THE ROMAN ROAD -- "Is God Just?"

THE ROMAN ROAD
“Is God Just?”
Romans 2:2-5
November 30, 2011

Last week we took a look at God’s case against the moralist. We talked about all of the points of what a moralist is and what they think. In summary, what would you say is a moralist? WAIT The moralist is someone who elevates their personage while running down others. Tonight, we want to move on by looking at some misconceptions that man has regarding God’s judgment. God’s justice is perfect and His judgment:

IS BASED ON TRUTH: -- Romans 2:2-5 “Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,….”

What is your definition of truth? God’s judgment will be executed in perfect justice. The word “truth” in the Greek is aletheian and it means true as opposed to false. It means what really is; what actually exists; what exactly takes place. In other words, God’s judgment is perfectly just, exactly what it should be, nothing more and nothing less.

His judgment is based on what really happens, what the facts are, what actually takes place and what a person really is within his heart and what that person actually did.

1Samuel 16:7 says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

God knows the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. His judgment will conform exactly to our deeds and it will match those deeds perfectly.

God, is omniscient – He knows everything including the motives of our hearts. Mankind operates on the premise of subjective truth – what may be truth you is not truth to me. So truth is relative and changes according to circumstances. So, in reality then such truth is no truth at all.

But the type of truth that Paul mentions here concerning God is always objective truth – it’s truth that never changes. In real life terms real truth cannot change because if it does, then it’s not truth at all. So, God’s judgment is based on perfect truth and cannot be denied.

Now, man operates with a misconception about truth and God’s judgment. Now, thinking about this moralist person, the moralist thinks that :

HE WILL ESCAPE GOD’S JUDGMENT -- The problem here is that the moralist forgets that all of mankind sin and fall short of God’s glory. He forgets that God sees the inner recesses of man’s heart. They forget that God will judge men not only for their deeds but for their thoughts as well. For their lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Secondly, this moralist thinks that:

GOD IS TOO GOOD TO PUNISH -- They think of God in terms of His riches – things like God’s goodness, kindness, grace and love. They think of God’s holding back and controlling His justice. They think of God’s longsuffering and being patient and slow in judging sin. And all of that is true about God.

But there is another side to the goodness of God that the moralist doesn’t see. And that is that God’s goodness is not a blank check to sin; it’s not a license to sin; it doesn’t condone sin; it does not overlook sin.

God’s goodness leads men to repentance and not sin. The fact that God WILL forgive sin should stir men’s hearts to seek God’s forgiveness and learn how to please God. If a person goes out and sins, thinking that God will just overlook that sin, he is despising God’s goodness. But they are wrong. God does not overlook sins. It will be judged.

1 John 3:7-8 says, “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Thirdly, the moralist thinks that:

MAN IS BASICALLY GOOD -- Their thinking is that man can be good enough for God to accept. He thinks that God is only looking for the good in man and that within man there is enough good for Him to accept. There is a thinking that God’s
Goodness accepts man’s good works, good thoughts, good behavior, good feelings, good nature and good tendencies.

The problem with that thinking is that God can only accept perfection. No man is perfect in nature, thought or behavior. So, all of mankind is unacceptable to God.
God’s goodness should lead all men to confess their sins and to seek God’s acceptance through the cross and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Finally, the moralist:

HARDENS HIS HEART AGAINST GOD -- They refuse to repent. Notice at the end of vs 5, it speaks of “righteous judgment.” That means just, fair, impartial, correct, exact. That means that God’s judgment is just what it should be. In fact, God must judge for God is love.

As love, He must straighten out all the injustices on earth. He must right all of the wrongs. He must correct the injustices of man. He must judge man with a judgment that is perfect.

Take note of the words But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath The person who hardens their heart against the Lord and refuses to repent, is storing up more and more of God’s wrath for themselves when the day of judgment comes.

John 3:36 says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

It is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ is man found acceptable to God and therefore permitted to enter into heaven. We are not saved BY our good works, we are saved to DO good works. Don’t think that God is too good to send a person to hell. It’s clear from His Word, that the wicked will perish in hell. The cross is the only way to accept that judgment of God and God’s judgment will come to all men who refuse to accept Jesus Christ.

Father, we ask that Your Holy Spirit will drive these truths into our hearts so as to help us live a life that is pleasing to You. May we daily understand that we must take Your love, mercy and grace for granted but that these are available to us only through the blood of Jesus Christ. I pray that we will live out this truth to such an extent that the lost around us will be drawn to Jesus and surrender their lives to Him as their Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.