Romans

Lesson 9

TEXT:  Rom 2:1-11  

I. INTRODUCTION  

A. The last few lessons have been on the wrath of God being revealed from Heaven and why this was  

B. We saw how man devolves when he turns his back on God and how it eventually leads him to hate God  

C. Vs. 1 begins with the word “Therefore”  

1. Whenever you see the word therefore you must realize that it is referring to what was just said and tying it in to what is now being said

2. In this case, Paul is saying that there are people (those he is talking about and to right now) who believe they are not included with the people he was talking about in Ch. 1

a. These were people who judged others doing the things from Ch. 1

b. There were two kinds of these people

(1) Those who looked down upon the “openly bad” of humanity considering themselves better because of race, civilization, environment, education, culture, etc (a.k.a. liberal elitists)

(2) Those who looked down upon the “openly bad” of humanity considering themselves better because of their religion—in this case the Jews are who we are referring to

II. NO RESPECT OF PERSONS WITH GOD – Vs. 11  

A. This is the central verse of this chapter  

1. It’s like God is saying if you hear nothing else I say, understand this…

2. God had to provide some lead-in material before He jumped right to the point  

B. The Jews were a proud people; an exclusive people  

1. They had an extensive history filled with glorious achievements and very influential and famous people

2. Rom 3:2 tells us that the Jews had an advantage over others in that the oracles of God were committed unto them

3. They were God’s chosen people

4. But they let this go to their heads and it distorted their view on reality and even their view of God

5. God is using Paul to explain to the Jews and everybody else that nobody is judged differently in His eyes

a. Rich or poor; tall or short; fat or skinny; famous or unknown; powerful or weak; it didn’t matter to God

III. ON JUDGING AND CONDEMNING – Vs. 1  

A. There are two verses in the Bible that nearly every unsaved man knows and can quote  

1. 1 Tim 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

a. This is not God telling you it’s OK to drink; this is about medicine  

2. Matt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

a. They see a man preaching against sin or a man witnessing to them warning that their deeds have earned them Hell and they cry “Judge not!”

b. A man preaching or witnessing is not judging; he is proclaiming the word of God WARNING the man AGAINST judgment

(1) The man has already been judged –  John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already…  

3. Rom 2:1 is not telling Christians not to warn the lost of their sin

a. The context of vs. 1 is for Christians not to judge the sin of others and think themselves better than those  

B. What is condemned by this verse?  

1. People were condemning others of sins for which they excused themselves

a. Vs. 1 …thou that judgest doest the same things

b. By doing this they were condemning themselves

(1) By condemning the others they were admitting that they knew the behavior was wrong

(2) When they observed the same conduct in their own lives they found a way to justify it because the circumstances were different

c. Man’s judgment is unrighteous and is relative

(1) We can always find a way to excuse our own sin  

C. Who can execute perfect judgment? Vs. 2  

1. God’s judgment is perfect and is according to the truth

2. God is capable of executing perfect judgment because He is NOT guilty of the same things

3. When we try to objectively look at ourselves we cannot; we see ourselves as we think we are; God sees us as we ARE  

D. Nobody escapes God’s judgment – Vs. 3  

1. The pride of the man who judges another makes him to forget that he will also face God’s judgment

2. There are 6 billion people in the world; you are not special

a. I like the bumper sticker that says, “You are unique; just like everybody else”

3. Those that judged others in vs. 1 condemned themselves

a. When God judges they will be held to the Perfect Standard that they themselves could not even meet

4. This is a warning from God that we not fall prey to this type of sin; judgment is for God  

E. Why do these people pass judgment? Vs. 4  

1. Sometimes they grow weary of waiting for God’s judgment

a God is extremely patient with the lost

(1) 1 Peter 3:20 …when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing…

b. God is patient for a reason; He does not want people going to Hell

(2) He will allow a lot of wicked things to happen in a person’s life before He intervenes because He is allowing them every opportunity to be saved

2. Sometimes they get tired of seeing good things happen to bad people

a. The goodness of God leads men to repentance according to this verse

b. Who are we to intervene on God’s behalf in His dealings with men?

V. CONCLUSION  

A. God’s judgment has always been, is, and will always be perfect and just

B. Our judgment has always been, is, and will always be flawed and unjust

  C. Let’s leave the judging to God and take time rather to concentrate on how God