“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 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? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” (Romans 2:1-11, ESV)
Preached at Porterville Congregational Christian Church
August 18, 2019 morning service
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Intro: Many people will agree with Paul about humanity in general, but not about themselves. Reason, they think they are better than others. Yet, Paul shows we are not better.
Body:
- Self-Righteousness Won’t Save You
- Condemning others for their failure, won’t save you from the law. Ex. Condemning someone for going 100 miles over the speed limit won’t save you from the Law for going 20 mile over.
- God rightly judges all sin. Ex: God will punish Hitler, but he will also punish all liars, thieves, and adulterers.
- Self-Righteousness Will Condemn You
- 2 rhetorical questions to make a point. Rabbis and other teachers would often repeat themselves in a different way to drive home a point. Wives repeat.
- 1st question already addressed in first verse, self-righteousness won’t save you.
- 2nd question reveals motive, they believe judging others will earn God’s kindness. It’s like Hitler saying “yeah, I might have killed 11 million people in my concentration camps, but Stalin killed 50 million of his own countrymen.” It is like what happened in Genesis 3 Adam blamed Eve & Eve blamed the serpent. So God judged all of them.
- Self-righteous sinners only make God more angry because they not only know better, but they also think God will pardon them. That would make God unrighteous.
- There Will Be a Day of Wrath
- Vv. 5&6 God’s wrath is righteous and fair.
- Those who seek Him in Christ will receive what they seek: glory, as sons of God, honor, as citizens of heaven, and immortality, as inheritors of eternal life.
- Those who reject Christ & trust in their self-righteousness, overlook their sin, and do not obey the truth but their lusts, will receive wrath and fury from God.
- This is repeated again for emphasis in verses 9&10 but Jew & Greeks is added to encompass all of humanity, this also shows that Jews are self-righteous.
- Tribulation and distress are repeated to show the kind of wrath and fury that the self-righteous will receive.
- Glory & honor are repeated to emphasize the glory and honor of belonging to Christ, but peace is added as another dimension of eternal life.
- God shows no partiality is emphasized to show how fair and impartial God’s judgement will be.
Conclusion
Don’t trust in your self-righteousness. It will condemn you. Only righteousness in Christ will save you. Here is what Jesus said about false converts and the self-righteous,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23, ESV). We need to repent of our sin and trust in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father,
We only trust in you for our salvation. There is nothing good in us that would have us earn our salvation. Our righteousness in only filthy rags. We need Jesus to clothe us in his righteousness and be adopted as your sins and daughters. We trust in your salvation alone, through Jesus alone, found in scripture alone, for your glory alone. It’s in Jesus name that we pray, Amen.
Biblical Interpretation Through Demonstration 