SERIES: The Book of Romans
Are Good People Lost, Too?
Introduction: We enter today into the second section of the bad news portion of the book of Romans. In the first section the Apostle Paul asked the question, “Are the unreached really lost and on their way to hell?” and answered it with a resounding, “Yes.” They are without excuse because they know God through nature and conscience, yet they consistently violate His commandments. As we open the second chapter today, he asks a related question, “Are good people lost, too?”
I should put “good” in italics because the subjects of this section seem to be people who only thinkthey are good in comparison to the unreached pagan, but they are really no different in God’s eyes. These people are not found in jungles or in the teeming masses of the Third World. They are found in civic clubs and churches, perhaps especially on the Sunday before Christmas.
Before jumping into today’s passage, I feel compelled to deal with a question that was generated by our last sermon. Someone asked, “At what point does God abandon a person?” You will recall that God demonstrates His wrath against sin not only by consigning unbelievers to eternal punishment when they die, but also at times by abandoning them even during this life to degenerate wills, degrading passions, and depraved minds. In fact, three times in Romans 1 the Apostle refers to this divine abandonment—in verses 24, 26, 28.
Yet we saw in I Cor. 6 that some of the Corinthian Christians who had been notorious sinners had nevertheless been washed, sanctified and justified. In fact, Paul said of them, “And such were some of you.” But if these Corinthian church members used to be adulterers and homosexuals and alcoholics and idolaters but were now members in good standing in the church, then it is obvious that God hadn’t yet abandoned them. So, where is the point at which divine abandonment occurs?
I can’t give a specific answer to that question, but I can say that God knows every heart perfectly and He knows when a person has hardened his or her heart to the point of no return. I do not believe for a moment that God will ever abandon a person who might have surrendered his heart if the Holy Spirit had just continued His convicting work a few more days.
But should someone be asking about the point of divine abandonment for himself in the sense of, “how long can I continue to sin before God abandons me?”, then I have a very simple answer which comes from 2 Cor. 6:2: “Behold, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.” Don’t ever presume upon the mercy of God. None of us knows when the day of judgment will come, and anyone who decides he’s going to wait to repent until the end of his life is playing a very dangerous game which he is almost certain to lose.
Now let’s read together Romans 2:1-16:
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. {2} Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. {3} So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? {4} Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
{5} But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. {6} God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” {7} To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. {8} But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. {9} There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; {10} but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. {11} For God does not show favoritism.
{12} All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. {13} For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. {14} (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, {15} since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) {16} This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”
The moralist is without excuse and stands condemned, just like the pagan.
You will note that the Apostle moves from the third person in chapter one—they, they, they—to the second person in chapter two—you, you, you. Chapter two opens with the words, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else.” I call this person a “moralist,” because he considers himself good enough to go round judging others and pointing out their moral faults.
I suggest to you that Paul is here responding to an objection he anticipates from one of his listeners. That objection might be expressed as follows:
“Yes, Paul, all you have said about the unreached is true. I, too, deplore those heathen, those pagans, those idolaters, those perverts. They deserve to burn in hell. I’m sure glad I’m not in their class and that Romans 1 is not talking about me. I’m a law-abiding, home-loving, flag-waving, apple-pie-eating Chevy owner. I belong to Rotary, I support the United Way, I have high moral standards, and I’m against federal deficits and for tax cuts. It’s those radicals and revolutionaries, those prostitutes and perverts, those dope heads and delinquents that God must hate.”
To this “good” person, this moralistic neighbor, perhaps even to some of us, the Word of God says simply, “You, too, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else.” Those two words,“without excuse,” are the exact same words which were used of the unreached pagan in 1:20. There is no difference. Both are lost and on their way to hell. Why? That doesn’t seem quite fair. Well, the Apostle gives us three reasons.
The moralist condemns himself in the very act of judging others. “You have no excuse,… at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself.” It’s always easier for us to let our conscience be someone else’s guide that to let it be our own, but in our most honest moments we have to admit that more often than not, the very actions and attitudes we most vociferously condemn in others are the ones of which we ourselves are guilty. Do we ever criticize someone for their lack of spirituality and then go for a whole week ourselves without reading the Scriptures? Do we ever complain about all the hypocrites in the church and yet at the same time ourselves act like a hypocrite in the business world?
About a year ago I appealed to Kurt Odenwald, who happens to be our county commissioner, to reduce the speed limit on the road in front of our house because there were so many maniacs speeding on it. He quickly responded and the speed limit was lowered from 40 to 35. But I would hate to tell you how often since I have found myself exceeding the speed limit on the same road; it’s just the grace of God that has kept me from getting caught. Friends, the only judgment allowable is that permitted when we hold up the Word of God in order to reflect our sin.
The moralist is actually as sinful as the pagan he judges. Now wait a minute! We just said a few moments ago that this is a law-abiding citizen. Yet at the end of verse one the charge is made, “you who pass judgment do the same things.” How so? Frankly, the difference between the unreached pagan and the average moralist is not as great as may first appear. His outward behavior may be more civilized, but his heart is just as reprobate. His overt actions may be the more acceptable, but the covert attitudes are fundamentally similar.
Jesus, you see, made it clear that murder is not just the act of snuffing out the physical life of another person, which, of course, a moralist would never do. It also occurs when one holds a feeling of animosity, bitterness, or resentment toward someone else. In other words, the moralist who hates, practices the same sin as the murderer he condemns.
Further, Jesus defined adultery as not only an illicit relationship between a married person and someone who is not his or her spouse. It is also committed when one lustfully longs to possess someone else’s body and treats himself or herself to a sexual fantasy. The moralist who does so has practiced the same sin as the adulterer he so readily condemns. Sadly, many a moralist who rants and raves about the sin of welfare fraud or burglary doesn’t give a second thought to his own sin of tax evasion or the padded expense account, but in God’s eyes it’s the same sin.
Furthermore, we are masters at cleverly using semantics to escape the guilt of which we accuse others. For example, it’s not unusual for us to think in these terms:
I have convictions, but…you are prejudiced.
I am firm, but…you are a pig-headed fool.
I am conservative, but…you are reactionary.
I am progressive, but…you are radical.
I am righteously indignant, but…you are always flying off the handle about
nothing.
I have reconsidered, but…you have gone back on your word.
I am discerning, but…you are intolerant.
God says, “You condemn yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
Now in verses 4 & 5 we find the third reason why the moralist is without excuse and stands condemned:
He refuses the opportunities God provides for repentance. Three great character traits of God are mentioned in verse 4: kindness, tolerance, and patience, and He is described as being rich in all three. The kindness of God refers to common grace, i.e., the goodness of God which is demonstrated to all human beings—unbelievers as well as believers. God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust. He gives health, wealth, children, and enjoyment to those who aren’t his children, as well as to those who are.
The tolerance of God refers to the fact that He withholds judgment when He has every right to deliver it. If you sinned this week and were not judged for it, if you gossiped and weren’t struck dumb, if you lusted and didn’t lose your eyesight, if you hated and didn’t lose your life, that’s evidence of the tolerance of God.
The third characteristic is patience. It is because of God’s patience that Jesus Christ has not yet returned to this earth to execute judgment. God is not willing that any should perish, so He patiently waits in order to give more time for repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
So what do many good, upstanding, moral people do about the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience? They think lightly of it, show contempt for it, try to take advantage of it, failing all the time to realize and acknowledge that the purpose of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience is to give them more opportunity to get right with Him.
Having explained why the “good” person as well as the pagan idolater is lost and without excuse, the Apostle now goes to great lengths to prove to us that God’s judgment of the moralist has a righteous basis. It is not capricious; He does not sit up in Heaven pulling off rose petals, saying, “He loves me; he loves me not.”
The moralist’s condemnation has a righteous basis.
In fact, there are six aspects of God’s judgment which demonstrate its righteousness.
God’s judgment is according to truth. In verse 2 we read, “Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.” God is not like Lance Ito, having to balance the interests of the defense against the interests of the prosecution, trying to keep the press happy, yet all the time keeping his eye on a possible appointment to the California Supreme Court. God has one standard He judges by—and that’s truth. It’s really frightening today to see how little the truth has to do with most criminal proceedings. Technicalities about how evidence was gathered seem to be far more important than the question, “Did he do it?” Defense attorneys typically don’t even ask their client, “Did you do it?” Their job is to raise doubts about whether he did it or not. Not so with God.
God’s judgment is inescapable. One of the major complaints of human beings is that so often the innocent suffer and the guilty escape. There seems to be one law for the wealthy and another for the poor. Certainly there are numerous ways one can escape the judgment of human courts, and in fact, most criminals do.
1. It is possible that the crime remains undiscovered.
2. It is possible that the criminal is never captured.
3. It is possible for the criminal to be acquitted because he has a superb lawyer.
4. It is possible for the criminal to escape from prison even after being convicted.
But not a single one of these options is open to someone who is standing before God’s bar of justice. No crime remains undetected, no criminal remains unindicted, no acquittal is available, and no one escapes when declared guilty. But there is a way of having one’s case settled out of court. More about that later.
It’s amazing how many people believe they can escape the judgment of God. Even as Christians we are prone to expect Him to overlook areas of our lives that are less than holy. We develop excuses for our ungodly behavior—often by comparing ourselves to others whom we deem worse. This produces a brand of righteousness based on the faulty logic that says, “because I don’t do what he does, I’m better than he is, and because I’m better than he is, I’m all right.”[i]
But the one who sits in judgment upon someone else whom he considers below him on the ethical scale is as foolish as the person, who in a competition to get to the moon, has reached the top of Mt. Everest and laughs at the one who has merely climbed the hill behind his house. The person on Everest is no closer to the moon than the one on the hill. In fact, the person on the hill probably has a better chance of getting there because he is nearer a field where a rocket might conceivably blast off and carry him there.
There simply is no escape from the judgment of God for the one who thinks he’s going to satisfy God on the basis of his own moral standards and good deeds.
God’s judgment is cumulative. Verse 5 says, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” The verb “store up” used here is the exact same verb Jesus used in Matt. 6:19-20 when He urged us to “store up” for ourselves treasures in Heaven. All of us are regularly making deposits in an account which we must collect one of these days. We are either storing up heavenly treasures or we’re storing up wrath. Those who are moralists or humanists without Jesus Christ are storing up wrath like a person who collects snake eggs, bringing them into his warm house where they will one day hatch and destroy him.
God’s judgment is based on deeds. Listen again to verses 6-10:
God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
This passage has often been perceived as a problem for evangelicals who teach the Biblical doctrine of salvation by grace, but I don’t think it needs to be. These verses are not telling us that we can work our way to Heaven. But they are telling us that we can work our way to hell. Seriously, the place good works play in the Christian life is very important, but frequently that place is misunderstood. The fact that works don’t save is made quite clear in such passages as:
Eph. 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved, through faith … not by works so that no one can boast.”
Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but by His mercy He saved us ….”
Rom. 4:2: “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.”
John 6:28-29: “Then they asked Jesus, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'”
But it is equally clear that a faith which does not result in good works is a dead, empty faith, totally unable to lead anyone to salvation:
James 2:14: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”
James 2:17: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Eph. 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
The key, I think, is this: the timing of and motivation behind one’s good works are crucial. Works done before one becomes a child of God by faith in Christ are viewed as nothing but filthy rags, according to Isaiah 64:6. Works done after salvation, on the other hand, are regarded as proof of one’s faith. Now the reason God will not accept anything from you until you have accepted His Son as your substitute and Savior can be seen by means of an analogy:
Suppose a band of thieves should kidnap my child. There is only one thing I want from them: I want my child. If one of them should ask me to forget all about it, and say he will build me a magnificent new church building, I repudiate the offer and ask for my child. Should they offer to pay for broadcasting my sermons on every available station, I repudiate their offer; I want my child.[ii]
By the same token, God has given us His most precious possession, His one and only Son, and if we refuse to receive Him, do we think God is going to accept anything we offer to do or give instead?
Motivation is the other key factor. Good works done out of a motive to earn God’s favor or to earn salvation are doomed to failure, for there is no way we can perform up to God’s standards. Works done out of love and a heart of gratitude are acceptable to God and even produce rewards and crowns for the believer.
Now how does all this relate to Rom. 2:6-10? I think the Apostle is essentially telling us that all of mankind is divided into two classes: those who seek to obey God and those who refuse to submit themselves to Him. And these two classes are characterized by two different ways of life.
Paul could have simply referred to these two classes as the saved and the unsaved, in which case he would have said, “The saved will be given eternal life while the unsaved will receive wrath and anger.” But instead, he looks at their way of life and says that “those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life,” while “those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Perhaps you have heard someone ask the question, “Are people condemned because of their sin or are they condemned because of their refusal to receive the Savior?” Frankly, I think it’s both. Their disobedient way of life keeps them from the Savior while their refusal to receive the Savior leaves them powerless to conquer sin.
God’s judgment is impartial. Verse 11 reads, “For God does not show favoritism.” Just as hell is the inheritance of everyone who selfishly goes his own way, independent of God, whether he is Jew or Gentile, pagan or moralist, pervert or preacher, so also Heaven is the inheritance of everyone who humbly receives God’s forgiveness—whether Jew or Gentile, pagan or moralist, pervert or preacher. God plays no favorites.
God’s judgment is according to the individual’s knowledge. (12-15)
Look at verse 12:
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous….
1. Everyone will be judged on the basis of what he knows, not on the basis of what someone else knows. I think what the apostle is doing here is trying to answer all possible objections from the “moralist.” The moralist retorts, “You say God is impartial and that He’s going to render to everyone according to his deeds. How can that be fair? The Jews had the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law, the prophets, the Old Testament, etc., while some people don’t have any of that.” OK, says Paul, the Jew who knows the Mosaic Law and has sinned anyway will be judged by the Mosaic Law. But the one who doesn’t know the Mosaic Law won’t be judged by that Law. He will nevertheless perish, however, because he sinned against what he did know. And while his punishment may not be as severe, it will be fully deserved.
About fifteen years ago I pulled into the Towne East Mall in Wichita late one rainy evening in a big hurry. There were six handicap parking spaces next to the department store door none of them was occupied. So I pulled into one of them, ran into the store, and a few minutes later returned, only to find a parking ticket under my windshield wiper. This was before a lot of the publicity about handicap parking, and frankly, I was unaware that you could get a ticket for parking there.
Well, I was upset, and I called an assistant District Attorney and asked if he would cancel the ticket because I didn’t know it was against the law to park in a handicap zone. He responded, “Even if you didn’t know it was against the law, you knew it was unethical, didn’t you?” “Well,” I said rather sheepishly, “it’s not the kind of behavior I would advocate for everyone.” “O.K.,” he responded, “then what are you complaining about? The fine for unethical actions ought to be at least as much as the fine for illegal actions.” My initial reaction was, “I’m the preacher here. What business does a D.A. have preaching at me?” But then I realized he was right.
The point Paul is making is that men will perish, not because they did not hear, but because they did not do what they knew was right. And how is it that men know automatically what is right and what is wrong? Because everyone has a conscience. And that brings us to our final point.
2. Everyone will be judged on the basis of conscience. Verses 14 & 15:
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
Once again we come to the point made several weeks ago that everyone has innate knowledge of God. His conscience is programmed at conception to know the difference between right and wrong. He has a standard of righteousness ingrained on his very heart. I happen to believe that standard consists of the essential moral principles found in the Ten Commandments, and no one has kept those standards perfectly. The sinner who claims his conscience doesn’t witness against him only proves that he has violated it so many times that it is now seared or branded. I know someone who claims he went years without sinning. The very claim shows how deluded he is, and, in fact, during those very years he was one of the most prideful, judgmental, legalistic, and divisive persons I ever had to deal with.
Our last verse tells us that there is coming a Day when God will judge the secrets of all people, good, moral people as well as pagan perverts. He will not judge on the basis of reputation, but rather on the basis of character. Your reputation is what men think you are. Your character is what you are. People know your reputation. God knows your character. And He will judge on that basis.
Furthermore, He will judge through Jesus Christ. Anyone who has a picture of Christ which does not include Him as Judge of the earth is laboring under a serious misapprehension of the true identity of the Savior. At this time of the year we like to think of Jesus as the babe in the manger. Other popular pictures include the healer of the sick, the lover of little children, the teacher of parables, the pitiful victim on the Via Dolorosa, the agonizing sacrifice on the cross, the resplendent Lord in the garden, the triumphant leader in the Upper Room—all are pictures of a Lord that, in one form or another, appeal to something in the human heart. But Jesus as Judge is foreign to our thinking. Yet He will judge.[iii]
Earlier in this message I mentioned that there will be no escape at God’s bar of justice. However, it is possible to have your case settled out of court. But you must move fast. You must come to Christ now. Everywhere the Bible teaches us that the issues of eternity are settled in this life. If you refuse His mercy, you must face His wrath. I close with John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
DATE: December 18, 1994
Tags:
Moralist
Judging
Conscience
[i] Stuart Briscoe, The Communicator’s Commentary, Romans, 56.
[ii] Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans, Vol. 1, Part 2, 51.
[iii] Briscoe, 64.