Romans 2 | Judgment, Hypocrisy, and a Changed Heart

Good evening.

We're gonna be in uh Romans chapter two.

Romans chapter two.

We'll start in Romans chapter one to give some context.

Romans chapter two is where we'll focus on the evening.

Throughout most of Romans 1, Paul has been focusing on talking to the Gentiles and the Gentile Christians there and criticizing them and pointing some of the flaws out.

To give some context, we'll start in verse 28.

And he says this.

He says, 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.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossip, slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

You can see that there are nods, so the Old Testament, the Old Law, there, haters of God, disobedient to parents.

Verse 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.

They're outward about it, they're blatant about it.

They know better, and yet they choose death.

And this is where then Paul turns his focus.

If you're a Jew, you're listening to this, you're like, absolutely all right.

And then he turns his focus on the Jew and the Jewish Christians and says, No.

Romans 2 is for you.

It's about Romans 2 is really about judgment and judgment on the religious.

It's about hypocrisy and being right before God.

Whatever your identity, whether Jew or Gentile, whether you know moral or you follow the old law, whether you think you're a good person or not, no one escapes standing before God on judgment day.

And that's why he opens up the way he does in Romans chapter 2, with verse 1.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Therefore, you have no excuse.

You have no excuse.

Or why he says what he says in verse 6, he will render to each one according to his works.

Or verse 11.

This God is a God that shows no partiality.

Our God shows no partiality.

And so while this chapter exposes a lot of our hypocrisy and our sin and our judgments, it does point us to a conclusion at the very end of the chapter, and that is we need to have it changed on the inside.

Romans 2.29, a circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter.

And so while chapter 2 is about God's judgment, as we go through chapter 2, I want you all to also notice the character of God.

It doesn't have to be all doom and gloom.

We are right with God.

Look at the God that we serve.

God is kind and patient, he's impartial, he's righteous, and he's intimate.

That's what we'll see through Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

And so he's going to focus on talking to the Jews here.

And this may sound harsh, but what he wants for these Christians, what he wants for us, is unity and to be transformed from the inside.

Let's start with Romans chapter 2 and look at verses 1 through 3.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Romans 2, verse 1.

Romans 2:1

Therefore you have no excuse, O man.

Every one of you who judges for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because the judge, you, the judge, practice the very same thing.

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 yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

You see, sometimes we think that our judgments of others, uh, our moral standings against others and their sin allows us or somehow affords us the ability to get away with our own sin.

And that can lead to this spiritual just delusion, really.

But you read verses one through three here, or verses one through two, and you can see that Paul's alluding to the words of Christ.

He's alluding to the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

In fact, he does this several times throughout this chapter.

You look at Romans chapter 2, look at verses 1 through 2 again, but keep a marker in there and then turn over to Matthew chapter 7 and look at what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 and 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention Matthew 7 · chapter mention Matthew 7:1

In Matthew 7, verses 1 and 2.

Matthew 7:1

Jesus says something very similar.

He says, Judge not that you be not judged.

For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

If you know the rest of what Jesus says there, the rest of Jesus' words in that passage, you know he goes on to condemn hypocrisy.

And so Jesus says, Look, the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Paul says, You're passing judgment on another, it will condemn you.

You're gonna condemn yourself.

In fact, even later on, Jesus goes on to say in Matthew chapter 7, look at verse 21.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

He points out this hypocrisy by saying, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

For the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

But remember what Paul said in Romans 2.

He says, Do you suppose, O man, that you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself will escape the judgment of God?

No.

Makes sense why Jesus ends there with these words in Matthew chapter 7, verse 23.

Matthew 7:23

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Workers of lawlessness.

What you see here is they didn't really rely on God to change.

And that happens sometimes.

You know, they follow the law.

We follow our practices, we come to worship, and yet what we find maybe there's no change in our life.

There's no change that exists.

Our relationship with God is really just artificial.

You taste something that's supposed to taste like cherries, but it's you know, it's artificial.

It just has that essence of what it's supposed to taste like, but it's not real, it's not authentic.

And when we work in our faith and it's an artificial faith, you can say in the context of Romans chapter 2, when we act hypocritically, as Paul says, we are, as Jesus says as well, workers of lawlessness.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

When you think about why we do what we do as Christians, why we do good works, why we follow Jesus.

One of the main reasons we do that is Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven.

In Matthew 6, Jesus says in verses 19 to 21, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

But in our hypocrisy, what we don't do is lay up treasure.

What we do is we actually store up wrath, Paul's gonna say, wrath for the day of wrath.

Now we might tell ourselves, well, God is a kind God, a patient God.

Surely in his kindness, he's gonna overlook my sin and maybe even the support that I give to sin.

But that is not how kindness works.

Even when we see this chapter and we see his character, God is patient.

He is kind.

We talked about this this morning.

He withholds judgment for a moment, not because he's indifferent to sin, but because he's giving space for repentance.

He wants us to change, he affords us the opportunity to change, to grow.

And Paul says these words in Romans chapter 2, Romans chapter 2, verse 4 through 5.

Romans 2 · chapter mention Romans 2:4–5

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 what?

To lead you to repentance.

But because of your hard and impotent heart, you are storing up treasure in heaven.

You are snow, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath.

When God's righteous judgment, he's a God of righteous judgment, will be revealed.

And when God's righteous judgment is revealed, what also is revealed?

Our hearts.

Again, notice something about God's character.

God's judgment here isn't, he's never arbitrary or unfair.

He is righteous.

As we grow, mature, what we find is that we actually need a righteous God.

And at that moment, when we stand before God, we will either know God or we won't know God.

Romans chapter 2, look at verse 6.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Paul goes on to say, He will render to each one according to his works.

To those who practice uh to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.

There will be wrath and fury.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil.

The Jew first and also the Greek, for glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.

The Jew first and also the Greek.

Why does it say the Jew and the Greek here?

Verse 11, for God shows no harsh.

The words of Paul here are meant to be really a sobering reminder for us and our souls.

It's meant to be, you know, a double check, a triple check, if you will.

To look at our life, and to ask myself, you can see it up here on the screen, to ask myself, you know, do I fall?

What am I doing?

Do I fall in verse seven or do I fall in verse eight?

Right?

Am I patient in well-doing?

Am I persistent in doing good?

Am I seeking eternal life?

Or verse eight?

Am I self-seeking?

Am I self-seeking and am I obeying unrighteousness?

This is what we have to find out.

We have to look at ourselves, we have to look at our motivations.

We have to ask ourselves, what am I seeking?

Jesus says, seek eternal life, and eternal life is to know the Father.

It's to know Jesus.

Or am I just seeking a better life for myself, myself alone?

The pleasures of this life in this world has nothing to do with God.

Because what we seek leads to action.

Right?

And that's what Paul goes on to say in this very passage.

You have seven and eight talking about the heart, but then verses nine and ten talking about action.

Am I gonna be a human being who does evil?

Or am I gonna be a human being that does good?

And so what am I?

Do I belong as a the orange or the yellow?

What are you doing in your life?

Because verse six, God will render to each of us according to our works, he says.

And verse 11, God shows no partiality.

Again, another another window into his character.

God is impartial.

There is there's no label that protects us, there's no heritage that exempts us, no outward identity that earns you a pass.

The only thing that saves us is the saving blood of Christ.

So Paul says in Romans chapter 2, keep going in our text.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

You look at verses 12 through 13, he says, talks about that standard, that measurement that we use.

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.

That's their standard, that's their measurement, as Jesus says, that we measure to you.

Verse 13 for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Already there's an emphasis on doing the law.

That is, to say, if you are going to follow the law, you better be viewers of the law.

If you're going to be a Christian, you better do what Christ expects, what the king expects.

For us, we know the law doesn't save us, but what Paul is pointing here, pointing to here is consistency.

What God wants, he's asking for is consistency.

Hearing the gospel without changing my life arises questions of whether or not I even believe this.

And so I need to be consistent in my belief.

I need to be consistent in how I walk and in my integrity.

Everything that Paul's saying here is all leading actually to the next chapter, Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 2 is really just half of the argument.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

But later on in Romans chapter 3, Paul's gonna say in verse 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

But all are made justified, made right before God by his grace as a gift through the redemption of Jesus.

So yeah, while all of us have sinned, Paul in Romans chapter 2 is going on to tell us here that we also have a conscience that convicts us.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

With a Jew, Gentile leave a heart that convicts us.

Romans chapter 2, you look at verse 14.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Verse 14 through 16, Paul says, For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves.

Even though they do not have the law, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Remember that, accuse or excuse.

On that day, when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of man by what?

By Christ Jesus.

What's the standard?

Christ Jesus.

For God judges the secrets of man by King Jesus.

We read those verses.

You read verses 15 through 16.

Yeah, there's a code that's written on our hearts.

We have a conscience that convicts us.

We see that.

We see that in just moral humans as well.

For example, if I lie, there is a heart that accuses me of my actions.

But if I tell the truth, there's a heart that excuses my actions.

But Paul says here, yes, they have a heart, they have a law that is written on their hearts, but we as Christians who follow Christ, we have actually gone further and put on Christ.

I love what Jeremiah says, pointing forward to the covenant we have today, when he says, For this is the covenant that I will make to the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be high people.

We as Christians especially need to be living our lives by Christ's standard.

The idea that Paul is getting at is that when we stand before God on judgment day, we will either be accused or excused.

And the discernment that we see from our hearts is a reminder of that.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I aligning myself with the actions of Christ?

How is my conscience judging me now?

And yet, how much worse is it if I know better?

If I know what God wants, if I know the righteousness of Christ, and I, in fact, I work to lead people away from sin, and yet at the same time I practice that sin in my life, how much worse is that?

The Jews have the law, they have a standard, and yet they don't practice that standard, they don't measure themselves that same measure.

Romans 7 uh Romans 2, verse 17.

Romans 2:17

Look at through 24.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast and God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of foolishness, a teacher of children, having the law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

Verse 21.

He shows it hypocrisy.

You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who say you that one must not commit adultery, you commit adultery.

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.

For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

You read those questions, I don't want them to feel distant.

They may feel distant to an ancient audience, but they apply to us as you teach your children to be kind, and yet you speak with contempt about people, especially brothers and sisters, in front of them?

You preach moral purity, and yet you lust on your phones or at work?

You who condemn immorality in the culture, do you go home and just practice that immorality privately?

Do you know every verse on humility and yet you find yourself very difficult to deal with and very difficult to correct?

Do you show up every Sunday but then go to work and no one even knows you're a Christian?

No one knows you follow Jesus.

Paul's conclusion here is devastating in verse 24.

The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, and that applies to us as well.

The world is watching, and your hypocrisy doesn't just hurt us, it obscures the name of God.

Paul's alluding here to the words of Jesus.

In verse 19, a guide to the blind, light in the darkness.

We don't guide the blind, that is the loss to Christ, based on our vision.

We do so based on the vision of Jesus.

We don't become lights in darkness because of how great we are, how great we think we are.

We become lights because we reflect the light of Christ.

That's what we see.

All of what Paul is saying, I know you read it and it feels kind of works heavy, but it's all leading to the end of the chapter.

Or what we see is there's a change in our life.

What we need is a circumcision of the heart.

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Look at verses 25 to 27.

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law.

But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, right, that standard that you have keeps it better than you, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Then he who is physically uncircumcised, or the Gentiles, but keeping the but keeps the law, will condemn you.

Right?

He uses your own standard against you, but you have written the written code and circumcision.

Break the law.

Do you remember circumcision was a symbol of their covenant to God in the Old Testament?

You're circumcised, and now I am a part of God's chosen people.

The problem is, it's easy to get into their heads that, well, I'm a Jew, I'm good, I'm good, and I'm definitely better than the Gentiles.

You know, we can get into the same mindset.

Us circumcision is our baptism.

Paul equates circumcision with baptism in Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

And we can have the same mindset.

We can think, well, you know what?

I'm baptized, I'm a Christian, my sins are washed away.

I'm made new.

I got baptized.

End of story.

That's not the end of the story.

What Paul says here in verse 27.

Who are physically uncircumcised, Gentiles, they keep the law better than you, they condemn you.

If we don't keep the standard of Christ, our baptism becomes unfathomable.

What good are we if we are baptized and therefore a part of God's people, a new creation washed clean of our sins, and then we go out into the world and willingly act worse than the unbelievers.

And that ties directly into the beginning of this chapter.

I don't know why we're judging others, but we need to look at ourselves.

We can't just be Christian on the outside.

It needs to be an inward change.

That's why Paul ends with these two verses.

I think are some of the most powerful in the whole text.

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Look at verses 28 through 29.

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outward, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inward.

And circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter.

His praise is not from man, but from God.

And right there, you have some of the deepest, the deepest parts in this chapter that reveals the character of God, that God is an intimate God.

He doesn't want just a performance.

He doesn't want you to be like an actor.

He wants you, he wants your entire life, he wants your heart.

I also think it's funny that Paul says circumcision is not physical.

The last I checked, it is very physical.

But when you look at what he's saying, it's not outward.

You understand what he's saying.

We don't know this for sure, but perhaps I like to think that maybe that's why God chose circumcision.

Because it is intimate, it's an intimate part of the body.

But no one else is going to see.

So yeah, you know you're a Jew.

But how's the rest of the world gonna know you're a Jew?

I didn't see your baptism.

You know you're a but how's the rest of the world gonna know that you follow Jesus?

God could have told Abraham, you know, mark yourself right on the forehead and make sure everyone knows that you're a Jew, but that's not what he did.

That's not the sign of the covenant.

What did God do?

He didn't do that, and even Jesus points that out, right?

You have the Pharisees wearing friendlets, and you have them wearing all the priestly garments to show that they're righteous, but that is not what God wants.

God doesn't care about that performance, He doesn't want that, He's not about self-seeking.

You look at circumcision, it's almost as if it's pointing forward toward the inward change that we experience and we exercise today when we live for Christ.

When we live for God.

Because what matters is the circumcision of the heart.

And that last line, that last line there in verse 29 is very powerful.

Why do we live?

What do we seek in this life?

It's not the praise of others.

We live and we seek the praise of our Heavenly Father.

You look at this chapter and it shows us the God that we serve.

He is a patient God, a kind God.

He wants us to repent.

Yes, he is impartial, but he is a righteous judge.

He is never wrong.

He is into enough that he wants not a performance, not something that's fake from us.

He wants something that's real, he wants our heart.

You can look at the world, you can see that the character of man is flawed.

But what we need, what we see is what we need is a righteous judge.

Because he desires a righteous, not hypocrites.

We want to actually know Christ.

We want to hear that praise.

We want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant.

If you're not a servant, if you don't know God, now's the time to start doing that and to change.

Now's the time to give your life meaning and purpose, both inwardly and outwardly, to start living for Christ.

To be baptized, to wash away your sins.

That's what you want to receive.

Come forward now, standing.