"Best Of"-Finding Purpose: Romans

This is Rodney from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explored manhood within Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Sit back, enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. Do you feel like you're on a religious treadmill? Do you feel like Christianity is just a system of rules and regulations?

I can do this, but I can't do that. Do you feel like your efforts to reach God, find God, and please God are futile? Do you feel like your faith is dead or alive? Looking at scripture will help us answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information on the ministry, please visit online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Let's listen to guest speaker, Pastor Kenny Jones, as he leads us through Romans, teaching us how to be a Christian without being religious. Open up to Romans chapter two, Romans chapter two. And tonight we are going to be looking at verses one through 16, one through 16. Men, as you have been preparing throughout the week and you just discussed in your small group, you know that Paul does not take his foot off the gas pedal.

He is not commencing words. He is crystal clear in his argument and it is God's wrath. God's judgment is being poured out on sin.

He doesn't mince words, does he? And as you read throughout these 16 verses, you find clearly that now Paul is moving from chapter one into chapter two and helping us to see now that God is judging sin based upon his righteous standard, on his righteous standard. Remember in chapter one, Paul makes a clear case there of helping us to see the truth that there is no excuse for any man on this earth. Those who have preceded us are the ones who are coming after us, that they themselves have no excuse in their hearts to know that they are far from God.

They are totally depraved. And now as we're moving into chapter two, Paul is going Paul is going deeper in his argument and is now bringing the law into the picture. Paul in chapter one, to give you a little context there, is his main audience there is he's writing to the Gentiles. We can pick that up if you were to look in their Romans one, he talks about for this reason they've been giving up for sexual morality.

They've been creating images. All of that behavior is Gentile behavior. And now as he moves into chapter two, he's now moving to the Jew, to Israel. And he starts off there in verse one, there is no excuse.

Oh, man, you may have studied this in your small group, but that is a formal address to the Jewish people. So now he's moving to God's chosen people into Romans chapter two. Tonight, what we're going to look at as Paul is continuing his argument of God's wrath being poured out on sin.

We're going to be looking at three points this evening, and I hope you got your outline. But first we're going to look how God's judgment will fall on the hypocrite. Paul calls a spade for a spade. He calls the Jew a hypocrite. The second thing is because of their actions are hypocritical. He says, by the way, guys, by the way, Israel, your sin will find you out. Your deeds show where your heart lies.

And the third thing we're going to look at is how they missed the mark altogether Israel did. That they were hearers of the word and not doers of the word. And that's the pattern. That's the path that we are going to follow tonight in God's word in Romans two. And so again, men, this is one of those texts, as I told you last week, that you have to hold on to the gospel because this is the text that doesn't give you the senior superlative. Like I said, you don't get voted best preacher in the world because a lot of preachers in these day and age don't preach this text, which makes me look so good. And so tell that to your friends. And so, but in all seriousness, this is a text that we have to go through because we are going through verse by verse and we have to see that as the pet, the gas pedal is down, we need to see why God's righteous indignation is on sin.

He's hot. He's angry on sin. And men, like I said last week, you need to take this very seriously. Take this very seriously. So before we go any further, before we walk into chapter two, will you bow your heads with me and last ask the Lord for help. Bow your heads with me and let's pray. Father God, we need you tonight and Lord, as we are walking through Romans two, teach us Lord by your spirit. Father, help us to see the implications of your word.

Convict us where we need to convicting and encourage us where we need encouragement. And Father, in all these things and all these verses that we are unpacking tonight, may us see the glorious good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us not forget, Lord, for those in this room who are believers. Help us not to forget how good and kind and gracious Jesus is. But Lord, for those in this room who are far from you, who don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, God convict them of their sin and help them come to faith tonight. So Father, we love you and it's in Christ I pray. Amen.

So our first point, write this down or you can begin taking notes. The judgment is going to fall on the hypocrite. We're going to concentrate in the first four verses. In verse one, Paul says what's happening. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, that every one of you who judges for in passing judgment on one another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. What Paul says is that though you were judging the Gentile, FYI Israel, you are guilty of doing the same things they are doing. They are guilty of the sin of hypocrisy. And like I said a moment ago, Paul calls a spade for a spade.

But let's break down what's happening here. First, let's look at that second line in verse one of what the idea of the judgment is and how judging is and hypocrisy. First, let's look at the word judgment. The word judge, you can write this down in the Greek is krino, K R I N O. It means to separate, to distinguish, come to a choice, a decision, making a verdict, whether good or bad. It's also, it's always closely connected to the idea of a court of law. So that's what they're doing. They're making decision. They're making a verdict upon the Gentile.

Let's go a little bit further. But since they're doing the things that they're not supposed to, and they're guilty of judging the Gentile for the same things that they are doing. Second, what is a hypocrite? And the Greek word that's with the word hypocrite, it's where we get our word actor from. The word is associated with a Greek actor on stage.

It helps us to understand a performer or an actor is like wearing a mask or underneath a mask. Men, what's happening to the Jewish people? What's happening to Israel is they are actors before the face of God. They are committing a egregious sin right before the face of God. They're acting before the Holy God because here's the background of their hypocrisy. If you were a Jew, if you were part of the nation of Israel, remember you were righteous before God because you had the law.

If you stay committed to circumcision and obeying the law, you were counter righteous. But what happened through all of this as Paul's building this argument is they bypassed the law. They begin to add things onto law that were not according to God's law.

And they began to pack on these X's and O's and 123's and you name it. And it became burdens upon people. That's why Jesus calls them out over and over again against the Sadducees and the Pharisees because it wasn't according to the law of God. But they lost, they threw out the law and they lost the law giver. They threw out God himself and even Israel, God's chosen people failed to see that their works righteousness is futile in the sight of God. It's futile on the side of God. And so think about it on a basic level. Think about on an elementary level men. Israel has no excuse. Yet you know God, you know the law, yet you do the same things that Gentiles do that they deserve judgment on, you deserve judgment on.

Gentiles make idols after images as it says in Romans 1, you make an idol out of your self and both men are without excuse and Paul's clear there. It's just like men a team captain on a sports team. I know a lot of you probably played sports before but the team captain is supposed to carry the banner. He's supposed to do the drills, do the plays, just to lead the front. But yet if a team captain all he does is just yell at his teammates and doesn't do the drills, doesn't work out, doesn't put in the hard work and the hard effort to make the team succeed.

What good are they? That's exactly what Paul is saying here and all this opens up our eyes to see men the point that it doesn't matter even if you're God's chosen people or even a Gentile. Unless you believe by faith, unless you're going to be a doer of the word, you are lost.

You're lost. You see the issue here and that's why Paul is coming down on Israel in verses one through three. That's why he's clear about it and that's why he's calling them hypocrites. Take your bible men if you will and turn over to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven and please write this down under our first under your first point because Jesus even warned of this and talked about this there in the sermon of the mount. Look what he says there in Matthew chapter seven starting in verse one. 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.

Why do you see the spec that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye or how can you say to your brother let the let me take the spec out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye. I'll stop there but look what he says you hypocrite. There is same idea connecting here from Matthew seven into Romans chapter two. You can turn back to Romans if you'd like because men what happens here when you begin to judge just like Jesus says you begin to have an inflated view of your self and when you take your measuring stick when you are again putting a verdict and you're seeing you're putting yourself up against that measuring stick and basing your judgment upon yourself you're always going to view yourself in a greater light. It's always going to happen because men let's be honest no one likes to be judged. I've never never met a single person who says I love it when people assume the worst in me. I know that when you judge me you get jealous.

I know there's envy in your heart because of perfection. I get it but let's go back to the text but no one likes to be on the tail end of the phrase to judge a book by its cover. You know why? Because it goes back to where is that standard of judging coming from? Where's the plumb line? What's the measuring stick? It's all based upon yourself and that's what Jesus is getting to Matthew 7. That's what Paul is getting to as well because judgment must be measured upon a standard of righteousness. As Paul says in verse 3 it has to be based on the judgment of God i.e the truth of who God is. All truth is God's truth and God is always going to judge according to his righteousness according to his law his word. So what Paul is saying here men there's two things. Number one judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. The second thing it's coming based upon truth God's truth and again even going back to Romans 1 verses 1 through 7. Remember Paul lays I mean just crystal clear picture of anchoring all the truth. All truth is coming back to Jesus Christ as he did of explaining of who Jesus is and remember he even with the power of the gospel of God God's gospel is coming because of sin and again why is again where are we able to be judged because of our sin because we broke the law we sin against before a holy God and it's all going back to the righteousness of Christ of God. John 14 6 I alone judge Jesus and the father are the ones who are able to judge because they're basing it upon their their righteousness so the standard is clear it's based upon the righteousness of God you are guilty Jew and the Gentile there is no escape. I mean it's just like a VIP experience you've done it before you've paid for the VIP experience you get the wristband you get the lanyard like you have you guys have I don't have so I feel left out and so that was a joke and so but you always happens it happened to me one time at a sporting event I was invited somewhere and I took off my jacket I took off the lanyard that made me VIP and guess what happened when I began to walk about the concourse and I try to go back into that area guess what they wouldn't let me back in because why I lost that status I lost that lanyard that said I was allowed to go back in and go back in and that's exactly what we see here with Israel they are the chosen yet they lost what the covenant with Abraham was all about faith they lost it and Paul continues to build his case in verse 4 when you look at verse 4 and Paul says or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and the forbearance and the patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance what Paul's saying there is don't read it like a patient parent that allows their kids to have free reign and they're never going to discipline now what Paul is saying that is that do you not see the kindness of God by giving you the law is meant to lead you to repent and to meant to lead you into being converted into being saved that's what Paul is getting to it's a rhetorical question do you take God's kindness lightly do you it's a serious question the word kindness in the Greek means goodness uprightness gentleness and we can see that even through the law it is the kindness of God given to the Gentile to see again why is the law given it's pointing to see that they can't even they can't obey every single iota of the law so they need someone to mediate they need someone to fulfill the law then they again go to three four four and five but when the goodness and the kindness and the loving kindness of God our savior appeared he saved us not because works done by righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of the regeneration and the renewal of the holy spirit men on this side of the cross by the power of the gospel of God God's loving kindness is given to us through Jesus and Paul just like a boater when your boat's going down he's shooting flares off left and right and saying to the Jews do you not see God's grace and mercy given to you even by the law yet you've missed it you've missed it completely because men see the application here we need to be careful of judging others when we in turn are doing the same thing when we see a brother fall and we begin to feel that temptation to gossip gossip about them but yet in turn we are doing the same things be on guard men don't ever the second thing is don't ever let yourself righteousness lead to think that you can just pass the judgment of God that you didn't the gentile can't and neither can you and men don't you see even the kindness of God even now by your bibles open by you able to come to this bible study and open up the infallible word of God and how by the power of the holy spirit that by the spirit convicts you and helps you to leave a life of righteousness do you not see that's a gift and mercy of God don't take that for granted don't take for granted the word of God and how that is the standard for us today to live holy and peaceful lives don't take that for granted which leads us now to our second point that your deeds will find you out and we're going to be concentrating now in verses 5 through 11 your deeds will find you out so they're guilty they're hypocrites they're doing they're judging the gentiles on the on the actions of the gen what the gentiles are doing by making images for example going through sexual immorality yet the jews are doing the same things and what now paul is moving into his argument is saying that your deeds the things that you were judging men to the jew your deeds are going to find you out man when you survey the old testament you find pretty clearly that judgment is all throughout the scriptures it's all throughout the scriptures when you look in genesis chapter 3 when the fall happened god judged adam and eve he kicked him out of the garden of edom and you see that they were separated from god why sin when you look in the exodus account in israel wandering in the wilderness for over 40 years why did they do that sin you look at the main theme of the book of judges it's all about god going is not going to allow sin to be unpunished as you read the book of judges yes there are godly leaders and there are ungodly leaders but it doesn't matter what earthly leaders in charge god sees all and he's going to judge according to his truth and what paul's saying here in verses 5 through 11 as that every deed word thought everything everything is being recorded and everything is going to be judged pretty startling truth isn't it pretty humbling truth isn't it as a believer or if you're an unbeliever that you can't hide your sin from god look with me in verse 5 when we sin god's wrath is being stored up paul is using a banking metaphor it's just like when you put money in a savings account dollar by dollar penny by penny what paul's saying here is that when you sin every sin is going into a type of account but the question is who can take money out of this account only god can and what paul's saying here through this metaphor is that every sin the jew is doing even every sin the gentile is doing everything is going to be judged according to god's righteous standard every action will be judged and then paul as we see in verses 6 through 8 he always gives two examples because what he's wanting us to see here is that every act is storing up either faithfulness or unfaithfulness this is the picture he's showing us that your deeds do count towards something they are earning interest in the sight of god the question is are they faithful are they unfaithful look with me in verses 6 through 8 look what distinguishes the faithful person in verse 6 they are working for god's honor and immortality they're being faithful now and playing the long game they are building their treasures in heaven not on earth where moth and rust destroy they are people like as the parable of the good soil as for they are in good soil as those who are hearing the word hold fast to it in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience they are ones as paul even describes in first corinthians chapter 15 verse 42 what is sown is perishable what is raised is imperishable that's what is described of the faithful and then he goes deeper the unfaithful look what he describes they're self-seeking they do not obey the truth they um they obey unrighteousness they're the ones who is hard as heart is hard towards god whether they are building idols of their self or images at the end of the day they are unfaithful they're unfaithful and that's what paul lays out here jesus does the same thing write this down in matthew chapter 7 again starting in verse 24 everyone who hears these words of mine again and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock the rain fell the floods came the winds blew but the house did not fall look what he also describes in verse 26 but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who's built his house on sand the rain fell the floods came the winds blew and beat against the house and it fell and great was its fall that's what he's getting to men so the question to ask yourself are what works are you storing up but here's another question you need to ask but here's another question you need to ask is paul saying that works save no remember you have to go back to romans chapter 17 only faith saves faith in christ alone don't forget that but what paul is helping us to see here in the text is pretty clear that paul wants to see that it's a heart that is regenerated by the power of the gospel that their deeds their actions their words their thoughts are flowing out of a regenerated heart and that is why they are seen as the faithful their hearts are seen as those who are falling excuse me are following righteousness men it's like the old phrase your mom used to say you are what you hang out with you've heard that before the good thing is you're associating with me so you're in good company but you can flip it over to help you to see through this text what you believe will be the outflow of your heart your deeds show what you trust your deeds show what you have faith in and as paul says here in verses 5 to 11 god will reward or punish based upon your deeds but most importantly it all goes back to the heart it all goes back to the heart and look what he says there as he's building this case in verse 11 it doesn't matter if you're a jew or gentile a raleigh native a woman man rich or poor have been in bible study for years church member for years god will render a person according to their deeds because god is not partial verse 11 the greek for partiality is showing favoritism or a respect for persons what god is saying here in his word as that he does not show respect for certain types of persons even israel who know the law nor the gentile god will judge every deed every action matthew 16 27 for the son of man is going to come with his angels and the glory of his father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done first corinthians 3 13 each one will work each one's work will become manifest for the day we'll disclose it men a couple points of application never forget that everything we do on the face of the earth is under god's eye under the closest scrutiny the second thing is like it doesn't matter if you're a church member a faithful bible study attender what matters at the end of the day is your heart and men god looking is looking at the one who is trusting in the lord and out of their actions flow acts of faithfulness the third thing we need to see is those who sin much god will punish much so what are you storing up and the fourth thing i want you to write this phrase down if you're a member of capital you see it everywhere you see it on our logo you see it in our you see it everywhere it's the latin phrase corndale quorum deo which means before the face of god rc sproul captures this term best because he says it is the essence of the christian life he goes on to say this that corndale means to live in the presence of god it means to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it we are acting under the gaze of god god is omnipresent and there is no place so remote that we can escape his penetrating gaze men if you're a christian never forget what you have been delivered from never forget you have been delivered from sin and death and out of your heart just like the woman in luke chapter 7 who has been forgiven and she's there wiping the feet of jesus with her tears and wiping his feet with her hair never forget what you've been delivered from and your life then will flow out of out of your heart gratitude and humility and the fruits of the spirit and that is why paul writes to help you see the the ones who are faithful are seeking the honor of god they're seeking the things above they're seeking godly pursuits it's men who are above reproach that's a life that is marked by christ so men don't waste your life for a second make your life count because by the way we're not buddhist we're not reincarnated into the afterlife we only have one shot at this life so make it count because men i want to hear and i pray you want to hear the words of jesus my good and faithful servant but never forget every deed is coming under the eyes of god it's just like your mother when you were little remember you felt like your mom could see everything remember those days again it was amazing to see you could be out in the yard away from her but yet mama knew never taking her gaze off her for children men the father is looking on you his children and his gaze it's just like a microscope being a christian is not about being religious but about having a dynamic alive relationship with jesus christ you've been listening to finding purpose with pastor russ andrews glorifying god by helping men find their purpose for living you can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to findingpurpose on facebook pastor russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local men to study god's word together every tuesday night at 7 p.m in downtown raleigh find out more at findingpurpose.net this is the truth network