The Judgment of God

Reading: 2:1-16
Text: Rom 2:1-6

--The outline of Romans

Man Can't Save Himself--Rom 1:18-3:20
God Saves Sinners--Rom 3:21-11:36
God Expects Saved Sinners to Live For Christ--Rom 12:1-16


--1:18-32 demonstrated the depravity of the human race

--Now God takes on those who use some
excuse or another to disapprove of “them,” as if the judgers are any better.

--What this is NOT talking about

--This is NOT saying that the church cannot judge or discern

--This is NOT saying that the church cannot discipline.

--This is talking about individuals judging others based on personal standards as an excuse for their own sin.

1. Human Judgment is inexcusable—(Rom 2:1)

a. Therefore…. What is the “therefore” there for? Salvation is through faith alone, because man in thoroughly sinful and reprobate

b. Heresies galore

(1) Some look at 2:1-6 and conclude that there is a way of salvation by works

(2) Some even conclude that there is a way of salvation outside of Christ

(3) Some say Christians should never condemn sin

c. NASB “…Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment…” Humans can never judge sin based on their own individual authority, because we all have sin problems “…for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ..”

(1) Suppression of the the truth
(2) sin against the knowledge of God
(3) unthankfulness
(4) idolatry
(5) vile passions—homosexuality in any form
(6) unrighteousness
(7) sexual immorality
(8) wickedness
(9) covetousness
(10) maliciousness
(11) envy
(12) murder
(13) strife
(14) deceit
(15) evil-mindedness
(16) they are whisperers
(17) backbiters
(18) haters of God
(19) violent
(20) proud
(21) boasters
(22) inventors of evil things
(23) disobedient to parents
(24) undiscerning
(25) Untrustworthy
(26) Unloving
(27) Unforgiving
(28) Unmerciful
(29) Tolerance of sin

b. What about the “You Can’t Judge Me” excuse applied personally or within the church? Do the “judge not” passages mean that the church may never judge?

(1) No—First of all, we are commanded by God to judge within the church, among God’s people, and outside the church, among those who preach and teach false doctrine—Mat 18:15-20, 1 Cor 5:12 - 6:6, 1 John 2:18-23, 4:1-6, 2 John 7-11

(2) Secondly, we are commanded by the Lord to reprove and rebuke evil, wherever we find it. When we reprove evil, we are obeying orders.

(3) Some Reproof Verses—Luke 17:3, 1 Cor 5:1-11, Eph 5:11 , 1 Tim 5:20, 2 Tim 4:2, Titus 2:15. These verses clearly show that the Bible tells us we MUST judge.

(4) In fact, in the 1 Corinthians passage, Paul severely reprimands the Corinthian church because they are NOT judging a particular individual!

(5) The phrase, “Judge Not” does not mean that a Christian cannot make personal judgments and apply discernment to a situation; it does NOT mean that the Christian can never reprove evil. This phrase from Matthew 7 tells the Christian “When you judge and make distinctions, do not put yourself in the place of God, and use only His standards.”

(6) In fact, Matthew 7 is not telling us to never judge, it is telling us HOW, when, and in what attitude to judge correctly: 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” It does not say—“never judge,” it says, check your attitude and your standards first, “then” deal with the situation.

2. God’s judgment—

a. Is True –2:2

(1) So long as it is Judgment under God’s authority “…The judgment of God Is according to Truth—…”

(2) An absolute and objective Standard—God’s Word, and an Absolute Person—

(a) Absolute Word

(i) John 12:48 "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

(ii) 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart…”

(b) An Absolute Person—(Acts 17: 31) "… He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.""

(c) An all-knowing Judge—Heb 4:13 “…Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do…”

(d) An Authoritative Judge—Dan 4:34 “…For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"

(3) Those judged

(a) “…them which practice such things…” with practice, lifestyle, habit.

(b) The judgment of God is against people who habitually live in the ways depicted in 1:18-32


b. God’s Judgment Is Inescapable (Rom 2:3

(1) First, when it comes to whether or not lost people are guilty before Him, God does not distinguish between types of sin—

(a) Obviously some sins are worse than others in their effect and in their heinous nature

(b) As Jesus told us in the Sermon on the mount, it is sin to even want to sin, but it is still worse to actually commit the sin because of the effect on others.

(c) However, when it comes to being a sinner—sin is sin.

c. God’s kindness should lead to repentance –Rom 2:4

(1) Despising God’s opportunities

(a) The word for “despise” carries the same meaning as our modern term, “look down the nose at…”. Mankind looks down its nose at the goodness forbearance, and longsuffering of God.

(b) God is patient, and man arrogantly takes that patience for weakness— Ecc 8:11--Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil

(2) What men despise— God is kind to the human race beyond our imagination. God’s Goodness—Exo 34:6, 1 Chr 16:34, Psa 8:3-8, Psa 86:5, Mat 5:45

(3) “The problem of evil”—philosophers and many other people try to reason out how a loving God can allow so much misery in the world

(a) A more Biblical perspective would be “How can a just and Holy God put up with us?” As wicked and rebellious as our race is, why are we not all continuously in hell all the time?

(b) The goodness of God does not lie in how comfortable He makes our circumstances.

(c) The goodness of God is seen by His temporary toleration of our rebellion, and by His actions taken to save us. Acts 17:22-3

(d) But the day of forbearance will end soon!

(4) God is the author of repentance—

(a) A man or woman does not repent when they get good and ready—they repent when GOD gets good and ready—Acts 11:18, 2 Tim 2:25, John 6:44-45

(b) The argument over whether a sinner cannot or will not really doesn’t make any difference—the sinner does not until he or she is convicted by the Holy Spirit.

d. Man has a Heart Problem—Rm 2:5

(1) His heart is hard and impenitent

(2) Each human’s own heart is storing up wrath: In Accordance—the degree of wrath you are saving up for yourself is in accordance with the degree of hardness and impenitence in your heart.

(a) Impenitent heart—a heart that will not repent, and a heart that CANNOT repent – ”…heart incapable of repentance.” (Charles Hodge)

(b) If you put the propositions about salvation to the minds of lost men, they will always, always, always, reject them—1 Cor 2:14, Rom 8:7

(c) The preaching of the Gospel must be accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, or men will never believe. God Saves Sinners, we do not save ourselves!


3. We Are Judged According to What we have done—Rom 2:6

a. It does NOT mean that you can earn salvation

b. It DOES mean that when God judges the unsaved, they will be judged according to their deeds.

(1) It is commonly taught that the “sin question” is settled, and only the “Son question” is open, since Christ has died for the sins of all, and that the only sin that condemns a man is the sin of rejecting Christ.

(a) That is true in the sense that only Christ can save you from your sins

(b) This is true in the sense that the blood is available for all mankind

(c) This is true in the sense that rejecting Christ seals one’s doom

(d) But, the application of the blood—propitiation—only takes place through faith (Rom 3:25-26), and those who have not believed have the entire weight of all their sins on their shoulders, unless and until they confess Christ as Savior.

(e) See John 8:24, Rev 21:1-8, 1 Tim 1:9-10, 1 Cor 6:9-11, Matt 7:21-23 and Rev 20:11-15 for more evidence that the lost are judged for all their sins, not just the sin of rejecting Christ

(2) You will not be judged according to what your parents did, but what you did.

(3) Your deeds will be judged, and you will not be judged according to a standard that man might set—60% is passing, or 70% is passing—but according to the absolute standard that God sets—100%

(4) Not only that, but when God sets the 100% standard, He not only judges by outward actions, but by inward motivation. If you do something good for the wrong reason, it counts as a sin!


(5) There won’t be any questioning of the judge’s decision, there won’t be any argument about the sentence, there won’t be any court of appeals.

c. Are there any “good?”

(1) The standard is constant, continual, perfection—Mat 5:17-20, 5:48!!

(2) Can anyone meet this standard?

(3) If you are not a born-again Christian, if you have not been to the Cross for salvation, you will be judged according to your deeds.

(4) Your judgment will not be according to how you compare to me, or to your neighbor, but according to how you compare to the absolute perfection found in the life of Jesus the Messiah, The Son of God and God the Son.

(5) God’s standard is absolute, and there is no fine print.