Five Rebukes to the Self-Righteous - Romans 2:1-5

0:40He's laying it all out for them. And he says in Romans 1:16, 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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So Paul is not ashamed of the good news because it's the power of God for salvation. And he's going to lay out that good news, the gospel message. And he's going to do it very clearly in the book of Romans, very carefully. But before he can get to the good news, he had to. Share some of the bad news in Romans chapter 1. And if you remember, he talks about how all men everywhere have witnessed creation.

1:44And so they have no excuse for the deeds that they do. They have no excuse for rebelling against God. Because God, who designed creation and made it with the word of his mouth, God is seen in those things. So it says in Romans chapter 1 that when we look at creation, we see the power of God and we see the divinity of God made plain before all men, so that no man has an excuse. And yet, the whole earth has gone astray. That's where he goes in chapter 1. It says that God has given them up to their own desires, and they have followed their own desires to run as fast as they can after sin.

2:31The more God gives them up to their desires, the more they follow their desires and to sin. They suppress the knowledge of God. They refuse to give thanks to God. And instead, they worship idols. Then they run after their own lusts. And then when they're given up further, they run after perversions of nature. This is what mankind does. Paul goes on in chapter 1, verse 28. And since they did not see fit. To acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

3:08They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. That's a long list, right? As we read that, maybe you're glad you weren't here during the summer when we went through that. But it's a long list of the sins of mankind.

4:01And the heart of the humble reads those words painfully, but it reads them willingly and lets them cut into our own hearts. Because when you read those words, you see yourself. Deceit, that's me. Gossip, that's me. Foolish, that's me. Boastful, that's me. And so, when the heart of the humble reads these words, they flee to the Savior again and again and again for mercy, like the humble tax collector that we read about this morning. They flee to the Savior, they beg to the Savior, they beg for mercy.

4:48But there's another kind of heart. There is another kind of heart that hears those words and assumes that he's on the good side. Murderers? Yeah. Haters of God? Yeah, get them, Paul. Inventors of evil, that's right. Foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They're going to get what's coming to them. You know, they posture themselves next to Paul as Paul is talking and they're looking out on the world. And they think that they can just join in with him and point fingers and say, yeah, look at all those people. They're so terrible. The world is so terrible. And like the Pharisee who stood there and could see this tax collector who's beating his breast and crying out for mercy, the Pharisee stands there and says, God, I thank you that you didn't make me like him. I fast twice a week, right?

5:50Today, this heart shows up in proud people who watch the news and take comfort in the That they are not as bad as the people on the news, right? Maybe that's you today. Examine yourselves. These people can look down on drug users or murderers or adulterers, but they don't listen carefully to Paul's list. Did they hear that he included disobedient to parents? Did they hear that he included gossip or envy or malice or strife? So they puff themselves up and they happily watch as they think Paul is just beating up on the world and they get to be a part of it. But then Paul turns his finger right to them and says, Who do you think you are?

7:04Paul has already said that the entire earth is without excuse because they see God's divinity and God's power written all over creation. But now he says that those who are good in the sight of the world, they also don't have an excuse. They probably have less of an excuse. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore, you have no excuse. 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.

7:45He says, you're delusional. For somebody to think that they can look at God's judgment and just assume that it won't happen to them, it's delusional. This person that Paul seems to be addressing, we'll find out later in the chapter. We won't see today, but we'll find out later in the chapter that he's probably some kind of self-righteous Jew, or maybe he's just the stereotypical self-righteous Jew in Paul's day. He thinks that since he keeps some of the law, maybe like fasting twice a week or something like that, since he keeps some of the law and does these righteous things, that he can just avoid the judgment for the sins that he does commit. He thinks the balance is in his favor. But Paul is very clear that even the person that thinks he's good has no excuse for their sin.

8:46Even the person who thinks he is good has no excuse for his sin. He still remains under God's judgment. It might be you today. And in our text, Today, we will see five rebukes for the self-righteous. Five rebukes for the self-righteous. Follow along as I read. Chapter 2, starting in verse 1. 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.

9:28We know that 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 yourselves, 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 yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Pray with me as we begin to study this passage. Father, keep us from this delusion. Keep us from deceiving ourselves.

10:20Keep us from thinking that we are good and others are sinners. Instead, give us the heart of the humble that flees to you and knows we're sinners. In Jesus' name, amen. The first rebuke of the self-righteous is this: You are a hypocrite. You are a hypocrite. Verse 1: 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. The Gentile world has no excuse because they see God's glory in creation. But the self-righteous person sees that, and he has God's law, he has God's rules, and yet the self-righteous person still breaks them. He may pretend like he doesn't, but he still does not follow all of the law. He still sins. And so they also have no excuse. And yet, as they look out at the others, at the Gentile world, they pretend like they can condemn sinners, even though they're practicing the same things. This is the definition of a hypocrite. And we've probably all heard that a lot of people, when they look at the church from the outside, that's what they think the entire church is. They think that the entire church is made up of a bunch of hypocrites. And maybe that's true of some churches. But the reason why they would assume that, even about a true church, is because they think that the message of Christianity is that we're going to gather together for a week. We're going to pretend in our nice clothes like everything we do is good throughout the week. And we're going to pretend like we're good people while we look at the rest of the world and go home and read the papers and watch the news and see how everyone else is not as good as us. That's the perception sometimes of what people who don't know what Christianity is. That's how they think about the church. But it's not true. For a true church, if those outsiders would take the time to come in and really see what we are teaching and what Christians are talking about, they would see that we have the opposite heart as that. At least we should. That instead of pretending like we're the best in the world and we're looking out on all the sinners, instead it's the opposite. We're saying we are the worst sinners. We are terrible sinners. There is nothing that we can do to earn God's favor like we sang about this morning. Instead, all we can do is cast ourselves upon the mercy of God and beg for his forgiveness. So as part of this church, we should make sure that we have the heart of the humble rather than the heart of the hypocrite.

13:26But I just want to say again that there may be some people sitting here. Who have thought wrongly about church for their entire life? And it could be you. Maybe you've thought, you know, my parents went to church every single week, and they taught me to go to church every single week. Look at what I've done. I've attended the church so many times, I've been giving to the church so many times. Do you think that this earns you favor with God?

14:00When you hear about others committing sins or even being part of the wrong political party or others perverting nature, do you look at them and think that you're better off than them just because you have a better record than them? Think about it. Because if that's you, you're missing the whole message. And Paul is talking right to you as we study this passage today. He is talking to that person that thinks that he has earned his righteousness. You are the hypocrite.

14:40Because God judges all sin. And so while you might think that your sin is less offensive than other people's sin, you still deserve God's wrath. And when you judge others, like Paul says in this passage, when you judge others, you're actually condemning yourself. Because all that you're showing is. That you know there's right and wrong, and yet you still do wrong things. So, Paul's first rebuke to the self-righteous is that you are a hypocrite. His second is that you know it. You're a hypocrite, and you know it. Verse 1 again: 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, verse 2: We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. We know, that's what he says. We know that it is right for God to judge sinners. The judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. It is good, it is right for God to punish sin.

15:58This is the common ground between Paul and the guy he's talking to. We all know this. We know it is good for God to punish sins, and yet the self-righteous man has forgotten to apply this to his own sin. He's forgotten to apply what he knows to himself. Somehow, in our twisted thinking, we can agree that it's right for God to punish certain sins, but then when we examine ourselves, we overlook our sins. But Paul is not letting this man get away with this. He's not going to let that slide.

16:39He establishes this common ground with this man of what he knows, and then he's going to lead right into the next point. So we're going to go right there as well. You, this is the third rebuke, you are not the exception. You are not the exception. Verse 2 again, we know that 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 yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God? So in verse 3, he asks him a question. No, since we all know that God righteously judges sins, he says, do you suppose that you will escape the judgment of God? So he clarifies for us again exactly who he's talking to. He says, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourselves, you who judge and yet do them yourselves. So he's still talking to this hypocrite, this self-righteous person. And he says, do you suppose that you will escape the judgment of God?

17:52Sadly, many of us have made this same mistake in the past. We think. That we are an exception. We want God to judge sin. We want God to punish the wicked. We know it's right for Him to judge sin, but then we conveniently just think positive thoughts about our own sin or our own life. We think that we will escape God's judgment, but no one escapes God's judgment. Every sin is going to be paid for. Listen, your sin is going to be punished. Your sin is going to be paid for. And there's only two options: either you're going to pay for it or Jesus is going to pay for it. But it's certainly not going to just be overlooked. You're not some exception. God doesn't forget things, God doesn't show partiality. He doesn't favor some people over others and just pretend like their sin is okay.

19:08Every sin is going to be paid for. And if you're like the humble tax collector that begs for mercy, then it's going to be Jesus that pays for your sin. But if you refuse to humble yourself and you continue to treat yourself like God's exception, then you will pay for your sins. This is the mistake of the self-righteous. They think that they're going to just slip through the cracks. They think that God hasn't seen their sin or that their sin isn't very bad. But no one escapes God's judgment. So, church Christians, if you're a true believer, be sure to remember and proclaim that you were not an exception.

19:56It wasn't that God just thought your sin was less abominable than other people's sins. So don't give that picture to the outside world. Instead, remember and proclaim that when you had faith in Christ, you were forgiven because you were bought with the precious blood of Christ. Your sin was paid for, Jesus paid for your sins. So far, we have three rebukes for the self-righteous. You're a hypocrite. You know it. And you are not an exception. The fourth, you need to repent. You need to repent.

20:41Paul is going to ask another question of this self-righteous person. He's asking the first question in verse 3, and now he's going to turn to a second question and reveal another big mistake that I think many of us have made in the past. Verse 4: Or do you present? Upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. 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?

21:27You know, most of us in our culture have grown up hearing that God is love. And rightly so, God is love. And when we go on living and life is so good, and we keep having good food and good homes and good friends, then we remember that God is good. And rightly so. God is good and God is love. God has been kind and patient with us. But then in our minds and our heads, it can start to fit together like this. See if this sounds familiar. I know I sinned, but God keeps on being kind to me. My life is good.

22:16So I must not have sinned that bad. I know that God is love, so I guess we're good if things are still going well. As long as I don't just sin really bad. And when you think down that path, you really reason that you're actually not that bad after all. And that as long as you stay away from being in the news or doing really terrible sins, then you're good to go. And so you keep living in your sins, in your little sins as you see them. But Paul is saying that this kind of thinking is actually the opposite of the truth. That's a lie. Listen again to his question. 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?

23:09So is the way that you're living, is it disdaining, is it scorning God's patience and kindness to you? Yes, he's been patient and kind to you, forbearing with you. But when he's patient with you, it's meant to lead to your repentance. It's not meant to just be an excuse to continue to sin. The proper response is to repent and turn to him away from your sin. The wrong response is to think that your sin doesn't matter.

23:48And if you repent, God will forgive you. But if you're self-righteous, hear God's rebuke through Paul that you need to repent. Today, you need to repent. And if you don't, our fifth rebuke, you are storing up wrath. You're storing up wrath. You're a hypocrite, and you know it. You're not the exception. You need to repent, and you're storing up wrath. You are storing up wrath. 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.

24:43There is a day coming when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. And all the earth and all of heaven will see God's judgment upon mankind. There will be unimaginable destruction. The self-righteous person assumes that's not for me. I've done enough good things. That judgment is not for me. But Paul says, the self-righteous person who thinks he's good enough is storing up wrath little by little for that day. He has presumed upon God's kindness. And rather than repenting, he has continued to sin and continued to sin. And every time he sins, he's adding to what is being stored for that day. This is a different kind of retirement account, right?

25:46When unbelievers sin, they're just increasing the penalty. And this is being stored, never forgotten, faithfully stored up for that day, never overlooked. Stored for the future day of wrath when it will be unleashed on the sinner. And the reason is this: He gives it at the beginning of verse 5: Because of your hard and impenitent heart. Because of your hard and impenitent heart, a callous heart that refuses to repent. This is the true problem behind a self-righteous person.

26:31They think that they've done well enough, and so they will not allow God's word to challenge them. And there's no way that they're going to get down on their knees and beg for God's forgiveness. That's what the real sinners need to do. Rather than being humble and receptive of God's instruction, they're arrogant, they're hard-hearted, and they will not repent. The murderer and the adulterer, they should beg. For God's mercy. But I haven't done that. I've only done these sins. I won't beg. I will just try and do some things to make up for it and bring my account back to positive. That's the pride of the unrighteous. That's the hard heart. I will not repent or be sorrowful over my sin because it's not as bad as those other people. And so they're storing up wrath.

27:33I said it a bunch already, but listen to me. This might be you. You might be exactly the kind of person that Paul is rebuking in this passage. One of the most haunting realities is that as men and women, we can be self-deceived. One of the most haunting possibilities is that we are self-deceived about our own salvation. It's like the cartoon that keeps running and running and running on the road and goes right off the cliff and thinks he's still on the road. And really, he just falls, right? He's totally deceived, and it leads to his destruction. Jesus warns about this in the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to what he says.

28:31He says, on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. That's terrifying. They are totally self-deceived. They're delusional. Don't let that be you. Your sin is sin, and your sin will be punished, no matter how innocent you think it is, no matter how little you think it is, it will be paid for. And we love to talk, rightly so, about the love of God and the grace of God. But the love of God is not a love that just overlooks sin and forgets about it. It's not how it works.

29:29Therefore, 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 that 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 yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume upon 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 yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Don't let that be you. Turn from your sin and repent and beg for God's forgiveness.

30:27Church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, those of you who are already believers, this whole passage was addressed to an unbeliever. And so you might be thinking to yourself, what is the application for us? How do we think about this passage? Well, first, cultivate that humble heart. Know that it wasn't your righteousness that saved you. Never forget that when you read the list in chapter one of all the sins that the world is committing, that you're right there with them. And have that heart that says, that's me. But God saved me. I am the sinner, and if it wasn't for the grace of God, I would be under judgment as well.

31:10Never let the heart of the hypocrite creep back into your thinking. Never start to think that you're so clever that you figured all this out and the rest of the world is not as clever as you. It can be easy because we hear stories all the time about. What our nation is becoming. And we look out, and it's easy for us to compare ourselves to them and think that we are so righteous and they are so sinful. But fight that and cultivate a humble heart. Keep being like the tax collector that begs for the mercy of the Lord and has a humble heart.

31:54Second, another application is proclaim this truth. Paul addresses this dialogue to the self-righteous unbeliever. And so can you. Be gracious and be loving, but expose the lie that people can be good enough to get to heaven, that they can attend church enough to get to heaven, that they can give to a church enough to get to heaven. And tell the beautiful truth about God's undeserved mercy and forgiveness that's been paid for by Jesus. Tonight, we're going to get a wonderful privilege of getting to witness four baptisms. That's a lot.

32:42You got to come. You got to be there. It's going to be a party, right? You know, we know that when people turn to Christ, heaven rejoices. So let's rejoice alongside that and have a party tonight with these baptisms and the dinner together. And I don't want to give too many spoilers for tonight. But I do want to tell you that I know that at least two of those testimonies are people that before they were saved, not very long ago, less than a year ago, they thought they were good enough.

33:18They were this self-righteous person that thought they were on God's good side because they had done enough good things. And someone in this church approached those people and graciously and lovingly exposed that lie. And God used that to bring them to salvation. So let that be an encouragement to you. You can do it too. You can lovingly help people see that they do need God's forgiveness, no matter how righteous they think they are. Listen to the words of this hymn and let it be your song. Listen, self-righteous souls on works rely and boast their moral dignity. But if I lisp a song of praise, grace is the note my soul shall raise. Twas grace that quickened me when dead, and grace my soul to Jesus led. Grace brings me pardon for my sin. Tis grace subdues my lusts within. Tis grace that sweetens every cross. Tis grace supports in every loss. In Jesus' grace, my soul is strong. Grace is my hope, and Christ my song. Let's be a church that proclaims this grace and remembers this grace. Pray with me. Father, you're so clear in your word that none is righteous, no, not one.

35:07That even those who, in the world's eyes, might be righteous, even they can't earn favor with God. They can't pay for their own sins. Only Christ can. I pray, Lord, that if there are any here today that are still having that hard heart that will not repent from their sins, I pray that you would soften it even today. That you would give them a heart that wants to beg for forgiveness. And I pray for our church. I pray that you would help us be humble, that you wouldn't let the heart of the hypocrite creep back into our thinking, but instead that we would remember and proclaim that it wasn't our works.

36:00But it was grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, one way that the Lord gave us to remember and proclaim the grace that we have received from Christ is through the Lord's Supper. It's our custom in this church to do it in the evening, but since we have so many baptisms tonight, we're actually going to do it in the morning, right here. Okay, so you can't leave yet. All right? The night before Jesus was crucified, he shared a meal with his disciples. And during that meal, they broke bread and they drank wine and ate together. And Jesus gave them a memorial to always remember what Jesus did on the Christ, what Jesus did on the cross for our sins. The bread symbolized his body that was broken. The wine symbolized his blood that was spilled as payment for our sins. He told them that they should regularly share in this meal as they remember and proclaim, just like we spoke about, they remember and proclaim that Jesus died for their sins and then rose again.

37:20His body was broken and his blood was spilled. And because of this, and only because of this, we can find forgiveness for all of our sins. Because he paid the price. He gave his body and his blood for us. If you have not become a Christian, if you have not repented and begged God for forgiveness, I want to ask two things of you today. The first one is repent and beg God for mercy. Do it even today. You're not good enough. But Jesus was. He was perfect. And his sacrifice for sin can cover anything that you've ever done. So repent and turn to him. But the other thing I want to ask of you today, if you're not a believer, is that when we pass the bread and the juice, I ask that you just let it pass by. This is an event for believers as we remember and celebrate what the Lord has done for us. So I just ask that you let them go by and wait until you have repented and believed.

38:28I'd ask the men to come forward and to pass the plates. It is normally our custom to do this during the evening service. So let me give you some clear instructions if you haven't been here before for this. Any believer is welcome to partake of this with us. The men are going to pass the bread and the cup, and you'll get both. And we ask that you hold on to both. And in a minute, we're going to partake of it all together. In the meantime, Meantime, music will be played as they pass the plates, and you can meditate on the fact that you are a sinner. You can confess your sins to the Lord. You can remember, believer, that Christ's death on the cross is the reason why you have forgiveness, and you can meditate on that forgiveness. Amen.