Rom. 2:17-29 GOD'S JUDGMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS MAN
Intro: As we have journeyed through the first 2 chapters of this great book,
we have spent a considerable amount of time discussing the wrath of God.
We have come to understand the reasons why God is angry with sin, and
we have come to understand that there are some groups of people against
whom God has committed Himself to act in wrath. In chapter 1, verses 24-32, we saw that God will judge the sinner. Chapter 2, verses 1-16 tells of
God's wrath against the hypocrite. These verses, which we have read this
evening, tell about God's Judgment Of The Religious Man.
Many people believe that being religious is a good thing. However,
those same people fail to realize that religion will send you straight to Hell!
These verse will teach us tonight that it is not what we do externally that
saves our souls, but it is what happens internally that determines where we
will spend eternity. As we finish these last verse of chapter 2, let's look at
them very carefully. While the Lord is speaking directly to the Jewish people
and their boast in the Law, He could just as well be speaking to Baptists this
evening.
We need to know that Hell will be just as filled with the religious as it will
be with the rank sinner. These verses tell us why! Let's spend some time
looking at God's Judgment Of The Religious Man.
I. V. 17-20 THE SPIRITUAL CONFIDENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS MAN
(Ill. The Jews were probably in agreement with Paul concerning his
statements about the judgment of the wicked. Now, the microscope is
turned on them. Ill. We are the same way! When we hear about certain
groups coming under judgment, we get all self-righteous and say, "Amen!"
However, we should check up on ourselves and be sure that we are not
living in deception. Nothing would be worse than dying and going to Hell
after believing that you were headed to Heaven! Be sure to look at yourself
this evening!)
A. V. 17a They Boasted Of Their Lineage - These people could trace
their religious ancestry all the way back to Abraham. Somehow, they
felt that this lineage gave them an ironclad guarantee of salvation.
Nothing could have been further from the truth!
(Ill. The same is true in Christian circles. Millions of people since the
time of Christ have claimed to be Christian simply because they were
the children, or the grand-children of believers. That, however, can
save no one! Some people even believe they are Christians because
they are born in a so-called Christian nation. Again, they are living a
lie if that is what they are basing their hope of salvation upon. One
only becomes a Christian by placing his faith in the finished work of
Christ on the cross at Calvary!)
B. V. 17b They Boasted Of Their Law - The Jews somehow felt that the
Law and rituals it described gave them a certain higher standing in the
eyes of the Lord. They felt that just possessing the Law and knowing
it, was enough to put them in a right relationship with the Lord. Paul
will tell them, before he is through, that it is the knowledge of the Law
that holds them to a higher standard than those who do not have the
Law. What they thought was a guarantee of salvation turned out to
be a guarantee of condemnation.
(Ill. To put this on a level where we can all understand it, imagine for
a minute that a person is raised in the church. All of his life he is
around Christian things. He sings Christian songs, he hears Christian
sermons, he reads a Christian Bible and he participates in Christian
rituals. If he is not careful, he will begin to think that because of those
things in his life, that he is automatically a Christian. Again, nothing
could be farther from the truth! What you know will all be held against
you if it is not believed and practiced in your life.)
C. V. 17c-18 They Boasted Of Their Lord - Again, they claimed a
special relationship with God by virtue of the Law and of their religious
activity. They felt that being religious was enough to please the Lord
God. They were wrong!
(Ill. Folks, I want to let you in on a little secret this evening. You can't
please God! No matter how good you get, you will never be good
enough to please the Father, Isa. 64:6; Matt. 5:20. You could
memorize the Bible and refrain from committing every sin in that Book
and still go to Hell, if you missed the one and only thing that will save
the soul: A salvation experience where faith is placed in the Person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 10:9-10; Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 16:31; 1
John 5:12. The bottom line is that we can say anything we please,
but until we have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, we are still
Hell bound sinners. However, when the blood of Jesus is applied to
a life, that life is instantly pleasing to the Lord and we are accepted by
God on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ, Eph. 1:6.)
D. V. 19-20 They Boasted Of Their Leadership - Because the Jew had
a spiritual lineage, because they had the Law, because they felt they
were in a relationship with God, they felt superior to everyone else on
the planet. They felt that it was their responsibility to show everyone
else the way. Certainly, the idea was fine, but the motive of the heart
was wrong. These people did not even know who God was, and
there was no way they could point anyone else to Him. All they could
accomplish was to make disciples to their dead religion and cause
even more souls to be condemned to Hell. This is the situation Jesus
addressed in Matthew 23:15.
(Ill. This same brand of hypocrisy is still being played out i nthe world
today. A religious person will try to force everyone else to conform to
his standard of living. If they don't act like him, if they don't dress like
him, if they don't talk like him, then they are lost and headed to Hell.
My friends, that is called legalism and it makes God sick! The person
who tries to makes everyone conform to his standards as a means of
pleasing God, probably doesn't know God to begin with! Our duty is
not to point men to our hair cut, to our manner of dress, to our method
of worship. Our duty is to point men to out Savior! If they come to
Jesus and He saves them, He can make them what He wants them
to be.)
Before we move on in these verses, we need to understand that the Jews
made great and lofty claims concerning their relationship to God. However,
none of these things was able to produce salvation for the Jew. There was
one thing that saved then, one thing that saves now and one thing that will
save forever: Faith!
I. The Spiritual Confidence Of The Religious Man
II.V. 21-24 THE SPIRITUAL CONTAMINATION OF THE RELIGIOUS MAN
A. V. 21-22 They Were Guilty Of Deception - As these religious men
were telling everyone else how wrong they were, they were merely
deceiving themselves and others, because they were just as guilty as
the persons they were trying to convert. They were busy practicing all
they were preaching against! There is a word for this kind of attitude:
hypocrisy!
(Ill. The same is still true this evening! You watch out for people who
are always telling others how right thy are, and how everyone ought
to be like them. Often, they are guilty of the very things they despise
in others. Sometimes, the sin is not external, but lies within the heart.
Jesus made it plain that sin in the heart is a evil as sin in the flesh,
Matt. 5:28. Another interesting verse in 1 John 3:15. If there is hatred
in your heart towards another, then you aren't saved!)
B. V. 23 They Were Guilty Of Desecration - Because their practice did
not match their profession, they were guilty of dishonoring the Lord!
Little did they realize that when they broke the Law they claimed to
love so dearly, they were guilty of treating the Lord shamefully and of
treating Him with contempt.
(Ill. Many fail to recognize the truth today that sin still dishonors the
Lord! When Joseph was tempted by Potipher's wife, Joseph
responded by telling her that it would be a sin against God to life with
her, Gen. 39:9. Later, when David was confessing his sin with
Bathsheba, he stated that his sin had been against the Lord, Psa.
51:4. Sin still dishonors the Lord! When we sin, we are saying that
He is a God to be despised and not honored. Regardless of what our
lips profess, our life prove how we feel about the Lord. What does
your life say about Him tonight?)
C. V. 24 They Were Guilty Of Destruction - Because they lived the way
they did while claiming to be God's people, they were guilty of
blaspheme. By their false profession, they destroyed the credibility of
God.
(Ill. Anytime we live in a manner that is inconsistent with what we
claim to be, we are guilty of blaspheming the name of the Lord. We
have taken His name in vain and we have testified before the world
that our God is not worthy of our love and steadfast devotion. When
we hide our light under a bushel and cease to be salt in the world, we
become no better than the religious Jews who boasted about their
Law and their relationship with God, but had no spiritual reality to back
up their claims. As a result, the world was turned away from God and
not to Him as He intended. Folk, it's still happening today! Please
search your heart and life to see if you are spiritually contaminated
this evening!)
I. The Spiritual Confidence Of The Religious Man
II. The Spiritual Contamination Of The Religious Man
III.V. 25-29 THE SPIRITUAL CONDEMNATION OF THE RELIGIOUS MAN
A. V. 25 Condemned By The Reality Of His Sins - The Jew felt that
God would accept him just because he had been circumcised. The
rabbis even taught that Abraham sat outside the gate of Hell and
refused to allow any circumcised Jew to enter. However, Paul tells
them that their rests in something a little bit deeper. He tells than that
even if they are circumcised, when they refuse to keep the Law, in
God's sight, it is as if they were just another heathen! As he will tell
them in a minute, salvation is deeper than the skin! Paul is telling
them that what they do outwardly proves what they are inwardly!
(Ill. We look at their attitude and think they are so foolish, but there
are still multitudes that hold the same notions this evening. In
Christian circles it isn't circumcision, but things like baptism,
communion, church membership, saved parents and grandparents
and etc are all looked upon a proof of one's salvation. It isn't true!
Just like the Jew, when there is genuine salvation in the heart, there
will be holy living in the flesh! According to Jesus, the fruit of a life
proves where that life is rooted, Matt. 7:17-20!)
B. V. 26-29a Condemned By The Righteousness Of The Saint - Paul
proceeds to tell the Jews that when the people they despised and
looked down on lived lives pleasing to the Lord and had their hearts
right with God, that they were accepted by God instead of the Jew!
In fact, God tells them that the righteousness of these people judged
the religious man as a sinner!
(Ill. There is a vast difference between the religious person who keeps
the Law and tries to live right to please God, and the saved person
who lives right because of a changed heart. The first type of person
cannot succeed forever! When this life has ended, they will be
unmasked for what they are and will suffer the flames of Hell. On the
other hand, that person who wasn't very religious, but had their faith
in Jesus Christ will experience all the glories of Heaven! It may not
sound fair, but it is!)
C. V. 29b Condemned By The Redemption Of The Savior - Paul's
final argument against the religious man is to inform him that true
religion is not a matter of the hands, the feet, the eyes, the head and
the lips. It is, however, a matter of the heart! God will only accept
those who have placed their faith in nothing but the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ! God will not praise those who strove to keep the letter
of the Law, but He will praise those who loved His Son!
(Ill. We must never be deceived into believing that we can somehow
please the Lord, or that we can be good enough to get into Heaven on
the basis of our religious experiences. We must understand that
salvation will always only be given to those who place their faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ!)
Conc: Would you describe yourself as a religious person, or would you
describe yourself as a redeemed person? There is a difference and that
difference will determine where you spend eternity. It is my prayer that
every person who comes to Gilead Baptist Church will be moved to lose
their religion and that they will find redemption through the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you do not know Him tonight, there is no better time to get that
thing settled. If you will come to Him, He will save your soul!
There was also a strong word in the verses about being what you
claim to be. If they were placing Christians on trial for their faith, would there
be enough evidence to convict you in a court of law? Or, would you have to
plead guilty to a live that dishonored the Lord. You know your heart, come
a do business with Him if there is a need.
