Take a Look at Yourself | ROMANS: Part 2 | Pastor Alex Himaya

The things we wished we could take back. The questions we don't know how to ask. The feeling that we should be doing better by now. So we try harder. We hold on tighter. But through Jesus, God invites us to come close. His grace is a gift. And today we come with openings. So today we pray, "Father, help us trust you with what we're carrying." As we open your word, give us the courage to be honest and the faith to respond. Let your grace shape our hearts, our relationships, and the way we live when we leave this room. We're here. We're listening. Speak, Lord. Well, good morning, Church. It is so good to be with you today. Before we jump into Romans 2, if you have your Bible, open it to Romans chapter 2. We just announced to you that on Sunday night, we had the interest meeting for this Hispanic worship and prayer night. Amazing night. I would have thought 25 people would have been a great show out. We had 120 people. Interesting enough, that's the number we started Battle Creek Church with 23 years ago. And that's the number that was in the upper room. We just believe God is going to do something amazing. And tonight, or this morning, we're announcing to you that on the night of November 1st, Sunday night, is that a Sunday night? November 1st, 630, we're going to do a Hispanic worship night. If you want to come serve and be a part of that night, come and join us on November 1st. Now, judging someone, judging someone else seems to be the easiest job on the planet.

I don't mean being a judge. That's a tough job, right? You have to be impartial. You need to be an expert in the law. I'm talking about casually judging others. That's easy. I know it's easy because I can do it without even thinking about it, right? In fact, we all do it. Let me give you a couple of examples. When we're in the self-checkout line at the grocery store, the person in front of us is going to slow. But when it's our turn, the people behind us are completely impatient. When I'm driving, the person in front of me needs to go faster and get on with it. The person riding my bumper needs to slow down and take their time, right? And here's the truth. Here's a truth and the truth. We love to judge others, but we hate to be judged ourselves. In fact, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit of God is to convince us that judging ourselves is a thousand times more important than judging anyone else. In fact, Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 7, he said, "Judge not unless you want to be judged by that same standard." And none of us want to put ourselves through that ringer. And where this takes a turn is when we spiritualize it and we take our religion and we use it like a tape measure to see if others measure up to our invisible standard. But we hate to use that same measure on ourselves. And in Romans chapter 2, that's where Paul is going to take us. Let's jump in at verse 1 of Romans 2. He says, "You may think you can, say this word, judge. You can judge such people, but you're just as bad and you have no excuse." Now, last week, we started reading through Romans and we read through the first chapter and we said the main idea of chapter 1 is the gospel, the good news. The gospel is the power of God. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God and it reveals the wrath of God because Paul says the wrath of God is being poured out on all sin. In other words, no matter what ruler you use, the measurement is the same because all sin separates us from God.

So Paul ended chapter 1 by listing all these horrible sins that other people are full of, not us, but other people. And he said, "Greed and hate and envy and lying and gossip and they're proud. They're backstabbers and they are boastful. And if we aren't careful, we'll look at that list and go, "I'm glad I don't have any of those sins." So Paul, anticipating us saying that, tells us to slow down. And he says, "If we condemn others, we condemn ourselves." Because that list is so long and so exhaustive, we all end up on it at some point somewhere. And we'll get into this next week. But in chapter 3, Paul says, "We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." an attitude or cop an attitude. It means more than to just be judgmental. In fact, it has a very serious definition. Look at the rest of verse 1, if you will. When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself for you who judge others do the very same things. This word for condemning is the Greek word catacrino. Catacrino, it's a legal word. It's not a word that defines an emotion. It's not a feeling that you have. It is a legal sentence. That word was used in courtrooms of the day to explain the sentence that would be handed down by a judge, specifically a death sentence. Now, we're going to come back to this word when we get to Romans 8 and verse 1, which says there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. But here in chapter 2, it's the attitude that we place on others. And also, according to Paul, the judgment we invite on ourselves. In other words, this is serious. It's not just an attitude. It is deathly serious. But by the way, passing judgment implies there are rules and standards. So there must be a standard maker. Clearly, it's not us. We're not the king of the world. So it must be pointing to what? The existence of God. In the same way that creation points to the existence of God, as we saw in chapter 1, you remember in chapter 1, Paul said, the whole world is without excuse because we all know down deep in our hearts there is a God. But look at what happens when we judge others. And we know that God, in His justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Circle this word, anyone in your Bible. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the very same things? Now, who is punished for their sins? Anyone, right? Who is guilty of the judgment of God? Anyone. Anyone who is a sinner who does not repent of their sins or continues in their sins. And it's not just

that passing judgment on others is a sin. It's that we pass judgment on their sins and ignore our own sins. And listen, some people are far from God because of rebellion. But others are far from God because of religion. But because they think they know what is right, they think they are right. And everybody else is wrong. And by the way, almost every religion has that very same playbook, right? Catholics think that Catholics are the only ones going to heaven. Muslims think that Muslims are the only ones who truly serve God. And we all think we're right. Why wouldn't we think that, right? There's no religion that says, well, we actually got it wrong, right? It's the Presbyterians who got it, right? We missed it, said nobody, right? But Paul makes it very clear that we all have an issue. No one is off the hook, whether you're rebellious or religious. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. Anyone means me. In fact, let's all say that together. Anyone means me, right? It means that I will fall under the same judgment that I pass on anyone else. And that's what Jesus really said when he said, judge not lest you be judged. Judge not because the same judgment is coming back on you. But let's look at what Paul says about that in verse 4. Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? And Paul is going to contrast God's attitude towards us with our attitude towards others. And the point is going to make is that the way God is towards sinners, it is so that they will get saved. And last week, we talked all about the power of the gospel. It is how anyone is saved. It's how we are saved. Anyone and everyone you are praying for, they need the gospel, the power of the gospel. And we believe that around here. In fact, two weeks from today on October the 25th is what we call gospel Sunday. And on a gospel Sunday, we expect and are praying with you as you invest in others. bring them with you, take them to lunch afterwards, have their kids spend the night with you, get people here by whatever means necessary, get people here so that they can hear the gospel. And we watch people, men and women and boys and girls cross that faith line and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior. So two weeks from today, begin inviting

if you haven't already, right? And what does he say? Paul says that God is wonderfully. In other words, he is full of wonder. This word literally means the riches of God, from the riches of God, from all that God owns, which is everything, we talked about that in the Brandon series, right? That these are the things that God reaches for when he is dealing with us, are these words. And by the way, wonderfully modifies all three of these words, but the word says he's kind, wonderfully kind. Kind means to do something for someone else that they cannot do for themselves, to be kind is not the same thing as being nice. I mean, if you know that it's better to be kind than it is to be nice, but he's wonderfully kind, but he's also wonderfully tolerant. And that Greek word for tolerant is the word holding back. Being tolerant does not mean that God allows us to do whatever we want. He sees our sin. In fact, he sees the whole world's sin, and he has the right to judge it, but currently he is tolerant or is holding back. And what Paul means here is that God is currently holding back his full wrath so that sinners will get saved. But he's also wonderfully patient. This has to do with how much time he gives us to repent.

Second Peter 3.9 says that God is not slow in keeping his promises, but he is patient. So that as many people as possible may come to faith or come to salvation that don't ever misinterpret God's patience as his approval. You see, these three words, kind, tolerant and patient are all a part of God's mercy. And his mercy is so great and it has a point to it to save us, to get us to turn from our sins. He doesn't get mean or impatient with us because he knows that won't work. He uses the tool that he knows what will get us to turn to him as a parent. I knew what tool to use with each of my kids to get them to do what was right. And by the way, the tool was different for each of his kids, but Paul says in verse five, you can look at it if you want to, a day of anger is coming. When God will judge us according to what we've done. In other words, one of those tools he uses to get us to turn back to him is his anger and his wrath. It's a tool meant to get us to repent. And what he's saying is there is out there somewhere a future wrath. And when you get to that place, there will be no turning back. That wrath is reserved for those who are stubborn, refused to obey God. And now to explain how all of this works,

Paul shows us something really interesting and verses seven and eight. Let's read it. And I want to read it to you once and then I'm going to show you something. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. This is about the judgment seat of Christ. This is for believers, right? This is all about rewards. Verse eight is for unbelievers, but he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. Now, we talked about this before, but in the Hebrew scripture, there's a thing called a chiasm, not a chasm, but a chiasm. And it was a way of writing. It was a writing style that would help people remember it. And it's easiest for me if I just show it to you. I want to rearrange the verses a little bit or just put them in where you can see what I'm talking about. It's a pattern. And this one is A, B, C, D, D, C, B, A, right? One of the more famous ones in America is JFK's speech. He used a chiasm when he said,

ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. That one's A, B, B, A. Let me show you what I'm talking about. In this one, the first line goes with the last line. The second line goes with the second to the last, third with the third to last, but I want you to look at this middle part, this yellow part, right? In a chiasm together, middle telling us here? It's telling us that God offers to believers, what? Immortality. But for those who refuse to repent, he is pouring out his anger and his wrath on them. Why? Why is he doing that? Well, watch, because they live for themselves, in other words, for their own honor instead of for the glory and honor of God. He says that these people watch, refuse to obey the truth, but the righteous do obey. In fact, they keep on doing good. And for those who do good, watch this, he gives eternal life, which is different than a life of wickedness. And when you see this laid out this way, it begins to make sense. And Paul, what he's doing in that middle section is showing us how this works for believers and how this works for unbelievers. But the point is the same, right? For believers, your works matter. Now, they don't save you, but they will affect your eternity. For unbelievers, your works matter and they will affect your eternity. And what you do with God's Word also matters as well. And Paul is helping us see that obedience to the Holy Spirit leads to everlasting life. But that everlasting life starts right now. But repeated disobedience and a refusal to repent leads to a life of wickedness that has a dead end. Now, I want to show you why Paul is talking about all of this, because in the next verse, he actually gets to the main idea. Look at this in verse nine. There will be trouble and calamity for, say it, for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. Now, who is it that will face calamity and trouble? Everyone. In other words, no one is safe from the wrath of God on their own. No one gets a free pass. And what he's saying is it does not matter if you have Jewish blood or not. In fact, look at this in verse 10. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for who? For all, say all, all who do good for the

Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. Paul is making a point with this line. And you see this line over and over and over in the book of Romans for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. He's making a point that was huge back in those days, because there was a huge divide in the church at that time. Remember, he started this whole chapter by saying you judge others for the same things that you do. Who is the you he's talking about? Well, clearly, in this passage, he's talking to the Jewish Christians in Rome. Now, let me explain this whole situation surrounding all of this, because today in America, we don't really have Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. We just have Christians. But back then, there was a big divide between these two groups. And let me just show you and illustrate this for you how this works. And we have two guys here. We have a Jewish guy and a Gentile guy. And the Jewish person, as you know, has the law. They have the law, right? But the Gentile people do not have the law, right? And this was a huge deal at the time for Jewish believers. In fact, in verse 23, Paul says they were proud that they had the law. Verse 17 says they relied on the law. They bragged about this special relationship with God that came from the law. Now, that does not mean that they thought they didn't need Jesus. In fact, the Jewish people were the first people to receive Jesus. They came to Jesus, but the Gentiles, according to the Bible, also received Jesus without the law. And what Paul says is the Jew first and also the Gentile. He's not talking about priority. He's talking about chronology, right? He's not saying that these were more important. He's saying that they got the good news before the Gentiles. It's just a matter of timing, timing. That Jesus came to the Jews first. And it makes sense, right? Because Jesus was born Jewish, two Jewish parents, in a Jewish town, under Jewish customs. But even while he was still on earth, he was talking to and ministering to Gentiles. You remember the story in Matthew 8 where the Roman soldier comes to Jesus and asks him to heal, this kind of faith in anyone including the Jewish people. So the Gentiles were always capable of receiving Jesus. But here's the problem. The Jewish believer looked at the Gentile believer and said wait a minute, you have to have the law first, right? If you can't get the law, you got to change. You got to do what we did. It's not fair. And this is where we get to the problem of circumcision, right? Some of the Jewish believers were saying to the Gentile believers that you got to be circumcised first, that then you can become a Christian, right? And so Paul is saying that's not how it works because Jesus is all you need. It does not matter if you have the law or not. What really matters is that you have Jesus.

But we still do the same thing today. And we don't call it the law anymore. It's religion. And we may not even call it that, but that's what it is. It's religion. It's judgment. It's legalism. And what happens is we end up saying you need to be like me because I'm a good Christian. You just do what I do. There's a difference between looking at someone and saying that's wrong. What you're doing is wrong. And looking at the person and saying that's wrong. What you're doing is wrong. Therefore I am better than you. And that's what Paul is saying is that it's easy for us to identify everybody else's sin and become blind to our own. And he's saying that's very, very dangerous. And what we end up doing is taking all these minor bottom shelf issues and making them major. Then you can't watch an already movie. You can't go trick or treating. You have to vote this way or you have to vote that way. And really what we're saying is if you act like me, you are really saved. But if you don't, you're not a real Christian. And Jesus says no, no, no, no. It's not about all of these minor issues. And by the way, sin is not a minor issue. That's not at all what we're saying. And it's not what Paul is saying. In fact, that's the whole issue is this Jewish Christians were saying we're circumcised. We have the law, but they still hadn't dealt with their sins. Look at this in verse 23. You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you. This is what religion does. It says I'm perfect. I got it together and it points the finger at anyone and everyone else. And if you don't line up with every one of their pet doctrines, then you don't measure up and you don't deserve salvation. But they ignore every single sin in their own hearts. And when Paul said not to judge, it wasn't some rule that we have to follow to stay in God's graces. It wasn't some spiritual principle to keep ourselves from being judged. Look, it was an evangelism strategy. Instead of judging those who are outside the church, let's show them grace and mercy and love them into the church. And we need to lead with grace because that's what Jesus did for us and the law and religion and all of that. There's some good parts to it, right? In that, to the extent that it points us to Jesus. What the New Testament says about the law and Galatians, Paul says is that the law is a tutor to show us that we cannot do it on our own. The law will point you to Christ and push you to Christ because it shows you you cannot do it on your own.

Only Christ can and only Christ has. And legalism says do good and God will accept you, obey God and he will reward you with salvation. But grace says no, no, the only way to actually obey is to first have grace. Listen, we can't obey God without a change of heart. And no matter what you do on the outside, if you haven't been changed on the inside, it doesn't actually matter. Jump down to verse 29. And let's see what Paul says. True circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law. Rather, it is a change of heart. It is a change of heart produced by the Holy Spirit. In other words, there's an outward righteousness and there's an inner righteousness. And the outward has to come from the inner. And you cannot make the inner self better by being outwardly righteous. It starts with a transformation or a change of heart. You We are in Jesus and count. "Jesus, what must I do?" Well, what must I do? In other words, he wanted a task list. That's what religion does. That's what religion wants, a list of do's and don't so that you know you are good, and Jesus in all of his wisdom picks the tasks that the guy had done. In his grace, he didn't list the ones that the guy was guilty of. He picked the ones that a religious person would feel good about themselves for. And when he listed all of those, the guy said, "Jesus, I've done all of that." As long as I can remember, since I was a youth, and then Jesus added one. This one wasn't from the law, but it was just the point that Jesus was making, and you know what he told him to do,

and the guy said that he couldn't do it, and he walked away sad. What Jesus was trying to show him is, "This is not a task list that makes you good. "You cannot do enough to make yourself good." The legalist is the one who tries to do everything right, because they are so focused on the outer, that they actually ignore, that inner life. Real believers repent, not just for the bad they do, but for the reason that they often do good, for a pat on the back, instead of out of love for God. But real believers obey from the love that they have for God, because they fully realize the love that God had for them first. And the point Jesus is making, when he says, "Why do you call me good? "Only one is good. "Only God is good." In other words, goodness is not a scale. Only God is good, and Jesus is God. But let's just, for a moment, pretend it were a scale. Who would you say is way over here on the bad side? Like, who's the worst of the worst, Hitler, right? I don't know who before 1945 was on this side of the scale, but since that point, Hitler has held that spot, right? But over on the other side, we could put Billy Graham or Mother Teresa or whomever we want. And what we do is we put ourselves somewhere on this scale, and we look back and say, "Well, at least I'm not Hitler." So I must be going to heaven.

But let me ask you this question. Do you think Hitler ever told a lie? Of course he did, right? So we have something in common with Hitler. You think Hitler ever disobeyed his parents? Of course. So we have more in common with Hitler, and we could go down the list, down the list, down the list, down the list, and we would be 98% like Hitler. And the reason he's so evil in our minds is because of that horrible thing that he did, pretty big thing, but as a percentage of his total sins, it's just one, right? The other 95 or 98% of what he did, we do. My point is we can't be good on our own, and we cannot compare ourselves to the worst person in the history of the world, and say, "See, I am good. You can only be good if you are Jesus." In other words, God gives you no credit for effort. You're either good or you're not, and the only way you can be good is by receiving Jesus Christ. And I wanna help you do that today. If would you bow your heads and close your eyes? And if you're here today and somebody invited you, or maybe you've been around a long time, but today the Holy Spirit is grabbing your heart and saying, "This is for you." You need salvation. You need to come into a relationship with the Father. I wanna lead you in a prayer, helping you do just that. And I'll repeat it one phrase at a time

so that you can repeat it after me. Out loud, you're gonna hear people praying all around you, out loud. But if you wanna trust Christ, come to Jesus, give your life to him, would you pray with me and say, "Dear God, I know I'm a sinner." But today I ask you to forgive me for all of my sin. Jesus, coming to my life, to be my Lord, my Savior, my forgiver, in the best way that I know how. I turn my back on my sin and I trust you alone, Jesus, to save me. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus' name we pray, and together we all say, amen and amen, would you thank the Lord for meeting with us in His grace today.