Dakota Community Church
February 22, 2009 pm
Romans – Chapter 2(a)
Revelations of Eternal Judgment
Read Romans 2
We have just finished looking at the long list of deplorable sins committed against God by fallen man in the last part of chapter one. We have seen that righteousness from God is revealed in the gospel and that all men must receive it because we will be judged by God and we cannot stand before His holiness in our own righteousness.
Romans 3:19-20
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 his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Since this is true we need to know just what this judgment will involve or we may wind up clinging to some wrong notions and wind up lost, of course God reveals these details to us and a large portion of that revelation is seen here in chapter 2 of Romans.
We will each have to meet God and more importantly we will meet Him as He is, as He has revealed himself to us; not as we wish Him to be.
I think one of the great sins of our generation is the dogged determination we have exerted to remake God into our image rather than to accept Him as He is revealed in scripture.
We don’t want a savior who dies as a ransom for many, that would mean there is a God who condemns sin and judges His creation; our preference is a spiritual guide who shows us a new and better way to live in harmony with each other and creation.
Our thoughts on the matter really are not important.
What then does God reveal concerning eternal judgment in Romans 2?
God’s judgment is:
1. According to truth
Romans 2:2-4
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, 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, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
We are naturally blind to our own state of sinfulness before God and to the justice that awaits us unless the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to us.
Paul here is attempting to awaken the reader from that ignorant sleep of self-love or self-justification.
We so richly flatter ourselves where consideration of our own goodness is concerned. Rarely will you meet someone who openly admits they are not a good person, and yet Jesus tells us there is none good but God.
Our typical approach to God is like a criminal going before a night court judge who is dismissing cases left and right in order to clear the docket. Having heard that our case is dismissed we want to make a defense of ourselves anyway even though our position is indefensible.
True repentance is to drop dead to our case and to throw ourselves on the mercy of the court.
We are of our father the devil and lying is our native tongue – but God’s eternal judgment is based on truth!
2. According to accumulating guilt
Romans 2:5
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.
When it comes to judgment God does not suffer from long term memory loss!
Though may have moved on and forgotten what you did… God does not.
Your stubborn unrepentant heart is storing it up!
Matthew 12:33-37
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
How does that strike you?
Women are generally assumed to be more talkative than men. Data were analyzed from 396 participants who wore a voice recorder that sampled ambient sounds for several days. Participants’ daily word use was extrapolated from the number of recorded words. Women and men both spoke about 16,000 words per day. - 1 Department of Psychology, University of Arizona
16,000 a day, what do you think constitutes “careless”?
Notice that by your words you will be aquitted.
Romans 10:5-10
Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, ’Who will ascend into heaven?’" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or ’Who will descend into the deep?’" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
According to truth
According to accumulating guilt
God’s eternal judgment of man will be:
3. According to actions
Romans 2:6-10
God "will give to each person according to what he has 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.
This is kind of another angle on the based on truth point – having good intentions is not going to be an adequate defense.
Matthew 21:28-32
"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ’Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
"’I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ’I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"
"The first," they answered.
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
