Romans 2:1-5

Coram Deo Reformed Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:02

We're in 2. Today, if we're in 2 today, if you've been following along in your

00:11

Bibles, which I hope you have, we're in chapter 2.

00:18

We made it. Made it through chapter 1. But despite the fact that we're in chapter 2,

00:27

Paul is still talking about the same thing. It's not a new subject that he'll be talking about.

00:34

So in chapter 1, he's talking about the judgment of abandonment and what that looks like.

00:44

What people will do, what they want, what they tend towards, what they slide into.

00:54

At the beginning of chapter 2, he is still making the same argument.

01:01

He's still talking about the same things, but he starts into a different diatribe as it is.

01:10

An argument with a different person. Starting in verse 1,

01:21

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.

01:27

For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

01:37

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

01:44

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?

01:56

Or do you presume upon the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance?

02:13

But because of your hard and impotent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

02:26

God's righteous judgment will be revealed. In verse 1,

02:33

Paul begins with their word we love that he uses so often.

02:42

Therefore, for anyone who doesn't know, the chapter breaks and verse numbers are not divinely inspired.

02:52

They're there for study purposes only. So is the punctuation, because that's a new thing.

03:06

Originally it's written in one really long run -on

03:11

Greek sentence. I mean realistically. So we help each other.

03:18

Well, the folks whose shoulders we stand on help us out by putting in chapter breaks so that we can study easier.

03:29

But Paul here says, therefore, connecting what he's about to say with what he said before.

03:36

So remember all those people in chapter 1 with the depraved actions of men with men and women with women and all sorts of things that we discussed in chapter 1.

03:56

Take those people, and now he's talking to those who are agreeing with Paul.

04:06

Those folks who also profess to know, love, and obey God. That's who he's talking to.

04:22

But those folks who profess to know, love, and obey God, but simultaneously hate him at the same time.

04:33

They hate him nonetheless, and they steal and manipulate his morality to justify and judge others, to justify themselves and to judge others.

04:46

In the argument that Paul is making here, he isn't necessarily addressing a particular member of the congregation of the church in Rome, rather a representative of those people that have crept into the church.

05:06

Not false teachers. Others. He's addressing the moralists and the legalists, or those people that we would call today fundamentalists.

05:29

And if I can sidebar for a minute, the word fundamentalist

05:35

I didn't put in here, and I didn't put it in here for a reason, because when we think of the fundamental church today, that idea of fundamentalist church that we have in our head is a perversion of the word fundamentalist.

05:51

They are not. They are as far from the true meaning of the word fundamentalist as any other pagan.

06:02

Fundamentally, Reformed Protestant views are our link to the early church.

06:14

These are early church views. These are correct biblical views. Most fundamentalist churches don't have them.

06:25

So instead, I'm going to use the word moralist or legalist.

06:34

We've met some of these people before. It's those folks that say, that would be in the back or the very front row, saying, that's right.

06:44

Amen. They should all burn in hell. Completely going along with everything that the pastor is saying, that Paul here is saying, and he addresses them abruptly at the beginning of chapter 1 or chapter 2.

07:10

Paul uses this word, prynon, three times in the sentence to put an emphasis on it.

07:23

That word is translated as judge. Granted, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but it's spelled, for your notes, k -r -i -n -o with a hat, n.

07:42

k -r -i -n -o -n. It occurs 115 times in the

07:49

Greek text. It's also the same word that's translated as probably one of the most misused verses in Scripture by the very same people we're going to talk about as judge not, lest ye be judged.

08:11

I remember everything in KJV. I'm self -righteous judgment.

08:19

That is what Paul is talking about. Just like Christ, that is what Christ is talking about, is a subjective, self -righteous standard of judgment.

08:33

And self -righteous judgment is unrighteous judgment. In verse 2, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

08:50

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?

09:00

Paul is directly calling out the contradictory reasoning from a subjective standard that the moralist and the legalist is using.

09:17

By condemning others as lawbreakers, they also condemn themselves. We're given a few examples of people such as this in Scripture, most notably being the example from Christ Himself.

09:36

It's a parable. It's in Luke 18, 9 through 14.

10:07

Starting in 9, He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

10:18

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a

10:23

Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus,

10:31

God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

10:44

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.

10:51

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,

11:02

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.

11:12

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

11:22

I mentioned before that natural men tend toward and prefer to compare themselves to others.

11:31

And like the Pharisee that we see here, they do not realize or want to realize the depths of their own sin.

11:41

They use a subjective standard, which is everyone else.

11:50

This is why one of the first things that we experience as Christians...let

11:56

me rephrase. It is a blessing that one of the first things that we get to experience as Christians is the guilt of the understanding, or rather the guilt which comes from the understanding of the depth of our own depravity.

12:23

That gut -wrenching, want to make you ball up in a corner and do nothing but pray feeling that you have.

12:38

Sounds terrible. Sounds like an awful time. But the longer

12:45

I go on in my Christian life, the more I'm appreciative of it, because it shows how wonderful and kind and merciful

12:59

God truly is, that he would take someone as depraved and self -righteous as myself and not just wipe away my sin.

13:21

Here's a clean slate. No. Make me a hater of the things that I loved and a lover of the things that I hated, and make me into the image of his own son.

13:41

It gives us an understanding of why the gospel is the good news.

13:49

To understand why we need saving, the

13:56

Pharisee and the people like him do not have that, and that's not to say that God in his will won't give it to them at some point, but as of yet, they don't have it.

14:15

And as far as I know in church history, there weren't a whole lot of Pharisees that are mentioned in Scripture that got that opportunity.

14:28

I'm sure there were some. I'm not saying there were none. I don't know if Paul, maybe

14:39

Nicodemus, you know, but by and large the

14:48

Pharisees and the Sadducees and the people like them were enemies of God.

14:55

We know because God calls them sons of the devil. But we're given a clue in verse 4 as to who exactly

15:08

Paul is speaking to. As Paul says, or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

15:24

How could an unsaved, natural man know anything about the kindness of God? How could he?

15:34

He doesn't. So Paul is obviously talking to someone who is either in the congregation or adjacent to it.

15:44

He has to be. This person has to know something about the kindness of God. The man that presumes that God hasn't visited judgment upon him is a presumption.

16:05

He assumes that because God is kind and has patience with him that must be doing something right.

16:16

The one who presumes or thinks lightly, or in some translation, despises

16:24

God's kindness and patience and tolerance. There are those who, like the

16:30

Pharisee, presume that they are in good standing with God because of their own actions, not knowing that they condemn themselves by wanting

16:38

His wrath poured out on others. Then there are those who are also moralists, but paying no attention to God's patience with them, so they continue in their sin blatantly and openly.

17:00

These people, both of them, despise God. They despise

17:09

His patience and His tolerance through their actions, while touting

17:17

His love. But just like love, love is a thing, according to Scripture, that you do.

17:31

It's something that you feel, but it's a thing that you do. As a husband, you go and love your wife.

17:39

As a wife, you go and love your husband, meaning you do what God said do.

17:45

Treat them accordingly. Your children, your neighbor, go and love your neighbor.

17:52

Well, how do I do that? Treat them neighborly. It's a thing that you do.

18:01

So is hate. So you can stand and profess love for God all you want to, but if through your actions you're hating

18:13

Him, it doesn't make you a Christian at all, just a moralist. That's it.

18:29

But these people, like the Pharisee from the parable says, thank you God that I am not that man, not realizing the condemnation they bring upon themselves.

18:41

We have another example in 2 Samuel 12, 1 through 15.

18:59

This is long, so I apologize. And the Lord sent Nathan to David.

19:06

He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

19:14

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one lamb, which he had bought.

19:26

And he brought it up and it grew up with him and with his children. He used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.

19:42

Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who came to him.

20:00

And then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the

20:07

Lord God lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

20:23

Nathan said to David, you are the man. Thus says the

20:31

Lord the God of Israel. I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul, and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

20:50

And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the

20:59

Lord to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the

21:05

Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the

21:14

Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the

21:24

Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the

21:42

Son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all

21:47

Israel and before the Son. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the

21:55

Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin.

22:01

You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the

22:08

Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. Then Nathan went to his house.

22:18

Notice that there are key differences between David and the

22:24

Pharisee. Can anybody pick up on them? David did a horrendously terrible thing.

22:33

He murdered a man so that he could have his wife. Not only that, he murdered a friend and someone who was loyal to him simply so that he could have his wife because of his own lust.

22:50

But there's a difference between David and that Pharisee that we talked about before.

22:57

David said, I have sinned against the Lord. David is able to understand what

23:07

Nathan is telling him, not because of his own reasoning, but because of the Holy Spirit allowing him to understand it.

23:17

Plain and simple, we understand that God is being patient with sinners and that He has kindness and mercy toward them in not completely destroying the planet 2 ,000 years ago.

23:40

While they may think that it's because He's simply taking His time, or because He doesn't care, or because of whatever other reason they want to think up in their minds, the simple fact of the matter is is that they can't understand why

23:57

God does the things that He does, because they do not have the Holy Spirit to reveal it to them.

24:04

And just like the difference between David and the Pharisee, we are blessed to have the understanding.

24:17

That's why we have the Great Commission. I've said this plenty of times, and I'll continue to say it.

24:32

Having the blessing of the Holy Spirit, Christ's representative on earth until His return, being indwelt with the

24:42

Holy Spirit, or just think about that for a second. The Holy Spirit living inside of a human being, of all the church, simultaneously correcting their understanding and justifying them and sanctifying them and doing all the things that the

25:07

Holy Spirit does. Before Pentecost, you can count on a very short list of people who had that blessing, and now is open the entire church.

25:31

Verse 5, but because or in accordance with your hardness of heart and impotent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

25:46

God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Those that are self -righteous are not, as they think, in a neutral position.

26:00

Rather, they have their own spiritual account, as it were, with God.

26:13

Only they make deposits into that account just as often as everyone else does.

26:29

The fact is that they're contributing sin to their account year after year, sin after sin.

26:38

That account is growing, and Paul says that on the day of wrath, the day that God is going to judge the living and the dead, he is going to pay to those accounts what is due.

26:58

The payment that we all deserve is his wrath. Some of us just happen to have, because of his goodwill and grace, had our accounts emptied and filled up with someone else's.

27:17

Well, not someone. With Christ's good works.

27:28

Those folks whose accounts are not empty, they're full of their own sin.

27:34

What they believe to be their own good works will get what is rightly due payment.

27:46

And I want to correct a view of God's wrath here, because maybe not everyone in this room, but certainly a broad swath of the church, possibly has a misunderstanding of that word.

28:05

The word wrath is spelled... The Greek word is spelled

28:13

O -R -G -E with like a... I forget what it's called.

28:20

It's a little thing off the top. It's pronounced or gay with a rolling

28:30

R, not a hard R. The definition of this word is impulsive, wrath, anger, passion, punishment, or vengeance.

28:49

It's used a lot in Scripture. I didn't take down the specific number of times it's used in the

28:56

Greek text, but it's used quite often. That word is always translated as wrath.

29:04

But it's not a calm, courtly, you know, it's not a calm court proceeding as some would...

29:15

as I used to imagine that it was. You're standing in line. You get up.

29:21

You get judged. Yeah, he reads off the list of sins, and either

29:27

Christ comes to your defense and says, they're one of mine, or he doesn't.

29:32

Right? Calm, orderly, but that's not how the Bible describes the day of wrath.

29:39

That's not how it describes Christ's wrath, God's wrath.

29:46

It describes it as violent and passionate as we saw him when he cleansed the temple.

29:58

He didn't walk around and say, please leave, gather your things, thank you, have a nice day.

30:04

He didn't do that. What did he do? He made a whip of cords, and he drove them out, and he overturned the tables, and he threw their money on the floor, and he ushered the animals out.

30:17

He was passionate about it. Unless you need any more proof, let me read this from chapter 9 in Genesis.

30:29

You don't have to turn there. It's short, but it says, I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

30:41

When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the clouds,

30:48

I will remember my covenant that is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

31:01

God previously, as we read, as Reed was gracious enough to read for us before, killed every living thing on the face of the planet because of corruption, because of the corruption of sin, and how evil man was, and he saved one family.

31:21

One man, and his wife, and his sons, and their wives. The word here, kesheth, k -e -s -h -e -t -h, that's translated as bow, doesn't mean a half circle or a wispy ribbon in the clouds.

31:48

It means a bow, a weapon of war, and when

31:55

I learned that, it changed my perspective of that covenant that he just made with Noah, and man, and all living creatures.

32:04

God took his weapon of war, his bow, and hung it in the clouds.

32:14

God decided to destroy the earth, and save Noah and his family, and he decided to hang up his bow as a reminder of the covenant with us, and with the animals, with the whole earth, that he wouldn't do it again with water, just water.

32:37

When he does it again on the Day of Judgment, rather, he will use a different weapon, and he will save another family, his own, and they will be the only ones spared of his wrath, not because of what they have done, as the

33:01

Pharisee and the self -righteous think, but because of what he has done.

33:13

All the saving, all the justifying, all the sanctification, all him, and he has made it abundantly clear in his word that the only standard by which man should be judged, by which we should judge ourselves, is him.