3

The Moralist is Guilty!

Rom. 2:1-16
Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness,
forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s
kindness leads you to repentance?
(Rom 2:4)

S
o, Paul explains in the last section that those people who
run off to do their own thing without any thought of God
are condemned. They don’t care about God or what He
says about how they should live their lives… and Paul
says they have no excuse.
At this point, a lot of folks who read that are shouting Amens.
Preach it Paul! Those Godless heathens need to straighten up!
Right? Can you hear yourself saying that? It’s really easy to look
at their lifestyles and pass judgment. But Paul says, “You better
be careful here.” Remember that list of sins?

It’s God’s Judgment That Counts (1-4)

Don’t Judge Others

Why not? We can look at a murderer and be sure that’s wrong.
What’s the problem?
We can only judge actions… we don’t know someone else’s
heart.
We ALL are sinners. It doesn’t really matter the ‘category’ of
sin. It’s all rebellion & we’re all guilty. In other words… we’re all
infected by the disease, no matter what our individual symptoms
may be.

“Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such

things is based on truth” (2:2)

He’s the only one that has all the facts.

Don’t Judge Yourselves

I’m not saying that we should never examine our own lives. But,
what standard are you judging by? We generally judge ourselves
pretty favorably. We look around and find folks that we compare
well to, and that becomes our standard. God doesn’t grade on
the curve.

Judgment Delayed = Grace

Have you ever looked at the lives of some people that have no
room for God in their lives, people that you know are doing some
really bad things…and it appears that everything is going well for
them. Do you shake your head and wonder why God isn’t pouring
down wrath?
The people that Paul is referring to here didn’t get it. They
assumed that since they saw no evidence that God was punishing
them, they must be doing ok. Too often, we get the idea that since
we sinned and nothing seems to happen that we’ve gotten away
with it. Have we?
Delayed punishment isn’t a sign that God is weak or unfair…
and certainly not an indicator that we are blameless. It shows
us His grace and patience. If He struck us down the first time we
disobeyed Him, who would ever be saved? He’s waiting, giving us
every chance to repent and turn to Him.
 God Judges Rightly (5-11)

God will judge… God will punish sin.

Stored-Up Wrath
The flip side of His patience: the longer He waits, if people keep
on sinning, the more sin there is to punish. Delayed judgment
doesn’t mean anybody is getting away with anything. The longer
a person keeps on living a life without Christ, taking advantage of
God’s patience, the more sin he’s going to be accountable for in
the end.

What an awful idea is here expressed - that the sinner himself is

amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of divine
wrath, to burst upon him in “the day of the revelation of the righteous
judgment of God!” And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who
boasted of their purity of faith and life.
Jamison, Faussett, Brown

Don’t think that you’re getting away with anything. Don’t think
that since God hasn’t struck you down and your life is going well…
that all is actually well and He’s let you slide. God IS just and He
WILL deal with sin. Count on it!

According to Deeds
What does this section tell us about how God judges sin? …by
deeds (works, actions) You can comfort yourself by thinking it’s
all about your best intentions, what you meant to do, extenuating
circumstances… but it’s only about what you do, say, or think.
If you always do good, you’re home free. If you do bad things,
things that God calls sin, then there is judgment coming.

Impartially
Don’t look back on the last chapter and think you’re better than
those people who reject God… because you come from a Christian
home, you go to church on Sunday, or you were baptized. You’re
not a special case. God doesn’t show partiality. If you commit the
same sins as those Godless people, you’ll be judged just like them.

God Judges according to Light (12-16)

Paul is specifically speaking to Jews in this section… the moral,

religious people of the day. Their argument is that they have God’s law
and are trying to follow it. Why should they be judged like the pagans
who don’t pay any attention to what God has to say?

Under the Law (26-27)

all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For
it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but
those who do the law will be declared righteous.

In once sense, you aren’t better off because you know your Bible
and you’ve heard hundreds of sermons and Sunday School lessons.
(why would I say that?)
The greater our knowledge, the greater our responsibility. (Rom.
7:7) When we know what God wants from us, He expects us to
respond. So those who are under the law will be judge by the law.

Apart from the Law (24-25)

Ok… no law, no judgment, right? On what basis does God judge
those who have no clue about God’s law?

“Written on their hearts” (28-32)

Have you ever noticed that morality is pretty similar throughout the
world? If right & wrong are decided by culture, wouldn’t you expect
to find morality different in different cultures, in different parts of the
world? Is that what we find?
God has imprinted basic moral principles into every man’s heart.
Take any culture you want, you’ll see general principle of right &
wrong that are remarkably similar. God has “written His law on their
hearts”!
 Example: You might think… there are a lot of people out there who
rob banks, or mug people. They don’t think they’re doing anything
wrong. Ok, they may justify it, but that’s not quite the point. What if
you steal from them? If stealing is ok, they should take it all in stride.
How do they react?

People who want to believe that moral values are relative shouldn’t
be irritated when someone violates their own sense of right and
wrong… but they generally are.

Paul says everyone has some knowledge of God’s law in their

conscience and they violate it anyway. You know when you’ve done
something wrong even if you don’t have a Bible verse to tell you that
it’s wrong. And THAT is the basis for God’s judgment.

1. Use God’s yardstick to measure yourself.

2. Realize that God is kind by allowing time to turn to Him.