Log-jam

If you would go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to the Book of Romans. Last Sunday we began what we call a flyover of the Book of Romans. Our purpose this time through is not to do, as I said, a verse-by-verse intensive study of this massive epistle.

But rather, it’s an overview, if you will, from, say, 30,000 feet. We will read about a chapter a week, and then we’ll zero in on a verse or a passage. Last week, as you may recall, we considered the glory of the gospel, Paul’s presentation of the magnificent elements of the gospel, and we found that there in chapter 1, verses 13 through 20. And then Paul places the gospel there against the backdrop of the sinfulness of the heathen world. who reside, and I didn’t plan this, but our psalm, one of our hymns spoke of the wrath of God. I didn’t plan that. But that is the context into which the gospel comes. In chapter one, beginning in verse 21, down through the end of the chapter, verse 32, there’s a recurring pattern.

Rejection, rejection of God. Replacement, replacement of God with something else. And what is known as reprobation, where God gives them over. The heathen world first rejects God, then they replace God with something else, then God gives them over. The godless people of the world did not honor God as God.

They rejected him. That leads to futile speculations, ideas about spiritual things and the afterlife. Therefore, Paul says, their foolish heart was darkened. They couldn’t even see the truth. Same pattern occurs in verses 22 through 24. First, in their rejection of God, they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God but they must replace it with something else.

And so they adopt images, images of idols in the form of men and birds and animals and crawling creatures. He’s speaking there of idolatry. And because of that, God gave them over to impurity, sexual impurity. And then the same pattern plays out again in verses 25 through 27. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

They rejected God, and to backfill that void, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, just this rampant, unchecked idolatry. And because of that, God gave them over to degrading passions. This basically describes our society, our world currently. If you wonder where all of these strange ideas and habits and practices come from, they come from a rejection of God.

And then the final episode in verses 28 through 32 of chapter 1, because they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, Paul says that God gave them over to a depraved mind. They can’t even think straight. So a darkened heart, impurity, degrading passions, and a depraved mind, these are truly reprehensible moral qualities. It’s bad, it’s very bad, as detailed in that dreadful list of vices that we read last week in 29 through 32.

But as we transition into chapter two, Paul presents a rather surprising transition. He now addresses those who might be inclined to roll their eyes, let out a huff, or grumble under their breath in this kind of sanctimonious protest against people that engage in such sins. We pick up in chapter 2, verse 1, and I’m only going to read down to verse 25. Chapter 2, verse 1.

Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things? And do you suppose this, O man, that when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same things yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance and doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of men who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. But if you bear the name Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, and know his will, and approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. just as it is written, for indeed the circumcision is of value if you practice the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”

I’d like us to go back to verses 1 through 8 of chapter 2, the very beginning of this discussion of Paul, and we know that ultimately Paul is going to make the point that just as the Gentiles, the heathen, the godless, if you will, are sinful and stand condemned, so also do the Jewish people. But at least initially, Paul doesn’t exclusively charge the Jewish people with hypocrisy. In verses 1 through 8, he makes a very general statement that can be broadly applied. Hypocrisy is a human problem, not just a Jewish problem.

Even among the Gentiles, there would have been these moralistic people who took umbrage to the vile behavior of their fellow citizens. And yet, truly, they had sins of their own that called for God’s judgment. Paul’s approach here is masterful. This is the hitch pin between the Gentile world and the Jewish world.

These verses seem to apply to both Gentiles and Jews, but the Jewish nation certainly is included among those who hypocritically judge others, criticize their behavior when their own hearts need God’s work. The Gospels present the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders as a major problem. Paul does embark here on a lengthy discussion of the sinful character of the Jewish nation. That discussion carries all the way down to chapter 3, verse 20. Paul identifies the Jewish nation explicitly in verse 9.

Look there, if you would. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. In this same section, verses 9 through 16, Paul tells of the impartiality of God’s law. It judges everyone. It indicts both Jews and Gentiles.

In verses 17 through 25, which verses we just read, Paul provides the pathology, if you will, of hypocrisy, knowing one thing but doing another. This leads Paul to an explanation of outward versus inward Judaism. We stop short of these verses 26 through 29, but then even into chapter 3, Paul continues this indictment of the Jewish nation, rebutting a number of potential arguments on their behalf, advantages of the Jewish nation, finger pointing at God, and Paul closes out the discussion of God’s charges against the Jewish people with biblical support. We looked at these verses a couple of weeks ago, a series of citations from the Psalms.

The Psalms themselves declare the Jews to be sinners as well. So that clearly all, both Gentiles and Jews, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s Paul’s main point in the first three chapters. So we cannot deny that the Jewish people, especially her leaders, would be included in Paul’s accusation of hypocrisy.

This is one of the sins that Christ most frequently addressed of the Jewish leaders. From the very beginning of his ministry to the very end, Jesus constantly is calling out the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. At the very beginning in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cited the commonly held position of the Jewish people, and then one by one corrected it with, but I say to you. And Jesus ends his ministry by calling out their sin seven times over.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, They had one standard for themselves and another for everyone else. And as such, they were poorly equipped to judge others. Jesus provided a poignant lesson on the matter of judgmentalism and hypocrisy. In Matthew 7, 3 through 5, he tells this brief little account, why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye and do not notice the log that is in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye and behold the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will clearly see to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. The problem with judging The problem with judging other people’s sins is that we have a logjam in our own eye.

In short, judgment is God’s business, not man’s. He is the one who is equipped to judge, the only one. The backdrop of this passage is that Paul is dealing with an unrepentant hypocrite, a sinner who is blind to his own sin but critical of everyone else’s. This is the kind of person in focus in these first eight verses of chapter two. It’s the foundation upon which Paul will lay his conclusion that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There are no qualified human judges. In these verses, Paul sets forth a series of five distinguishing elements of God’s judgment. It’s altogether different than ours. And together, these will ultimately reveal the absurdity of being judgmental towards our fellow humans. Paul is discussing a logjam, the disparity of human scrutiny. And he presents the first of these five elements in verse one, the jealousy of God’s judgment. The jealousy of God’s judgment.

Paul just says, therefore, you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment. For in that you judge another, you condemn yourselves. For you who judge practice the same things. As I’ve already pointed out, Paul moves here into verse one to address the judgmental individual.

The person who passes judgment and wants nothing to do with the person simply because they observe their sin. This person is not the Christian friend who comes to you in humility, holding forth in love truths from God’s Word. This is the person who really believes in their heart that they are above such sins. This is the fault-finding individual who far more easily sees the sins of everyone else than they ever observe in their own heart and life. They’re oftentimes overly scrupulous, seeing sin where there is none. These are usually those who possess, as we say, a holier-than-thou attitude.

And rather than coming to you as a beloved friend, They boil with disdain beneath the service, or worse, passing along their complaints and observations to any and all who will listen. They’ve set themselves up as judges, judges of all those who are around them.

And Paul says that engaging in this kind of behavior is inexcusable. You are without excuse, he says. If that statement sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same exact word that Paul used back in chapter 1, verse 20. There he used it of those who, even after all that God has done to reveal himself to humanity, they doubt his very existence. Such people are without excuse, Paul says in conclusion, and here he says that those who cultivate a judgmental attitude toward others, they’re without excuse. Paul explains that in the following phrase, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself. When a person engages in this kind of self-excusing, self-exalting, self-aggrandizing behavior, they call down God’s judgment upon themselves. Why? Because they are no different than the people they criticize. You practice the same things, Paul says. He calls out their hypocrisy, criticizing others while practicing the very same things.

God’s judgment is very different from that. God is very jealous. for his prerogative of judging others. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, declares the Lord. Deuteronomy 32, 35. And that means that instead of us scrutinizing and criticizing others, we ought to be watching over ourselves. We have no business judging others. There’s a second distinguishing feature of God’s judgment. We find it in verse two. not only the jealousy of God’s judgment, but the righteousness of God’s judgment.

Paul leaves no room here for doubt or equivocation on this statement at verse 2. We know, he says, that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. Paul essentially asks his readers to stipulate or agree to this, affirm this truth. We know, he says, As he introduces an axiom, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice the sin of hypocrisy.

And here’s an interesting little discovery I made. This phrase, the judgment of God, that sounds familiar enough, doesn’t it? I mean, we would expect that that phrase would be throughout at least the New Testament. We know that God is a judge and will judge, but this particular phrase, the judgment of God, is used only three times in all the New Testament. And all three of them occur in this passage. Verse 2, verse 3, and verse 5.

Paul is focusing our attention on the judgment of God. And there may be a lot of life that is uncertain, but we know, Paul says, that God will judge. He will judge spiritual fraud as well. And as Paul declared to the Athenians, he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. As humans, we make poor judges. We don’t know all the facts of a potential matter. We don’t know people’s motives of their heart. We tend toward bias and favoritism. And we are also susceptible to fraud and deceit.

But God isn’t even capable of any of those things. He’s all-knowing, fully aware of all the facts. He’s aware of the thoughts and intentions of our heart. God does not show partiality in his judgment, nor can he be bought or swayed or bribed. When Paul says here in verse 2 that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice sin, it points not only to the fact that God renders perfect judgment every time, but that his judgment is fully deserved. It’s just. Nobody has any argument when God judges. The word that Paul uses here is not the Greek word family that refers to that which is right or righteous or just. Very common word in Romans. It’s the theme of Romans. The word that he uses here is aletheia, that which is true.

It’s truth. God judges according to truth. God has all the facts, and He knows our heart as well. When God judges, He does so based on the facts of the matter, not His feelings, not His inclinations. God is a righteous judge, Psalm 711. He will judge the world in righteousness. He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity, Psalm 98. Upright are your judgments, Psalm 119, 137. He shows neither favoritism in his judgment nor bias. He cannot be bought or bullied into an unjust decision. He judges with impartiality and equity, and so Paul says effectively that when God assesses the life of the hypocrite rightly, in truth, he will judge accordingly.

We know that God will ultimately judge, and when he does, he will render a perfect decision. So instead of watching, So as to criticize anyone and everyone around us, the one we really should concern ourselves with is us. We know that when, not if, when God judges, he will judge accurately, rightly, according to the actual facts of the matter, not out of whim or emotion or partiality. God’s judgment is very different than ours, isn’t it? Judgment is his prerogative alone, and when he judges, he does so in perfect righteousness.

There’s a third distinguishing mark of God’s judgment, and we find it in verse three. Not only the jealousy of God’s judgment and the righteousness of God’s judgment, but the inescapability of God’s judgment. Look at verse three, do you suppose this, oh man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same things yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Paul’s tone here in verse three is that of incredulity.

Do you suppose, do you really think? This word suppose is a favorite one of Paul’s. He employs it roughly 30 times, 19 of which are here in Romans. It’s actually a word that was used in financial transactions to refer to calculations of debt and value and costs. And it refers to objective, passionless deliberation. You’re just observing data, drawing a conclusion. So when Paul asks, do you suppose In a sense, he’s asking, have you really considered the facts of the matter? Have you done the math on this thought process?

Do you really think that God will judge the one sin and not the other? Of all the sin that we know God will judge, hypocrisy has to be among them. If God is a righteous judge and he sees all things and judges in a completely unbiased manner, will the hypocrite somehow evade justice?

That’s Paul’s question. He’s challenging this hypothetical judge who is hard on everyone’s sin but his own. He or she passes judgment on others and yet practices the very same thing. as absurd as it sounds, this seems to be the reasoning of a lot of people. It goes something like this. Look, if I take a hard line publicly on certain sins, no doubt God will have mercy on me for lesser sins.

But such thinking is the very definition of hypocrisy, isn’t it? Whenever we expect from others that which God by his grace has not perfected in us, we are engaging in hypocritical judgment. Did you hear that? Whenever we expect from others that which God by his grace has not perfected in us, not yet, we are engaging in hypocritical judgment. This behavior was emblematic of the Pharisees, right? and really of the Jewish nation in general, but it was not limited to them as we saw at the outset.

It is a sinful tendency for which we must be watchful in our own hearts and lives. Paul cautions about this very behavior in Romans 12 9, let love be without hypocrisy. That sounds like an absurd thing to even have to say. But the tendency is to feign love and care for other people that’s untrue. We’re called to genuineness and honesty, integrity, humility.

So God’s judgment, as we’ve said, is altogether different than human judgment. God’s judgment is his alone because he’s the only one who’s qualified to judge. He’s holy, perfectly free from sin. His judgment, therefore, is perfect because he is righteous and judges according to the truth. His judgment is inescapable because he’s holy and he must judge sin.

And that brings us to the fourth feature, a misperception of God’s judgment we see in verse four. The jealousy of God’s judgment, the righteousness of God’s judgment, the inescapability of God’s judgment, and the misperception of God’s judgment. Would you just look at verse four, where Paul again asks a question, or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Verse 4 serves as kind of a follow-up question to the one Paul poses in verse 3. There, he’s challenging the absurdity of thinking that somehow a person’s sin won’t be judged if they show themselves intolerant of other people’s sins. Absurd.

Here, though, Paul is addressing the belief that deferred judgment means acquittal. God hasn’t judged me. I’m still walking and living and breathing. Therefore, I’ve been exonerated. The question itself is somewhat rhetorical, but the idea is absurd. The problem is due to a complete misread of God and his response to sin. Paul characterizes the faulty attitude this way. Look at the verse if you would. Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? The word the apostle uses here is an interesting one. Kata froneo. Literally, it means to think down on something.

Kind of a fascinating little word, but the only time that the word is translated so literally is 1 Timothy 4.12, where Paul tells Timothy, let no one look down on your youthfulness. Timothy must have been a young man coming into a church, taking up responsibility where Paul appointed him. And Paul tells him, don’t let people look down their nose at your age, your youth. Most often, though, this word is translated much more forcefully.

It’s translated as despise. despising a thing where a person begins with a critical estimate, and it’s attended with a corresponding attitude and treatment. Matthew 6, 4. It’s used there of the choice between two masters, remember? God and wealth. Jesus says that we will be devoted to the one, and we despise the other. Likewise, it’s used of the little children of whom Jesus warned, see that you do not despise any of these little ones.

And Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian church, remember the Corinthian church had turned the celebration of the Lord’s table into one of gluttony. And Paul asks, do you despise the church of God? And so here, when Paul asks, do you think lightly of these graces, what he really wonders is, do you despise God and these gifts of his? Do you despise God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience?

And to answer in the affirmative would be spiritual madness. Of course, the professing believer would say, I don’t despise those graces of God. But that’s what a person is doing when they begin to act as if God will not judge. They’re looking down upon, they’re despising not only God’s judgment, they’re despising God himself as judge.

Paul mentions three of God’s attributes here, kindness, forbearance, and patience. Just briefly, he says that God is rich in these. As in all of God’s attributes, these are his in fullness and perfection. Whenever you think of any attribute of God, God possesses that attribute perfectly. He’s perfectly kind. He’s perfectly tolerant. He’s perfectly patient. And Paul makes much use of this word riches, but he almost never uses it. I think only once. He never uses it of earthly wealth except once. He reserves this word instead for spiritual things.

The riches of God’s glory, Romans 9, 23, and numerous other places. He speaks of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God in Romans 11, 33. He speaks of the riches of His grace, Ephesians 1, 7. The riches of His mercy, Ephesians 2, 4. The unfathomable riches of Christ, Ephesians 3, 8.

And so it’s not surprising here that Paul should speak of God’s attributes in this way, that God possesses them richly, fully, completely. The kindness to which Paul refers to here is the goodness of God, which just exudes from his being. He is kind and all kindness flows from him. God doesn’t just do a kind deed, he is kindness itself. So that when he exercises this attribute, it shows forth ingracious blessings to his children. It is from God’s kindness that we enjoy forgiveness and salvation.

That second word, forbearance. We don’t often use this word anymore, but the forbearance of which Paul speaks here is a holding back of just, that is, deserved punishment. God’s holding back. He’s forbearing the exercise of his wrath. The sinner deserves God’s righteous wrath, but instead God bears with him, holding back the punishment that is due. And this amazing little word, anoke, is used twice in the whole Bible.

Here in Romans 2, and then also in Romans 3.25. Would you just, could you take a minute? Wait till you hear this. I’d like you to have you turn there, just one chapter over.

And we’ll start in Romans 321. In the beginning of in 321, Paul is introducing the gospel there as the great means, God-given means of providing help for sinful humanity. And in 321, speaking of Christ, he says that God displayed him publicly as a propitiation in his blood. What he’s talking about there, with rather large words, is God provided Jesus Christ as a satisfactory payment by his sin, by his sacrifice, rather, on the cross.

But look, please, at Paul’s explanation in that next sentence. This, this sacrifice of Christ on the cross, this was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, there’s our word, in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins, our sins, previously committed.

Not only is God perfectly kind and perfectly forbearing, Thirdly, he is perfectly patient, if you would go back to chapter two. This attribute of patience is not altogether different than forbearance. It just speaks of a prolonged forbearance. God forbears, withholds wrath for a long, long time. It is what scripture so often refers to as long-suffering. And God, we know, is patient with even the most wicked of men. Otherwise, why not wipe them out immediately when they commit some foul deed?

2 Peter chapter 3 presents the all too familiar illustration of the godless person provoking God to his face, doubting his ability to respond, doubting his promised return, doubting even his very existence. Peter characterizes the Lord’s response in verse 9 of chapter 3 when he corrects this individual and says, the Lord is not slow about his promise. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness.

You got your clock wrong. But is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. To which Peter ultimately adds this admonition of verse 15, that we are to regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. If God hasn’t judged you yet, praise God. God has not forgotten his judgment. He will judge, but every moment that we perceive as delay is an opportunity to repent from our sins and to be saved.

Of all men, Paul knew precisely this purpose of God’s patience. Paul wrote to young Timothy, 1 Timothy. He stated that God had shown him mercy as the foremost of sinners to demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Paul was venomously attacking the church, killing professing believers, and yet God was patient towards Paul even to the point where Paul became a Christian when Paul concludes his statement in verse four with a particularly insightful challenge.

He says from the verse four, do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Listen to this. Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. This is such an incredible thought. I have met so many Christians who hold this verse dear to their heart because of their own personal experience with it.

They knew that God had been patient with them. They knew that he had done everything and set the table for them to come to faith in Christ. It was his patience that they could not grasp. They were overwhelmed with the thought of God’s patience toward them as they continued in their vile sin. You see, when we see God as holy, free and apart from every kind of sin, having sent his own son to die for sinners, and then patiently drawing us to himself, how can we not be moved by that?

God’s kindness leads us to repentance. God’s patience leads us to repentance. Repentance, as you know, is the foundation both of John the Baptist and Jesus’ own ministries. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Both ministries, both John the Baptist and Christ started with those words. Repentance is turning from sin, which not only exhibits sorrow and remorse, but it’s a change of heart toward that sin. This change is a part of God’s work in our lives.

We can’t do it on our own. Where we once loved our sin, relished in it, now we have a sense of hatred towards it. We hate that sin because we know that it was that sin and others that ultimately sent Jesus to the cross. We now desire to forsake and renounce that sin. Repentance, we know, is the flip side of faith. We cannot place our faith in Christ without turning our back. against sin. And we cannot forsake our sin without looking on the Lord in faith.

There’s a fifth and final feature of God’s judgment that differentiates it entirely from man’s judgment. We find it in verses 5 through 8. At this point, it’s the reasonable conclusion of those first four points. The jealousy of God’s judgment, the righteousness, the inescapability of it, the misperception of God’s judgment. It leads us lastly to the inevitability of God’s judgment. The inevitability of God’s judgment.

Look at verses five through eight. But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. What Paul is dealing with here in verses 5 through 8 is the man who refuses to repent and forsake his sin. In his stubbornness, he clings to his sin.

I remember hearing about one island nation that they had basically a monkey business, a real monkey business. And the way that they would capture these monkeys is they would hollow out a gourd and tie it to a rope and put fruit and nuts inside the gourd, and the monkey would reach his hand in. And even when his captors came, Instead of retreating his hand and letting go of the fruits and the nuts, it would, with a clenched fist, go right into capture. That’s a picture of our sin.

Stubbornness, refusing to lay it aside. It’s the word here Sclerotase, you’ve probably heard it, especially if you’ve gone to the doctor of late. It’s the word from which we get our word, sclerosis, hardening of the arteries. This individual is hardening his heart to the voice of God and to reason. And all the while that he does so, the wrath of God is accumulating, piling up against him.

It’s a graphic image. It nearly pictures a warehouse, if you will, a storage facility for the righteous anger of God. And we tend to store a lot of things as humans, some of us more than others. But we can hardly imagine the mindset of storing up things that are as unpleasant as the man is doing here. And shipment after shipment. It’s as if the individual is on the dock unloading one delivery truck of wrath after another. And he just keeps socking it away.

But one day, in keeping with Paul’s illustrations, the roll-up doors of the warehouse will be opened. And every crate of wrath will be opened as well. And all of that pent-up anger of God is going to pour forth. Paul refers to it here as the day of wrath, but the time period by God dealing with sin, what Paul referred to as the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. No bias, no injustice, no unfairness.

Such a day is referred to in many different ways in the Bible, the day of the Lord, a day of reckoning, that day, A day of vengeance, Jeremiah 46.10, the day of the Lord’s anger, Zephaniah 2.3. There is coming a day. There is coming a day of wrath when God will judge mankind. And in that day, Paul says that God will render to every man, every person according to his deeds. This is just the outworking of God’s demonstration of wrath. Everyone getting exactly what they deserve, justice. And that principle is echoed throughout scripture.

Listen to this, Psalm 62, 12. You recompense man according to his work. Isaiah 3, 11. What he deserves will be done to him. Hosea 12, 2. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Matthew 16, 27. The son of man will repay every man according to his deeds. Galatians 6, 7, whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Colossians 3, 25, he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done. 2 Timothy 4, 14, the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. This does not mean or imply that people may be saved by doing good things. It’s completely contrary to the gospel. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone. But remember, a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.

Once saved, as I’ve said many times, the same God that begins the work of salvation also begins the work of sanctification, changing our hearts. That’s where good works come from. We don’t earn our salvation by good works, we are saved unto them. If the Lord is at work within a person, he or she will bring forth good works, good fruit, good deeds. No matter how hard an unsaved person tries, he or she cannot do anything. Anything that is truly judged in God’s eyes as good Good works become the proof, the evidence of our salvation, not the cause of it. He’s the one, rather, who enables us to do good so that in the end he may justly examine our lives and judge us accordingly.

Paul summarizes this point positively and negatively in verse seven and following. Start in verse six. He will render to every man according to his deeds to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor, immortality, eternal life. This is the individual who has been touched and changed by the grace of God and can now not only do good and God-pleasing things, but he perseveres in them. He keeps on doing good. He or she now desires to do what is right and is enabled by God to do so.

They now have a God-given desire to seek after glory and honor and immortality. glory, all of which are gifts to be bestowed in heaven, glory or glorification, which believers will be perfected in Christlikeness. We long for that day, don’t we? Honor, whereby God will receive us in direct contrast to the dishonor and scorn that the world has poured on us. Immortality. The blessing of being resurrected to an imperishable life in heaven. Never die. Life everlasting with our Savior in heaven. For those who seek these things, eternal life is their reward.

But Paul also illustrates the point negatively, verse 8. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. To those who do not repent of their sins, who do not obey the truth, the truth about their sinful condition and their desperate need of a savior. Those who do not believe that their sin warrants the wrath of God, Those who do not believe that God will judge, God will have something for them too. And this hearkens back to the description of the man in verse five, stubbornness and unrepentant.

Paul calls such people selfishly ambitious because they really believe that they can make it to heaven on their own. They do not submit themselves even to God and to his revealed truth. Instead, they yield themselves to an unrelenting taskmaster, sin. They obey unrighteousness.

Such a person, Paul says, will only receive wrath and indignation, not only God’s sentiment of anger, but its woeful expression as well, the outpouring of His wrath. The wrath of God, the judgment of God is real, and there’s only one way. There’s only one way to escape that wrath and that judgment. Just a few chapters ahead in Romans 5, 9, Paul says that we should be saved from the wrath of God through Him, through Jesus Christ.

Paul says it again in 1 Thessalonians 1.10, Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come.

And then in 1 Thessalonians 5.9, he tells us that salvation from God’s wrath comes only through faith in our Lord Jesus. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is the only escape from God’s judgment.

Would you humble yourself before him? Oh Lord God, we come before you and we do confess. Every one of us is engaged in hypocritical judging, judgmentalism. Even if we just grumble underneath our breath, that’s something that a brother or sister has done. Lord, we know that we’ve done the same and therein lies our hypocrisy. Father, we pray that you would examine our hearts and expose these sinful tendencies. Father, we pray for your grace to be changed. We pray that you would lead us to confess this sin of hypocrisy and cry out for the grace to be changed and sanctified.

Father, for those of us who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, any in our midst who have not placed their faith in Christ, no amount of good deeds that anybody can ever do will buy them heaven, will buy them a right relationship with God. That would be to despise the very cross of Christ. It would make Christ’s death on the cross completely needless and pointless.

Father, we thank you that Jesus came, and paid sinners’ debt on the cross. We thank you that it is only by faith in Christ that any are ever saved. But Lord, we thank you that once saved, you do give us the grace. You change us and begin in us your work, changing us from an unrepentant sinner to one who desires to serve and please you in all that they do. Lord God, grant us that grace and draw all who do not know you to yourself through Christ. We pray all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.