Modern Day Pharisees's Series

Modern Day Pharisees

Text: Rom. 2:1-11

Introduction

1. Illustration: In one of my conversations that I had with my friend Dane Hall last week we discussed the effects that church people have had on our children. As the children of Pastor's they have seen both the good and bad of the people in the church. He told me about a conversation he had with his daughter Abby. He told her that all Christian's are good people, but not all church people are Christians. Like the old saying says, "You can sleep in a garage, but that doesn't make you a car!"

2. There is a vast difference between Christians and people that are religious!

3. Paul dealt with this same issue. He dealt with a number of Jewish people who were extremely religious, but it was all in their heads and not in their hearts.

4. The problem with religious people is they...

A. Say One Thing And Do Another

B. Think They're Okay

5. Let's stand together this morning as we read Romans 2:1-11.

Proposition: It's vitally important to get the Lord from our heads to our heart.

Transition: The first problem with religious people is that they...

I. Say One Thing And Do Another (1-4).

A. You Have No Excuse

1. The first problem with religious people is that they say one thing and do another. They claim to be followers of Christ, but in reality they are only following themselves.

2. Paul says in v. 1, "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 condemningyourself, for you who judge others do these very same things."

A. At the beginning of this chapter Paul creates an imaginary character who feels it is his duty to condemn and others.

B. He begins with the fact that they have no excuse. This is a legal concept meaning "they have no reasoned defense."

C. The first basis of their guilt is that they judge others without first considering how they stand before God.

D. This is exactly what Jesus was saying in Matthew chapter 7:1-5

E. 1 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.

3 And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

4 How can you think of saying to your friend, Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye, when you can't see past the log in your own eye?

5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.

F. Scripture clearly tells us to correct one another when we go astray, but it also tells us to do so in love and not in a spirit of judgementalism, and to also consider our own spiritual state.

G. Paul here is referring to the Jewish mindset that they were above everyone else when it came to spiritual matters. They were religious but not spiritual.

H. As a result, he tells them that they are condemning themselves because they are doing the exact same things as the ones they are judging.

I. This doesn't mean that they are committing all of the sins that the Gentiles were, but they were committing many of them and stood before God without excuse (Osborne, 60).

3. Then Paul makes it clear that they will be held accountable for such actions. In v. 2 he says, "And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things."

A. Here Paul says that God's judgement is always based on justice. When God judges he always does so justly and fairly.

B. God is able to do this because he sees everything and know everything.

C. I can look at someone and say that I know that person, but there is no way that I can know everything about that person.

D. Only God can honestly say he knows all about us. God's judgement is based on the fact and nothing but the facts.

E. In other words, God's judgement is always impartial and correct (Osborne, 60).

4. Then Paul goes even further in correcting them when he says, "Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?"

A. Here Paul reiterates something he said in v. 1, basically that they who were passing judgement were doing the very same things.

B. In fact, Paul asks them a rhetorical question: "why do you think you can avoid God's judgement when you do the same things?"