[Romans 2.1_16] 2026.07.12 Inexcusable in God's Righteous Judgement

Inexcusable in God's Righteous Judgement

Principle 1: God Judges According to Truth.

Principle 2: God Judges According to Works.

Principle 3: God Judges According to Light.

Introduction

Today, we live in an age when many people doubt that Judgment Day is coming; We live in an age of relativism, of pluralism, of tolerance, of diversity, an age when every people do that which is right in his/her own eyes. The watchword of the age is “If it’s right for you, go ahead and do it.” So, we can say that most people today doubt that there is any such thing as absolute truth. All truth is relative, defined by the circumstances of time and place.

If you ask the average person on the street: “Do you believe in a universal day of judgment for the human race?”, the answers you are likely to get, if you get an answer at all, will be of the “I don’t believe a God of love will judge anybody.” Or “I’m not worried about it because I’m as good as the next fellow.” The eternal optimist would say, “I’ll take my chances,” while the positive thinker would say, “Not to worry. I’m okay. You’re okay. We’re all okay.”

But, the message of judgment is precisely the message modern people needs to hear. It reminds us that Someone is up there listening, paying attention on everything we say and do and think. I know this may sounds scary, but as frightening as that may be, it is also tremendously reassuring because it means that God not only knows all about us, He cares about the minute details of our life. In fact, God cares so much that one day we will have to answer for the way we have lived upon this earth.

With that as introduction, we come to our today’s passage, Romans 2:1-16. For the last few weeks, we’ve been living in the depressing world of Romans 1. Last week we looked at Paul’s picture of the world as it progressively turns away from God. People abandoned God and God gave them over to the lusts of their impure hearts, and God gave them over to a depraved mind to be filled with all unrighteousness and wickedness. 

But now we’ve turned to a new page in Paul’s argument. The subject is no longer Gentile depravity. The focus shifts to the moral person who says, “I don’t live like those Gentiles. Those words don’t apply to me.” But no matter how religious or moral someone seems on the outside, we'll find that they have no excuse because God judges the intentions of the heart, not just how someone looks.

So, today’s message should cause us to examine our own hearts to make sure that we are not being hypocrites ourselves, looking good on the outside, but on the inside, in the intentions of our hearts, we are just as wretched as those we looked at last week. 

Context

In this context, the “moral person” is a good person who is not a Christian. He pays his taxes, loves his wife, helps his kids, works hard, and obeys the law. Although he is a good neighbour, a hard worker, and an all-around nice guy, he is not a Christian. To be even more specific, he probably is a church member, but he is not saved. He is moral, but lost.

In one sense, at least, the moral person is right. Not everyone lives the way Paul described in those terrible closing verses of chapter 1. Many people had higher standards, especially the Jews. They truly were not guilty of the gross idolatry Paul describes, nor did they outwardly descend to the depths of sin. As they read Paul’s words, these people said, “Preach it, brother. Tell it like it is. Let them have it, Paul.” The Jews loved to criticize the Gentiles, they called them “dogs.” So, Paul’s word about the sins of Gentiles warmed their hearts.

That brings us to the main point of chapter 2. Paul’s point is that the moral person is just as guilty as the heathen who do the things he describes in chapter 1. Their sins may be different but their guilt is the same. But as everyone knows, it’s not easy to convince a moral people of their guilt, because moral people truly believe they are better than other people.

In Romans 2:1-16, Paul shows why the moral man is just as guilty as the most depraved sinner. Paul does it by laying out the principles by which God will one day judge the human race. There are three principles: Principle 1: God Judges According to Truth. Principle 2: God Judges According to Works. Principle 3: God Judges According to Light. Each one of which convicts the moral people of their sin.

I: God Judges According to Truth

Let’s begin by looking at verse 2: “God’s judgment … is based on the truth.” The Truth here refers, not to the gospel, but to reality, to life as it actually is. God judges people according to reality, according to the way things are, not the way we would like them to be. This’s not good news for the moralist, because he/she thinks and hopes that God’s judgment will be like those Funny House mirrors that make a short person look tall and a fat person look thin. Not so. When God judges, He judges according to reality.

Thus, God is going to judge according to truth. He knows even the motives and the intentions of your heart. Can you imagine standing before a judge that actually was omniscient and knew all things? What a frightening thing. So, someday those who reject Christ will stand before Him in judgment. It’s called the great white throne judgment.

Another thing that verses 1 and 2 tell us is that moralists are basically bad because they are hypocrites. When they look down on other people, they are actually doing the very thing they say is wrong. Verse 1, “Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.”

We’re all quick to condemn in others what we excuse in ourselves. I heard the story of a father who complained about the amount of time that his family was spending watching TV. He was really bothered by that. It seemed the kids were watching TV way too much and not doing their homework; It seemed that his wife was watching TV way too much, and she wasn’t doing her housework. So, he decided and said this, “As soon as the NBA season is over, I’m going to unplug the TV.” You know whenever we point our finger at someone else, there are at least three fingers pointing back at us.

This reveals a key principle of God’s judgment. When the Day of Judgment finally rolls around, God will not be fooled by our pretences, He’ll look beyond our outer facade to see how we have lived when no one else around. And in particular, God will notice our many moral judgments of other people.

Let’s suppose that every time a baby is born, an invisible tape recorder is hung around his neck. As that baby grows up, the tape recorder faithfully records all the moral judgments that person makes about another person: “He can’t be trusted;” “Only a fool would do a thing like that;” “He doesn’t deserve a second chance.” Think of all the thousands and thousands of moral judgments we make every year. And the invisible recorder catches them all. Finally, the day comes when the guy stands before God. He protests that he doesn’t deserve to be there, that God has nothing on him, that he’s been a very good person. From nowhere, a finger appears and presses a button on the tape recorder around the man’s neck. Out comes the sound of all the moral judgments that guy made over the decades. When it is over, God says, “Now I will judge you by the same standards you used in judging others.” Who could survive that judgement? But that’s exactly what Paul is saying. The moral person is condemned by his/her own words. Why? Because they do the very thing they condemns in others.

And the tendency toward hypocrisy shows itself in many subtle ways. Have you ever noticed how we like to “rename” our sins? We do that by ascribing the worst motives to others, while using other phrases to let ourselves off the hook. If you do it, you’re a liar; … well, I just “stretch the truth.” You lose your temper; I have righteous anger. You gossip; I share prayer requests. You’re pushy; I’m intensely goal-oriented… And so, it goes. We all have a thousand ways to excuse our own behaviour, while at the same time criticizing others for doing the same things. No wonder Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” If we all followed Jesus’ standard, the volume of criticism in the world would rapidly fall to zero.

But that’s not the whole story. Moralists are in deep trouble with God, not only for their hypocrisy but also for their pride. People who think they are better than others, naturally tend to think that they will never face God’s judgment. That’s what verse 3 says: “Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment?” The answer of course is Yes, that’s exactly what the moralists think, but they are sadly mistaken.

Most of us resist any comparison between ourselves and those evil people on the news. Our sins are different, we say. True, but only in degree, not in kind. Friends, you might look nice on the outside, but inside you are just as wretched as those who practice the evil things openly. So here, Paul says that even the outwardly moral, religious person, who seem pious on the outside is without excuse.  There is only one way that a person can escape God’s judgment, and that is by repenting of our sin before God and putting our faith in Jesus Christ, believing that His death paid the price for our sin, that He was buried and that He rose from the dead the third day, proving that sin was paid for and death was conquered.  This is the only way to escape God’s wrath.

And Paul’s final indictment of the moral hypocrite is found in verse 4, “or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? The question is rhetorical, implying a yes answer. Yes, many moral people take God’s mercy for granted. They think that because God hasn’t punished them yet, they must be good people, if they were bad people, God wouldn’t let them get away with it. By such reasoning backward from effect to cause, these people actually use God’s patience with them as an excuse to continue their hypocrisy.

But they miss the point. God’s patience doesn’t mean He is pleased. To the contrary, God’s patience with mankind means that God is willing to give people extra time to come to Him.

Sometimes we look at the evils of the world and say, “Why doesn’t God put an end to the evil we see all around us?” As if evil were somewhere “out there” and not inside us.  Why doesn’t God put an end to all the killing? There are many answers to that question, but perhaps it is best answered with another question. Why didn’t God strike you dead when you shouted “I hate you” at your husband? Why didn’t God punish you for cheating on your income tax? Why didn’t God lower the boom when you spread a rumour about a co-worker?

God sees it all. God’s mercy causes Him not to judge quickly. God waits because He knows how blind we are, how stubborn, how foolish, how prone to evil we are. God waits because He knows we need more time; God waits because He wants us to repent and turn to Him.

II: God Judges According to Works

Then, verse 6 says: God will repay each one according to his works. So, not only is God’s judgment according to Truth; it is also according to works. To say it another way: God looks not only at what you say; He also looks at what you do.

Why are our works so important? Simply because our works reveal what is in our hearts. Whatever is inside must eventually come out. This is a great principle that reveals itself in many ways. If you are angry inside, that anger must eventually reveal itself; If you are bitter, that bitterness will bubble to the surface; If you are a greedy person, your greed will show itself in your actions. Likewise, if you are merciful, mercy will come forth; If you are gentle, the world will soon see your gentleness; If you are wise or trustworthy or loving … whatever you are on the inside, will be seen in the way you live.

That’s why God judges by works, not to establish the way of salvation but the basis of judgment. We are saved by faith and judged by works. Is there a contradiction? Not at all. Our works ultimately reveal what is in our heart, either faith leading to life or unbelief leading to judgment.

How do you tell an apple tree? It gets apples from it. If you come up to a tree and it has oranges on it, most likely it’s an orange tree. Apricot? Apricot tree. Peaches? Peach tree. You know a tree by its fruit. So, we can tell whether a person is saved by the way they live. The Greek tense here is talking about an ongoing habitual, perpetual lifestyle. It’s not talking about a single act. A saved person doesn’t live a sinless life, but it should not be the pattern of their life.

If you have been born again, then sanctification as the process starts, you find that your life starts to change. You’re not saved because you changed, you change because you’re saved. And change takes place over a long period, and some change quicker than others. Some change very little over a long period, and it’s time to get moving.

So, these verses, verse 6-9, reinforce the first principle, God judges not what you intend to do; God judges what you actually do. In other words, God judges not how much truth you know, but what you have done with the truth.

III: God Judges According to Light

Paul’s final principle is brought in verse 11: “For there is no favouritism with God.” This was not good news for the Jews because they deeply believed in God’s favouritism. They expected special treatment from God. Many of Jews believed that because God had chosen them, God would give them a special deal when Judgment Day finally rolled around. But Paul tells them, “Yes, you’ll get a special deal, but you won’t be happy about it.”

In verses 12-16 Paul explains that God judges the Jews and Gentiles by two different standards. Since the Jews were given the Law, they would be judged by the law. But the Gentiles, who didn’t have the law, would receive a different judgment.

1. The Jews are judged according to the Law

Firstly, Paul said to the Jews. “All who sin under the law will be judged by the law.” When Paul says “law,” it refers to the Ten Commandments. The Jews had known for 1500 years exactly what God had wanted from them. Those divine principles were engraved on tablets of stone. But that knowledge only makes their guilt greater! Why? Because knowledge always demands a response.

That’s what Paul means when he says in verse 13, “For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” God doesn’t want big talkers; He wants big doers. What God wants is people who actually live by His divine commandments. That’s where Jews fell short. They didn’t understand that it is not the possession of the law but the practice of the law that matters with God.

That’s not good news for the Jews or for 21th-century moralists. Likewise, as Christians， we’re in big trouble if we think God is impressed because we go to church, pay our taxes, dress nicely, live in a big house, and stay out of trouble. As Christians, we may think we’re better than others, but God judges us more strictly because we know so much more than the “sinners” of the world.

2. Everyone else is judged according to their conscience

Then in verse 14-15, Paul says: “So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them.”

Five times in two verses, Paul mentions the word “law.” Firstly, Paul says that the Law of Moses was not given to the Gentiles. But there is something inside people’s heart which compels them to keep the moral standards that God laid down in the Ten Commandments. So, when the Gentiles obey the moral standards of the law, even though they know nothing about the law, they are truly fulfilling God’s law, about which they know nothing.

Then Paul tells us that God has written on the heart of every person a basic moral code. That code is similar to the things contained in the Ten Commandments. This universal moral code consists of things like “Do not steal,” “Do not cheat,” “Tell the truth,” “Honor your parents,” “Keep your word,” “Help the poor,” “Do not kill,” and so on. It would be hard to find a culture anywhere in the world where those moral values are not honoured. This was not a new idea. The Greek poet Sophocles spoke of “the unwritten and indelible laws of the gods.” The Platonic philosopher Plutarch called it “a law which is not written in books, but implanted in the heart of man.” In fact, this concept of a universal moral code was widely discussed by the Greeks and Romans. Paul simply picks up that concept and applies it to the Gentiles.

So, how can God judge a person who has never known the law? How can God treat those who has never heard the Gospel? It’s easy. Human beings have the universal moral code written in their hearts. And they also have a conscience. Since everyone has a conscience, and everyone has some sense of right and wrong, God judges people according to how well they lived up to their own moral standards.

In this case, no one can say, “I’ve never done wrong,” because every human being has violated his or her conscience at least once, and most of us many times. That’s why God can fairly judge the Gentiles. The law “written in their hearts” will be the standard by which they will be judged.

In one of the museums in the Vatican, there is a very old manuscript written on pages of papyrus. Sometime after the pages were first inscribed, someone took the sheets, turned the page sideways, and wrote at a 90-degree angle to the original writing. The later writing is darker, in some places almost effacing the original writing. But if you look carefully, you can still discern the original words.

Such is the heart and conscience of mankind. In the early days of the human race, God wrote the truth about Himself on everyone’s hearts. That truth included the reality of God’s existence, His justice, His greatness and the universal moral code of the conscience. But human beings turned the page sideways and wrote in dark letters of the dark record of their dark doings. In some places the writing is so dark that the original truth about God is nearly obscured. But the day is coming when the acid of God’s judgment will wipe away the dark record of the evil deeds of the human race. In that day, the X-Ray of God will bring to light the original writing by which people will be judged.

So, in that day, there will be no excuse, not for the Gentiles, not for the Jew, not for the moral person, not for you, not for me. No one will be treated unfairly. Everyone will receive exactly what he/she deserves. People will be judged by the light they have received, and no one will be found innocent. Because light brings responsibility, revelation brings responsibility, and to whom much is given, much is required.

That’s Paul’s argument. God sees all. God sees all the actions that we have conveniently forgotten. He sees it when we are unfair in our business tactics, when we are arrogant toward someone we think is on a lower social level than ourselves. All these things God notices. God knows all; God judges according to reality, according to works and according to light. The message is clear: The whole world is guilty before God. The Gentiles is guilty. The Jew is guilty. The moral person is guilty.

In verse one of this section, man is on the throne judging. In verse 16, God is on the throne in judgment. The day is coming when all the things God sees are finally made public, so Paul says in verse 16, “on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.” Friends, do not think that because you come to church that you are okay! Coming to church does not make you okay; Do not think that because you don’t do what the evils do, that you are okay! Do not think that because God hasn’t punished you lately, that that means He is pleased with you!

Let me put it plainly. If we are trusting in our good works and our basic nice-guy morality to get us to heaven, we will be sadly disappointed. In fact, we’re not as good as we think we are; We’re not as nice as we pretend to be; We don’t live up to our own standards. The day is coming when we will be condemned by our own words and deeds.

Conclusion

As a human being, we must all face Jesus Christ sooner or later. Either we face Him as Savior now, or we must face Him as Judge later. Those who prefer to face Him as Judge will live to eternally regret their decision. So, the alternatives are very simple. Either face Jesus Christ now … or face Him later.

Today He is your Savior; Later He will be your Judge; Today you can be forgiven; Later you will only be condemned. Today your record can be wiped clean; Later your record will be used against you.

Friends, you do need to ask yourself what you are trusting in for eternal life?  If it is anything other than the forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, then you are storing up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.  Repent and believe that Jesus Christ died for you, paying the penalty you deserve for sin.  When you believe this about Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven, and you are saved from God’s wrath against sin, and you inherit eternal life. 

What does it mean to believe? It means that you trust Him. It means that you put your faith in Him; It means that you receive Him, and you look to Him and you trust in Him to save you. You don’t trust in your goodness; You don’t trust in your race or your religion or your rite.

What are you trusting in this morning? So, don’t just stand there looking religious. Religion can only damn you! Please, drop everything and run to Jesus; Drop your morality, drop your pretence, drop your excuses, drop it all and run to the Son of God. The good news is this: Jesus is ready to meet you.

Three Reflective Questions

1.     Am I trusting in my own goodness, or in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation?

2.     Where have I been quick to judge others while overlooking the sin in my own heart?

3.     How is God calling me to respond to His kindness with genuine repentance and obedient faith this week?