Don't Think You are Getting Out of It, Part 2
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Last week we started this section of Romans that leads from Romans 2:1-3:20.
Paul is writing to a group of believers in Rome that are made up of both Jewish and non-Jewish/Called Gentile, believers.
After speaking to them of the wrath of God which is being shown against mankind because of our sin, Paul wisely reminds them and us that we are no better than those that are under God’s wrath.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
For God does not show favoritism.
Some of the main points we need to remember from this section are:
You do the same things
You do the same things
God’s Patience, Forbearance, and Kindness lead you to Repentance
God’s Patience, Forbearance, and Kindness lead you to Repentance
You are storing up wrath
You are storing up wrath
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.
They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
You have a conscience
You have a conscience
Some may say that it isn’t fair. They did not grow up hearing God’s Word, or maybe they never had someone teach them about the Lord and His ways. How could God be wrathful against the ignorant?
However, the truth is that all mankind was made in God’s image. A part of that image was that He built into us a conscience.
That is why there is guilt and shame. That is why, even among those pursuing unnatural ways of life, there is a high instance of depression and suicide. They are working against an inner conscience, something in them that is saying something isn’t right. However, in our blindness, we often want to point out other things rather than our own actions as that which isn’t right, and blame other things rather than our sinful choices for the prompting within us.
The conscience is given to us to help us know God’s standards, and the fact that we break those standards.
The Bible is clear that our conscience can be good and clear:
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
This is why Paul says in Romans 2.15
They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
It can be guilty:
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
But what of those whose conscience does not bother them?
It can be corrupted:
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
It can become seared:
Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
The point is that God has built into us a conscience, so that we have a sense we are doing things that are not right. However, over time, as we continue to do things that are wrong, our conscience can be corrupted. We don’t feel the pang that things are wrong when we should. In fact, as we do those wrong things over and over, and pursue them out of our own sinful desires and lusts, it can become seared.
Illustration: Key making and the cigarette lighter.
In the same way, our consciences can become seared and we just don’t feel it anymore.
But, we all start with a conscience, and it tells us that we do things that are wrong. We know it. Certain things we don’t feel anymore, or we have corrupted our conscience to accept certain things. but in some way, our consciences do show us that we do what is wrong.
And this even happens to religious people.
After speaking about the nonreligious who are condemned even though they did not have God’s scriptures, Paul again addresses the religious Jews. Why?
Because, all too often, it is the religious person that has the hardest time accepting that they are sinful, and under God’s wrath.
We all believe we are good. So, Paul uses pointed questions from the law to prick their conscience.
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,
an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
Do you...?
Do you...?
Steal?
Steal?
Steal - to take by stealth. Dishonesty. Stealing things, stealing credit, stealing from the government (pay under the table), steal from others by not revealing the whole truth, stealing honor from God
Dishonest dealings.
Commit Adultery?
Commit Adultery?
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Rob from temples?
Rob from temples?
Jews did not worship idols.
Jewish writings spoke of a Jew who made money by selling an idol to a Gentile. Do we gain from others for their evil behavior? I know that the cake baker did not want to promote homosexual marriage. I would go further and say it would be wrong for me to make money by promoting something that is wrong.
There is also another sense in Malachi 3.8:
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
Robbing temples in this sense is robbing God of his honor and glory by not treating Him properly. by not giving Him what He is due. He does not need our money, but He is due our honor and thanks which is given through returning to Him the first portion of what He provides for us.
Do we worship other things more than God?
Break the law?
Break the law?
Paul already touched on Honoring God, stealing and adultery.
What about lying?
What about honoring parents?
What about murder?
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.
So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?
The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.
No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Who is the truly religious person?
Who is the truly religious person?
Jews tended to pride themselves on their outward actions that showed they were religious.
If we think about it, don’t we think and live the same way? We count ourselves religious because we:
go to church
give
serve
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’
We emphasize the outward showy actions, rather than the heart. God is looking at the heart. He knows those who are truly his.
What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?
Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!
The Advantage of the Jews
The Advantage of the Jews
God is Faithful!
God is Faithful!
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
The Conclusion: No One is Righteous
The Conclusion: No One is Righteous
The Law makes us conscious of our sin
The Law makes us conscious of our sin
Where is the hope?
Where is the hope?
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.