Paul declares God will Judge every Person Part 1
Romans
2:1-4 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in
whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the
same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against
those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge
those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the
judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
NKJV
The Apostle Paul (as he was carried along by God the
Holy Spirit) documented for us a very long list of profane actions and behavior
that come out of the human heart. It was Paul’s intention to reveal the gross
depravity that spring forth from man regardless of his environment or external
stimulus. The person can be living in the most luxurious places in our modern
society or the person could be a part of the many people who live completely
and totally of the land with none of the so called conveniences of modern
society, it makes no difference, the sinful heart of man is the same. Paul
immediately begins to shift his focus from man’s individual acts of sinful
depravity and begins to speak to or target another group of human beings that
place themselves above those listed in Romans Chapter 1.
Paul was not speaking here in just strict theory
because he too was this type of man before he had an encounter with our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. Paul had grown up as a Jew from
the tribe of Benjamin and was surely taught from an early age that Jews were
superior to all Gentiles or Non-Jews. Paul spoke of himself in another letter
in this manner, Philippians 3:4-6 “If
anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised
the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal,
persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.” NKJV The Apostle Paul before he encountered Christ relied and
trusted in these things and in so doing thought he was very good in God’s sight
and looked down on the Gentiles as being inferior heathens worthless and
incapable of any good thing before God. Paul’s attack in the beginning of
Romans Chapter 2 is aimed squarely at the heart of every person who is a
hypocrite or hypocritical as they judge and condemn others while practicing
such gross sin in secret out of other human beings sight but not God. One
example relevant in my opinion is the story recorded in Genesis 38 of Judah and
Tamar. God always uncovers the sins of men and women done in secret before
other human beings because His eyes are in every place watching over the good
and the evil (Proverbs 5:21 &
Proverbs 15:3).
The Scripture does not tell us but I would not be
surprised if the women caught in the act of adultery and brought before our
Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:3-12) was
engaging in the adultery with one of the rulers of the Jews a Pharisee and this
is why he was not also brought to our Lord. Maybe he was the brother or Father
of one of the other Pharisees standing ready to stone the woman and our Lord
Jesus wrote his name in the sand when he bent down. Paul wants the hypocrite to
be fully aware that God’s judgment is not going to be on a merit system or
scales weighing out good deeds over bad deeds, but His judgment is going to be
strictly based upon truth (Psalm 96:13).
God sees and knows all truth and no hypocrite, pretender, or actor will escape
His Righteous Judgment. He (God) will render righteous judgment to every man.
Many people in every generation in Churches with their names firmly engraved on
the Churches roll have been guilty of this gross hypocrisy thinking they were
somehow fooling God at the same time they fooled their fellow church members (Psalm 50:21).
I personally used to be one of these people also
like the Apostle Paul until I too had an encounter with the living Lord Jesus
Christ and was regenerated and born again. I was as the late Dr. Adrian Rogers
said, “Many people are baptized pagans.” I was one who would go to church on
Sunday and sing all the songs and leave the building and live just like a
baptized pagan. I cursed and used profanity on a daily basis as a part of my
normal vocabulary (using the Lord’s name as a curse word). I practiced
fornication after I left the church grounds and drank alcohol and did all
manner of illegal drugs for years all the while thinking I was not a pagan or a
hypocrite. I did not love the Lord Jesus Christ because I did not know Him. I
did not know what it meant to fight my sin or make war against sin because I
had none of the armor of God at my disposal. You see despite our outward
profession of faith, it must be real and genuine internally and that only
happens when the person is regenerated and born again (John 3:3 & John 3:5).
However, we have many religious people like Paul and
myself in many churches void of the new birth and no Holy Spirit dwelling in
them trying to please God by their own works and that is a recipe for a
hypocrite (Proverbs 16:2 & Proverbs
21:2). This righteous judgment of God is what compels Paul here to write
this warning the Jews then and warning every generation of supposed Christians
to be in full and complete understanding that God does not see and judge as man
does but His judgment is truthful and perfect showing no favoritism to any
person or even to the Jewish Nation though they were His special people coming
through the loins of Abraham. We documented from Paul’s letter in Chapter 1 of
Romans how God was so furious with man and repented that He even made man
because the imagination of his heart was evil continually and so He destroyed
them all in a flood. Paul exalts and lifts up the extraordinary longsuffering
of God to all humanity. Even though God destroyed that generation of man in a
flood, His love and longsuffering waited 120 years and He (God) preached to
them repentance through Noah during all those 120 years. He wanted them all
then to repent (turn from their sin to Him) as He does still today by His
goodness, forbearance (refraining from acting), and extreme longsuffering is giving
every soul ample opportunity to turn and be healed from sin forever by grace
through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord (Psalm
25:7 & Psalm 107:8-9 & 2 Peter 3:9 & 2 Peter 3:15).
“It is a terribly easy matter to be a minister of the
gospel and a vile hypocrite at
the same time.” Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892
“It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but
doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation. He
does not want to be holy; he only wants to seem to be holy. He is more
concerned with his reputation for righteousness than about actually becoming
righteous. The approbation of men matters more to him than the approval of God.”
Augustine 354 AD – 430 AD
“The hypocrite,
certainly, is a secret atheist; for if he did believe there was a God, he durst
not be so bold as to deceive Him to His face.” Thomas Adams 1583-1653
“While the Christian commits a sin he hates it;
whereas the hypocrite loves
it while he forbears it.” William Gurnall 1617-1679
If
you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this
from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear
Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I
believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from
the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn
from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control
of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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