“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which 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. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on 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 tolerance 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, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:1-11 NASB’95)
If you can, please read this in the context of Romans, chapter one. For there it talks about how the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. For God revealed himself to us through his created works, so we are all without excuse if we choose the ways of the world and of sinful practices and not the ways of God and of righteousness, holiness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, and walks of obedience to his commands.
Then it goes on to describe some of the sinful practices of those who reject God and his righteousness, in favor of the lusts of their own flesh. And then it says, “although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” And from that we go right into chapter two which addresses the hypocrites who judge others for doing the same things that they are doing, in practice, deliberately and habitually.
Now this is not an indictment against all judging of any evil practices. This is an indictment against hypocritical judging where you get down on others who practice the same sins which you practice. All judging is not wrong. What is wrong is judging others hypocritically, unjustly, by human standards, by comparing others to ourselves, thinking that they are like us, with the wrong motives, in hate, prejudicially, and/or for one’s own evil purposes. Instead, we are to judge righteously with the goal to see changed lives.
There are some people, indeed, who have convinced themselves that they are above the law, and that they can live however they want, and still escape God’s judgments, because they made some kind of verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ. And they will judge others who have not made that same confession, but while they sin equally with those who make no such professions of faith in the Lord. But in God’s eyes, the ungodly are all those who make sin their practice, regardless of what they profess with their lips.
And then I will hear some people say that we all sin. We are all certainly still capable of sinning against God, and against our fellow humans, but that doesn’t mean that everyone makes sin his practice, deliberately and habitually doing what they know is evil, in direct defiance against the Lord. And the Lord makes the dividing point between the righteous and the unrighteous, and the saved and the unsaved, according to those who obey God in practice, or not, and those for whom sin is not their practice, or is.
But what does this teach? Those who judge others but who do the same things, deliberately and habitually, are the stubborn and unrepentant in heart who think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness and tolerance and patience, who think God will not judge them. But the grace of God is what leads us to repentance (the forsaking of our sins). And the grace of God is training (instructing) us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return.
But for those who continue in their willful and deliberate and habitual sins, and who think wrongly that God’s grace is just going to cover it all, they are in for a rude awakening when they finally realize that, because of their stubbornness and unrepentant hearts that they are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Think your deeds don’t matter to God? Think again! They absolutely do!
For we are all going to stand before the Lord on the day of judgment and we will be judged according to our deeds. We will not be received into God’s heavenly kingdom on the basis of lip service to God only, but on the basis of our walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands in holy living and us no longer making sin our practice. For faith in Jesus, which is biblical, results in us dying with Christ to sin and us walking with him in obeying his commands. This doesn’t mean we are perfect, but we must be obedient.
So, Romans 1 and Romans 2 both teach that if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, that we will face the wrath of God. Romans 6 and Romans 8 teach the same, that if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, that leads to righteousness and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with Christ our Lord. For by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with him in death to sin, and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but to God.
So, read all of Romans in that light. Especially read Romans 3 and Romans 10 in that light. Paul did not teach that all we have to do is to make a verbal profession of Jesus as Lord, and to claim we believe in his resurrection, and now we are saved for eternity, done deal, and heaven is now secured us for eternity, regardless of whether or not we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and regardless of whether or not we obey our Lord and his commands. Read all of Romans, verse by verse, and get your doctrine from the whole.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
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