SCRIPTURE: Romans 2:6-11 (ESV)
DATE: 7-30-17
It’s good to be with all of you today as we continue our series in the book of Romans.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
We’re taking nine weeks this year to look at the first two chapters of a letter that was written to some of the very first Christians in the city of Rome. The author is a man named Paul and he hasn’t met many of the people he’s writing to. Yet we’ve seen that he loves them, prays for them, and is eager to visit them all because of their faith in Jesus.
And after some opening remarks, Paul gets right to his first point — “here’s what’s wrong with the world.” There’s a brokenness in our world that we all see — a brokenness we’ve all experienced — and from the last half of chapter one through chapter three — Paul lays out why things are broken in the world. So we’re in the middle of what’s wrong with the world and what’s wrong with us. So it’s a very encouraging part of the letter and that’s why we’re taking our time in these verses. Because everyone loves to hear about how messed up they are.
That’s not really why we’re taking our time. We’re taking our time because there’s something here for us to learn. And particularly, if you’re here today and you wouldn’t call yourself a Christian — maybe you’re a spiritual person — but you’re not sure what you think about Jesus — or you are sure and you don’t believe in Him — or you’re here to kind of check out the Christian faith — I want to ask you to pay close attention because this sermon is for you.
The Christians in the room can feel free to listen in, but I really want to speak to you today — those of you who would say, “I’m not a follower of Jesus” — because what we’re going to see is one thing that’s wrong with the world is that justice isn’t always fair. Sometimes the guilty go unpunished and sometimes the innocent are punished. And this is something we all hate. But worse, it’s something we all contribute to.
SERMON INTRODUCTION
Last week, we saw how all of us are terrible judges because we find people guilty for doing things we do ourselves. If you don’t believe me, here’s an example that made it in the New York Times and Fox News last month.
Philadelphia’s District Attorney Seth Williams pleaded guilty to a corruption charge for accepting a bribe from a local businessman. He was actually charged with 29 counts of bribery, extortion, and fraud — but was found guilty on only one charge. And though Williams assured the judge that he would show up for his sentencing — for some odd reason the judge didn’t trust him — so he had Williams arrested and put in jail.
So we live in that world — a world where elected officials — elected to uphold the law — a world where elected officials do the very things they find others guilty of doing. But if we’re honest — we all do the same thing. We judge others for doing things we do all the time because we’re all a bunch of hypocrites.
And as we saw last week, even though we make terrible judges — we can all imagine — we can all see — it doesn’t matter if you claim to be a Christian or not — all of us feel as if our fingers can almost grab hold of perfect justice. We want there to be fair justice — impartial justice— we long for — don’t we — an impartial Judge.
And this longing in our hearts is a truth we find in Romans. There is an impartial Judge. And this a truth we must wrestle with — especially if you don’t claim to be a religious person — because — the Judge who is impartial will be impartial with you.
Let me show you where we find this in our text.
ANNOUNCE THE TEXT
If you have your Bible please turn with me to Romans chapter two. We’ll be looking at verses six through eleven.
And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do here at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text your question into the number that’s on the screens or you can submit it on the Gateway app. And my answers will be posted on our church blog — the Gate — later this week.
RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT
Here are the words in Romans chapters two. Beginning in verse six where we read this about the impartial Judge.
“He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.” (Romans 2:6-11 ESV)
If you’re taking notes, here’s the big idea.
PROPOSITION
“Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate the evidence that will be presented at our trial.” Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate the evidence that will be presented at our trial. And I know what you’re thinking: “This sounds like a super encouraging sermon,” but hang with me because I promise that through this hard truth we will find grace. Look with me in verse eleven…and when you see a word in all caps, yellow, and underlined…say those words out loud with me.
In verse eleven Paul writes…“For God shows no PARTIALITY.” (Romans 2:11 ESV)
Alright. Because God is an impartial judge — because He shows no partiality or favoritism — we must evaluate the evidence that will be presented at our trial.
Now let’s start with God being impartial. I know you’re probably focused on the whole “trial” part — we’ll get there — but I want to first show you that God is impartial.
Now I’m not going to repeat verse eleven because it’s straightforward. And it’s not the only place in the Bible that teaches that God is impartial. Let’s look at two Old and two New Testament examples.
In Deuteronomy chapter ten Moses tells the Israelites that, “…the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no PARTIALITY and cannot be bribed.” (Deuteronomy 10:17 NLT)
King Jehoshaphat — one of the kings in the Old Testament — told his judges to, “Fear the Lord and judge with integrity, for the Lord our God does not tolerate perverted justice, PARTIALITY, or the taking of bribes.” (2 Chronicles 19:7 NLT)
So God shows no partiality — He can’t be bribed. He doesn’t tolerate perverted justice, or partiality, or the taking of bribes. So the Old Testament is clear — God is impartial.
On to the New Testament.
One day the apostle Peter finds himself in a home full of Gentiles — people who weren’t Jews — and should know that there was racial and ethnic tensions between Jews and Gentiles — the two groups didn’t get along — and the Gentiles tell Peter that they received a message from an angel. And “…Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no FAVORITISM. (A word also translated as “partiality.”) 35 In every nation he (God) accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” (Acts 10:34-35 NLT)
And our last example — and this relates directly to our topic of judging. Peter writes, “And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no FAVORITES. (God’s impartial.) He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” (1 Peter 1:17 NLT)
Here’s the point: God is impartial. He’s fair to everyone — He doesn’t show favoritism when He judges.
Now — I don’t know about you — but I don’t tend to think of God this way. Oh sure, I think He’ll be fair and impartial with you and all of your screwed upness — but with me — well — I think God sees me a bit differently than He sees you. I mean why be fair and impartial when you can go easy on this spectacle of awesomeness?
Now don’t get mad at me — because — I bet you see God the same way. It’s just you’re the one He’ll go easy on and I’m the one He’ll be hard on because — you know — I’m a pastor and should know better than saying “I’m a spectacle of awesomeness.”
I mean — have you ever thought about how we make God partial in His judgment towards us? We don’t really view Him as being an impartial Judge.
Now last week — and if you weren’t here this is the third time I’ve referenced last week’s sermon so you should probably go check it out — but last week we saw how there’s a day of final judgment. The day of God’s wrath — the execution of His perfect justice — is before us all. And Paul isn’t the only one who talks about the day of judgment. Old and New Testament authors write about it — even Jesus talks about a day of God’s judgment.
So here’s my very practical — down and dirty — question. And it’s for all of us — regardless if you claim to be a Christian or not.
What if there is a day of judgment before you? And — remember — we all know there’s a need for perfect judgment — there’s a need for perfect justice — we just can’t make it happen — but there is a day of judgment coming — we all know it. And the Good News from last week’s sermon is that there’s a way of escape from God’s day of Judgment.
But for now — if there is a day of judgment coming — what would happen if we viewed God as an impartial Judge instead of a Judge who will go easy on us? Meaning what would happen if you believed and lived as if God is going to judge you according to His standard and not your own? What if He’s not going to show favoritism towards you like you think He will?
But here’s an even crazier question: Is there any advantage to God being an impartial judge? It seems like most of us view God as being partial — at least towards us — so is there any benefit of God being impartial? Sure there is.
If God’s an impartial judge we’re guaranteed that the guilty will not go unpunished — everybody should like that regardless of what you believe about Jesus — and we’re also guaranteed that the innocent won’t be punished — more good news.
- So let’s not make God out to be unfair — that wouldn’t be good for anyone.
- Let’s not pretend as if He shows favoritism — even towards us — for that would make Him an unfair Judge.
- Let’s let God tell us the kind of Judge He is. And He says, “I’m an impartial Judge.”
Ok. So if this is the kind of Judge God is, how should this change the way you look at your day of judgment? I mean — at the very least — don’t you want to know what standard you’re going to be judged against? What evidence will be presented at your trial.
So let’s evaluate the evidence. What will be presented on the day of judgment? We find two pieces of evidence — in our verses — that will be presented at our trial.
The first piece of evidence is this…
MAIN POINT 1
“We must evaluate our works.” Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our works. Look with me in verse six.
“He (that’s God) will render to each one according to his WORKS: 7 (And now we’re going to see the different kind of works people do.) to those who by patience in WELL-DOING seek for glory and honor and immortality…8 (in verse eight we see that there are) those who are SELF-SEEKING and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness…(they are people) who do EVIL, (and doing evil can be done by) the Jew first and also the Greek…(there are also people) who do GOOD, (and again this can include) the Jew first and also the Greek.” (Romans 2:6-7a, 8a, 9b, 10b ESV)
Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our works.
One of the constant tensions when you preach through a book of the Bible is that your listeners don’t hear the letter how it was originally intended. This letter — Romans — was meant to be read out loud in one sitting — that way you would understand Paul’s point because you hear the whole letter at once. But when you slow down — like we are — it’s easy to forget what you’ve already heard.
So even though we’re in chapter two, we can’t forget what happened back in chapter one. Paul talked about how the gospel contains the power for salvation — it has the power to rescue us. And so as we talk about works — especially “good” works — I want to make sure that we don’t get confused by forgetting what Paul has already said.
And he said we need to believe the gospel. That though this world is broken because of our rebellion — God sent His rescuer — Jesus — to save us. And in rescuing us Jesus leads us from the path of destruction and leads us on the path of blessing. So salvation — being rescued — is not based on what we do — salvation is based on what Christ has done.
So the good works we’re talking about are not works we do to earn salvation — we don’t do good things so God will love us — these are salvation based works — we do these good works because we are loved by God — and those are two very different ideas.
Doing good works to earn your salvation and doing good works because you’re saved are completely different. What’s the difference?
The biggest difference is that works done to earn God’s love are done from a motive of wanting God to notice how good you are. Meaning you do the good works primarily so God will take notice of you. “See what I’ve done God. Now You have to love me.”
But doing good works because you are loved by God means you do them because He is good. Meaning you do good works to show off God’s goodness — not your goodness. And those are two very different motivations of the heart.
Now I haven’t even touched on the evil works Paul mentions and that’s not because I don’t want to go there — it’s because previous sermons in this series have already touched on doing evil — but what we haven’t looked at is doing good works for all the wrong reasons.
So let’s think about how this truth — about doing good works — should be applied to our lives.
First, do you know that you’re loved by God? I’m not sure what you think about Jesus, but most likely you think He’s a pretty OK kind of guy — that’s popular these days. But Jesus is so much more than OK. He loves you so much that He left Heaven to come to Earth to suffer, be betrayed, and killed on a cross so you would know He loves you.
Think of how we admire soldiers who give their lives for others in combat. When they jump on a grenade to save their fellow soldiers we see their sacrifice and think, “Man, that’s ultimate.” And it is the ultimate sacrifice one person can do for another.
But Jesus isn’t just a man — He’s also God. So what you see on the cross isn’t just a man demonstrating His love by dying for you — you see God on the cross demonstrating His love by dying for you. So if you ever wonder, “Does God love me?” Here’s the answer: You bet He does. He died for you.
And all you have to do is receive God’s love — it’s as simple as that. “God. I receive Your love for me.” And you’re rescued.
So what are you supposed to do once you’ve received God’s love? Jesus told us when He said that we’re “to love God and love our neighbor.” That’s another way of saying, “Do good works because I love you.”
So whenever you do something good, what’s your motivation for doing it?
- Are you doing it because you’re loved by God or for some other reason?
- Now you may be like me and realize that — honestly — nothing you do is done solely because God loves you — we’re to corrupt for that kind of pure response.
- But even in the midst of impure motives — is a response to God’s love in the mix?
- That’s what separates those who’ve experienced God’s love from those who haven’t.
And because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our works. We must take an honest assessment of why we do the things we do. And we can’t just examine the bad things we do — we must evaluate the good things we do and see if they’re done in response to God’s love.
Here’s the second piece of evidence we must evaluate.
MAIN POINT 2
“We must evaluate our future reward or punishment.” Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our future reward or punishment. Look with me in verse six.
“He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give ETERNAL LIFE; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be WRATH and FURY. 9 There will be TRIBULATION and DISTRESS for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but GLORY and HONOR and PEACE for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.” (Romans 2:6-10 ESV)
Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our future reward or punishment.
Paul says that those who do good works — and now we know what that means — those who do good works will be given eternal life. So what is eternal life?
Unfortunately, many of our views about eternal life come from TV shows, movies, and cartoons. And I know this may be hard to believe, but Hollywood doesn’t quite line up with what the Bible has to say about eternity. We won’t be angels, or have halos, or harps, or float on the clouds in cloth diapers — none of that stuff. And eternity won’t be boring either.
Because eternity will be spent here — on Earth — on a completely renewed, restored, perfect — New Earth. And in eternity Heaven and Earth will come together. So — get this — in eternity you will have a body — a physical body. Jesus had a physical body when He rose from the grave and He left for Heaven in His physical body. And He will return in His body.
And in eternity you will walk and run, sit and stand, jump and skip. Feel the breeze on your face, the grass between your toes, the embrace of a friend, and your eyes will be mesmerized by the beauty of Jesus.
The best book on Heaven I’ve ever read is Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven. There’s even a Heaven for Kids so parents can talk about eternity with their children. Randy’s books make eternity something to get excited about.
And I thought we’d do something fun — because eternity is gonna be fun — so let’s have some fun. We’re gonna give away some copies of Randy’s books — Heaven and Heaven for Kids. So pay attention if you want a chance at winning a book.
If you’re under 18 — so children and students — we’re giving away a copy of Heaven for Kids right after this worship service — and here’s how you win. The first student to find Adam Borsay — our youth director — after the service — not during the last song — but the first student to find Adam after the service and tell him “Adam you’re so lucky to have Josh as your boss” will win the free book. I’m not even Adam’s boss, but I’ve got the mic so I get to pick what you say to him. So students go find Adam, remind him of how wonderful I am, and see if you win a copy of Heaven for Kids.
Now if you’re over 18 — get your phone out. And here’s what you need to do. Open up Facebook on your phone and check in at Gateway. Everyone who checks in this morning will be put in a drawing for a copy of Heaven. We’ve got three copies to giveaway, so three people are going to win. The winners will be contacted by someone on our communications team later this week.
Now why are we giving away copies of these books? Because we want everyone — students and adults — to be excited about eternal life — because eternal life is exciting — and we believe that these books will help you get excited about eternity.
So we’ve seen that those who do good works will be given eternal life and in verse ten we see they’ll also be given glory, honor, and peace. So what does that mean?
- To be given glory is to be exalted.
- To be given honor is something like being viewed as nobility.
- And to be given peace is to be free of conflict.
These are additional rewards for those who receive God’s love and respond by doing good works. And in this life we catch glimpses of these rewards — but in eternity — we’ll experience them fully.
So there are rewards for those who do good works.
Now let’s look at everybody’s favorite — the punishment — cause this is why you came to church today, right? To hear about punishment. And remember, it’s not just doing evil that will be punished, but doing good works — without love for God — will be punished.
The punishment Paul mentions is the wrath and fury of God — along with tribulation and distress.
Last week we defined God’s wrath as his “perfectly right anger.” And if the rewards we saw earlier are eternal rewards, the punishments are eternal as well. So there’s the punishment of God’s wrath — His perfectly right anger — and the punishment of God’s fury — which — pretty much means — God’s perfectly right anger. Now there’s a hint of “passion” in the word fury, but Paul basically says, “You get God’s anger and you get God’s passionate anger.” Either way — it sounds really bad — if that’s behind door number one, I think I’ll take door number two — but we’re not done — because there’s also tribulation and distress.
And tribulation and distress give the idea of experiencing a constricted life. A life that isn’t really free. It could be mental, social, physical, or financial constriction that you experience, but it will turn into zero freedom in eternity if you don’t respond to God’s love.
So here’s the question — what do we do with this idea that God rewards those who do good works and punishes those who don’t?
Well one thing we can do is ask God to reveal to us our future. If you want to know which direction you’re headed in you can pray: “God reveal to me my future — reveal to me the future I’m headed towards if I keep living this way.” And then listen. If you ask God to show you — He will — He’ll let you know if you’re headed towards reward or punishment.
Now I wish that all of us would pray that prayer, but not everyone will. Some of us are to proud to ask God to reveal our future to us. But know that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Will you humble yourself and ask God to show you the eternity you’re heading towards?
Others of us are hurting. You’ve been stuck in pain for a long time and you’re afraid that your future may be filled with even more pain. What you need to know is that God is a tender Father who loves to embrace His hurting children. If you’re hurting — know that God wants to show you a future full of His love and comfort.
Others of us may be ashamed. Ashamed of what we’ve done in the past. Ashamed of the choices we’ve made or of how few good works we’ve done even though we received God’s love years ago. When you ask God to reveal your eternity know that He will cover your shame with Christ’s perfection.
And I don’t want to forget those of you who are confident in Christ. It’s not ego, it’s not sinful pride — it’s a confidence that comes from being loved by God through Christ. To you I say keep doing good works — don’t quit now. Love God and love others. Eternity with Christ is your reward. Keep your eyes focused on Him and glory, honor, and peace will soon be yours.
Because God is an impartial judge, we must evaluate our future reward or punishment. For God rewards those who do good works — in response to His love — and He will punish those who don’t.
CHRIST CONNECTION
One final word — and this goes back to what I said earlier — but I don’t want us to confuse what I’ve said with something I will never say. What won’t I ever say — which — I know — is ironic because I’m about to say it. You won’t ever hear me say that you need to do good works in order for God to love you — I won’t ever say that and intend for you to believe it.
What I’ve been saying is that when you understand, experience, and receive the love God has for you — you will respond to His love by doing good works. Because a life that’s experienced the love of God is a life that will be spent doing good works for God. Because a life captured by the love of God wants to honor Him and wants others to experience God’s love in this life and for all eternity.
CONCLUSION
Will a life captured by the love of God — a life that’s believed in Christ — a life spent doing good works — a life of following Jesus — will this be the evidence presented to the impartial Judge on your behalf?
Or will a life that’s declined God’s love — refused to believe — a life that’s done many good things, but none in response to God’s love — a life of rejecting Jesus — will this be the evidence presented to the impartial Judge on your behalf?
God is impartial. While there’s still time we must evaluate the evidence that will be presented at our trial. What will the evidence be for you?
Christ is offering you a way of escape from God’s Day of Judgment. He’s offering you an eternal reward. He’s offering you His love. A love for you to receive right now.
Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I pray that everyone here would receive Your Word to us. A Day of Judgment is coming. A trial will occur. Evidence will be presented on our behalf. Justice will be served. I pray that we would take a close look at the evidence of our lives that will be presented on that Day.
For those who have turned from their sin, believed in Your Son, and are following Jesus on the path of Life — I pray — that their lives would be spent doing good works in response to Your love. May they have confidence in knowing that rewards of eternal life, glory, honor, and peace are theirs — secured by Your love and Christ’s sacrifice. And if these rewards are guaranteed, what have we to lose by living for You?
Father, for anyone here who has yet to repent, believe, and follow Jesus — I ask that You would give life to their heart and stir in them a desire to receive Your love. May they realize that no matter how hard they try, the evidence of their life will render a guilty verdict on the Day of Judgment. And punishment — not reward — will be what You give them.
But it doesn’t have to be. For You love to pardon the guilty and reward those who deserve punishment — not because you’re an unfair Judge — but because You are fair. And You have promised that everyone who believes in Your Son will not be condemned, but will be given Life. May the Life You offer be received by many among us today.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Eternal reward or punishment — which is before you? May you go knowing that undeserved rewards are yours because You’ve received God’s love and are doing good works for Him. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.