Sundays: 9:00 AM Sunday School | 10:30 AM Worship Service

Watch Live

|

Contact

|

App

|

Sermon

The Righteous Judgment of God

Speaker
Aaron G
Scripture
Romans 2:1-11

Listen to Audio Save MP3
Reading Tools:

Aa

Auto Transcript

Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Romans 2 teaches that the people of God will not escape the judgment of God — and this truth is actually part of the gospel. We are confronted with the universal human tendency toward hypocrisy: condemning sin in others while practicing the very same things ourselves. Religious identity, church membership, or family heritage cannot shield us from divine judgment, because God judges according to truth, seeing past every outward facade into the deepest motivations of the heart.

Key Lessons:

  1. Hypocrisy is a unique danger for those inside the community of faith — the longer we walk with Christ, the greater the temptation to maintain an outward image that doesn’t match our inner reality.
  2. God’s kindness is not a license to sin but is meant to lead us to repentance; presuming upon His forgiveness is actually despising His character.
  3. God judges according to works — not as the basis of salvation, but as the evidence of what we ultimately love and seek after. Justification is by faith; judgment is by works, and these two truths are deeply connected.
  4. The gospel solution is not that we escape God’s judgment, but that Christ intercepted it on our behalf, absorbing the full wrath of God as our propitiation.

Application: We are called to stop hiding behind religious identity or outward performance and instead honestly examine our hearts. Where hypocrisy or secret sin exists, we should confess it to a trusted brother or sister, trusting that Christ’s righteousness is already ours by faith. We are freed from the need to protect our reputation because the cross has already publicly dealt with our sin.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of life are you most tempted to judge others while excusing the same behavior in yourself, and what does that reveal about your heart?
  2. How does understanding that God’s kindness is meant to lead to repentance change the way you respond to His patience and grace in your life?
  3. If Christ’s perfect righteousness is already credited to you by faith, how should that reality free you from the need to maintain a facade of perfection before others?

Scripture Focus: Romans 2:1-11 reveals the sentence and basis of God’s righteous judgment, showing that no one — especially religious insiders — is exempt. Romans 3:23-25 provides the gospel solution: Jesus Christ as our propitiation, absorbing God’s wrath so that those justified by faith are covered by His righteousness.

Outline

Introduction

All right. Well, it’s a privilege to be here as a guest preacher. I’m always grateful, my family and I are always grateful to be back. And I’m grateful to exposit God’s word today.

Today we’ll be in Romans 2.

Please, I invite you to open your Bibles or turn on your phones to your Bibles in the Pew Bible. It’s on page 1,126.

Page 1,126 in your Pew Bibles will be in Romans 2. I prepared from the ESV and so the Pew Bible might be a little bit different than what I’m reading from, but there’ll be enough similarities.

The judgment of God appears all throughout this book, all throughout the Bible, right? From cover to cover, we see the judgment of God.

And yet in our modern culture, it’s something that’s kind of unacceptable to talk about or people feel very uncomfortable to talk about. They downplay it. They reject it. They ignore it.

It’s kind of like that gift that you received from a family member or friend that’s kind of hideous and you feel guilty to throw it away. So you put it in your closet or it’s in your basement. And so it’s there, but it’s out of sight. It’s out of mind.

Well, it only takes you a couple chapters in the Bible before you get the very first character to reject the judgment of God. Remember with me when God created everything, he generously gave Adam and Eve every plant and tree for food except one. And he said, “In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

In chapter 3 we see the serpent show up on the scene and talk to Eve. And what does he say? He says, “You will not surely die.”

From that very first time until now, downplaying or rejecting the judgment of God continues.

God’s Judgment as Gospel

In our passage today, we’re going to see another character in the Bible interact with the judgment of God. It’s the Apostle Paul. What does he think about the judgment of God?

Paul states his thesis of the letter of Romans in chapter 1. He says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It’s the power of God to work redemption, to show his mercy, his grace, his love. It’s good news.

The gospel is in Romans 2:16. I want you to look with me at verse 16. Paul says, “According to my gospel, the same gospel.” What does he say? God judges.

So Paul is saying that the judgment of God is gospel. It’s good news. The very same gospel that Paul loves and is not ashamed of includes the judgment of God.

“Paul is saying that the judgment of God is gospel. It’s good news.”

While Paul’s gospel, the gospel of God, focuses on God’s incredible gift to offer salvation to sinners, Paul gladly also embraces the fact that God’s gospel includes the judgment of sinners. But if we’re being very honest, that’s not how many of us think or feel. Certainly, our modern culture doesn’t.

The truth is that you cannot be like Paul and say or claim that you’re unashamed of the gospel when you reject part of it. The main point of our passage today is this: the people of God will not escape the judgment of God. I want to answer a key question: how is that a part of the gospel?

Before we get started, I want to zoom out a little bit and help us understand where we are in the book of Romans. After Paul’s introduction and his thesis in chapter 1, he focuses his attention on Gentiles—those who are non-Jewish, people outside the people of God. Paul explains that God himself has ensured that through creation, every single person knows about him. God is the all-powerful, eternal creator God. Because of that, we owe him everything.

We’re accountable to him. We don’t get to decide what’s right or wrong.

But every human in its natural state does not like these truths. What do we do? We suppress them. We try to put them down and we willingly reject the knowledge of God and we exchange God’s glory for idols. The consequence of this is that God actively hands us over to our sin, to our shameless immorality.

In chapter 2, which is what we’ll be focusing on today, Paul switches his attention from Gentiles and focuses on Jews. He begins to address the people of God, those inside the community of faith. Paul tells us that religious insiders too are sinful and stand condemned.

It’s not until Romans 3 where Paul lays out the very heart of the gospel. But Paul spends almost three entire chapters exploring the depths of human depravity and sin and convincing us that all mankind stands sinful and guilty.

Our passage today focuses on the righteous judgment of God. It lands right in the middle of those three chapters. Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you in those three chapters.

I’m also going to show you how it connects to the broader message of Paul’s gospel. I want to show us that the people of God will not escape the judgment of God is connected to the broader gospel. We’ll walk through three main points centered on the righteous judgment of God: the sentence of God’s righteous judgment, the basis for God’s righteous judgment, and the solution to God’s righteous judgment.

The Sentence of God’s Righteous Judgment

All right, let’s get started. Verses 1-5, the sentence of God’s righteous judgment.

Read with me. 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 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? 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 yourselves on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Romans 2:5: “Because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath.”

Paul begins chapter 2 by addressing his audience as O man, right? It’s a little bit vague and he wants to include kind of everybody. But if we jump ahead a little bit to verse 14, you can look now—Paul explicitly tells us that he’s talking to the Jews. He’s talking to those again inside the community of faith, not outsiders. He’s talking to religious insiders. In other words, he’s talking to us inside the community of faith.

And in verse one again he says, “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.” Now Paul begins to address people who judge. But notice something important here: Paul says people are not condemned for merely passing judgment.

For example, Jesus’s words right in Matthew 7—everybody knows this—”Judge not.” They’re actually some of the most misunderstood and misapplied verses in the entire Bible, right? Scripture not only encourages us, it commands us to judge in all kinds of ways.

For example, in Matthew 18, right? When Jesus commands us to confront a brother or sister in sin privately first and then it goes up to the church, right? You cannot approach a brother in sin if you can’t first judge that person’s actions as sinful or wrong.

And scripture also commands us to think critically, to make moral assessments, right? To judge who’s the friend group that you want to stay with, to be with wise friends and not to stay away from unwise friends. All these things are judgments. And so passing judgment in and of itself is not wrong, nor is it being condemned here.

But what is being condemned? Let’s look again at verse one. Paul says, “You condemn yourself.” Why?

The Universal Sickness of Hypocrisy

Because you, the judge, practice the very same things. The same immorality from chapter 1, right, committed by those who are outside the community of faith. Paul’s addressing a moralizer, somebody who thinks they’re religious and they’re passing judgment on those who do wrong. He condemns them and yet they do the very same things they know to be wrong.

We know this person by one word, right? Hypocrite.

A hypocrite isn’t someone who creates these or commits these big heinous sins. Simply to do what you claim to be wrong is hypocrisy. Or to say one thing and then to do another is hypocrisy. And so if we’re being honest, we all have been hypocrites at one point in our life or another. I know I have.

In this verse, Paul is addressing a universal sickness in the human heart. A sickness that plagues even this room if we’re being honest.

Right? The plague is that our hearts are springloaded. They are ready to condemn everybody else except ourselves.

We have this impressive, remarkable ability to see other people’s faults with a clarity and a precision that’s impressive. But when it comes to evaluating our own selves, we’re blind.

“Our hearts are springloaded — ready to condemn everybody else except ourselves.”

Even if they’re the same faults, right, that we see in others.

The standards we place on others are not at all the same standards that we place on ourselves, right? We can be harsh in our judgments when somebody doesn’t read their Bible or maybe they’re short with their spouse or they’re wrestling with anxiety or when they’re lazy. But when it comes to evaluating ourselves, right, we’re lenient. We’re open to negotiation.

There’s plenty of wiggle room. This is okay because we have perfectly valid excuses for our sin, right? If we only knew what kind of pressure I’m under or how much I work or how much I serve my family. Or someone’s simple behavior might even produce in you this righteous anger, right?

Perhaps somebody who was unfaithful to their spouse and you see that and you think, “I can’t believe they did that. How can they ruin their family that way? They had a good family.” Oh, it just gets me so frustrated. Why do people do that?

Well, can I ask you? Do you watch pornography? Do you lust after that man or woman? Do you fantasize about that previous relationship?

Because Jesus’s words are not confusing, right? He sees them as the same.

But that same behavior is all of a sudden not that serious when it’s ours.

The Danger of Hypocrisy for Believers

Paul says in verse one, “When you do this, God doesn’t even have to condemn you because you condemn yourself.” This ought to be a sober warning for all of us that more than any other group, the people of God are in a unique danger of falling into hypocrisy.

According to the Bible, a genuine follower of Christ, a genuine Christian ought to grow in maturity over time. But as you grow in maturity, you’re going to feel this unavoidable force that’s going to pull you towards hypocrisy.

Because if you’re living out the Christian life the way that the Bible says, the way that you’re supposed to, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself needing to give counsel or advice that you yourself are unwilling to take. Or it’s only a matter of time before you need to teach something from the Bible that you don’t believe or maybe you’re wrestling with.

Or you might need to, like our passage, confront or condemn a sinful behavior that you yourself are unwilling to turn from.

You might be able to put on, you might be able to act the part on the outside, but the reality behind that performance lacks truth. It lacks real substance. And if you’re not careful, that gap between the external facade, what you show people, and the inner spiritual reality, it will grow and grow and grow, and it will become increasingly difficult to shrink.

“The gap between the external facade and the inner spiritual reality will grow and become increasingly difficult to shrink.”

This is especially true the longer that you’re a Christian or as your responsibilities in the church increase or you step into some kind of service or leadership role. Rightfully so, people hold you to a higher standard.

Living a Double Life

And that comes with a greater temptation to hide or pretend to be somebody that you’re not. Because if they find out who you truly are, you might risk losing your reputation. You might risk losing that role. You might risk losing somebody’s respect and trust. In some cases, you might even lose your job.

So then what do you do? You end up living this double life, right? It’s deception.

It’s deception. You put on this award-winning performance, but it’s at the expense of hollowing out your soul.

“You put on this award-winning performance, but it’s at the expense of hollowing out your soul.”

And if you do this long enough, even worse, you might become indifferent towards your hypocrisy.

You might actually begin to believe that the facade—this image of perfection that you created—is the real you. One scholar says hypocrisy can plunge the mind of man into a dark abyss when he believes his own self-flattery instead of God’s verdict.

This is the story of almost every fallen pastor or church leader. But don’t think it doesn’t happen to the average believer. It does. Hypocrisy is not only rooted in deception. It’s rooted in pride.

Look with me at verse three: Romans 2:3.

The Blind Arrogance of the Hypocrite

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

Verse three reveals an underlying belief. This person actually believes that they will escape the judgment of God. They don’t let other people escape their judgment. They see that, but they think they will escape God’s judgment.

And do you realize what that communicates to God? The hypocrite thinks he can dupe God and get away with it. He might commit the same sin that he sees in others and condemns them. The hypocrite says, “Well, you can fool God, but you can’t fool me.”

Like God might be this dopey in the sky and you can fool him, but you can’t fool me. My judgments are true. I’m the one that sees the truth, but I’m going to escape God’s judgment. That’s personally insulting to God. This is blind arrogance to the utmost.

No wonder there are few things more abominable to God in the Bible than hypocrisy.

“This person actually believes they will escape the judgment of God — that is blind arrogance to the utmost.”

This is why Jesus confronts hypocrisy in Matthew 23 with a force and a severity that makes many of us feel uncomfortable.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that God abhors hypocrisy.

Yet it’s astonishing how secure the people of God can feel when they trust in an image of themselves as opposed to the true spiritual reality.

God Judges According to Truth

In verse two, God loves the hypocrite through Paul because Paul wants to awaken them from such a drunken state. One of the best ways to deal with our hypocrisy is to bring us to the light of God’s judgment. It’s to bring us before the divine tribunal.

Paul tells a hypocrite in verse two: “Look with me. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.”

Now some of our English translations might say that the judgment of God rightly falls, but the literal translation is the judgment of God is according to truth. One author captures the idea very well. Let me quote him:

“The judge is a person of wisdom to discern truth. In the biblical world, the judge’s first task is to ascertain the facts in the case that is before him. There is no jury. It is his responsibility and his alone to question and cross-examine and detect lies and pierce through evasions and establish how matters really stand.

When the Bible pictures God judging, it emphasizes his omniscience and wisdom as a searcher of hearts and the finder of facts. Nothing can escape him. We may fool man, but we cannot fool God. He knows us and judges us as we really are.

God will know. His judgment is according to truth—factual truth as well as moral truth. He judges the secrets of men, not just by their public facade. Not for nothing does Paul say we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ.”

Before the divine tribunal, darkness itself cannot hide. You might be able to deceive everybody around you, but God will see. Before the judgment seat of God, you will be laid bare. You will stand naked.

The judge who sits on the throne is described as a judge who has eyes like fire, and they will burn up every mask, every outward facade, every disguised righteousness. It will just melt before him. His eyes will pierce into the darkest, deepest crevices of your heart.

“Before the judgment seat of God, you will be laid bare. His eyes will pierce into the darkest crevices of your heart.”

Every outer layer will be ripped away. The real you will be exposed. The real you will be judged.

God judges according to truth.

Presuming on God’s Kindness

Let’s look at verse four. “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?”

Here another description of the hypocrite is revealed. Some translations render the word presume as show contempt or despise. It’s the same word that Jesus actually uses in Matthew 6 where he says that no one can serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

Like according to Paul, the person who thinks they can practice sin and yet get away with it, escape God’s judgment, actually looks down upon God’s character. So they see it as something of little value or significance.

How? Well, let me share a quick story. I once read about a man named Dan who was studying in Germany and one of his classmates was from another country. His classmate’s wife was studying in London.

Now, Dan discovered that once or twice a week, his classmate would disappear into the red light district. Obviously, he paid his money, had his way, and when Dan confronted his classmate about it, he gave him a big bright smile and he said, “Dan, God is good. He’s bound to forgive us. That’s his job.”

Now, I know most people will never say it as bluntly as Dan’s friend, but this is a very popular belief, right? Many people, even many professing Christians, presume upon God’s forgiveness because he is a God of love.

And make no mistake, God is a God of love. We’re about to see that later. His the wealth of his love and the wealth and the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience. It’s too good to be true if it wasn’t for the Bible telling us so.

But Paul says in verse four that the bounty, the richness of God’s good character has a purpose and that purpose is our repentance. It’s our turning away from the sin and turning towards God. Theology has a very practical purpose: repentance.

“The richness of God’s good character has a purpose, and that purpose is our repentance.”

Far too often do professing Christians see forgiveness as this automatic entitlement, something guaranteed, something cheap, rather than seeing forgiveness as something that was infinitely costly, something that demands our immediate response.

We see or I hear about professing Christians who sleep with their girlfriend or boyfriend or they withhold forgiveness or they’re not committed to a local church, right? They have this dismissive attitude towards sin and there’s no disgust over their sin or there’s no accountability. There’s no movement away from it.

There’s zero concern about God’s holiness and his wrath. And yet, they feel safe. They think God’s good. He’s bound to forgive us. That’s his job.

If God’s goodness and kindness doesn’t lead you towards repentance and faith, the Apostle Paul says, not me, that you look down upon his character, that you treat it as worthless.

Storing Up Wrath

Not only that, but Paul says that your heart is hardened and that you are storing up wrath. Look with me at verse 5.

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.

So hypocrisy reveals an already hardened heart, right? This person is going to be storing up wrath. There’s irony here because this phrase “store up” is actually the same words that Jesus uses to say “store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.” So when scripture uses this word, it’s usually to store up something good like treasure or in Corinthians a financial gift for those in need. But instead of something good, one scholar says that this person accumulates hidden destruction, a cursed treasure.

Paul says that the unrepentant hypocrite will be sentenced to the wrath of God.

“Instead of storing up treasure, the unrepentant hypocrite accumulates hidden destruction — a cursed treasure.”

And now I have to say that the wrath of God is not like our human anger, right? Most of the time when we get angry, it’s embittered. It’s sinful. It’s capricious. It’s childlike. It’s resentful.

But God’s anger is a function of his holiness. He is the all-pure God.

And it’s a right reaction to real evil.

Notice that Paul doesn’t say that God’s wrath is against your sin.

Paul says it’s against you yourself.

Paul tells the sinner that God himself stands against you personally. His wrath is for you.

And yet, in God’s kindness and mercy, final judgment since the time of Christ while on earth has been delayed for thousands of years, giving unrepentant sinners time to find free forgiveness, to find repentance.

The Basis for God’s Righteous Judgment

His mercy is great, but final judgment will not be held withheld forever. Right? The day is coming for the religious insider who condemns somebody else’s sin and yet does the same thing. Paul says they will be sentenced to the wrath of God. There’s no excuses. There’s no escape. That’s what he says.

That concludes our first section: the sentence of God’s righteous judgment. Now, let’s move on to the basis for God’s righteous judgment in verses 6 through 11. Before we read this section, Paul answers the question: what is the criterion of God’s judgment? Or what is the standard of judgment God will use on judgment day?

In this section, Paul explains that God’s righteous judgment will be according to one thing: deeds, works. Now, let me offer a word of caution because we’re about to walk on a tight rope as we talk about the relationship between works, salvation, and faith.

If there’s any time to pay attention and flex those muscles in your brain, do it now. Precision of language is important here. Words matter. So, let’s listen carefully to God’s word in verses 6 through 11.

He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and perseverance seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

But 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.

But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality.

Verse 6 says, “He will render to each one according to his works.” So verse 6 summarizes the main point of these verses and lays down a very foundational principle of justice.

Romans 2:6-7: “He will render to each one according to his works… to those who seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”

Again, the idea is simple: God will repay each person according to what they have done. This idea is found all throughout scripture. There’s a dozen passages or so, but I’ll give you just a couple quick examples, right?

Jesus himself says in Mark 16:27, “For the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”

No Partiality — No Free Pass

Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” On judgment day, God will judge us and he will repay us according to our deeds, our works.

Why does Paul feel a need to say that here? Paul just finished charging the Jews, the people of God, in particular religious hypocrites, with facing the wrath of God. A lot of them would have immediate objections.

Imagine that you were a first century Jew. It meant that we possessed the special status of belonging to God’s chosen people. We alone have the patriarchs and the covenants. The God of the entire universe calls us his sons, his treasured possessions.

Because of our national identity, as long as we tried a little bit we would think that we were exempt from God’s judgment. We had this automatic pardon. We have immunity. We’re good. God’s wrath is not for us. It’s for those immoral Gentiles from chapter one. God’s judgment is for those outside the community of faith, not us.

That same mindset can be found in the church today. There’s all sorts of things that make us feel exempt from God’s wrath. It’s easy for us to feel safe because maybe we attend a faithful church or we’re part of a believing family or we’re part of a particular denomination or we hold certain political convictions. All those things truly matter.

But Paul is saying that behind those things, if we feel safe and if we feel good, we don’t have a free pass to escape God’s judgment. God says I will repay each person according to their works. You can’t hide behind your church or family. You don’t have a free pass from God’s judgment.

You will be judged on the same basis as Houthies in Yemen, as graduates from Master Seminary, as Mormons in Utah. Regardless of the tribe that you belong to, verse 11 says that God shows no partiality. We stand on equal footing on judgment day.

“You will be judged on the same basis — regardless of the tribe you belong to, God shows no partiality.”

The self-righteous hypocrite from the first section won’t be judged by being closely associated with the people of God. They won’t be judged by the front that they put on or the sin that they claim to condemn. They’ll be judged by what they do.

Two Kinds of People, Two Destinies

Paul continues to elaborate this in verses 7-10. Please look with me.

“To those who by patience and perseverance seek for glory and honor and immortality, God will give eternal life. But 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.

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

From the perspective of God’s judgment, Paul says in our passage that there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who do good and those who do bad. There are two renderings, two eternal destinies given to these two groups.

God will render eternal life to those who do good, and God will render his wrath to those who do evil. God will render someone’s eternal destiny according to whether they do good or evil. That’s what the text says.

Paul tells us that our doing has massive eternal consequences. Doing good or doing evil is the difference between whether you end up in heaven or hell. All of us ought to be wanting to be in this group.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. It sounds like there are some major problems with what I’m saying. If you feel tension with what Paul is saying, that’s good. That means what Paul says elsewhere—just a chapter later—or what the rest of the Bible teaches aligns with this.

Calvary Church, I know that your pastors faithfully preach God’s word to you. Fill in the blank. This is going to be an interaction part.

“Doing good or doing evil is the difference between whether you end up in heaven or hell.”

We are saved by grace through faith apart from works.

Justification and Judgment Distinguished

What is Paul saying here? Aren’t we judged by whether or not we have faith in Christ? How can Paul say that we’re judged by what we do?

Our time is short, but let me attempt to bring some reconciliation here. Know that we’re only going to scratch the surface. Please use today as just an introduction for further study or as an introduction for conversations after the service.

First, we need to do something that scripture does: draw a distinction between God’s judgment and justification because they’re not the same thing.

The verb to justify means to declare someone righteous.

Justification answers the fundamental question: How can a person be right with God? Simply, how can we be saved? It’s courtroom language. It’s a verdict that’s pronounced. How can any of us stand righteous before a good and holy, perfect God?

Scripture is absolutely clear on this. As you mentioned, we are justified. We are declared righteous. We are saved by grace through faith apart from works. Salvation is a gift. It cannot be earned by human effort.

Galatians 2:16 summarizes it: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified.”

Our passage today has nothing to do with how someone can be right with God. It’s not talking about the basis of salvation or the grounds of our justification. Our passage is talking about God’s righteous judgment.

Judgment answers a different set of questions. On what basis does God judge people? What’s the standard that God uses as he judges them? And is it fair?

Scripture is also clear here. God’s judgment is according to works, to deeds. So justification and judgment are not the same thing.

Justification is by faith. Judgment is by works.

“Justification is by faith. Judgment is by works.”

What You Seek Reveals What You Love

Now number two, now that we’ve talked about how they’re different, how they’re distinct, we also need to talk about how they’re connected because they are connected. What’s the relationship between justification by faith and judgment by works?

Well, verses 7 through 10 summarize the key two kinds of people in the world: those who do good, those who do bad. But Paul describes these two groups in terms of something else. He describes them in terms of what do you ultimately seek after in life? Like what’s your ultimate goal in life? What are you pursuing? What do you dream about?

What are your ambitions centered on? What are you living for?

Look with me at verse 7. Paul says, “Eternal life will be given to those who seek for God for glory and honor and immortality.” These things are just blessings from God that a genuine Christian can hope to receive. To seek after them means that your ultimate goal in life is bound up with seeking eternity, seeking eternal things, seeking God.

And that’s just another version of what Paul says in Colossians 3. If you remember, he says, “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” In our passage, Paul contrasts seeking those things to seeking something else in verse 8. Read with me.

Verse 8. But for those who are what? Self-seeking, right? Those who receive God’s wrath are those whose ultimate pursuit in life is self. The driving force and the motivating factor for all they do is me.

“Those who receive God’s wrath are those whose ultimate pursuit in life is self.”

Their desires serve self, right? Their self-interest, self-ambition, self-gain. It’s self.

Humanity Curved in Upon Itself

And this is one of the fundamental problems of the sinful man. One theologian describes it as humanity that is curved in upon itself.

Every person is born with a soul that has severe scoliosis.

Our very souls are bent inward upon itself. The problem is not just simply our bad behavior. The issue is that we have put me in the very center of the universe, the place reserved for God.

Spend time with children, and you’ll see this. I have a 2-year-old. I know. And if you don’t believe me after spending time with children, spend more time with adults, because we’re not any different. We just can hide it a little better.

The place reserved for God has been stolen and we have put ourselves there and have taken the seat on his throne. Self is something that everybody worships. We love our self with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So the crux of the issue is not only a matter of what we do. It’s a matter of who or what do you love most? Because he will always seek after what you love the most.

“The place reserved for God has been stolen — we have put ourselves there and taken the seat on his throne.”

Doing and loving are bound together. They’re deeply connected.

So what does this have to do with our passage today with the righteous judgment of God?

When God sees our doing, when he sees and judges our doing, he sees underneath our doing to our loving. This is important because what you ultimately love, what you ultimately seek after in life, it’s not always visible to the human eye.

Consider, for example, somebody who is outwardly righteous. Maybe they have an A+ on the outwardly visible holiness scale. Think about all the motivations that might drive their good behavior and push them away from wrong behavior.

They might say, “I’ll hate myself. I don’t want to feel guilty and ashamed in the morning. I want to be a small group leader. I could lose my job. I don’t want to go to hell. I won’t feel good about myself. I want to be confident. I don’t want to have to tell my accountability partners. I don’t want my family to find out.”

Did you see the pattern? I, I, I. God doesn’t look at that and say, “Wow, look at the depth of their devotion to me.” No, this person’s motivations are completely centered on self. Even though they might appear outwardly righteous and good and commendable, they’re worshiping self. The engine of all they’re doing is me, me, me.

Humanity bent inward upon itself. That’s the central problem with the human soul.

God Alone Can Heal the Scoliosis of Our Souls

Now, is it possible for mankind to bend ourselves back toward God? And the clear answer that the Bible says is no. Right?

You cannot by yourself bend yourself toward God. You’re not strong enough.

You don’t want God enough.

But there is one who can. Right? The great physician is the only one who can heal the scoliosis of our souls. And healing comes through one thing: faith.

In the Bible, God says that he himself will give us a new heart. God will remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. God will put his spirit within us. God will cause us to be born again. God will write his law on our hearts. God will make us a new creation.

“The great physician is the only one who can heal the scoliosis of our souls. Healing comes through one thing — faith.”

God will give us a new love and new desires so that your ultimate pursuit in life is not me but him.

And here’s the connection. When does that transformation take place? When we place our faith in Christ, right? Faith in the person and work of Christ.

Believing in God’s gospel is the only way by which God transforms us so that we actually desire, we actually want good and we actually do good because you actually love and want God. Period. You want God.

And there’s a tight connection between what you seek after, right? What you love, what you do, and faith. Justification by faith and judgment by works are strongly connected.

And we don’t have to worry, right? God will judge works on the last day, whether good or evil, and it will line up perfectly with his verdict of the sheep and the goats, the saved and the damned on the basis of faith. Right? There’s zero mismatches.

God will judge the Christians’ good works and he will say to them this one belongs to me. He will judge our faith in Christ alone for our salvation and he will say this one belongs to me. God will also judge the unbelievers’ evil works and say depart from me. He will judge those who do not have faith in Christ and he will say depart from me.

We are saved by faith through grace apart from human effort, apart from works. Amen.

On the judgment day, God will judge somebody by their works and will render someone’s eternal destiny accordingly.

Amen. Both of those statements according to the Bible are true.

This is why Jesus himself is able to say in Matthew 12:36. Now please pay attention to this carefully because it kind of summarizes the whole point.

Matthew 12:36: Jesus himself says, “I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. Why? For by their words they will be justified and by their words they will be condemned.”

So God’s judgment is based on works.

It’s not the same thing as saying that we’re justified by faith. We’ve seen the sentence of God’s righteous judgment and the basis of God’s righteous judgment. Now let’s move on to our last section: the solution to God’s righteous judgment.

The Solution to God’s Righteous Judgment

So, the main point of our passage today is that the people of God will not escape the judgment of God.

Remember with me that I wanted to answer the question: how is this main idea a part of the gospel? If we cannot escape the judgment of God, is it possible for somebody to shield us, to cover us, to stand before us and the judgment of God? You see, the gospel is not that the people of God escape the judgment of God. It’s that somebody stood between us and the judgment giver.

“The gospel is not that the people of God escape judgment — it’s that somebody stood between us and the judgment giver.”

Let’s see the way that Paul describes it in Romans 3.

We now jump outside of our passage to Romans 3. Let’s start in verse 23.

Romans 3:23. Paul says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” which is just a summary of what he mentioned throughout chapters 1 through 3. “And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.”

Christ Our Propitiation

Verse 25 says that Jesus was our propitiation, which is a word that’s not very common today, but the meaning is pretty simple.

The meaning of propitiation is to make somebody favorable or propitious.

For example, when I sin against my wife Amy—hypothetically speaking, don’t tell her that—she won’t agree with me. But let’s just say I sin against my wife Amy and she’s upset with me. Well, what can I do? I can do several things, but maybe I go to the store, get some really beautiful flowers as an expression of my apology, and I confess my sin and ask for forgiveness. Those flowers—I do that so that way she’s propitious towards me. She’s favorable towards me. She’s no longer upset with me, but her disposition towards me is one of acceptance and favor.

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul spends almost three entire chapters convincing us that all of mankind is a sinner and stands condemned under the wrath of God. We need a propitiation. We need somebody to make God favorable towards us again.

But no human being can do this. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that though God stands against us in wrath, he still loves us. Not at all because we’re lovable, but because God is that much of a God of love. God is so great. He loves the unlovable.

God’s great love led him to gift us the precious gift of his dear son Jesus. Jesus was the only person who was not bent inward upon himself but bent toward God. Every word, every thought, every deed, every motivation was fueled by a deep love and commitment to God the Father. He never lived for himself. He never knew hypocrisy.

God repays each person according to what they do. When God judged Jesus’ works, Jesus was flawless. He was blameless. He always sought after God and always did good. According to our passage today, he was the only one who didn’t earn or receive the sentence of God’s wrath. He ought to have received blessing and honor and reward.

“Jesus was the only person not bent inward upon himself but bent toward God — he was flawless, blameless.”

But during his earthly life, we know that he didn’t receive those things.

Why not? Well, God saw in his love the helpless state of man. He knew that his perfect son was the only one to qualify as a propitiation.

Romans 5 tells us that while we were still sinners, while we were God’s enemies, Christ died for us.

When Christ died, the righteous judgment of God for our sin was intercepted by Christ. God’s judgment doesn’t just go poof and disappear. It was taken by God the Son. It was fully absorbed by Christ. We cannot escape it, but he covered us by taking the full judgment of God for our sin. He took our curse. He took our death.

That gospel, which includes the judgment of God, is precisely what opens the door to salvation. This gospel destroys the god of self and provides the only way for our motivations to be centered back toward God.

The Cross Destroys the Need for Pretending

In our passage today, the people of God were found guilty of hypocrisy. And all of us are guilty of hypocrisy. All of us have this inner desire to minimize or hide our sin and then to put up this false image of perfection and to boast in it, to take pride in it.

All of us, if we’re being honest, want to look better than who we truly are. But the judgment of God in the context of the gospel is the only way to destroy those desires. How?

Because God already publicly exposed you. Your sin is bad. Your sin is horrible. You don’t need to hide how messed up we are. The judgment for your sin warranted God in the flesh to be publicly and brutally torn to shreds, and what remained of his dying flesh was nailed to our cross.

My sin caused that. Your sin caused that. And it’s on public display for all to see. Every nation.

Which means that your best attempt to minimize your sin or hide your sin is like going to the ocean and trying to wipe it away with a single paper towel. It’s foolish. It can’t be done.

Or we all have this inner desire to put up a front of false righteousness for tiny human little judges. But the highest judge in the highest court already says to those justified by faith, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The fullness of Christ’s perfection, the fullness of his holiness, his purity, his goodness, how clean he is—all that is already yours in faith, in Christ. It’s already yours.

Which means that you can put up your best front, the very best front. You can deceive incredibly well and it still falls a million times short of the perfection that’s already yours, Christian, that’s already given to you through Christ.

“The fullness of Christ’s perfection, his holiness, his purity — all that is already yours in faith, in Christ.”

The cross makes it impossible to add to your significance, to add to your acceptance, to your worth.

Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Whenever we try to, it’s like grabbing rotting fig leaves from a gutter, from an alley, and trying to put them on a royal robe.

Christ’s righteousness, his perfection is yours, Christian. You’re his son, his daughter. God delights in you. He smiles at you. He’s pleased with you.

And all this is graciously given as a gift from God and it’s to be received by faith.

Freedom to Confess and Be Transformed

When you embrace this gospel by faith, when these truths take root in your heart or take root in a community, incredible transformation takes place. It produces people who love God, who are motivated by an appreciation for what he’s done for them, and they do good.

You can actually be open about your sin struggles because you’re no longer trying to protect your reputation.

I’ve been praying for days that there would be some of you who are walking in secret sin, walking in a double life, living in hypocrisy. I’ve been praying for you all week, asking that God would give you the ability to understand this gospel and to finally confess your sin to a brother or a sister and seek help because there’s forgiveness. There is forgiveness for us.

Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel. According to my gospel, God judges. But for the one who’s justified by faith, judgment has already fallen.”

“For the one who’s justified by faith, judgment has already fallen. There is forgiveness for us.”

This gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And this gospel produces those who work out their salvation. For it is God who works in them both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Father, we are humbled by the truth that is very simple: we are sinners. We need help. But thank you that you sent your son, that you loved us so much. You sent your son to die for us, to live a perfect life, to shield us from your judgment, and now we can walk in righteousness.

Thank you for the gift of salvation. Lord, we ask that this gospel would take root and transform us from the inside out and produce in us good deeds, good works. Not because they’re the basis for our salvation, not because we try to earn them, earn salvation, earn your favor towards us, but as a fruit, as the result, as the production of an appreciation for what you’ve done for us.

So we praise your name in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Share this sermon:

More from Special Sermon