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The Hypocrite's Triple Judgment
Romans 2:1-16
Howard Carter discovered
the tomb of old King Tut back in the early twenties and when he finally
broke in to the tomb of one of We're dealing today with
hypocrites, and many hypocrites have quite a few things on the exterior, but
God doesn't look on the exterior, God looks on the heart. God sees through
all of those things that we decorate ourselves with. In chapter 1 we talked
about how God handles the heathen. In chapter 2 we're going to see how God
handles the hypocrite. In chapter one, we saw the down and out. In chapter 2
we're going to see the up and up. Because Paul, who's very smart and
anointed by the Holy Spirit, knew that there were certain religious people
who would listen with relish as he described God's judgment upon the heathen
and perverts--and they would say, Well, we're not that way, we don't do
that. And so they were indignant at the sins of others but indulgent about
their own sins.
[The devil would rather send you to hell from
the pew than the gutter.] vv. 1-3
Now go back to chapter 1 and verse 32, "Knowing the judgment of God,
that they," underscore the word they. And now notice in chapter 2 verse 1:
"Therefore THOU art inexcusable." It's easy to talk about they, but God is
gonna talk to 'thou.' God is saying, Hey, don't talk about other people,
it's time right now to examine yourself. I heard somewhere of a man
who went to the psychiatrist's office. He had a scrambled egg on his head
and a strip of bacon over each ear. He said, "I need your help...it's about
my brother." It's time that we stop thinking about they and, and begin to
think about ourselves and examine ourselves because even those who are saved
may be guilty of hypocrisy, including me.
'Faults in others I can see, but
praise the Lord there's none in me.' What is the hypocrite's
judgment going to be like? Three things. Three times he uses the
word according. Look at it in verse 2: "But we are sure that the judgment of
God is according to truth." All right, just underscore that. Now go down to
verse 6: "Who will rendereth every man according to his deeds." First of all
according to truth, the hypocrite's judgment is according to truth. Number
two, it is according to deeds. Now go down to verse 16: "In the day when God
should judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." So
the judgment is going to be according to truth, is going to be according to
deeds, and is going to be according to the gospel. First of all, the judgment
is going to be according
to truth, and therefore there will be no disguise. You see,
the word hypocrite means play actor; that's what the word literally means.
And in Jesus' time, the actors would put on disguises. If they were supposed
to be happy, rather than merely acting happy, they would put on a happy
face, a disguise. If they were to be sad, they'd put on a sad face. If they
were to be fierce, they would put on a fierce face. They were wearing masks,
they were wearing disguises. And Jesus said in the religious world there are
some who are hypocrites, they are actors, they are wearing disguises. But
Paul says that the judgment is going to be according to truth. God is going
to pull off the mask, there will be no disguise. Not profession, not
pretension, not performance, but truth is the standard. Abraham Lincoln said, said
you can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of
the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the
time," And we could add that you can't fool God any of the time. God's
judgment is according to truth. Today we've forgotten
truth. We have sacrificed truth for pragmatism. We don't ask, Is it true? We
ask, Does it work? We sacrifice truth for style. We don't say, "Does he or
she tell the truth?" Rather, do I like him? Do I like her? We're not
interested in truth, we're interested in the stock market. We are one nation
under greed, rather than one nation under God. We think we're smart.
Somebody said that if you were to take all of the accumulated
knowledge of the world, from creation to 1845 and measure it as an inch on
the scale, from 1845 to 1945 it would've grown to three inches. But from
1945 to 1975 it would be as tall as the God has written the
Bible-the Word of truth. God has given his Holy Spirit-the Spirit of truth.
God is building his church-the pillar and the ground of truth. God has sent
his Son and his Son is the truth. The apostle John said, I have no greater
joy than to know that my children walk in the truth. But the truth has
fallen down in the streets today. The hypocrite's judgment, however is going
to be according to truth. Now, the hypocrite doesn't
understand that God is going to judge according to truth, so the hypocrite,
the play actor, has three fatal flaws in his thinking...
Flaw
1, he has the idea that outward appearance is all that matters.
He thinks that if only he can appear righteous, then he will be righteous. Matthew 23:25-28. Jesus is
talking to the religious Mafia of his day, and he says, "Woe unto you
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup
and of the platter, but within you are full of extortion and excess." The
way men do dishes has not changed for two thousand years. An old Pharisee is
doing the dishes, and he's just wiping the outside and on the inside the
oatmeal is crusted. He puts it back up there on the shelf till his wife
comes and talks to him about it. "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that
which is in the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean of
them also. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are
likened unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward but
within are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness." Remember old
King Tut? "Even so, ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within are
full of hypocrisy and iniquity." The hypocrite thinks all God sees is how he
dresses on Sunday morning and how he sings and greets people and behaves. You have to pity hypocrites
because the problem with the hypocrite is on the inside, not on the outside,
and so he's a pretender. You see, he doesn't have the courage to out and out
serve the devil and he doesn't have the true grace to really serve the Lord.
And so he is a great big actor. But the hypocrite is going to be judged
according to truth. His outward appearance is not going to make any
difference.
There's a second mistake
that the hypocrite makes. The hypocrite thinks that
if he is not having
trouble, he's right with God.
Look in verses 3-4: "And
thinkest thou this, oh man, that judgest them which do such things and doeth
the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." They have the idea that if
they're healthy, if their bank account is up, if, they have no problems that
evidently God loves them, and everything is fine and they don't need to
repent, because look at all of these blessings. But the blessings of God
don't mean that you're right with God. God gives you blessings to bring you
to him. It doesn't mean you don't need repentance. The Bible says that the
goodness of God leads you to repentance. As a matter of fact, the goodness
of God only makes your judgment more severe if you deny or fall from the
goodness of God. If you're being blessed now, let me beg you to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ and, and don't get the idea that God's goodness is an
invitation to sin more, because the greater the blessing, if those blessings
are refused, the greater the judgment when the judgment comes. And I want to
remind you that Luke 13:1-5 says there had
been some calamity. There were some people, who were walking down the street
one day and a tower fell on them. And before that the Bible says that "there
were some present at that season that told him of the Galileans whose blood
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." They were worshipping and Pilate
came in there and had them killed. "And Jesus said unto them, Suppose ye
that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they
suffered such things? I tell you, Nay, except ye repent ye shall all
likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and
slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Don't get the idea that if
somebody has trouble it's because God has judged them and if you don't have
trouble God is not going to judge you. Jesus said whether a tower falls on
you or not, if you don't repent, you're going to perish. And the hypocrite
doesn't understand this. He thinks that outward appearance is all that
matters. He thinks that the absence of problems is all that matters. Here's the third thing that
this hypocrite needs to learn. The hypocrite needs to learn that
delayed
judgment does not mean no judgment.
Verse 5: "But after thy
hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the
day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Now what
does that mean? When God is good to you and when God blesses a nation and
that nation hardens its heart against God or when God blesses an individual
and that individual hardens his heart against God, God says you're just
putting wrath in the bank, you're treasuring up wrath against the day of
wrath. It's one more deposit. One day the hypocrite's judgment is going to
come and God is going to say, What did you do with all of my blessings? What
did you do with the prosperity I gave you? You hardened your heart. Why
doesn't God judge right away? I'll tell you why God doesn't judge right
away, because God waits for all of that sin to ripen. You see, you put it in
the bank and at the judgment you collect with compound interest. When you
sin against God, your sin does not just end here, it goes on and on and on
and the ripples touch the shores of eternity. And then finally God says
there's coming a day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment
of God, and so the judgment is going to be according to truth. God is going to rip off the
mask and say outward appearance doesn't matter. God is going to say the
blessings that I gave you, that didn't mean you were right with God, and God
is going to say just because I didn't judge you now does not mean that I
will not judge you eventually. Hypocrites-a-plenty are living high, wide,
and handsome--but be warned: You
are not getting away with your sin. He says in verse 3:
"Thinkest thou that you will escape?" Do you think that somehow you're going
to escape the judgment of God? You can't do it! Houdini was an escape
artist, but he didn't escape death, and he did not escape judgment. The
judgment of the hypocrite is according to truth. Now I want you to see the
second thing. The hypocrite's judgment is not only according to truth, but
it is according to
deeds.
Verse 6: "Who will render
to every man according to his deeds." You see, you're not saved by works but
you will be judged by works. Somehow we get the idea that certain people,
maybe Americans or maybe Baptists or maybe Grace Baptists have a special
distinction, but we do not. Verse 11: "There's no respect of persons with
God." So many people have the
idea that God's gonna grade on the curve. We're bad, but we're not as bad as
somebody else. And so these religious people in chapter 2 had laid
themselves out in the gutter alongside the pagan in chapter 1 and they
measured themselves by the pagan and they said, Well I'm a little longer
than the pagan and God is going to grade on the curve. They are mistaken. As a matter of fact, James
said in chapter 2 verse 10: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet
offend in one point, the same is guilty of all." You see, God demands
absolute perfection, and none of us in ourselves can provide it, and that's
why we need the gospel. That's why we need the righteousness of God that
comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Has anyone here kept all ten
commandments? Of course not. Well you say I've only broken one. I don't
believe that, but let's pretend. Here's a man dangling over a fire by a
chain of ten links. Nine of those links are made of forged steel and one of
them is made of crepe paper. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet
offend in one point, the same is guilty of all." The hypocrite is going to
be judged according to his deeds. Now let me show you how
this goes. First of all,
by his actions. Look in verse 6. Whatever he does is going to
judge him, he's going to render every man according to his deeds. That just
means according to his sins. What kinds of sins? Sins of commission, sins of
omission, sins of the flesh, sins of the spirit. You see, the most
respectable man, woman, boy or girl in this building or listening to me
later is just as lost as the worst criminal on earth without a second birth.
Jesus told Nicodemus, who was a better man than any person here, morally,
outwardly, unless you're born again you can't even see the Not only are they going to
be judged according to their actions, but also they're going to be judged
according to their
attitudes. Look in verses 7 and 8: "To them who by patient
continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality and
eternal life. But to them who are contentious, that are contentious and do
not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath,
tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew
first and also of the Gentile." What is that talking about? It's talking
about your attitudes. He's talking about some who
come to church seeking God. And there's some who come to church wanting to
be contentious. I've been preaching long enough to know that there are
people out there who are mentally arguing with me right now. You don't like
me, you don't like what I preach, and your mind is saying, I think I can
find some fault in what that man is saying. Well, that'd be easy to do. I
can do that. I mean, if you come to church and you're looking for something
to criticize, you can find it starting with the man standing in the pulpit.
I'm going to tell you something else. If you come looking for God today, you
can find God because He's here. You're going to find what you look for.
There are some who are seekers and there are some who are scorners. And the
Lord says that when he comes to judge, not only is he going to judge
actions, he's going to judge attitude. Are you looking for God or are you
looking for some loophole. Are you looking for something to find fault with?
Well I'll guarantee you'll find it. But if you come looking for God, he's
here, he's standing knocking at your heart's door. The hypocrite's going to be
judged by his actions, he's going to be judged by his attitudes, and third,
by his advantages.
Now here's the one that ought to frighten some of us. Look in verses 9 and 10.
"Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; to the Jew
first and also to the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace to every man that
worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile." What does that
mean? Why to the Jew first? Because he had the greater advantage. They had
the Word of God, the Old Testament, and "unto whomsoever much is given is
much required." God holds you responsible
for being in this service today. God is going to judge you because of your
advantage. There are millions of people on earth who sit in darkness who
have never even once heard the name of Jesus. You see, God knows what you've
heard and "unto whomsoever much is given, of the same shall much be
required." How sad it would be to go to hell from the jungle, but how much
sadder it would be to go to hell from an air conditioned, upholstered
church. How sad it would be to sing in the choir and go to hell. How sad it
would be to usher and go to hell. Jesus said, "Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, I prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils
and in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them,
Depart from me, ye who work iniquity, I never knew you." They went through the form
of religion, but they were never saved. And how is the hypocrite's judgment
going to be? Number one, according to truth. Number two, according to his
deeds--his actions, his attitudes, his advantages. God takes all of that
into account when he judges. Number three: He's going to
judge the hypocrite
according to the gospel.
Verse 16: "In the day when
God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel."
What on earth does that mean? He said it's according to truth, it is
according to deeds, and now it is according to his gospel. The good news of
salvation in Christ alone. And if that gospel does not
save you, that gospel will judge you. The Bible says the Father judges no
man, but he has committed all judgment unto the Son. The same Jesus who
wants to be your Savior will one day be your judge if you do not allow him
to be your Savior. And you can't hold court if the judge is dead, but God
raised up the judge. And you can't hold court if the defendant is dead and
God will raise you up. You cannot crawl up in the grave and pull the dirt
over your face and hide from God. The Bible says in Acts chapter 17, "God
has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, wherewith he hath given assurance of all men
in that he raised him from the dead." What does that mean? That means that
the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is meant to save you is the very
resurrection that will condemn you. You see, the gospel is a two-edged
sword. That blessed blade will come to heal or to slay but it is a sword
today and you're going to be judged according to the gospel. There's more I didn't tell
you about the day they found King Tut's tomb. One day, some of Howard
Carter’s men came to him and said, “We’ve been digging in a hillside and you
need to come see.” There’d been sixteen stairs that led down and there was
this smooth stone. He said, “Bring a sledge hammer.” They brought a sledge
hammer and they broke it. And he lighted a candle and put it in there and
looked around. And he saw it was a room. It was a tomb. He said, “Break out
some more.” And they broke out some more. And he put his head in there and
looked. It was the tomb of King Tut. He came out, stood up, blew out the
candle with a deep sigh. They said, “Mr. Carter, what did you see?” He said,
“I saw the richest treasure in the world.” They said, “But you don’t seem to
be very excited.” He said, “I’ll tell you why I’m not excited. Twenty long,
dreary, dusty, dingy, expensive years ago I dug within seventy-two inches of
this same spot and didn’t find it. I was so close.” Don't miss finding Jesus today! And Christians, did you know that some of your friends and family and co workers are very close to being saved? The greatest treasure is not the king of Tomb Tut, it’s to know Jesus Christ, and it's not far off for many who have been seeking God and looking for something real. You've got it. God has to lead someone to them to give them the gospel. It might as well be you!
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