom Line (Heart): The problem isn’t lack of truth. It’s resisting the truth you already know.

Christianity is not about behavior modification; it is heart transformation.

Patrick Morley

Romans 2 turns The window of judgment must become the mirror of repentance. So that judgment gives way to repentance, and repentance leads us to the God who alone can change the heart.

Flip the Window to the Mirror.

Reframe: Following Jesus isn’t about cleaning up your behavior. It’s about a changed heart. If all you do is adjust behavior, you’ll just end up proud—not transformed.

HOPE

If you are sitting in here today feeling pretty hopeless, feeling confused, lost or maybe even a little bit wounded…that is not God crushing you. That is God waking you up to your need for grace.

Why?! Not because it is our fate to stay that way but so that we can realize why we are in need of a loving savior who can do internal work in us that only He can do…

Amen?

At the end of this passage Romans 2:25-29

Romans 2:25–29 CSB

Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

Circumcision of the flesh can only be done by man.

Circumcision of the Heart can only be done by God.

Ezekiel 36:26 CSB

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

If you want to ask God to replace your heart of stone it just begins with one step of choosing Him above everything else.

Above our Heritage, above our financial circumstances, above our education, above our denomination. Worship God.

Cut hands for time if going long

HANDS (What do I do?) - Underscore

We are going to take a few minutes to reflect and examine ourselves in the mirror. You’ve got to be gut level honest with yourself here.

1. Get honest about where you’re not obeying

Don’t stay general. Be specific.

Write down on your paper one area where you’re not obeying God. Where do you already know what’s right—but you’re not doing it?

As we read Romans 2, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the idea of judgment.

Many of you may be battling guilt or shame from past actions.

This week, I encourage you to write down these things you struggle to forgive yourself for.

Then, take them before God in prayer, confessing your need for His grace.

As we Worship Visualize placing this list at the foot of the cross.

Then as we leave take some time before today is over to Discuss with a trusted friend how this feels.

Allow the freedom of God’s forgiveness to transform your interactions with others, becoming a channel of grace and mercy in your relationships.

Close (keep it direct)

You can know a lot and still be off. You can look put together and still have a hard heart. God isn’t judging the version of you people see—He’s looking at what’s actually in your heart.

WORSHIP