Here Comes The Judge, Part 2

1. Man’s rebellion leads to inescapable Judgment. 2:3

a. What humans think about religion
(1) Human religion is one of the great curses of mankind
(a) Humanism and atheism, which are religions which essentially worship man and “reason.”
(b) Eastern Religions, Heathen idol worship
(c) Islam, Works-oriented cults
(d) Satanism, The New Age Movement
(e) Liberal Christianity
(f) Legalistic and traditional churches.

(2) Most human religions—involve pride and self-righteousness, soft pedal sin, and see the sin of others as worse
(a) All human religion involves rebellion against the one true God
(b) All human religion seeks a way of escape from the consequences of rebellion

b. First, when it comes to whether or not we are guilty before Him, God does not distinguish between types of sin—

(1) Obviously some sins are worse than others in their effect and in their heinous nature
(2) As Jesus told us in the Sermon on the mount, it is sin to even want to sin, but it is still worse to actually commit the sin because of the effect on others.
(3) However, when it comes to being a sinner—sin is sin.

c. Therefore, as we are reproving sin, we need to keep Paul’s overall message in mind.
(1) We cannot save ourselves
(2) Only God Can Save Us--
(3) God Requires Saved People to Live for Him

2. God’s kindness leads to repentance –Rom 2:4

a. Despising God’s opportunities
(1) The word for “despise” carries the same meaning as our modern term, “look down the nose at…”. Mankind looks down its nose at the goodness forbearance, and longsuffering of God.
(2) God is patient, and man arrogantly takes that patience for weakness. -- Ecc 8:11--Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil
b. What men despise— God is kind to the human race beyond our imagination. God’s Goodness—Exo 34:6, 1 Chr 16:34, Psa 8:3-8, Psa 86:5, Mat 5:45

c. “The problem of evil”—philosophers and many other people try to reason out how a loving God can allow so much misery in the world
(1) A more Biblical perspective would be “How can a just and Holy God put up with us?” As wicked and rebellious as our race is, why are we not all continuously in hell all the time?
(2) The goodness of God does not lie in how comfortable He makes our circumstances.
(3) The goodness of God is seen by His temporary toleration of our rebellion, and by His actions taken to save us. Acts 17:22-3
(4) But the day of forbearance will end soon!

d. God is the author of repentance--
(1) A man or woman does not repent when they get good and ready—they repent when GOD gets good and ready—Acts 11:18, 2 Tim 2:25, John 6:44-45
(2) The argument over whether a sinner cannot or will not really doesn’t make any difference—the sinner does not until he or she is convicted by the Holy Spirit.

3. Man has a Heart Problem—Rom 2:5

a. His heart is hard and impenitent
b. Each human’s own heart is storing up wrath: In Accordance—the degree of wrath you are saving up for yourself is in accordance with the degree of hardness and impenitence in your heart.

(1) Impenitent heart—a heart that will not repent, and a heart that CANNOT repent – ”…heart incapable of repentance.” (Charles Hodge)
(2) If you put the propositions about salvation to the minds of lost men, they will always, always, always, reject them—1 Cor 2:14, Rom 8:7
(3) The preaching of the Gospel must be accompanied by the convicting, converting, eye-opening, heart-opening power of the Holy Spirit, or men will never believe. God Saves Sinners, we do not save ourselves!

4. Judged According to What we have done—Rom 2:6

a. It does NOT mean that you can earn salvation
b. It DOES mean that when God judges the unsaved, they will be judged according to their deeds.
(1) It is commonly taught that the “sin question” is settled, and only the “Son question” is open, since Christ has died for the sins of all, and that the only sin that condemns a man is the sin of rejecting Christ.
(a) That is true in the sense that only Christ can save you from your sins
(b) This is true in the sense that the blood is available for all mankind
(c) This is true in the sense that rejecting Christ seals one’s doom

(d) But, the application of the blood—propitiation—only takes place through faith (Rom 3:25-26), and those who have not believed have the entire weight of all their sins on their shoulders, unless and until they confess Christ as Savior.
(e) See John 8:24, Rev 21:1-8, 1 Tim 1:9-10, 1 Cor 6:9-11, Matt 7:21-23 and Rev 20:11-15 for more evidence that the lost are judged for all their sins, not just the sin of rejecting Christ
(2) You will not be judged according to what your parents did, but what you did.
(3) Your deeds will be judged, and you will not be judged according to a standard that man might set—60% is passing, or 70% is passing—but according to the absolute standard that God sets—100%
(4) Not only that, but when God sets the 100% standard, He not only judges by outward actions, but by inward motivation. If you do something good for the wrong reason, it counts as a sin!
(5) There won’t be any questioning of the judge’s decision, there won’t be any argument about the sentence, there won’t be any court of appeals.

c. Are there any “good?”
(1) The standard is constant, continual, perfection—Mat 5:17-20, 5:48!!
(2) Can anyone meet this standard?
(3) If you are not a born-again Christian, if you have not been to the Cross for salvation, you will be judged according to your deeds.
(4) Your judgment will not be according to how you compare to me, or to your neighbor, but according to how you compare to the absolute perfection found in the life of Jesus the Messiah, The Son of God and God the Son.
(5) God’s standard is absolute, and there is no fine print.

5. The Conclusion—Final judgment is certain. 2:5-6

a. First, we must set the scene: Rev 20:11-15
(1) The Attendees— If you have not come to Jesus for salvation, and if you leave this life in that state, you will be in that crowd. What will it be like? Who will be there?
(2) The Lord Jesus will sit upon the throne—11, see also John 5:22
(3) All of the Lost will be there—small and great
(4) The books will be opened—no sin will be missed, there will be no clerical errors, and those who do not know the Lord will be judged according to their works, according to a standard of absolute perfection.
(5) Then the book of Life will be consulted as proof that the lost never believed in Christ for salvation..
(6) No one will be missed or overlooked 13

b. All will be judged by their works—There will be protests, Christ told us that—Mat 7:21-23, But the protests will be of no avail
c. Bottom line—Rev 20:15
(1) God’s judgment is GOING TO COME!
(2) This is not an area for end-time arguments—
(3) This is not something you can put off--
(4) This is not something you can avoid--
(5) This IS something you will face-- Judgment Day is coming!
(6) When will it come? Someone is dying right now, somewhere—it just came for them--
(7) When will it come for you?—if you are not one of Christ’s, you need to remember-- Judgment Day is coming! It will come when He comes, or it will come when the death angel comes for you.
Heb 9:27 "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,"