Be Careful How You Judge Others: A Message from Romans 2
Today we are continuing in Romans on Sunday mornings. We have been preaching through Romans, and we finished up with chapter 1 of Romans last Sunday.
In chapter 1, toward the end of the chapter, the title of the message was “God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness.” In that passage, Paul was especially referring to Gentiles. Gentiles are anybody that is non-Jewish.
What we saw in that passage was that even though God showed them He was real through His creation—have you ever looked at creation and can see there must be God?—it said even though they knew God was real, it said there in Romans 1 that they suppressed the truth about God.
We were reminded in a day and age when a lot of people suppress the truth about God. Maybe even though they know deep down inside God is real, do not suppress the truth about God.
What we read in that passage last Sunday was as they suppressed the truth about God, it led to them turning from God. If we start to suppress the truth about God, about what God’s Word says, about what God promises in His Word, we will start to turn from God.
When we turn from God, it leads to sin and ungodliness. In Romans 1, the passage we were on last Sunday, we read all kinds of sin and ungodliness that happened as a result of the people that Paul was referring to in that day turning from God.
We live in a day and age where a lot of people are turning from God. We live in a day and age where a lot of people do not believe in God. But we were reminded last Sunday that if we have been saved, if we have trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are not to be conformed to this world. We are to be in this world, but not of this world.
Romans 12 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
We were reminded that even though there might be a lot of sin, even though there might be a lot of ungodliness, even though there might be a lot of people that turn from God, that does not mean that we are to go toward sin. That does not mean that we are to go toward ungodliness. We are to be the salt and the light of this world.
Today we are flipping the page to chapter 2 of Romans. So if you have got your Bibles and you want to open up there—just after the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then after the book of Acts comes the book of Romans—we are in Romans chapter 2.
We are going to begin reading in Romans chapter 2, beginning there in verse 1.
Last Sunday toward the end of chapter 1, the audience Paul was writing to was the Gentiles. Today in chapter 2, what we will see is Paul is addressing it to the Jewish people of his day. But I definitely think as we read this passage, we will find plenty that relates to us today as well.
I invite anybody that would like and is able to stand with me in honor of the reading of the Word of God. We are in Romans chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. We are going to read through verse 16.
The Word of God says:
“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
Let’s pray. God, we love You and I just thank You and I praise You for this day. I thank You and I praise You that we are able to be here together to worship. Lord, I thank You for everyone You brought here today. Thank You, God, for answering prayers today. Thank You for the new visitors we have got here today. And thank You for the ones that have been members here a long time that You brought here today.
As we continue to worship You and as we dig into the Word of God, I pray You work inside of hearts today. God, for those of us that have trusted in You, Jesus, as Lord and Savior, I pray that as the Word is preached and as we dig in it, You pierce our hearts. You work inside of us to mold us, God, and to shape us to live more and more for You.
God, I pray if there is somebody here today that has never fully surrendered their life to You, Jesus, I pray they would know how much You love them. I pray they would know that You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for them. And I pray that they would know that You died for them, Jesus, for their sins so that they could be forgiven. And You rose on the third day so that they could be forgiven and saved. And I pray today would be the day that they give their life to You, Jesus Christ.
God, we love You and we ask You to just work inside of this place today for Your glory and Your honor. It is in Jesus’ name we pray. All God’s people said, “Amen.”
Be Careful How You Judge Others
Thanks so much. You know, as we read this passage, something that stood out to me is that we need to be careful how we judge others. Be careful how you judge others.
It says there in verse 1: “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
I just picture Paul after he has talked about the Gentiles in chapter 1 and where the Gentiles had all this awful sin after turning from God. I just picture Paul—who by the way was a Jew of Jews, who lived as a Pharisee but then he got saved. He got saved on the road to Damascus and he was changed when he met Jesus.
I just picture him then writing to the Jews and saying, “Oh you, be careful how you judge.” Jewish people—they were a proud people and oftentimes they would judge Gentiles. They would judge people that did not believe in the one true God. And oftentimes they would look down upon them.
Gentiles were people that were non-Jewish and oftentimes, not always, oftentimes did not believe in God and oftentimes were more associated with pagan gods and so forth and sin and this and that.
But Paul is basically saying, “Hey, you be careful how you judge.” And by the way, then it says because you are practicing the same things. It says you are sinning too.
The Jewish people later in this passage that we read—we are not going to get into it a lot, but it talks about the law. The Jewish people had the law. But you know what we realized and that they realized and that Paul was trying to tell them: none of y’all follow the law perfectly.
The law exposed and taught us. The law was our tutor and it taught us that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Amen.
Paul was saying—and I could just picture the Jews judging the Gentiles, judging them for their sin, saying, “Man, look what they are doing. Look how they are living.” And by the way, in this passage in verse 1, it sounds like they were doing some of those same things.
In chapter 1, verses 29 through 31 that we read last Sunday, it has all kinds of sin and ungodliness that the Gentiles were practicing. Well, what Paul is saying is, why are you judging them? You are doing the same thing.
From what it reads, the way the Bible reads there, it seems like they were doing a lot of those same sinful things that the Gentiles were doing. But almost this thought of, “Well, I am good. I am of the Jewish faith.”
Hey, and today in this day and age, sometimes people will think they are good. In fact, sometimes people will think they are good to go to heaven because they are so good and so nice and so kind. But being a good person—yeah, it is a great thing to be—but we are not good enough to get to heaven. No matter how good we are, right? None of us are good enough to stand before a holy God and get access to heaven. No matter how kind we are, no matter how nice we are, we are not that good.
You see, we need a way to be forgiven of sins. And God made a way by sending His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus hung on the cross for us. Jesus died for us. He was God in the flesh. He was sinless. He was without sin. And He was the one and only sinless, perfect sacrifice that could be made for sinners like you and I.
A lot of the Jewish people that day would not have agreed with Paul. Paul was basically telling them, “You are going to be judged too.” And in essence, what he was telling them is, you need Jesus to be forgiven of sins.
Have You Ever Been Guilty of Judging Others?
As I think about that phrase, “Be careful how we judge others,” I have got a question. Have you ever been guilty of judging others?
I believe every single one of us—I would think—have all been guilty of judging others.
We might see the way somebody is living and we start talking bad about them. Man, can you? It might be somebody in our family when they are not around and then they walk in the door. “Hey, how you doing?” We act one way behind their back and act another way when they walk in. Yeah, y’all ever know what I am talking about?
It might be a lost person. You know, they were looking down on the Gentiles, many of whom did not believe in God. You know, it might be that we judge: “Man, look at those sinners out there.” Well, by the way, if somebody has never given their life to Jesus, how can we expect them to be convicted of that sin anyway, right?
Or sometimes we will judge other Christians and boy, will Satan use that to divide God’s people.
A stern warning we are given here for all of us is: be careful about judging others.
You know, hopefully the next time we start to talk bad about somebody or we start to judge somebody, I hope we remember this passage and other places in the Bible where we are told not to judge. And maybe then the next time somebody starts talking to you bad about somebody, you will be able to remind them what the Bible says and that we are not to judge others.
In Matthew 7—the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we often call the Sermon on the Mount. It is a message that Jesus preached those three chapters. Matthew 7 verse 1, it says something similar: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.”
It says something very similar to what verse 1 here in Romans 2 says about not judging others. Because when you judge others, you condemn yourself.
Basically what God’s Word is telling us—one thing it is telling us—is be careful how you judge others.
Something I thought about is this: instead of judging others, we ought to focus on how we can better live for the Lord.
Because we have a tendency as humans—I believe, this is my opinion—we have a tendency to look down on other people and how sinful they are and really sometimes magnify their sin, but kind of justify and minimize our own sin.
We are all sinners. Everybody agree with that? Whether you believe in the Lord or not, does everybody agree you are a sinner? I think everybody knows—I think everybody, if they are honest—knows they have messed up in life. I would think that everybody knows that none of us are perfect. That we all make mistakes.
But we can have this tendency to judge others when what a blessing it would be if instead we were looking at ourselves.
Hey, does anybody remember that Michael Jackson song? It is not quite the same thing. I am going a little off target here, but it says, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror.”
There you go, Scott. I am starting with the man in the mirror. I am asking him to change his ways.
Yes. And no message could have been any clearer. Yes. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change.
But all jokes aside—thank you for the help up there, Scott. He does a little better at worship music than that.
But all jokes aside, we really should look at ourselves. But we have this natural knack, do we not, to look at the flaws of others instead of looking at ourselves.
You know, later on there in Matthew 7, it says, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
You know, it happens. We do it in all kinds of circles of life.
You know, in marriage, we will look at the flaws of our spouse and we will judge that so much and then we will forget to look like, “Hey, you ain’t perfect either,” right? We will do that. We just had Valentine’s Day yesterday, but we will have this tendency to look: “Man, look, you do this, you do that.”
What about if instead—can you imagine how it would change our marriages if instead we looked in the mirror and we looked at what we need to change?
We will do that in relationships. We will do that with our brother. We will do that with our sister. We will do that with our aunt or uncle. We will do that with people in church. We will go, “Man, gossip is sin and gossip is a church killer.” And we will go around the corner and we will say, “Man, can you believe this about this person? I can’t stand…” They will walk up, “Hey, how you doing?”
You have got to guard against gossip. And gossip really sometimes—what it stems from is judging other people.
What a blessing it would be if instead of judging others, we focus on how we can better live for the Lord.
Some of the Jewish people—I think part of what Paul was saying is sometimes some of them were acting self-righteous, like they were so holy. Think about the scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked. Remember, a lot of times they would be acting like they were so holy because they had the law, but then in reality, their hearts were not right. They had an outer appearance of being whitewashed, but on the inner, they were dirty. They were filthy. And God looks to the heart.
Instead of judging others, let us be encouraged to focus on how I can better walk with the Lord.
I love what Paul said. Paul, a mature believer, when he wrote this, he said, “I am the chief of all sinners.”
I hope something we all take away from this passage is to remember that we are not to judge others. That is not our job. God does not tell us we are to judge others.
I hope something I walk away with and you walk away with is—when we catch ourselves judging others because we are going to mess up sometimes—but to remember that instead of judging others, how can I better live for the Lord?
How can I better live for the Lord in my marriage? How can I better live for the Lord as a church member here? How can I better live for the Lord as a father or a mother? How can I better live for the Lord around my family? How can I better live for the Lord around my friends? Instead of judging others.
Something to remember is we are not the judge. God is the judge. Amen. We are not the judge. We like to think we are, but we are not. God is the judge.
God’s Word makes it clear that we are not to judge others. And by the way, Romans 14 verse 10 says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
God is the judge, not us. And I will tell you what, I am glad God is the judge. Are you? I am glad God is the judge and it is not me or it is not you because God is a righteous judge.
God Is a Righteous Judge
That is something we are reminded of in this passage. God is a righteous judge.
It says there in verse 2 of Romans 2: “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.”
God is a holy God, a perfect God, a righteous God. And God judges in fairness and in truth.
God judges—there. It says later on, I believe around verse 11, there is no partiality with God. It does not matter if you are in the country club. It does not matter if you have a big house or a small house. It does not matter if you are black or white or whatever you are. It does not matter if you are a man or a woman. God judges with no partiality. God judges righteously. God judges in truth. God is a just judge. God is a fair judge.
We are not. When we start to judge, we will start to say, “Well, that person—my friend, I was letting them off the hook, but that person, man, they are terrible.” You know what I mean? I will judge them.
You know, I went to—I had to go to a UNCC-Chapel Hill basketball game yesterday. I did not have to, but I am a Wolfpack fan. You know, we bleed red. Reminds me of the blood of Jesus.
But I went there and I went there because Gabriel, my sister had two tickets right behind the goal that some couple gives her where she works at. They give her one game every year right behind the goal. So she took Gabriel. We drove Gabriel down and Crystal and I got tickets. We were up in the nosebleeds and we were about to pass out. So we were able to come down. They let us sit at a lower level.
But you know, I can naturally judge Carolina fans because I am a Wolfpack. I mean, I got to be honest. I was pulling up in a parking garage and I was seeing all this blue walking around. I was like, “Oh gosh, all this blue makes me sick.”
But listen, what happened? This parking garage was packed and a car pulled out and I was like, “Great. We got a parking place.” I parked and I had to back in and back out. It had been a couple minutes and then this guy comes up and he says, “I have already paid for the whole day and I am leaving. I had to leave early so I will just give y’all this.” I was like, “Man, that is a blessing. Thank you.” He said, “You’re welcome. Go Heels.”
And I almost said, “No, go Wolfpack.” But it just did not feel right. The guy just helped us out.
But in my heart, I got to admit, I was kind of judging a little bit. Like, look at all these Tar Heel fans. I got to watch that.
During the game when we came down, we found a little spot to sit where we were not. So they let us sit in a spot and I met this guy. He has worked for the Dean Dome or in that—going to the games for 40 years. He had stories about Phil Ford. He has been there 40 years or so and had all these great stories.
So I thought, you know, I got to watch how I judge—even a Carolina fan can be okay.
But all jokes aside, God is a righteous judge. There is no partiality with God.
Paul again—he is talking to the Jewish people in chapter 2 and he is like, “You also are going to stand before God and God is a just judge. God is a fair judge. You are not the judge.”
We need to remember that.
It says in Psalm 98, “He shall judge the world in righteousness and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.” Psalm 98 verse 9: “He is coming to judge the earth with righteousness; He shall judge the world and the peoples with equity.”
So we remember that we are not the judge. God is the judge and God is a righteous judge.
Nobody Escapes the Judgment of God
Something else I think we should be reminded of is nobody escapes the judgment of God. Every one of us will be judged. Every one of us.
Verse 3 of Romans 2 where we read it says, “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?”
Paul was saying to the Jewish people, “You are not going to escape the judgment of God. There will be a judgment day and nobody can escape the judgment of God.”
God will judge every one of us because every one of us are—what? Every one of us are sinners. Every one of us are flawed. Every one of us have made mistakes and God will judge every one of us.
Something we see in this passage as we go on is God’s judgment can lead to wrath or God’s judgment can lead to eternal life in heaven with the Lord.
God will judge every one of us. But God is a good God. God makes a way that we can spend eternity in heaven. But there is only one way—through faith in Jesus Christ.
Daniel 12 verse 2: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
God is the judge and God’s judgment can lead to wrath. But the good news is God’s judgment can also lead to eternal life. And He does not have to do that because we are sinners. But He gives us a way that we can have eternal life in heaven.
Watch what it says in verse 5 of chapter 2 of Romans: “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
That word “impenitent” biblically means unrepentant—not willing to accept that you are a sinner and you need to repent of sins and you need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.
Listen, Paul—he was trained up a Jew. Paul knew what we call the Old Testament and a lot of these people that he is talking to here were Jewish people. Well, who knows? He might have known a lot of them growing up, but he was trying to tell them, “That is you. Jesus came and Jesus died for you and that is how you are going to go to eternal life.”
You have got to understand you are a sinner and you have got to understand you need forgiveness of sins and you have got to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.
Paul was in essence telling them there is only one way to heaven. God’s judgment does lead to wrath, but God’s judgment can also lead to eternal life when we understand that we are sinners in need of a Savior. And when we ask—when we call upon Jesus and ask Jesus, “I know I am a sinner. I know I need forgiveness. Please forgive me of my sins, Jesus. And I am trusting in You, Jesus, as Lord and as Savior.”
There is only one way to heaven and that way is through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
It says in verse 8: “But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil.”
See, if we do not choose to say, “I am a sinner and I need to ask the Lord to forgive me of my sins,” then wrath awaits. God is a just judge. God is a fair judge. And in God’s Word, it tells us how we can inherit eternal life through faith in Jesus.
Are You Ready for Judgment Day?
Have y’all ever—if you are a Christian and you share the gospel with people—have you ever had times when you share the gospel and somebody gets really, really mad? I have. And if you have not, is it because you are not sharing the gospel?
Because if we are not sharing the gospel, how are people we love and know and care about going to get saved? Faith comes through hearing, hearing through the Word of God.
I had people share the gospel with me so many times. And I got—I remember getting mad at them. I remember being in church and getting mad at the preacher. Just mad.
So maybe you are mad at me right now. Hey, if you are hearing the gospel and you are mad, I am at least glad you are hearing the gospel.
But about a week ago I was talking to somebody I care about and you know he was wanting to get into politics. I was like, “I do not want to get into politics. I want to tell you about Jesus.”
We totally are on different sides of politics and it does no good. But you know I have shared the gospel with him a lot of times. And when I shared the gospel—after sharing John 3:16, sharing that we are sinners in need of a Savior, sharing there is only one way, only one way—he got mad at that.
I used to get mad at that. I remember looking at Crystal—and y’all heard me say this—when I was young. I was about 23. I was like, “You are so close-minded. You are saying there is only one way to heaven. What about people that are really good? Are you saying they are not going to go to heaven? They are really nice. They do not believe in Jesus. What about people that believe in this God or that God?”
She said, “There is only one God.” And Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”
And it gives me some hope for this person because at one point I was that way too. But I have had a lot of conversations with this person. There is a lot of times this person gets real mad and they cuss me out. So I yell and cuss. So I hung up. Then they said that I am in a cult. When I shared the gospel, they said that I am in a cult. And they were angry. And then later they texted me and said I am racist.
And all I did was share the gospel. And I said, “No, the gospel is for all people. The gospel is for every race, every nation, every tongue. God made a way for every one of us. And in God’s eyes, we are all one race, the human race. And one day, all tribes, all tongues, all nations, all peoples who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior will be in heaven worshiping Jesus together. It will be the best worship time we have ever had.”
Sometimes when you share the gospel, a person might get mad. Hey, when Paul preached, if you read the New Testament, Paul—some people get saved, man, some people get mad. There was a riot in Ephesus, y’all remember reading about that? He got dragged out by a mob. He got beaten. Hey, it talks about how he got beaten with rods three times. Why? For preaching Jesus.
This happened to Paul. He got locked up a lot for preaching Jesus. He got stoned in Lystra, the Bible says, and he was left for dead.
Jesus said this a lot: “He who has an ear, let him hear.”
I know this—we want to be loving, but if we are not ever going to share the gospel, how are people going to get saved? And I would rather speak the truth—and you got to do it in love. We got to do it in love.
I would rather speak the truth of the gospel even if it means somebody gets mad—that at least they heard the truth because I know for me I heard the gospel a lot of times and a lot of seeds were planted before I finally gave my life to Jesus at age 27.
So keep sharing Jesus.
God’s judgment can lead to wrath or God’s judgment can lead to eternal life.
I guess the question that I have got today is this: there will be a judgment day. God will judge us all. Are you ready?
If today was the day that you died, are you confident that you have given your life to the Lord and that you will spend eternity in heaven?
I remember hearing a story about a young man at a church not far from here—an hour or so away—a lot of years back. And he came up. He was gripping the pews the whole service. When the invitation was given if somebody wanted to give their life to Jesus, he was gripping the pews. They were turning white.
He came up to the pastor afterwards and he just said, “You know, great message.” But in his heart the pastor could tell God was dealing with this person but he did not trust in Jesus.
Next day he was electrocuted. He worked on the power lines and he was rushed to Chapel Hill and he could not talk. He was in a coma.
And I heard how this pastor went up to Chapel Hill and the title of his message was “God Can Get Your Attention.”
And that woman, his wife, came up to the pastor in tears when he got to Chapel Hill and she said, “Pastor, God has gotten our attention.” And she was crying.
And the pastor went in the room and the man could not talk but he could squeeze hands. And the pastor shared the gospel with him. And the pastor said, “If you want to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, would you squeeze my hand?” And the man squeezed his hand.
But this is the thing: we do not know how much longer we have got. We really truly do not know when it will be our last day.
This morning somebody just told me one of their family members who was 18 passed away. We do not know what the day holds.
And more than anything, I want to say if you are here today and maybe you have never fully given your life to Jesus, my hope and my desire for you, my prayer for you would be that today you make the best decision of your life and you trust fully in Jesus Christ.
