Who Do You Think You Are 6-26-2022 Chapter two

WALK WORTHY WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Sunday June 26, 2022 Scripture Reference: Romans 2:1-4 (NLT) Intro. A. Welcome back to our series in the book of Romans. I know as pastor it is always a bit risky to start a series as I did back in January and then take a break from that series as we have the past three months, but I am also confident that God will help us as we jump back into our study of this very important letter Paul wrote. Before we look at the verses in chapter two, I want us to explore today I want us to go back and see what has led us to where we are today. So, let's look at chapter one verses 18-32. "But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. 28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too." Romans 1:18-32 (NLT) 1. We spent several weeks looking very closely at what Paul was saying here and as we noted, this is not a pretty picture. It is frankly a pretty accurate picture of American culture today. We have strayed far from God's plan and purpose for us. Now I know I cannot speak for you so I will speak for myself. It is extremely easy for me to speak out and condemn the kind of sinful behavior we are seeing in our culture today and I am not wrong in doing so, but what we are about to explore here in these first verses of Chapter two is that there is a clear warning for us who might feel ourselves to be morally superior to these who practice this behavior. It is a warning that we might be just as guilty as those we are so rigorously criticizing and judging. 2. Let's look at these first four verses I want us to explore today. Romans 2:1-4. "You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" Romans 2:1-4 (NLT) Trans. Who do you think you are? That is the question I want you to think about as we look at what Paul is saying in these verses. What I see here in V.1 is a picture of: I. THE UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGE. Now: A. Who Is He? 1. Who is this person Paul is describing to us? As we just saw, Paul spends the last half of chapter one listing the sins of those who do not know God, whose minds have become dark and confused. He clearly shows us the depths of depravity we can reach when we ignore and reject God. Now the NLT does not translate this word in V.1, but several other translations do, and they begin chapter two with the word, "Therefore". You know the rule of Bible study that says, "What's the therefore, there for?" The answer is that the therefore is making a connection between what we just said and what is about to be said. Look again at what Paul said, They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Then Paul begins chapter two, "You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! 2. Now I didn't address this when we were looking at chapter one, but if you go back and reread that chapter you will see that Paul uses the word "they" and "them" to describe these people who are so lost, but now Paul uses the word "You". There are some scholars who don't' think Paul is specifically addressing the Jews here but I think V.17&18 makes it abundantly clear who he is talking about. Look at these verses, 17 You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. 18 You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law." V.17-18 It almost seems here that Paul realizes that what he has just said has the potential on lulling these Jews into a false sense of security about their own true character. Just imagine that I am talking to you about all the sinfulness we see in our society today. I'm listing things much like Paul did and confirming God's judgement on such people and I keep saying, "They do these awful things" then abruptly I change and say, "But YOU are just as bad, maybe even worse." I have a feeling I might be getting your attention. 3. Some call this person here a "moralist". Frankly I was not certain what that meant so I looked it up. A moralist is someone who teaches and lives a moral life. Well, that's pretty good, isn't it? I mean wouldn't you agree that teaching and living a moral life is a good thing? I think so. The problem that Paul is addressing though is that this person seems to be moral on the outside, but immoral on the inside. I am reminded of what Jesus said about the religious leads he had to deal with. 27 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs-beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness." Matthew 23:27-28 (NLT) 4. Now look at what Paul said about these Jews, When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. The question here is, does Paul mean that this list of sins he went through in those last verses of chapter one, are these the same sins the Jews are guilty of? The short answer is probably not, but let's look at how Jesus described these so-called religious people of his day. 39 "But Jesus replied, "Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah." Matthew 12:39 (NLT) "They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" John 8:7 (NLT) But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?" Matthew 3:7 (NLT) (Actually John the Baptist) 45 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation." Matthew 12:45 (NLT) You will notice in the verses we just read there are not specific sins listed, but instead we see the general character of these people. So, is it possible that some of these sins Paul spoke of in chapter one were the specific sins these self-righteous Jews were committing, but I think the most important thing to understand here is that Paul is dealing more with a bad, sinful attitude in these people? An attitude of criticism, condemnation, and judgement. 5. When we have this kind of attitude, we are declaring some things about ourselves that we might not even be aware of. Let me give you what a few of those things might be. a) We are declaring that we are living by a set of rules the other person is not living by. Unfortunately, the rules we have for ourselves tend to be much more lenient that then rules we have for others. In other words, we hold people to a higher standard than we do for ourselves. b) We are declaring that we are more moral than they are. c) We are declaring that we are better than they are. We need to remind ourselves that we are ALL sinners, and it is only God's saving grace that makes us different. d) We are declaring ourselves superior to others. This is the attitude of pride, which makes everyone sick except the one who has it. e) Lasting we are declaring that we are acceptable to God. Just as Paul declared of the gentiles in chapter one, here we can see that these Jews had minds that had become dark and confused. Judging others is an attitude that seeks to exalt myself while putting others down. This is not just wrong it is SIN! This attitude actually does the opposite of what it is supposedly trying to do. Instead of putting us on the moral high ground, it removes that high ground. The Bible speaks to this so let's look at those verses. "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged." Matthew 7:1-2 (NLT) So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God." Romans 14:10 (NLT) 12 "God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?" James 4:12 (NLT) Conclusion A. Now I know you are going to be shocked by this but my first message back in Romans is going to be two parts. I wrote our ten pages of notes for these verses and what I shared with you today came from the first three pages. Next week I want to finish this point about the unrighteous judge and show you his own condemnation. Then I want us to see God's perfect judgement. 1. As I close today, I want to issue you a challenge that I have been feeling myself as I have been preparing for these messages. My challenge is this, "Am I this Unrighteous Judge?" I will address this next week, but as I think we all know, sin is sin. God does not differentiate from one sin over another. I realize it is hard for us to not do that, but God doesn't. whether we want to admit it, it is a lot easier to judge others for their sins, as we try to overlook or even conceal our own. Can we be the people Paul is speaking to in these verses? We need to have the attitude of David who said, 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) Can that be OUR prayer today as we let God speak to us through today and next week's message? Let's pray it. 2