McNeil, William: Studies In Romans 06 ~ Romans 2;1-16

And now, as we continue today with our study in the Epistle to the Romans, I want to read to you the first sixteen verses of chapter two. Romans chapter two. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. Sure, the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Let us bow for a moment of prayer. Our Father, we seek thy presence once more, coming to thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read from the Holy Scriptures, we are so conscious that we need the help of thy Holy Spirit to help each of us to understand and take in the message of thy word. May thy blessing now rest upon every hearer, as we ask it in the Savior's precious name. Amen. Now, as we come to chapter two of this particular epistle, to keep in mind that this section is proving beyond any shadow of doubt that God requires absolute righteousness, and the evidence is being submitted to prove that all men, without exception, have failed to produce that standard of righteousness that can satisfy the claims of a holy and righteous God. Now, I may point out to you right here that in this particular passage where I have been reading, there are certain things that have to do with the judgment of God. For example, in verse two, but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And then again in verse six we read, who will render to every man according to his deeds. Then in verse eleven, for there is no respect of persons with God, and in verse sixteen, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now, if you care to join these four verses together, here is what you'll learn. In verse two, judgment is according to truth, that is the truth of God. In verse six, we learn that God's judgment is according to absolute justice. In verse eleven, we learn that judgment by God is without partiality. In verse sixteen, we learn that judgment is according to the gospel by Jesus Christ. Now, with these things in mind, we come again to this chapter, and we learn this, that the sinner is without excuse. We learn that in the first two verses. And then we learn this, that the sinner is without escape. We learn that in verses three and six. But when you come to verse seven, you learn this from verses seven through ten. Here is the great sovereign God without respect. That is, he shows no improper partiality. Verses eleven through sixteen. here is the standard without change. Now, in the first two verses, we have the comparison that is made. The one who judged will now be judged by the same standard. Then there is the conclusion that is arrived at. If you condemn your fellow for violating a certain principle, then you do the same thing, you must also stand condemned. There is the condemnation that is pronounced. You are condemned because Jo- God's judgment is according to truth. Now, it's a most significant thing then to take notice of what is said in these opening two verses of the chapter. He starts the chapter off by saying, therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whomsoever thou art that judgest. Now, the whole thing is this. It should be noted that in the second chapter, we're brought down from what has been a general statement in chapter one, right down, as it were, to a specific thing in chapter two. It's so easy to read through chapter one and to stand with those perhaps who reckon themselves the judges or the jury, if you like, and you're listening to all the evidence against these heathen people who were brought before us in chapter one. The people who knew God and glorified him not as God. The people who changed the truth of God. The people who turned to idolatry and to immorality. And you've listened to all the things that were said about these people, and you stand in condemnation, and you say, rightly so, God condemns them. However, when you come to chapter two, it's therefore thou, thou art inexcusable, O man. It's no longer a question of they, that is the people in chapter one who have been abandoned by God to all the depths of vileness. It is now the individual, it is thou. Now, it is well that each individual should think thus, putting himself in the seat of the accused, realizing that the revelation of the principles of judgment which are now set forth concern him, and that he will be judged by God. Now the chapter is of very great importance to every man, for in it are set forth the principles by which all those will be judged who have not met God in Christ to have their judgment annulled in him. You see, it is so easy to stand in condemnation of another, but here what we find in this particular passage is simply this, that the man who has stood in condemnation of his brother or his neighbor is now faced with the same accusation. If you have judged someone else, yet you are guilty of the same things, then isn't it true that you are passing condemnation upon yourself? Now, this brings us to a very severe point. In chapter one, the people who are brought before us there have the great light of creation. The visible things of creation have declared to them the invisible God. Yet, in spite of all that knowledge, they turned away from God, and they glorified him not as God, became vain in their imaginations. But now when you come to chapter two, it seems to come to the individual, and it strikes right into the conscience. What is it that causes us to stand in condemnation of others? It means we have reached a point of judgment, wherein thou judgest another. It means you have summed up the situation, and you have come to a conclusion on the matter that that man's action was wrong. Now, what is it that makes you arrive at that conclusion? Isn't because there is something in you that can cause you to set up the balance between right and wrong. Therefore, if you have a conscience which can set up that balance, and you can come down with a conclusion on the matter, and you say, now the action of these people was absolutely wrong. All right, you have passed your judgment because of your own conscience. But if that's so, then you have a knowledge of these things. But if you condemn your fellow for violating a certain principle, and then you in turn do the same thing, you must also stand condemned. Your own conscience, the meanwhile, will either be accusing or excusing you. So therefore, the comparison is made first of all, the one who judged will now be judged, and by the same standards. The conclusion arrived at is this: if you condemn your fellow for violating a certain principle, then you do the same thing, you must also be condemned. And the condemnation is pronounced for this reason. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. So you see, when you come to verse two, you're faced with the truth of God. Now, sometimes people are not prepared to face up to the truth of God, but here we, we have it right before us, and God's truth will never be lowered in standard to suit us. The standard of God's truth remains the same and is applicable to every one of us. You see, it is so easy to look on at the sins of others. Now, suppose we look at the sins of certain nations, and you can point the accusing finger at certain ethnic groups or at certain nations, and you can show how they turned away from God and became vain in their imaginations. They didn't like to retain the thought of God in their minds, and God gave them over. It's so easy to do that. But then remember this, if we stand in our own self-righteousness and condemn others, and we ourselves may have greater light than them. And suppose we have that greater measure of truth, that greater measure of light, and yet become guilty of the same sins of which they are guilty, then we also stand to be condemned, and more so because we have greater light. So therefore, as we take those opening verses of chapter two, we are faced with this great fact that we are left without excuse. If the man in chapter one, or the men in chapter 1, are left without excuse, then so also are we without excuse. Thou art inexcusable, O man. But now, when you come to verses three through six, the sinner is without escape. There's no escape for a pious fraud. Do you imagine that by some special means you can escape condemnation? Thinkest thou, oh man, that judgest they which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Look, my friend, it's so easy for any person to stand like a hypocrite and to say, I thank thee, I am not as other men are. Then we can pride ourselves and say, well, of course, we weren't born in heathen countries. We were not born in a country where the word of God was denied and where the Bible was burned and where people were denied their religious liberty. We were born in a free country. We are free men, and some folk will even go the length of saying we're born in a Christian country. Others might say, well, I was brought up in a good home. I was born into a Christian home. I was sprinkled when I was a baby, and I went to Sunday school and s- Listen, my friend. Thinkest thou, O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? No escape for pious frauds. Don't imagine for a moment, my friend, that you have some special means whereby God will show some special mercy to you, and you'll be able to escape the judgment of the condemnation. And there's no escape for the perverted hypocrite. Do you think because you have been the recipient of some special favor that your sin or crime will be overlooked or forgotten? How often has it been said over the past twenty five or thirty years, when you think of things that have happened in other countries, people have retorted, but it couldn't happen here. My friend, listen, it is happening here. Think for a moment of some of the nations in the world who were specially favored of God, and they thought because that they were specially favored, uh, that they were destined to be the leading nation in the world for all time. Yet these nations turned away from God and became guilty of the same sins as other nations were guilty of, and these nations went down. It can happen to any nation. Don't run away with the idea, my friend, that God is going to show some special favor to you or to a nation just because that these favors have been upon you in the past. Don't think that you can escape from the condemnation of the judgment of God. God's judgment is without change. His standard remains the same. When the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan, they were warned that they were not to be guilty of the sins of the people who had inhabited the land. If they did become guilty of these sins, then God would deal with them in the same way as he dealt with their enemies. And that's exactly what happened. Now there's no escape for the perverted hypocrite. Thinkest thou, O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Now watch. There is no escape for the presumptuous sinner. Do you imagine that you can continue in sin without reaping the wages of sin? Listen to what he says as he asks his question in verse four: Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. You see, God is good, that's perfectly true, and God shows his forbearance. God shows his long suffering. God is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Here, the writer reminds them of the riches of God's goodness, but they've been despised. He reminds them of God's forbearance, that has been despised. He reminds them of God's long suffering, that has been despised, for the simple reason God expresses these things and manifests his goodness and forbearance and long suffering in order to lead the sinner to repentance. But if the sinner is presumptuous, and he says, God is not going to do anything to us, where is the God of judgment? Then remember this, they are despising the things of God. But then let us proceed a little further. When you come to verse six, he says, who will render to every man according to his deeds. There we're reminded again that God knows every individual man, and God will deal with every one of us according to our deeds. A man cannot sin against God with impunity. God will deal with us as individuals. So do not let us be guilty of looking back on these nations that are presented to us, these idolatrous, immoral nations in chapter one who turned away from God. Do not be guilty of pointing the finger of accusation against them if we ourselves are going to be guilty of the same sins, for the same judgment that came upon them will come upon us. And then from verse seven through ten, there is presented to us the sovereign without respect, because when you come to verse eleven, for there is no respect of persons with God. Notice how he introduces this. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. Now notice in these verses then, God shows no improper partiality. All men must be judged according to absolute justice. God sets the standard, and by that standard, all will be judged. Remember, you and I can pass judgment that would be incorrect. God's judgment is always right. God's judgment is according to absolute justice. Now, the reason for a man's behavior, some have correct reasons and some have wrong reasons. If we have correct reasons, it will almost lead to correct behavior. If you have wrong reasons, it will lead to wrong behavior. Then we're led up to the results of a man's behavior, eternal life for some and divine wrath upon others. Remember, while God takes note of nations, and he takes note of the rise of mighty empires and the fall of mighty empires, God also takes note of the individual. God can keep an account of all our actions, our thoughts, our motives. But from verses eleven through sixteen, there's a standard without change. Again, the connecting verse, verse eleven: for there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, but as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Now, there is the advantage of knowledge shared. God will judge according to this principle of standard. Some people had the law, some people didn't have the law, but of course they had a conscience, and according to their knowledge of God, whether it was according to the creation or according to conscience or according to law, there is the advantage of knowledge that is shared in conscience. There is the action. The action is condoned or condemned according to light received. Some have the light of the law and some have the light of conscience. There is the ultimate verdict according to divine standards. Note the certainty, the universality, the principles and results of God's righteous judgment. And he comes right down and he says this, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Now, in that day, or in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. The gospel is good news, perfectly true, but remember we'll be judged according to the light we have received.