There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become.

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they

have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one… for all

have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:10-12, 23)

• Pleasure Seeker (hedonist) [Rom.1:18-32]

• Decent People [Rom.2:1-16]

• Religious People [Rom.2:17-29]

The Pleasure Seekers (1:18-32)

The wrath of God is being revealed against all godlessness and wickedness of men... (Rom.1.18)

God has given them over… (Rom.1:24, 26, 28)

The Pleasure Seekers (1:18-32)

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and

divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Rom.1:20)

The Pleasure Seekers (1:18-32)

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways

of doing evil. (Rom.1:29, 30)

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever

point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass

judgment do the same things. (Rom.2:1)

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

‘You were wrong in doing this. You are wrong in doing that.’ Thousands of moral judgments pour forth, and God simply

turns and says, On the basis of your own words, have you kept your own moral standards?’ And each man is silent. No person in the world has kept the moral standards with which he has

tried to bind others…

Francis Schaeffer

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

Consequently God says, ‘I will judge you upon your own moral statements [] even if they are lower than moral

statements should be. Are you guilty or not guilty?’ No-one will be able to raise his voice. The whole world will stand totally condemned before God in utter justice, because

they will not be judged upon what they have not known, but upon what they have known and have not kept.

(Francis Schaeffer – ‘Death in the City’)

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same

things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

(Rom.2:3)

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

• Evangelism Explosion: “Suppose that you were to die today and

stand before God and he were to say to you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’

what would you say?”

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

• Diana Nyad swims the Florida straits

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath,

when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person

according to what they have done. (Rom.2:5,6)

The Decent Person (2:1-16)

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so

that he will not hear. (Isa 59:2)

I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book

was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as

recorded in the books. (Rev.20:12)

The Religious Person (2:17-29)

You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the

Gentiles because of you.” (Rom.2:23,24)

You Know It’s Wrong

Pleasure Seeker -For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from

what has been made, so that people are without excuse… Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve

death, they [] continue to do these very things… (Rom.1:20; 32)

You Know It’s Wrong

Decent Person -The requirements of the law are written on their

hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at

other times even defending them. (Rom.2:15)

You Know It’s Wrong

Religious Person -Do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

(Rom.2:23)

You Know It’s Wrong

We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of

sin… There is no one righteous, not even one… every mouth may be silenced and the

whole world held accountable to God. (Rom.3:9, 10, 19)

Evangelism Explosion Question

“Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and he were to say to you, ‘Why

should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?”

– The Decent person? – The Pleasure seeker?– The Religious person?

Evangelism Explosion Question

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom.8:1)

Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (Jn.5:37)