God Judges The Secrets of Men

The Summit of our Salvation

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

April 21, 2024

God Judges The Secrets of Men

Continue in Romans, reading from chapter two beginning in verse 12:

¹² For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ¹⁶ on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Rom. 2:12-16

In 2016 an Indian couple was verified by the Nepalese government to be the first Indian couple to have climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest.Pictures taken at the peak showed them proudly holding the Indian flag on the highest point of the world.

A couple days later, other mountaineers began to come forward saying the couple never made it past base camp one. Satyarup Siddhanta, a climber from West Bengal, revealed that the couple had doctored photographs from his successful ascent two days earlier, photoshopping themselves into the shot. Their moment of glory turned into lasting embarrassment for them.

After addressing in chapter one ungodly pagans who deny the existence of God and give themselves to a sinful lifestyle, in chapter two Paul addresses the religious Jew who proudly believes he or she has reached a higher level of righteousness than they really have and he exposes their photoshopped righteousness by pointing out three ways they are not only NOT as righteous as they claim to be, but (and this would be painful for them to hear) but the Gentiles might actually be more righteous than they are.

One way we can photoshop our righteousness is by thinking because we hear the Bible, we are doing the Bible. ¹³ For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

God gave the Jewish people the law through Moses and the law was and is good. If someone could keep the law perfectly they would be righteous enough to go to heaven. The problem isn’t the law, the problem is us – we aren’t able to perfectly keep the law. But we can deceive ourselves and others by confusing hearing with doing. To think that knowing the Bible backwards and forwards is the same as obeying what we know.

Someone once said of the church, we are educated way above our level of obedience. If we learn and learn and learn but don’t apply what we’ve learned, it doesn’t impress God cause He looks at the heart.

Paul humbles his Jewish listeners by pointing out that they may have the law and know the law, but a Gentile who doesn’t have the law but from the heart keeps the law is in a better place in God’s sight than the Jew who has the law but doesn’t keep it.

¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ¹⁶ on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

A second way we can photoshop our righteousness is by proudly comparing ourselves to others. Ken shared a couple weeks ago that one definition of sin is falling short of God’s holy and perfect standard. That’s the only true standard there is – the summit of righteousness is God’s measure of righteousness not whether we’re doing better than someone else, but it’s so easy for us to fall for righteousness by comparison.

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom. 2:17-24

These verses drip of self-righteousness. They rely on the law, boast in God, know and approve God’s will. They’ve got this righteousness thing down pat. So much so they are guides to the blind, light to those in darkness, instructor of the foolish, teacher of children, embodying knowledge and truth.

This sounds a lot like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They felt they were better than the common riff raff all around them. They photoshopped themselves on such a spiritual plane that they looked down on Jesus for associating with lowly sinners. “We would never associate with tax collectors and prostitutes like Jesus is doing.”

You know what they were doing? They were claiming to have a higher righteousness than Jesus, but their righteousness was a total fake! And because of their condescension towards other people they missed God’s heart of love for the very “sinners” they felt contempt for.

Jesus revealed the true standard of the law when he said the law says don’t commit adultery but if you look on a woman with lust you’ve committed adultery. You shall not murder, but I say if you hate your brother you’ve committed murder. We realize we haven’t reached the summit, we haven’t even gotten to base one of God’s righteousness.

Righteousness-by-comparison will always result in hypocrisy. Paul warns those who teach others not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to worship idols and then go and do the very things they teach others not to do. Big name Christian leaders who have fallen into scandal have shared that they began to think they were so important that the standards that applied to ordinary people didn’t apply to them. They might have dark sin going on in secret but it’s allowable because of the important spiritual work they’re doing. Ravi Zacharias excused his sexual sins by saying the stress of his worldwide ministry made sinful indulgences necessary. He taught seminars on marriage all the while being a serial violator of his own marriage.

Paul warns that such hypocrisy will cause unbelievers to blaspheme God’s name. How many people e have been turned off to Christianity because of Ravi Zacharias’ flagrant hypocrisy. See, it’s all a scam! Christians are all phonies! And God’s good name – Jesus’ good name – is dragged through the mud because of the teacher doing what he teaches others not to. Let’s finish out the chapter.

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[b] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[c] uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code^[d] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. Rom. 2:25-29

The other photoshop trick Paul identifies is to cultivate an outward image of being righteous. His example is being circumcised outwardly but not inwardly. Without getting too into the details circumcision was to be an outward sign of the covenant God made with the Jews. It symbolized two things. First, covenant ceremonies often included acting out the penalty for breaking them in the making of the covenant. When God made a covenant with Abraham by cutting up oxen and walking between them, it was declaring if either of us break this covenant, may they be as these oxen. The penalty for breaking the covenant God made with the Jews was being cut off from God and His people forever. Very serious. Circumcision also represented the flesh being cut off so that God’s people would live by the Spirit.

The Jews had settled for the outward with no concern for the inward reality. We all have our public lives and our private lives and the danger is when one looks righteous but behind closed doors there’s hidden sin. The deception is that if no one knows about our sin, if it’s secret then we can pass off a photoshopped image of ourselves on a righteous summit we’ve never reached. This is outside-out religion – it’s all about what people see. The religion God is looking for is an inside-out religion where He is working in us, and that work then flows outward.

There is a day coming, Paul says in verse 16, when God will judge the secrets of man. Nothing will be hidden on that day. Jesus said we will have to give account on judgment day for every idle word we speak. Makes us want to go light on idle words. What is done in the shadows of secrecy will be shouted from the rooftops!

And God is going to be brilliantly just and fair on that day! When Gentiles who don’t have the law do the law, they show the law is written on their consciences, sometimes excusing them (cause they do the right thing), sometimes condemning them (cause they violate their conscience). All that will come out and be taken into account on Judgment Day.

God is the wisest and most just Judge in the universe, and just judges don’t give “one-size-fits-all”

judgments. Some will get harsher judgments, some will get lighter judgments, but all will perish except those who reach God’s summit of perfect all-the-time, never sinned once, inside-out righteousness. And that’s exactly none of us.

We’ll get there again in chapter 3 but our great hope brings us back to chapter 1:16-17. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. How? Because in the gospel a righteousness from God (not from us) is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith. The righteous will live by faith.

As Gentiles, who weren’t circumcised and didn’t have the law, believed in Christ, the Spirit circumcised their hearts, cutting off their slavery to the flesh so they could live by the Spirit. On the cross Christ was cut off from the land of the living, separated from God in our place so we could live forever and be reconciled to God forever.

When we come to Christ, the Spirit goes to work on our hearts, making our Christian walk from the inside out not outside out. We’re not perfect, we’re a work in progress, but the work isn’t surface, it’s not skin deep, it’s a real work on our heart.

Some Gentiles were letting God in. Some Jews were blocking God from God working on the inside with their outward religion.

Application:

1. Trust in Jesus! We will never move on from this message…Jesus came to save us from our own sin and God’s wrath. The gospel isn’t “do this, do that.” The gospel is “Jesus did it all for us on the cross. Believe in him!”

Sin wants to hide our sin in secrecy. One day all the deepest, darkest secrets of our heart will be revealed for all to see. Oh my! Hiding them now in secrecy will just make it so much more horrible on Judgment Day.

Jesus didn’t come to cover our sins with secrecy, he came to cover our sins with mercy. With his blood: “paid in full!” Believe in Jesus! He’s the good news!

2. Invite and make sure the work God is doing on your life is going on in your heart. 10% real progress is more valuable to God than 80% phony progress.

Let’s take a moment to pray, quietly affirming our faith in Christ and asking God to do His good work in us at the deepest levels. (Ask Band to come up)

If you’re not a Christian, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believed and is offered freely to everyone. Receive the Lord’s gift of life today!

Closer: The Solid Rock