Romans 2:1-11: Don't Be Deceived (Part One)

Romans 2:1-11: Don’t Be Deceived (Part 1)

Please turn with me in your Bible to Romans 2. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 778. We’ve been working our way through the book of Romans passage by passage, following the text wherever it goes. And this morning, the next passage we come to is Romans 2:1-11. Romans 2:1-11:

1 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. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 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? 4 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? 5 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. 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. 

If you’ve ever seen the show American Idol—and specifically the beginning of the season where people are auditioning to become contestants on American Idol—you know that not everyone who thinks they’re able to sing is actually able to sing. There are a lot of people who are quite confident that they have amazing talent as vocalists who, let’s just say, may not be quite as talented as they think they are. In some cases, they’re actually so untalented that it’s painful even to listen to them—and the judges usually aren’t shy in letting them know that. And even though I haven’t watched American Idol in a while, I remember that when I did watch it a number of years ago and saw those kinds of auditions, it’s hard to describe how I felt. It was probably a mixture of sympathy for the people auditioning and yet somehow also being entertained or perhaps intrigued that people could have such a low level of self-awareness. 

But of course vocal talent isn’t the only area in which people can be sorely mistaken about themselves. They can often be quite mistaken about spiritual matters and about their spiritual condition as well. And that’s really what our main passage in Romans 2 is all about. The main idea of this passage is that it’s all too easy to function in a state of self-deception. It’s all too easy to function in a state of self-deception. And as we’ll see, this passage addresses two common errors of the self-deceived, which we’ll spend the rest of our time this morning talking about. Number one, the error of judging. And number two, the error of presumption. 

The Error of Judging

So first, the error of judging. Look at verse 1: 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. So what is Paul talking about here? Well, in order to understand this verse, you have to keep in mind what Paul wrote just before this in chapter 1. Remember, in the original Greek language in which the New Testament was written, there were no chapter divisions or even verse divisions. All of those have been added to the Bible for the sake of convenience. So in chapter 1, as some of you may remember, Paul’s just given an elaborate description of human sinfulness. He’s explained in detail how people have suppressed the truth they know about God and chosen to worship things God’s created rather than God himself. Paul then identified the shameful and unnatural sexual behaviors in which some have engaged. And then, to sum it all up, Paul writes in verses 28-32 of chapter 1: 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. 

So Paul definitely doesn’t sugarcoat anything. But then, having written those verses, Paul anticipates how some people will respond. He knows some people will read all of that and be like, “Yeah Paul, you’re absolutely right. There are so many bad people in this world. You tell ‘em how sinful they are.” They’ll think the things he’s written apply to others but not to themselves. So right after Paul gives that detailed description of human sinfulness in chapter one, he says at the beginning of chapter 2, 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. So in other words, Paul’s basically saying, “Don’t fool yourself into thinking I’m just talking about other people. I’m talking about you. You practice the very same things.”

Yet even after reading that verse, let’s be honest: isn’t it easy to think we don’t? Isn’t it easy to think that Paul is just talking about other people rather than about us specifically? Paul refers to this mindset as “judging” other people. In this context, “judging” refers to magnifying the sins of others while simultaneously downplaying our own sins. That’s what people do. Many times, that’s what we do. And we’re often quite good at it. You know, if you look at the overall outline of the book of Romans, you’ll notice that before Paul gets to the gospel itself in the final verses of chapter 3, he spends three chapters talking almost exclusively about sin. And you might wonder, “Why does Paul talk so much about sin? Why does he spend almost three whole chapters going into such extensive detail about something he probably could have explained in a single paragraph?” And the reason is because we need three chapters to come to terms with the reality and the seriousness of our sin. We’re masters at excusing, justifying, and minimizing our sin. In fact, there’s almost no limit to our ability to justify our sin.  

Each one of us has a heart that acts much like a defense attorney. Think about what defense attorneys do. Their job is to defend their clients at all costs. They’re not trying to weigh the evidence fairly and come to a balanced view of the situation. That’s the judge’s job. A defense attorney’s trying to gather all the evidence they can and all the witnesses they can that will help get their client out of his or her sticky situation. Their goal is to make their client look good. Even if they believe their client’s guilty, they’re still trying to make their client look good, either by casting doubt on whether the crime was committed or if that’s not possible at least minimizing their client’s role in or responsibility for the crime. That’s the job description of a defense attorney—or at least what that profession has unfortunately turned into, for the most part. And that’s what you and I have inside of us. We have a heart that often functions as one of the most brilliant defense attorneys in the country. It’s always leading us to believe either that our sin doesn’t exist or that it’s not really that bad. 

But then, we read what God has to say. God’s Words in the Bible are like a light that shines into the darkness and exposes the sin in our lives. And here in Romans 2, God through Paul says that “in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” You might find it interesting that in the original language, both occurrences of that word “you” are in the singular form—“you condemn yourself,” “you, the judge, practice the very same things.” Both occurrences of “you” are singular, even though this letter was written to a group of people. Now in English, we don’t have a way to distinguish between “you” singular and “you” plural. The word “you” could refer to either. But in Greek, they do have a way to distinguish between “you” singular and “you” plural. And here in verse 1, both you’s are singular. So it’s as if Paul is singling out each individual reader of his letter and saying, “I’m talking about you. I’m not talking about a group of you. I’m talking about you specifically…and you and you and you.” And that brings us face-to-face with the ugliness of our sin. And hopefully it ultimately leads us away from our hypocrisy and toward genuine repentance. Yes, that process is uncomfortable. In fact, it’s downright painful. But it’s kind of like surgery. Even though surgery hurts us in a sense and wounds us, that pain and those wounds are ultimately for our own good. They help us get to where we need to be. So don’t run away from this. Let God show you your sin in all of its ugliness so that you can renounce it and experience his forgiveness, cleansing, and liberation. 

So here’s the question for those of you who believe yourselves to be converted: Have you ever come face-to-face with the hideousness of your sin? Have you ever been crushed with an awareness of your rebellion against God? Has the singular “you” of Romans 2:1 ever hit you like a lightning bolt? That’s a prerequisite for turning to Jesus for recue. Unless you understand the nature and the depth of your need, you’re not yet ready to receive what God’s provided to meet that need.

And if you have come to see those things this morning and you are a Christian, you need to keep everything we’re talking about right now in mind as you share Jesus with other people. In order for people to be in a position where they’re able to truly embrace Jesus and receive the salvation he offers, the Holy Spirit has to convict them of their sin. That means he has to show them how sinful they are and how desperately they need to be rescued. Don’t try to short circuit that. And if it does seem like someone’s being convicted of their sin, you should be encouraged. That’s the clearest sign that God’s working in somebody. Do they seem distraught over their sin? Are they broken over their rebellion? Wonderful—because now that they see their need, they’re finally in a place where they’re able to look to Jesus to meet that need and save them. I love the way John Bunyan famously describes this in his allegorical book Pilgrim’s Progress. The main character of that book is named Christian and is on his way to the Celestial City, which represents heaven. But in order to get to the Celestial City, he has to go through a gate. That gate, of course, represents the point at which a person puts their trust in Jesus to rescue them from their sin. But according to Bunyan, before Christian gets to that gate, he has to go through a swamp. The swamp represents a person being convicted and troubled by their sin. And as you might imagine, going through that swamp isn’t a pleasant experience, but it’s necessary. And on the other side of that swamp is the gate and, beyond the gate, is the Celestial City. So the number one sign to look for that God’s truly at work in a person’s heart and that they’re close to salvation is that they’re finally becoming sensitive to and even distraught over their sin. That’s what you want to look for. After that, of course, we would expect them to not only feel sorry for their sin but to actually forsake it as a part of their turning to Jesus—because they can feel sorry for their sin all day long, and it won’t do them any good. True salvation involves a turning of the heart in which we actually renounce and forsake our sin. 

And if you’re ever not sure of whether someone’s truly been saved, or maybe they have doubts themselves about their spiritual condition, don’t automatically assure them that they’re definitely saved just because they’ve repeated the words to a prayer for salvation. Do what you can to verify that they really understand why they need salvation so desperately—what they need to be saved from. Have them explain it to you. You know, whenever I’m interviewing someone for church membership, that’s one of the key things I look for. As the person is sharing with me how they’ve become a Christian, I’m listening for them to say something about their sin. And if they don’t talk about their sin and describe how they’ve been convicted of it and have then turned away from it, I ask them questions to draw that out. And if after a while they still don’t seem to get it, I’m not able to have any confidence that they’ve experienced true conversion. So from that point on, the conversation becomes one where I’m sharing the gospel with them. Because as I’ve heard one preacher say, “If you don’t have a new relationship to sin, then you don’t have a new relationship with Jesus.” So if you’re a Christian, one of the ways you can serve those around you is by keeping these things in mind as you talk to them about the state of their soul. 

The Error of Presumption

So that’s the error of judging. Now, number two, the error of presumption. Look at verses 2-4 of our main passage in Romans 2. Having awakened people to the reality that there’s sin in their lives, Paul now tells them this: 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 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? 4 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? So from these verses, we see that there are people who may admit that there’s at least some sin in their lives but who don’t seem to consider that sin very problematic. In the words of verse 3, they think and act as if they “will escape the judgment of God.” Perhaps they think about the quality of life they enjoy and, honestly, life seems to be going pretty well. Maybe they have a nice job that brings in a decent amount of money and a nice family that’s relatively intact and healthy. Maybe they live in a nice neighborhood, drive a nice car, and go on nice vacations. Maybe there seems to be so much in life that’s going their way that it’s hard to imagine anything in the future being different from that. It would be kind of like someone visiting a beach in southern Florida a few days before a record-breaking hurricane hits and finding everything beautiful and peaceful. They might stand on that beach and see the sun shining and feel a gentle breeze blowing and assume that all that talk about a hurricane coming must be nonsense. After all, look how nice everything is. But of course, if they stayed on that beach and didn’t evacuate the area with everyone else, they’d quickly discover how sadly mistaken they are. That’s the error countless people make when it comes to spiritual realities. They fail to heed the Bible’s warnings and assume that just because everything seems to be going pretty well now, nothing bad is coming in the future. As verse 3 says, they imagine that they’ll escape the judgment of God. 

But here’s the irony of that: those good things that have lulled them into a state of complacency have actually been given to them by God for the purpose of drawing those people to himself. Verse 4: 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? So here’s the situation: God’s been showing people extraordinary kindness, forbearance, and patience. The primary way he’s been doing that is by giving them breath for another day rather than immediately bringing on them the judgment they deserve. Every day he gives them is another opportunity they have to repent. That’s grace. God doesn’t have to do that, but he does. And not only does he give them day after day and in many cases year after year to repent, he also blesses them in countless other ways with all the other blessings they enjoy in their lives. And the reason he blesses them so abundantly is that they might see his blessings and want to turn from their sin and start worshipping him. Yet, many times, it’s these very blessings that make them complacent. That’s the error of presumption. 

Then in verses 5-11, we see why this error is so tragic. Beginning with verse 5: 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. So their stubbornness and hard-heartedness is actually making things even worse for them. They’re “storing up wrath” against themselves, which means that they’re racking up more and more of it. Then verses 6-11 emphasize the absolute nature of God’s justice. Paul writes: 6 He [God] will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. So God’s justice is absolute. Nobody circumvents it. Nobody gets a free pass. Notice the phrases “each one” in verse 6, “every human being” in verse 9, and “everyone” in verse 10. There’s not a human being on the face of this earth who won’t get the justice they deserve. According to a strict reading of these verses, those who do good will receive eternal life, glory, honor, and peace, while those who do evil will face wrath, fury, tribulation, and distress. Those are the words this passage uses. Absolute justice will prevail. 

Conclusion

Now here’s a good question: do these verses teach works salvation? In other words, do they teach that people can get to heaven simply through their own good works and apart from Jesus? Well, in a sense, yes. But in a more important sense, no. Let me explain. If you can do good flawlessly, you can go to heaven. That would include avoiding sinful actions, sinful words, and even sinful thoughts, sinful motives, and sinful attitudes. It would also on the positive side include loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength perfectly and without interruption every waking moment of the day. That’s what Jesus says is the greatest commandment, so anything less than that must be sin. Now here’s the problem, of course: nobody can do that. So if you did that, theoretically, you’d be fit for heaven, but the problem is that nobody can do that. You might compare it to swimming across the Atlantic Ocean. I can tell you with all accuracy that if you swim across the Atlantic Ocean, you’ll be unbelievably famous. People from all over the world will know who you are and be really impressed with you. But of course, you can’t swim across the Atlantic Ocean. And neither can you ever be good enough to get into heaven. One imperfection in the eyes of an all-pure, all-righteous God makes you deserving only of hell. And rightly so. God’s right to demand perfect righteousness to be with him in heaven. 

But here’s the good news of the gospel. You ready? God provides the righteousness he demands. God provides the righteousness he demands. As Paul explains in subsequent chapters in this letter to the Romans, you don’t have to achieve that righteousness on your own. You can’t. But God’s graciously provided you with a way to freely acquire that righteousness through his Son Jesus. We’ve actually already seen this in the book of Romans, specifically in Romans 1:16-17. You may remember I referred to these verses as a good summary of the entire letter. Paul writes, 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” So notice that phrase, “the righteousness of God.” That means a righteousness that comes from God. It has its origin not in us and our efforts but in God and God’s grace. So God provides the righteousness he demands. 

It’s kind of like when Becky and I had our children. Actually she’s the one who had the children—I was just there doing what I could. But I remember that before we left the hospital on all three occasions, the hospital staff gave us a voucher that we could insert into the parking payment machine and that would take care of our parking fees. So in order to park at the hospital to have the baby, the hospital required payment. But at the time of our departure, they provided the payment they required. And according to Romans 1:17, God does the same thing. He sent his own Son Jesus to be born into this world as a real human being and live a perfectly righteous life. Jesus avoided sin of every kind—even sins of the heart—and perfectly loved God the Father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus did that. And he did that so he’d be able to give that righteousness to us. Even though we didn’t do anything to earn that righteousness, Jesus did earn it so he could give it to us. Then Jesus died on the cross to suffer the penalty our sins deserve. All the wrath we’ve stored up for ourselves was poured out on Jesus so it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us. Then Jesus triumphantly resurrected from the dead to prove the he really is the Heaven-sent Savior of the world. And all of that makes it possible for him to rescue us from our sin and bring us into his heavenly Kingdom. 

But that doesn’t happen automatically. The Bible teaches that we have to turn away from our sin and look to Jesus alone for rescue. And if we’ll do that, God the Father will count Jesus’s righteousness as our righteousness and Jesus’s death as payment for our sin. You can think of it as a great exchange. Jesus gets our sin, and we get his righteousness. But we have to turn away from our sins and look to Jesus as the Giver of that free gift. So let me invite you to do that this morning. Don’t be self-deceived. Don’t allow yourself to continue in the error of judging or the error of presumption. Instead, look to Jesus, and receive the rescue he offers. 

And if you’re already a Christian, let me invite you to rejoice all over again in this gospel of grace and to marvel at the one who went to such lengths to rescue you. Remember: if God had given us what our sins deserve, we’d be sitting in hell right now. As we’ve said, God’s not obligated to give us even a minute of time to repent of our sins. He would have been entirely justified in responding to our sin with immediate judgment. But he didn’t. And not only did he withhold that immediate judgment, he even provided a way for us to be saved, though it required the death of his own Son. Should we not devote the rest of our eternal existence to marveling at his grace? How could we not?