My desire is that you’d
deeply want more of God, and His Holy Word. Job 23:12 says, I have not departed
from the command of His lips. I have treasured the words of His mouth more than
my necessary food.”
I.
Open
your Bible to Romans Ch. 2, and let’s pray.
II.
From
last week we said, As evangelicals and charismatic’s we tend to look at
scripture and ask the question. What is the scripture saying to me?, but that’s
not the first question we need to ask ourselves. To interpret scripture
properly We need to ask. 1) Who is the original audience? 2) What is the author
trying to communicate to them? We need to look at not only the literal context,
but also the historical context. We spoke last week about how Paul is given
credit for about 50% of the New Testament books. If you look at Romans closely,
there are obvious differences between his letter to the Roman Church, and any
of his other letters. He was writing to a church he had nothing to do with the
founding of, and whom he had no personal contact. In all of his other letters
they’re written to deal with some immediate trouble, pressing situation, some
current error, some threatening danger, which was coming up against the Church,
but not so with Romans.
Last
week, we learned that Paul wrote this toward the end of his ministry at the end
of his 3rd missionary journey. He’d been preaching about 21 years
from the road to Damascus. One commentator
said that it is as if Paul was writing his theological last will and testament,
as if into Romans he was distilling the very essence of his faith and belief.
Rome was
the greatest city in the world, the capital of the greatest Empire the world
had ever seen. Paul had never been there, and he did not know if he ever would
be there, but in writing to such a Church in such a city, it was fitting he
should set down the very center and core of his belief in the Gospel. He also
wished to send to the Church in the center of the world a letter which would so
build up the structure of the faith that if false teachings about Jesus should
ever come, they might have the true word of Christian doctrine.
III.
Read
Rom. 1:21-32 “The deeply irrational nature of sin is seen in the fact that even
hardened sinners still know in their hearts their actions are deserving of
death. Nevertheless, they go on sinning and even drag others down with them
when they approve of those who do the same thing.”
Rom. 2:1-11; In the previous Ch 1 we painted a
grim and terrible picture of the heathen world, a world that is under the
condemnation of God. With every word of that condemnation the Jew thoroughly
agreed. But he never for a moment dreamed he was under a like condemnation. He
thought he occupied a privileged position. God might be the judge of the
heathen, but he was the special protector of the Jews. Paul is pointing
forcibly at the Jews that he is just as much a sinner as the Gentile is and
that when he condemning the Gentile he is condemning himself. He will be
judged, not by his racial heritage, but by the kind of life that he lives. The
Jews always considered themselves in a specially privileged position with God.
They believed God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with
another. The Jew believed that everyone was destined for judgment except himself.
It would not be any special goodness that kept him immune from the wrath of
God, but simply the fact that he was a Jew. So you can imagine when the Jew
read v. 11 “There is no partiality with God.” His thoughts might be defensive.
This context put the scripture in a whole new light. Also, To Battle this
mindset, he challenges them in v. 4.(READ) Another version says, “Are you
treating with contempt the wealth of His kindness, and forbearance, and
patience?” Let me say this, “Sinners or Christians practicing sin who have not
yet experienced God’s judgment should not presume that God’s mercy will last
another minute. Judgment is withheld only to give time to repent.
Verse 4:
Let’s look at these 3 words: Commentary Page 42
1)Kindness:
Let’s not take advantage of the great kindness of God
2)
Forbearance: God isn’t giving us a blank check to sin, he is giving us an
opportunity to repent and amend our ways before His judgment.
3)
Patience: The fact that His punishment doesn’t immediately follow sin is not
proof of His powerlessness; it is proof of His patience. We owe our lives to
the patience of God.
IV.
Another
scripture I want to talk about is Ch. 2 V. 6 The phrase “according to their
deeds” does not contradict the gospel of salvation as a free gift that cannot be
earned. Eph 2:8-9, but v 10. Sometimes a religion that stresses the importance
of good works is often waved aside and is dubbed out of touch with the New
Testament. Nothing could be further from the truth. To Paul a faith which did
not have deeds or works accompany it was travesty of faith, and in fact. No
faith at all. Paul I believe would have said, “The only way in which you can
see a man’s faith at all is by his deeds. One of the most dangerous tendencies
is to talk as if faith and works were entirely different and separate things.
James 2:14-26 (Read). And Romans 2:13 The doers of the law justified.
V.
Romans
2:17-24; Matt 5:16; & 1 Peter 2:11-12 Be sensitive to the fact that how you
live can bring honor and glory to God, or it can bring a reproach and blasphemy
against his name. We’re Christ’s ambassadors to the world.
VI.
Rom:
2:25-29 This part in the letter must have come as a real shock to the Jews who
regarded themselves as special because of their heritage, but were living in
disobedience to the law, and thought their heritage, race, and being
circumcised saved them. There is no partiality with God. It doesn’t matter our
race, past, how much money we have, who are parents are, what kind of job we
have, or our level of education. God looks at our heart, and our willingness to
be obedient to His Word. If we love Him we will obey Him. Here is the beauty of
the Gospel. We have been adopted into the family of God. We have been brought
near by His blood that he shed on the cross, and because of Him we have been
made righteous. We are only righteous
before God because of Him. In fact. 2 Cor. 5:21 He made Him…
VII.
Explain
communion. I want everyone to examine their heart. Have you been playing around
with sin, and taking advantage of God’s mercy and grace? Are you judging
non-Christians for their sin, but living in sin ourselves? Let’s remove the
plank out of our eye before we remove the speck out of our neighbors eye. Let’s
come to the cross tonight, and let Jesus minister to us.
