By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Romans 2:1-5

Outline:

I. Observations

A. Two types of judgment (condemnation) – God’s righteous judgment vs Satan’s unrighteous judgment

B. Two types of idolatry – Overt (paganism/Gentiles) vs Covert (moralism/Jews-Christians?)

II. Applications

A. Have you reckoned yourself dead to sin/self-righteousness and alive to Christ?

B. Take heed not to deceive yourself about God’s true judgment of yours/others’ sins.

C. Take heed not to despise the riches of God’s goodness/grace to yourself or others. Rather, repent of all self-righteousness/justification and lay hold of God’s grace.

D. Take heed to pursue sanctification/righteousness in the Spirit, not by the flesh/law (Gal 3:3), lest you “fall from grace” (Gal 5:4-6).

E. Seek to bear much good fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) by God’s transforming power mediated through the Spirit of Christ in answer to prayer and by abiding in Jesus’ word (John 15:1-8ff). Our fruit must be full of Christ to be “good”, not full of self.

F. Take heed to openly expose yourself to the light/glory/truth of God in Jesus Christ, and do not harden your heart in impenitence, storing up present and future wrath.

G. As children of God and disciples of Jesus, take heed to foster and maintain a heart that is “established by grace” (Heb 13:9b), rooted in God’s love (1 Cor 13:4-7a), reflecting God’s heavenly wisdom (James 3:13-18) and true humility (James 4:6-12), overflowing with words of grace/edification (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6)