Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the book of Romans. Today is study #4 of Romans 2, and we will be reading Romans 2:3-5:

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

I will stop reading there. We are moving on to verse 3, and God is again addressing mankind in general: “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same…” That is a problem for all human beings because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God: “There is none righteous, no not one.” There is none good in himself and, therefore, none are qualified to sit on the judgment throne of their fellow man. So God is pointing out that man is judging as though they are somehow better or more holy, and, yet, you are doing the same thing. God is basically saying, “Do you think you will escape the judgment of God because you can point the finger at others?”

One thing we have not really discussed, but another thing that is in view is the self-justification when someone points at another: “You are terrible. Look at how awful and sinful you are, you terrorist, you murderer. You are an evil fellow, but I am not a terrorist or a murderer or an evil fellow like you.” Was that not the point in Luke 18 regarding a Pharisee and a publican? We read the parable that the Lord told in Luke 18:9-14:

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Here is exactly what God is talking about in Romans 2. The Pharisee is making himself feel much better about his situation with God: “Just look at these others – these extortioners, unjust people, adulterers, and this publican. I am not like them. This is what I do. I fast twice in the week, and I give tithes of all I possess. I am so much better and so much more holy than these people.” That is a trap and a snare, and God would never have His people to think that way. The Lord moved the Apostle Paul to say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

It is not the idea that they are worse than I, but the idea is that I am worse than they, and the publican understood this. He would not so much as look up to heaven, but he beat upon his breast, indicating, “I have no righteousness. I have no standing before you, God. I have no ability to come before you, only I cry out to you, Lord, to receive me by your mercy, Be merciful to me, a sinner.” And God says that this man was the one who approached Him rightly and came so humbly. This is how God would have people to come to Him, and not in their arrogance and pride and their self-justification.

Again, it says in Romans 2:3:

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

That Pharisee was overlooking a great many of his own sins. He did not want to focus on them. His sins were not as “major” or important as the outward sins he could see in others. And, remember, the Lord addressed this with the statement, in Matthew 7:2: “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” And he pointed out a person will look at the mote (splinter or speck) in another’s eye and, yet, the person has a beam in his own eye. That was the case with the Pharisee regarding the publican.

Again, it says in Romans 2:3:

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

The word “escape” can be found a few times. We can turn to Hebrews 2:2-3:

For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Also, we read in 1Thessalonians in the context of the day of the Lord, in 1Thessalonians 5:3:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

To “not escape” means that you will be caught by the wrath of God in the time of His judgment and, ultimately, you will be destroyed. Contrast that to what we read in Luke 21:34-36:

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

To be accounted worthy to escape can only be identified with God’s salvation.

Let us go back to Romans 2 and move on to Romans 2:4:

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

That is, it was in God’s plan to be longsuffering and patient, and his goodness, forbearance and longsuffering are all related ideas. God did not come and pour out His wrath on every generation. He has allowed time to unfold and for history to run its course, in order that He might save His people. That is basically what is being said here. And this is all tied to His “riches,” and this is the word I would like to spend a little time on, trying to understand what these riches of God are that are said to be despised. Here, we can see they are related to his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. If we go to Romans 9, we will read a little bit more about God’s riches, in Romans 9:21-23:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Here, we see the word “riches,” again in the context of the Lord’s longsuffering. The Lord is longsuffering and patient. He has endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath. They were fitted to destruction, which means that they certainly will be eternally destroyed, but God did not come and destroy them as men were openly and actively shaking their fists at Him and doing all sorts of evil across the face of the earth. But God put up with it, year, after year, and century after century. He put up with it, especially at the time of the end when iniquity was abounding in tremendous ways in all the nations. God waited. And we can account, according to 2Peter 4:18 that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. That was the purpose and reason for God’s longsuffering. He did not destroy the world and the sinners because He still had some elect to save. And until He had completed the mission of saving those elect, He put up with the sins of the rest of mankind.

But when May 21, 2011 came, the task of saving all the elect was finished. It was all completed, so God began to pour out His wrath by shutting the door of heaven. That was an act of the wrath of God, and nobody has been saved since that day, May 21, 2011, and nobody will become saved in their soul ever again for the rest of earth’s existence. And the Bible is indicating that the earth will continue to exist until the year 2033. That is where all the Biblical evidence is pointing toward, and God has been longsuffering and putting up with man, “that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy.” That is, those He has saved are the “vessels of mercy,” those to whom He would make know the riches of His glory. And what are the riches of His glory?

Let us go to Ephesians 1, where God speaks of His predestination program, in Ephesians 1:4-7:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Now that is a very clear and direct statement concerning God’s riches: it is the forgiveness of sins. It is according to the riches of His grace that He forgave the sins of the vessels of mercy. It was based on the “riches of His grace,” which is part of the riches of His glory. In the next chapter in Ephesians, we read that it is by grace we are saved through faith, and I will read the verses leading up to that verse, starting in Ephesians 2:2-4:

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Here, we see that God is “rich in mercy,” and that would be part of His riches. Then it says, in Ephesians 2:4-8:

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

By grace you are saved through faith, and that (faith) not of yourselves, because it is the faith of Christ. And it was the work of Christ performed at the foundation of the world on behalf of all those chosen and predestinated to receive it. Christ gave His life and shed His blood, and this is the gift of God. This is the forgiveness of sins.

Also, we read back in Ephesians 1:7: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” So it was the shedding of Christ’s blood that brought about forgiveness of sins, and it is all connected to the “riches of his grace.” These are the riches of God bestowed upon unworthy, undeserving, unmerited, dirty, rotten sinners that were spiritually impoverished. And, yet, we were unaware of our spiritual poverty, but God came and He gave these riches to every single person He saved, whether it be the blind beggar that Christ gave sight to, or whether it be the beggar Lazarus in that parable; or whether it be the richest or poorest of men (and everyone in between). All were in spiritual poverty, and at the moment of salvation, God delivered to His elect great and abundant riches, said to be “exceeding riches of his grace,” in Ephesians 2:7.

And notice that we have not yet received the fulness of these riches quite yet, at this present time. But it says, “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” In eternity future in that endless future that is outside of time, God will bless His people as we live with Him in the fulness of joy; and in the fulness of happiness; and in the fulness of blessedness. And He will have given us our new resurrected bodies and a new creation in the new heaven and new earth where we will dwell with Him forever and ever, and we will be the recipients of His grace, mercy, glory, wisdom, knowledge, and all the other rich blessings that are in Christ Jesus. It will all be bestowed upon all the elect forever and ever, and that is how “in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace.”

We already have tremendous riches just in having all our sins forgiven; to have all our iniquities washed away; to have all guilt removed; and to have the penalty of death taken from us. It is nothing but the riches of grace and mercy, and it is just the beginning because there is still that future to come for the people of God.

We have looked at the “good side” of all this, but let us look at something the Lord says about the people of the world and the riches of the world that they seek. It says in 1Timonthy 6:17:

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

God’s riches are certain, as they are the promises of God. First, all the things He has already done for us are certain, absolute, and guaranteed. They cannot be taken back. The gift of eternal life cannot ever be removed from us, and there are still things to come. God has said them, and He is immutable and unchangeable, as He cannot lie. They will come to pass. There is absolutely no doubt that it will happen just as God has said. He will give us the treasures of Christ. We will receive these riches forever and ever and ever, and they are as certain as anything could possibly be.

But the riches of the world, on the other hand, are uncertain and unstable. There is no security or safety. Rust can corrupt them, and moths can eat them. There is no guarantee. Yes – there are numerous people that have riches of the world, and some have great, great riches. They are so rich, and the people of the world envy them. There are billionaires, a hundred times over, in some cases. They seem to have everything a person can want, but God warns them not to trust in uncertain riches.

I seriously doubt there are any billionaires listening to this (study), so this also would apply to those who have riches of cars, houses, bank accounts and money put away for retirement. So you have riches in this world, to some degree, but do not trust in them. They are “uncertain riches.” Actually, we have witnessed this just a little while ago when the stock market went crashing down, and many people lost a lot of money. Now it (the stock market) is going back up, but it is uncertain. One day we could be safe and secure and well off, and the next day we could be in misery: “Oh, no, what has happened!” That is the nature of the world. You could have a beautiful house, but then comes a storm. Things in this world are not to be relied upon, leaned upon, or trusted. We should trust only God. That is why it says here: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

God has provided for our physical needs and temporal things of this world, but, more than that, could it be that He has given us faith (Christ) and shown grace and mercy to us? And through His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, could it be that He has led us to repentance and given us the gift of salvation? These are things in which we can consider ourselves “rich.”