Judgment

Right here. Right now. Here is the gospel message to you. And I. Today. Look at verse 5. Through him. We have received grace. Here we are introduced to this major theme. This theme of grace. Grace is the unearned. Undeserved. Kindness and love. From God. Towards you. Grace. Says I deserve God's judgment. I deserve God's judgment. I deserve God's judgment. I deserve God's anger. I deserve God's wrath against me. For my rebellion and my sin.

Right? That's what it is to be unrighteous and to live in this world. We are compounding our problem. We're writing checks all the time. It's like using a credit card knowing you will never, ever pay any of that off. You're only going to go further into debt. And unless the debt is forgiven, and the only one that can forgive it is God. Unless the debt is forgiven, the payment is coming due. Judgment will come. And so the cumulative judgment, the justice of God against sin is called wrath. It's called wrath.

Because we have rejected him, because of our fallenness, part of God's wrath towards sin is he does exactly what our sin nature wants. And he says, fine, you have that. He says, God gave them up to their dishonorable passions and what God does in righteous judgment says, okay, have it. That's what God does to us. He gives us part of our judgment on our sin and gives us exactly what our sinful hearts wants. And our sin nature rules us because of it.

They just come up with evil. Disobedient to parents, undiscerning untrustworthy, unloving unforgiving, unmerciful. Just an encapsulation of what it means to live life apart from the Lord. And this is what I was. Apart from Jesus Christ. Part from rescuing me. That list was true of me. And it was true of you. But praise God for his mercy. Praise God for his grace. Look at the very last verse here, verse 32. They know they deserve judgment and death. Again, something I knew. Who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death not only do the same, but approve of those who practice them. Every person in rebellion to God, deep down, knows completely they deserve judgment.

So in Romans chapter 2, verse 1, let's read it first. I'm going to read the first two verses. Paul says, Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges for impassing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Okay? So Paul starts his passage off and he uses the word therefore.

There's no one to shift the blame to. So here we are standing before God. We're in the holy courtroom of God, and we're the defendant, and we don't like that. So humanity makes a very interesting move. Romans chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore, you have no excuse, no defense, no one to blame, O man, every one of you who judges. So rather than being the defendant, we appoint ourselves to be the judge. Rather than receiving judgment, we decide that we're going to give judgment.

And that judgment kind of cuts two different ways. First of all, that judgment can be approval, excusing. Romans chapter 1, verse 32, the last phrase there, says they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. So as the judge, we look at someone's behavior, and we say, You know what? You know what? You're okay. We give people the thumbs up. We let them off the hook. Or that judgment cuts the other way, and we condemn.

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 you 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?

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 unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath. When God's righteous judgment...

His judgment condemned his own self. So what does the Bible make it clear? We are not the judge. God is the judge. Verse two, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. The phrase we know there is talking to religious people, those in the Roman church who knew the Old Testament, who knew the Mosaic law. This would be the same as church people who are sitting here today or watching online.

So look at verse three. Paul says, you know that that's wrong. Do you suppose, oh man. So here's the second time he uses that phrase in the NIV it's translated. So when you a mere man, the Bible's contrasting God's judgment with our judgment.

So Paul says in verse three, do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God? So because you put yourself in the seat of judge, do you think you're exempt from God's holy standards? Do you think you're exempt from God's judgment? And there's a few lies that we tell ourselves to convince ourselves that we're okay, that we're gonna escape, that God's judgment is not on us.

God has been gracious with us. God is patient. He doesn't want any to perish. At some point though, God's patience will be done. It's hard to say that. At some point, God's going to say, this is it. It's over. My patience is done. Judgment's here. It'll be too late at that point. It'll be too late to turn to Christ. It'll be too late to repent. And, in verse 5, Paul says, but because of your heart, and hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's judgment will be revealed.

Every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Let me read that again, because some of us really need to hear that this morning. Therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, everyone who judges you, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you the judge, practice the very same things. There is a uniformity of condemnation of sin. You see, I think it's very interesting. I was reading a commentary this week, and it pointed out something that I had missed. And it's interesting because at the end of verse, or at the end of chapter one, he is using they, right? In verse 20, 28, he says, and they did not see fit to acknowledge God, and God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

And someday when his patience wears out, that judgment, God's going to take that out of the bank and he's going to put it on us if we haven't turned to Christ. It's called the great white throne judgment. If we haven't given our life to Christ, we are going to be judged, or we are going to be under God's wrath at that point. Paul goes on in the next verses and tells us that we're going to be judged according to our works.

So God's the judge and his judgment is coming. Verse five. But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Impenitent could be translated unrepentant, unwilling to confess, unwilling to forsake. The Bible says you are, storing up wrath for yourself. Twice the word wrath is used in that verse and then we see the word judgment.

He adds every single one of us to the list. See, God's judgment is based on truth. We are added to this list of people that are under judgment of God. We're right to disapprove of these things because they are wrong, but that disapproval doesn't clear us from judgment. We have got to get away from the I'm not as bad as you righteousness. Can we get our lights back up here just for a second? I know the lights turned down.

So God is judge and God's judgment is coming and his judgment is righteous, meaning he's right to judge sinners. He's holy and we, like this terrible twisted bank account, are socking away judgment that we're gonna have to pay. So God's righteous judgment is coming. Question is, how will God judge? By what standard or measure? Let's look at verse six.

So here in chapter 2, he's saying, you may think you can judge such people. And it says, You pass judgment on other people, and what you're doing is condemning yourself. Because you are saying, yep, the judgment of God is good, like, right, what they're doing is wrong, and they, yep, the judgment. But Paul is saying, what you're doing is you're saying, how they're being judged is how you should be judged. The same law of goodness that God sets is what you're putting upon yourself.

actions. Basically, in terms of the actions of judgment, right? He says, you think you have the right to judge, but you are the ones who are under judgment. You've had this thought that somehow you are religiously superior, and thus you have the right to judge these people who are struggling with the sin, same as you, mind you, just looks a little bit different. And so you need to get that out of your head. He continues in Romans 2, 2, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things, right? So here he is clearly defending the righteousness of God and the righteousness of his judgment. He goes, we know that God is right and evil. Let me remind you, your sin equals evil, right? So we know, we would all look in here and say, yes, when God judges evil, that's a good thing. Thumbs up to God, right? And then he says, but guess what? Verse 3, do you suppose, oh

And so as we do this, we are condemning ourselves. Realize as you point your finger, you have three of them pointing back at you, right? So I only point this way now. right? Like that's, so you, you are doing bad things, all of you, right? I never, never, never do this. I'm like, take a look over there. See that over there, right? It's just to be consistent, you know, so stupid, but this is what happens, right? When we're trying to compare ourselves with others, we're condemning ourselves at the same moment. So notice verse two, but we know that the judgment of God is against truth or is, excuse me, according to truth against those who practice such things. God's judgment, his, his justice is always right. God sees everything.

and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? I love how Paul writes sometimes, right? Because it's just like, so like, think about it for a second, guys, right? Like, here's the deal. Do you think that you, who do the same things, who sin, right? Who practice evil, do you think that you will escape the judgment of God? Well, we all said God judging evil is a good thing. Guess what? He's going to do that. Guess who's evil? Yeah, yep. All of them over there that you were just saying were evil. Yep. And also you guys, right? Continuing on. And he says, or, verse 4, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and the forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impatient hearts, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment, will be revealed. Here

But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For God shows no partiality. God is going to judge everyone according to what they've done. Every single one of us. It speaks to God's judgment. Every one of us is going to fall under the judgment of God. Some to salvation and God's reward in heaven because of Jesus Christ. And we've accepted him as our Lord and Savior.

And others to damnation and God's wrath in hell. That's reality. God's holiness simply can't ignore sin. It must be judged. However, his patience and his kindness hold back this judgment. 2 Peter 3.9 says this, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some understand slowness. But he is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That is the heart of God. But my friends, this judgment is not based on your social status, your religious piety, the color of your skin, the ethnicity you come from, your religion, your economical status, your heritage.

It says that you, it will happen. This judgment of God, this judgment of God, this judgment of God, this judgment will happen. If your sins have not bothered you, I appeal to you today. If your sins have not bothered you, if they have not horrified, you have not caused you to run to Jesus Christ in repentance and for forgiveness. I beg God is begging you to see your need today. That's the point of all of this. You are going to be, unless you turn, you are going to be one of those people that stand before God. And you're going to be pointing to what you need. And you're going to be pointing to what you have done that is good. And he is going to look at you and say, I have never known you. And the Bible says that people are shocked by this. Now, listen, I can't imagine standing before God and going, well, God, let me just tell you the things I did. Okay. I did this and I did that. And I di

I won't get to stand there with you. Your grandma who was a devout believer won't get to stand there with you. You'll stand alone before the judgment seat of God. Verse 12. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. Paul's talking about the Greeks, the Gentiles. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged. They will be judged by the law. These would be the Hebrews who knew the Mosaic law, the Old Testament.

But then the sky goes dark and in the blackness of that moment, God rains down his righteous judgment on Jesus. The fury of God, the righteous indignation for sin. Jesus, the righteous, pure, holy, spotless, sinless lamb of God takes the punishment for our sin. Jesus dies and Jesus is buried and Jesus rises from the dead. And because of what Jesus did, you can escape the real wrath of God, the judgment of God. It's the only way.

God's saying, actually, He's saying here, if you know the scripture, your judgment is going to be harsher. That's really what's going on here. That judgment, since God is judging by the truth, His judgment is fair. So whether we're being judged by God's written law or the law written on our heart, we all fall short. I already said that, but it's important to repeat. Romans 2.16 says, on that day, according to, my gospel, Paul's talking, he's saying my gospel, but he's really talking about the gospel of Jesus.

And then Paul uses the word saved. Saved from what? You are saved from the righteous judgment of God on you. You're not saved from the righteous judgment or saved for prosperity or saved for a better life or saved for riches and health and all that nonsense. You are saved because you are an object. We are objects of God's righteous anger because we've rebelled against God. We've committed high treason against the king of glory.

God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. On that day, is the white throne judgment or judgment day. And it ties back to verse 5. And if we learn anything from this passage today, it's that when we truly have faith in Jesus, our life will reflect it. If you have Jesus, you have His spirit living in you and your life is going to change. It may not be the same, not change all at once, but there's going to be some change.

One single day, God will pour out. He will unleash. He will no longer hold back his wrath. He will pour it out. He is holding it back right now. And there's a reason he's holding it back. We talked about this last week. He's holding it back. Here it is. Maybe you're mistaking the goodness of God again. God is holding back his wrath to give you time to repent. You can think, well, I got all the time in the world. No, you don't. And you can think, well, look at all. I mean, I can decide on my deathbed. Well, you don't know when that is. You don't know, right? And so God is giving you time. He's holding back his judgment. You don't know when that is. You don't judgment to give you time. Don't mistake that for you being okay. You're not okay. If you have not hated your sin, hated your sin, and run to God for his mercy, you are in great danger today. Please don't think coming here changes any

And Peter told us in 1 Peter 2, 24, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree. That we might die to sin and live to righteousness and by His wounds you have been healed. I love what Kent Hughes says and I want to end with this this morning. The day of judgment is coming and men and women need to settle out of court while they can.

There's judgment coming. We've already shown the mirror to the Gentile that humanity is damned. He entrusted the truth to the Gentiles. He entrusted the truth to the Gentiles. He entrusted the truth to the Jewish people. What were they doing? They were using it to be judgy. They were using it to exclude people. There will be a judgment one day, church. There will be judgment. We can't hide from it. I can't sugarcoat it. It's here in the Scriptures. And so as we're reading here, we say, by no means, for then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

But there's judgment coming, church. There's judgment coming one day. And it won't be our Americanism. It won't be our churchy-ism. Isaiah 55, they love to quote Isaiah. And sometimes it's hard for us. Let's not be too hard on the ancient Jews. Like, how did they miss this? Because they believe because they're with chosen people, they're making it. But the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55, it'll be on the screen. It says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Well, if you're the Jews and you're making it no matter what, why does it say, seek the Lord while he may be found?

that's the last time God poured judgment out on the world. We're like, yay, it's rainbows and stuff, you know, like maybe rethink it a little bit. I don't know, you know. But like, that's the last time God judged sin at a worldwide, like, you know, he poured out his judgment and he said, I'm not going to do it again until the end, essentially of all things. So, so there was this moment where judgment, it was storing up and it was held and then it was released. And that was as Jesus, the son of God with a cross on his back, walked up a hill, was nailed to it, put in place and God unleashed. The judgment, not just of a 4,000 years of human history, but of the 2,000 years since and of every sin for every person until his coming, all of it, not one thing ignored, not one thing excused, all of it onto himself. This moment of God's judgment poured out. God passed over those things until he pou

And that sends us to more depravity. And we all stand under the righteous judgment and the wrath of God. I get it. We don't like to hear about that. As much as you don't like to hear it, I also don't love preaching it. It's not like I get up here. These are the first. These are the first three chapters of Romans. I'm like, yes, judgment again. Here we go. Right? And yet we have to understand, again, how bad the bad news is before we can understand how good the good news is.

Jesus takes the judgment. Those of us who trusted Christ as our Savior. And we get to chapter 5, and it reminds me, if we've ever watched court cases on TV, and it ends, and the verdict is given, and sometimes there's clapping and crying, and sometimes there's just silence, like, okay, so we're declared righteous, those of us who trust in Jesus. The God, the righteous judge, the judgment is handed out upon Jesus. And now we are seen as righteous.

Or somebody doesn't do something the way you wanted it to be done. And it irritates you and it irks you. And so instantly you're in this spit of rage, right? That's not how God's wrath works. It's not impulsive. God's wrath is nowhere near impulsive. His wrath is what we would consider a righteous judgment that falls down on humanity that has ignored him time after time after time after time. His wrath falls as a judgment for those who have not only ignored him, but have rebelled against him time after time after time after time.

For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one, that man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation. But the free gift following many trespasses brought judgment. Justification. For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

He will give grace and forgiveness to every person that comes to him in real need, not faking, but in real need. God will give grace. Look what it says. Verse 16 and the gift salvation. It is not like that, which came through the one who sinned for the judgment, which came from one offense. It resulted in condemnation, but the free gift, which came from many offenses resulted in justification or complete and total forgiveness. Please hear this. Adam's sin brings nothing but judgment and condemnation for that sin, right? It is judgment from God. That is, you cannot stay in Adam. If you stay in Adam, you are going to be judged and condemned and separated from God forever.