Sermon: Romans Part 9 (Pastor Brian Fuller - Romans 2:1-5)

Hi, and welcome to the Sermon Podcast of First Baptist Church Woodlawn in Woodlawn,

Illinois. I'm Senior Pastor Brian Fuller, and it is our desire to

impact the world with the Gospel of Jesus. We do so through small group

ministry, personal testimony, as well as corporate gatherings. You can find us

on Facebook, YouTube, and our website FBC Woodlawn dot Org. Join us

now as we hear from God's word great illustration. Thank you Melanie, and

Lord, once again, we thank you for the children. We pray Lord

your blessings on them, and we pray Lord that you would reveal yourself to

them in in a special and powerful way. Lord, that as they are,

as they are exposed to the Word of God and to the principles of

scripture. Lord, that they would be they would be mindful of these things,

and they would remember what they learned in the Sunday School and in kids

Church. Lord, that they would understand what it means to repent of sin

and to call on the name of Jesus for salvation. And Lord, we

are so grateful that you have entrusted to us these these children in Jesus name.

All right, it's really great to see you all today. I'm excited

about this week because Uh, Tina and I are going on vacation this week

and so so we're gonna we're gonna go spend a few days down in Branson

and we're looking forward to that. And so we're gonna have a guest speaker

here next Sunday. We'll be back, so we'll be here for church because

I don't want to miss Who's gonna be our guest speaker next week, Doctor

Nate Adams, who is the executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association,

is going to be here and he's gonna he's gonna bring the word, uh

next Sunday. And he's a wonderful a wonderful man, great sense of humor,

and he leads the Southern Baptist in this state so very well, so

very effectively, and so I'm looking forward to to Nate being here next week

to bring the word. You don't want to miss it either, Romans.

It doesn't get any easier for us. The gospel is the gospel is preached.

Paul brings it so that we know what is the heart of the gospel.

And today I didn't post this on social media this weekend, so you

don't even know what I'm bringing today. Well, I'm going to talk about

something today that each of us is guilty of, and that is hypocrisy.

And I've entitled today's message hypocrisy. Your sin is worse than mine, because

that's the way we look at it, right, It's what we that's generally

what we look at others and say, my sin is not nearly as bad

as yours. Even if my sin is worse than yours, we will still

say to others, yours is worse than mine. So let's open your Bibles

if you have them, to Romans chapter two, and if you want to

look on the screen, you most certainly may do that. Romans two,

Versus one through five, starting with verse one that says, okay, I

thought that said verse two, but that's actually chapter two. Here we go.

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. We know that the judgment

of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose,

oh man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them

yourselves that you will escape the judgment of God. 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. 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 and heavenly. Father, I thank you that

your word speaks directly to us. I thank you Lord that there's no beating

around the bush. Lord. We know exactly what you're saying, and we

know how to apply it to our lives and to be corrected. So Lord,

we thank you for that. And I pray that these words that you've

given me today will speak of your goodness, they will honor the name of

Jesus, and that we will be we will be edified, we will be

challenged Lord through these words. So speak through me today what you would have

me to say in Jesus name. Amen. Last week we did finish up

chapter one with Paul giving a very clear and descriptive accusation from God concerning those

who blatantly sin and dishonor God. If you remember that, and if you

were not here I sent out because there are several that were that were missing

last week. I encouraged you to go back and watch it and listen to

it well. Chapter two begins with God going off on hypocrites. And if

there's anything that each of us is and has been guilty of, it's being

hypocritical. Would you agree, And if you don't, then my point has

been made. Because we've all made statements about the sins of others, and

at the same time we overlook the same sin in our own life. You

probably despise a certain sin that you see in someone else that happens, yet

we haven't fessed up to the fact that it's probably our sin as well.

And as as it was in scripture, the differences between jew and gentile racial

differences cause hypocrisy. They still do today. Jealousy causes hypocrisy. Part of

the sinful nature of man. Part of that that nature is to protect ourselves,

right, we want we want to make ourselves look good in front in

front of others, to cover up our own shortcomings. And sometimes we'll put

on we'll put on errs, putting on AERRS means that you act in a

way that that shows that you think you're better than someone else. And part

of that selfish hypocrisy that shows itself is a a judgmental attitude. And there's

a there's a right way to judge. I want you. I want you

to hear this very quickly, very very clearly, because so many people today

just will just x out the word judge and say, no, judge.

That's not what scripture means, what us says, do not judge. There's

a right way to judge that aligns with scripture, and there's a wrong way

to judge that is that that is opposed to scripture. And there's a right

way to judge by evaluating. And I want you to hear this. There's

a right way to judge by evaluating, and a wrong way to judge that

is condemning. We don't judge to condemn. Jesus made judgments about people.

Paul made judgments about people, and you and I have the responsibility to make

judgments if we see our brother or sister in Christ involved in lifestyle activities that

are contrary to scripture or that would drag the name of Jesus through the Mud

John seven twenty four Jesus told the Pharisees. He says, do not judge

by appearances, but judge with right judgment. And that means that the Jews

were quick to judge based on whether or not somebody observed the law outwardly,

according to their version of the law. And he told them in verse twenty

two fair of John seven, Jesus said, Moses gave you circumcision, and

you circumcise a man on the sabbath. And if on the Sabbath a man

receives circumcisions, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are

you angry with me? Because on the Sabbath I make a whole I make

a man's whole body. Well, And then he says, do not judge

by appearances, but judge with right judgments. Another translation says, but judge

with righteousness in view? What does that mean? What we judge through the

lens of scripture? Right? We judge according to the activity of the Holy

Spirit in us in a way that is humble and loving. The Law of

Moses stated that a newborn male child must be circumcised on the eighth day,

even if it was on the Sabbath and circumcision is a ritual with absolutely no

eternal benefit. Right if the Jews considered it a vital part of their observation

of the law. And Jesus he heals a man on the Sabbath, making

his whole body well, Yet the Jews condemned Jesus for his active mercy.

So you can see the hypocrisy at work. And we do the same thing.

We do the same thing, and we make evaluations every day. If

someone comes to me and says I want to be baptized, what a great

thing. Well, my responsibility is to evaluate or to judge whether or not

they are a candidate for baptism. The first question I ask is are you

born again? And if they say yes, then I ask them to tell

me about their salvation experience. And if they don't understand what it means to

be born again, then I know they're not ready for baptism. Right,

first things first, And I'm not judging them with condemnation. I am evaluating

their spiritual condition. I'm judging with righteousness in view. Get that teachers are

always evaluating, right, They're evaluating their students to determine their level of learning.

They're judging with right judgment. We have plumbers, we have HVAC experts,

we have electricians, we have auto mechanics, and guess what, they

all make evaluations and judgments on a regular basis as part of their job.

They have to, and we trust them to do so. Amen, And

as followers of Jesus, we should hope, we should expect that our brothers

and sisters in Christ, with whom we have a growing relationship. It's one

of the things I love about the Body of Christ. I love about being

a member of a Body of Christ. I love the relationships that we build

with one another. I made the statement I don't know how it got on

it. I can't remember who it was with, you know, And I

said, I don't care if any other church offered me a position with twice

the money, it doesn't matter. I love what God is doing here.

I love the relationships that He is building here. I love that we know

and understand one another better on a regular basis. I can look at most

of you in this church and I know what's going on in your life.

And I don't mean that in a necessarily a bad way. I know what

you do, I know your kids' names, and I love that it's a

wonderful thing that God is doing in this body. And I would hope that

you would expect me, and especially I would hope that you would expect each

one of you, as brothers and sisters in Christ, to come alongside if

they notice something that is out of alignment with God's word in your life,

and to gently and humbly offer correction in love. So important is that an

act of judgment? Yes, that is an act of judgment, but it's

judging with right judgment, it's judging with righteousness in view, James four to

six says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and

Paul says in one Corinthians sixteen fourteen, he says, let all you do

be done in love. Now, that's all encompassing, right, that's everything

whatever you do, do it in love. Well, that means when you

confront a brother and sister in Christ as well, if someone is lost in

sin and not in a relationship with God, I'd say that's generally pretty easy

to identify, right. You can tell pretty quickly, even if you're around

somebody for a short time, by their words and their attitude. If they

follow Jesus or not. This should be that way. I mean, Jesus

said, you'll know them by their fruit, their evidence, and I can

make an evaluation of their spiritual condition that's based on an observation. Medical people

do that right, You make observations, you diagnose. I can make an

evaluation of somebody who I believe is lost and in the right mindset in view

of righteousness. I'm not condemning them. I'm just making an evaluation based on

the evidence, based on the fruit. You will know them by their fruit,

because no one can judge the lost except God. You need to hear

that too. James four or twelve says there is only one lawgiver and judge,

he who is able to save and to destroy. So our responsibility as

those in the body of Christ, as brothers and sisters in Christ, is

to judge, to judge with righteousness in view through the lens of scripture.

That if you see me doing something something wrong or does not align with scripture,

it is your responsibility, whether it makes you feel comfortable or not.

As a pastor, we need to talk and by the same token that needs

to happen. If I see something in you or a brother to brother,

sister to sister. That's how we are strengthened in Christ. Iron sharpens iron,

that's relationship. That's one of the great benefits of the Body of Christ

being a part of the local church. And in our text today, Paul

dresses the hypocrite who quickly passes judgment or condemns others for the same sin he

commits, but feels that the sin of others is far worse than his own,

not simply making an evaluation, but judging with the intent to condemn.

The word condemn means to penalize to death. That's that's condemnation. Those who

are found without Jesus. At the end, at the after the Great Judgment

seat, those who are found to be without Jesus will be condemned, condemned

to eternal death. And only God can do that. It's not ours,

not our job, that's not in our job description. And in context,

it was usually the Jews, and in this case the converted Jews who are

a part of the church in Rome. And for Jews who all they all

they knew was the law, it was it was hard to to give that

up. It's all they knew for generations and generations and generations. It was

the law of God that they followed. And for those converted Jews that were

a part of the church, they still wanted, they still thought they needed

to observe the law, and they would pass judgment on the gentiles of the

church who were not obligated to follow the law. And their sin may have

been the same, but in the eyes of the Jews, the sin of

the gentile was much worse. That sounds like us and the verse one,

Paul says, and because you practice the very same sin, you pass judgment

on yourself as well. And so for us today, it's not so much

or at all about Jew and gentile. It's simply a matter of judging wrongly.

And we have no excuse, Paul said, when it comes to passing

judgment against a brother or a sister, we practice the very same thing.

And I believe that in the whole scope of sin, sin is sin.

Sin is doing something that is again it's the principles of God or against His

nature. And according to the law, if you break one of them,

you break the whole law. And these kinds of things. Now, there

are sins that have had more consequences than others. Right obviously, so when

I say, even if our sin is the more hurtful, or maybe even

more obvious, more selfish in nature, we tend to overlook our own sin

and past judgment on our brother or sister. And I would venture to say

that you and I do that often. Jesus talked about it in Matthew chapter

seven, verses three through five, a familiar Versus scripture to us that hits

home. Jesus said, why do you see the speck that is in your

brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

And I can just why did Jesus use this this example? I just

I hear a hint of I don't want to say sarcasm, but humor.

You know that Jesus would use to to get this point of cross. Why

do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not

notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to

your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is

a log in your own eye, you hypocrite, First take the log out

of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the speck out

of your brother's eye. And we're always in pretty quick agreement with the preacher

when he preaches on the sins of others. Right, the preacher pastor tell

him how sinful they are. And that seems to be the attitude of the

Jewish hypocrite in Romans chapter two. They are not the ones who are spiritually

unclean. It's the Gentiles. The Jews are are God's chosen. So it

wouldn't surprise the Jews if Paul writes and communicates to them about the sins of

the gentiles. Right, but then he says that God's judgment is upon them

for committing the same sin. Hell who they assumed that as God's chosen people,

they were exempt from from God's punishment. And so for you and me,

that's why we must live a lifestyle of repentance. Repentance is not something

we do at that moment where where we receive Christ. Repentance is something that

every every day we wake up and say, God, and I'm the sinner,

and I want to align with your word. I want to be where

you would have me to be. I want my mind right, I want

my heart right. I want the things that I do, I want the

things that I say. I want the things that I think to be in

alignment with your word, and so often they are not so, God,

I repent. I repent because no one is exempt from falling into a season

of hypocrisy. Nobody is exempt the deception to believe that the sin of others

is worse than your own. Those are some of the fiery arrows that the

enemy throws at us, the arrows to see and remember the sins of others,

the fiery arrows. The part of the whole armor of God that is

ours in Christ is the shield of faith. Ephesians six sixteen says in all

circumstances, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which

you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Because the darts,

the flaming arrows of the enemy are meant to to derail you. They

are meant to distract you. And an unrepentant heart with the shield of faith

is lowered. Shield of faith, catch it. Your catch can open the

floodgates of hypocrisy in your life. An unrepented heart will see and draw attention

to the sin of others, but not your own. And you've probably learned

in your walk with God. Many in this room have walked with God for

many, many, many years, and you've learned a lot of lessons along

the way. And if you're relatively new in Christ, you understand that there

are lessons to be learned every day, all the time. And you've learned

that God does not get in a hurry, as we would label the word

hurry. That's the word we use, right, That's a time, that's

an expression of time in a hurry. God do something now. And he

says, Okay, our hurry is not God surry. He is not obligated

to work according to our timeline. Another familiar scripture to you two Peter verses

three, eight and nine. Peter says, but do not overlook this one

fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand

years, and a thousand years as one day. And he says, the

Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but

is patient towards you. We can't overlook this. I'm gonna talk about it

more in a minute. He is patient towards you, not wishing that any

should perish, but that all should reach repentance. He is patient to work

things according to his will. Don't you trust him? You trust him to

work his will in your life, that his will for your life is better

than your own will for your life. You know that, right, You

understand that because we've all experienced what we interpret as a delay in God's provision,

and what we interpret as a delay by God is not a delay at

all, because He he is orchestrating all things to work together for your good

and for his glory. That's Romans eight twenty eight. He's working all things.

He's working all things. All means all, that's all. It means

all things. He's orchestrating all things for your good and for his glory.

And verse fall and verse for Paul, he says, 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? Aren't you aware? Aren't you

aware? The riches of God, the riches of God is shown to us

in his kindness, in his forbearance, and his patience. Forbearance means he

delays, he delays his judgment or very patient. The nature of God is

that he will always do things his way. My opinion, your opinion is

not something that he will inquire about when it comes to fulfilling anything. I

would just as soon be it be that way. My opinion and input on

very simple day to day matters flies in my face. So many times Job

had some issues and God said to Job. This is God speaking to Job

in Chapter thirty eight, verses four and five, And again little will sarcasm

on God's part, Little humor, where were you when I laid the foundations

of the earth. Tell me, if you have understanding who determined its measurements,

surely you know or who stretched the line upon it. Job was messed

up. He was depressed about his life. He questioned the sovereignty of God,

and he was in a pretty bad situation. I don't think any of

us has been quite the situation as Job. So as God is not all

on our timeline regarding answers to prayer, he is also not in a hurry.

He is not on our timeline to punish. He's patient. His delay

in punishment is proof of his goodness to us. He's giving us time.

He's giving the lost more time to repent. He is patient with us in

our foolishness. He shows forbearance. Again, it means he's merciful to delay

judgment and he shows kindness. The amplified version of Scripture says the verse four,

he says, or are you so blind as to presume patience, not

realizing that God's kindness is intended, intended to lead you to repentance. His

judgment delays so that you would see his goodness and his mercy and come to

repentance. That's his desire that more and more people would come to repentance.

That's his heart, that more more lost people would come to Christ. So

he's giving He's giving them time. He's giving us time to tell them.

He's patient showing forbearance. That's his heart. And he is patient with us,

his people, to allow us to get it. And I praise God

for that. He's patient with the loss to repent. He is also patient

with us, his children to repent. However, a couple of weeks ago

is that I had a big butt to put right there, but I changed

my mind and wouldn't say that. However, I'll use that word. However,

his patience will one day come to an end. Those who repent will

reap forgiveness and eternal life for those who don't repent. Paul has verse five.

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.

Storing up you know what that means that as you go along the longer

and longer and longer that you show rebellion, That means you are storing up

that you are storing up for yourself more and more unrighteousness for the day of

wrath, when God's judgment, his righteous judgment will be revealed. So Isaiah

fifty five, Verse six. Isaiah says, seek the Lord while he may

be found, Call upon him while he is near. How many do you

know that's in your life? How many in your family, how many coworkers,

how many? How many? How many students you go to school with?

How many of you know that people keep just putting off and putting off

coming to Jesus, thinking that one day they're going to get it right,

one day they're going to give up what they're doing and finally give their life

to Jesus. So one day it is going to be too late. One

of these days, the Lord will not be able to be found, and

he will pour out his righteous judgment on those who rejected him. Author and

teacher John Phillips said this. He says, Paul paints a picture of the

sinner storing away day by day, a fresh deposit of wickedness for judgment in

a coming day. The judgment of God, when it finally comes, will

be a righteous judgment. The lost hypocrite that does not repent faces a long

road that eventually leads to God's certain judgment. And Christians, you and me

who are guilty of hypocrisy thinking that the sins of others are worse than our,

we are in need of a serious and immediate change of heart through repentance.

Because God says your very words convict you of the same sins that you

accuse others. But for now, He is patient, and his goodness and

his kindness is shown by his patience because he desires. He desires that all

would come to repentance. So where are you? That's my question for you

today? Where are you? Are you lost and in need of salvation that

comes only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Then today

is the day that you need to take care of business with God and and

ask for his mercy. Have mercy on me. I'm lost, I'm a

sinner. And if you're a born again child of God, if you're a

child of love and you're being convicted of the hypocrisy in your life, you

also need to do business with God, humble yourself, repent, and consider

the needs of others as more important than your own. I think that's Philippians.

Consider the needs of others that's more important than your own. Call on

the name of the Lord and seek him while he may be found. Let's

pray. Thank you for tuning in to today's broadcast. We hope you are

encouraged and challenged by the preaching of God's word. You can reach us by

phone at six point eight three nine zero, contact us via Facebook or our

website Fbcwoodlawn dot org. It's our prayer that you answer the call of God

on your life to follow him and share your faith story with others. Goodbye

for now, and God bless you.