Do I Have a Presumptuous Heart?

Presuming on the Kindness and Mercy of God

Text: Romans 2:1-16

Manuscript Notes               Outline Notes

Spanish Notes                      Spanish Outline

We are dialing in on five major conditions of the fallen heart revealed by Paul in Rom 1:18-3:3. Last week, we listened in on Paul’s conversation with a group of people as he introduced the first fallen heart condition by warning the Roman believers of the danger of suppressing the truth and allowing the things that mark a pagan heart to enter into their own hearts. Paul described three devastating realities that mark the lives of people who willfully deny the existence of God theologically, morally, and personally. 

1. They __________ to __________ God as Creator (1:18-23).
2. They __________ the __________ of God (1:24-27).
3. They __________ against the __________ of God (1:28-32).

In chapter 2, Paul addresses the second fallen heart condition – presuming that external religious position and practice renders one safe from the wrath of God. Paul’s warning to those self-confident, self-righteous, outwardly religious people in Rome is just as relevant today. Paul addresses the presumptuous heart of a religious, self-righteous person with five devastating truths about God’s judgment: 

I. God’s judgment is __________ and __________ (2:1-3)
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 

Paul is addressing a group of people who fully agree with him that God’s devastating judgment is rightly on the Gentiles for the sins they have committed and continue to commit. This is what Paul means when he notes that the person in 2:1 is “evaluating, passing judgment, and condemning” others for breaking God’s righteous laws.

However, they are equally convinced that when the day of God’s final judgment arrives, they will be safe from that judgment and excused for these same sins due to their position before God as His chosen nation and their outward practice of the statutes and commands found in the Law of Moses. This is what Paul meant at the end of 2:3 when he noted that they genuinely believed they would escape the judgment of God. 

Paul’s response to this dangerous mindset, which presumes upon God’s grace and mercy, is to remind this religious, self-righteous Jew that when he accurately evaluates (judges) and condemns the sins of the Gentiles, he simultaneously condemns himself because he is guilty of practicing the very same root sin: suppressing the truth he has received from God. 

The reason self-righteous individuals are without excuse is because of the nature of God’s righteous judgment – it is according to truth.

II. God’s judgment is according to truth – it is _______and ________(2:2-5).
We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 

• The __________ of God’s judgment is __________ (2:2-3).

It is fully accurate – it is according to truth.

It is completely just – it is according to righteousness (truth).

It falls on anyone who practices “such things”.

An example from Moses’ day: Israel’s repeated idolatry and immorality (the golden calf in Exodus 32).

An example from Jesus’ day: Israel’s malice and covetousness (cleansing the temple: Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45).

• The __________ for God’s kindness and forbearance is__________ (2:4).
• The __________ to God’s mercy is __________ (2:5).
  But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed!

III. God’s judgment is according to __________ (2:6-10).
He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 

• The basis of God’s judgment – __________ (deeds)
• The outcome of God’s judgment – __________ or __________
• The identification of the “doers” – __________ vs. __________

So, who are these two groups, and what is Paul teaching about salvation and eternal life?

1. There are two distinct groups of people who are marked by living in two very different ways (contrasting ways of life).
2. One group is marked by a consistent practice of “well-doing” and a passionate seeking for things that are associated with God (glory, honor, and immortality). They get eternal life.
3. The other group is marked by a consistent practice of evil, which results from a self-centered refusal to obey the truth and ongoing, willful, unrestrained obedience to their unrighteous passions. These people get eternal wrath.

So, what is the truth they are obeying or disobeying?

• The answer must be found in the context of Romans!
• In 1:5 and 16:26, Paul describes a group of people who have rendered obedience to God—the obedience of faith. He describes his ministry in 15:18 as preaching the gospel to the Gentiles to bring them to obedience by word and deed!
• So the thing that Paul says God is calling people to obey is the gospel! And those who have believed the gospel have repented and turned to Christ and are living lives marked by a persistent perseverance in doing what is right (well-doing).
• Another group of people has refused to obey the gospel’s demand that they repent and believe in Christ, and they are living lives filled with ongoing, willful disobedience to the will of God as revealed in the Word of God.
• Paul is not teaching that it is possible to earn salvation by obeying the Law of Moses or by doing good works. The only way to attain salvation is to obey the message of the gospel by rendering an obedient faith that involves turning away from sin, trusting Christ as Savior, and submitting to Him as Lord.
• And you recognize an obedient faith because it continues to obey—it perseveres in “well-doing.”

IV. God’s judgment is __________ (2:11).
[to] the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. 

• Paul is preaching to people who have received additional light from God about His moral expectations and the glorious gospel of His Son.
• They were at the top of the heap when it came to privilege from God. 
• Paul wants them to know that while privileges and gifts from God are of great value, unless they lead you to believe in God, seek Him, and accept the gospel by repenting of your sins and trusting in His Son, those great privileges and promises will never deliver you from His righteous wrath!

V. God’s judgment will be according to the __________ (2:16).
on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. 

• Gentiles (Greeks) presumed they would escape wrath on judgment day by looking to (seeking after) the __________ they worshipped and served.
• Jews presumed they would escape wrath on judgment day by looking to __________ (Law) and the patriarchs (promises).
• Some of Paul’s readers presumed they would escape wrath on judgment day by professing the facts and conforming outwardly to the gospel’s demands. 

Conclusion: Who are you looking to for salvation from wrath?

• This might be where you are—presuming that you too will avoid the wrath of God on the day you stand before Him to be judged.
• At the end of the day, no matter who you are, you will stand before God to be judged. The good news is that you can choose the standard by which you will be judged on that day!
  • You can choose to be judged according to your deeds!
  • Or you can choose to be judged by your response to the gospel!
• Jesus will mediate the judgment according to the gospel! No matter who you are, what you have done, or how you have lived, God offers a full pardon and eternal life to anyone who turns from their sins, trusts in Christ alone for salvation, embraces Him as Lord of their life, and follows Him as His disciple! What about you?