Romans 2:7-16
“I Can’t Help It, That’s My Nature”

Introduction
1. To the self-righteous moralist…we can’t see ourselves. In vss. 4, 5 Do you think you can walk
away and get away with it? Sin leads to wrath and wrath to judgment: a hard, stubborn,
unrepentant heart…that’s why anyone is lost. That’s why you continue to try and fill the
emptiness as described in the end of chapter 1 and religious in chapter 2.
2. Paul is talking about the Basis of Judgment not the way to Salvation.
3. I heard a story about the turtle and the scorpion. The scorpion wanted the turtle to take him
across a pond to dry ground. “No way” said the turtle, “You will sting me.” “Not me…Never!”
said the scorpion. The turtle agreed to take the scorpion across to dry ground. At the shore the
turtle stuck his neck out. The scorpion stung the turtle in the neck. “Why?” “I can’t help it.
That’s my nature.”
4. He needs a new nature. Has your nature been changed? If there is no change, I question
whether salvation has occurred. Jesus Christ came not to make us more religious, or just a
better person. He came to give us a new nature.
5. Has there ever been a change? Romans 2:7-16 Jesus came to give us a new nature:

Has there ever been a change?
I. GOD WANTS TO CHANGE OUR SELF 2:7-11
In these verses only two types of people are portrayed. There are only two types of people
here this morning.
A. Selfless 7,10
These are those who have responded to the Gospel. SELF has moved off the throne.
Well doing is not salvation by works, but evidences will follow salvation. The context
is (1:16; 21a, 25, 28) Doing good is when I bow before this living God…something
happens. Quote: Root of the Righteous by A.W. Tozer page 46.
1. Their Aim 7
*They seek for glory…. They seek for His glory…not ours. Westminster Catechism:
“What is man’s chief end?” Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever.
*They seek honor…It is not my honor, but His. I receive not honor from men…How
can you believe, who receive honor one of another, and seek not honor that comes
from God only. (John 5:41, 44)
*They seek immortality (Incorruption)…This isn’t all there is! They live with
eternity in view!
*Ultimately…they seek eternal life. This is the life of God in the soul of man. It is the
end result of the Gospel. He that has the Son hath life. He that has not the Son of
God has not life. There is life beyond the grave!
2. Their Arrival 10
Good works is to receive Jesus Christ…to repent…to put God in the driver’s seat.
*Glory is transformation. Illus. of FEARLESS where Adam Brown went from an
addict to a Navy Seal.
*Honor is the opposite of reproach.
*Peace is first peace with God and then the peace of God.
*To the Jew first and also the Greek…The Jew was first to receive the Gospel (Rom.
1:16) and then the Greek. Quote: Root of the Righteous page 51
Paul is not discussing how a person comes to salvation, but describes the life of a
true believer. The mark of a new spiritual life becomes obedience…it is a God
given desire and capacity to do what pleases Him. These can’t be produced in our
own power. Salvation is not produced by good works or kept by works. It is God’s
grace by the Holy Spirit working within that produces EVIDENCE of that Life!
If there is not repentance (turning around), there is no conversion (from lost
to), there is no salvation. If there is no salvation…judgment awaits!
B. Selfish 8,9
But unto them is a contrast with those described in verse 7.
1. Their Aim 8a
*They are contentious…self-willed. It is described in vss. 4, 5a. They are
insubordinate to God. Illus. of a 28 years old bronco that had never been ridden.
*They do not obey truth…. Truth is given in (1:18-25; 2:12). They are rebellious by
nature. Gospel is given, but they do not allow themselves to be persuaded.
*They obey unrighteousness…whether they appear to be godly or ungodly. They say,
“Yes sir” (obey) to those things contrary to the will of God.
2. Their Arrival 8b-9
Payday is coming. The word is judgment. At the end of God’s patience is wrath,
anger, trouble, distress.
*Indignation is God’s anger against sin and unrighteousness. What we sow…we
reap.
*Wrath goes back to verse 5. God is against me both now and in the future!
*Tribulation is a pressing together…a narrow enclosure…no escape! Both now and
in the future!
*Anguish is torment as found in (Luke 16:23,24). There is no exception…verse 11.
To receive a face…your ‘importance’ doesn’t impress God.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. A New Nature produces a New Life.
There will be evidence of a New Life. We must not mock God! To think that one can
be saved, have divine life implanted and then continue down the same path with no
evidence of salvation, you fool yourself! Can Jesus Christ live within and have no
change without?

Has there ever been a change?
II. GOD WANTS TO CHANGE OUR STANDARDS 2:12-16
You will be judged. Law is used 10 times.
A. The Peril 12
What about the heathen? What about those who have no written revelation?
1.Law man is busy doing something for God. Keep the Law…the Jew had 10 Commandments and the rabbinical law had 613 precepts. The Law was never meant to give life. Some Jews felt they were saved because they had the Law. Life is in the Law. What about the Gentiles…they had no revelation or law?
2.There is a Problem: all have ‘sinned’. All have missed the mark (God’s standard). For God so loved the world…gave His Son…believe shall not perish. (John 3:16)
Shall perish…shall be judged.
3.Keep this clear: the subject is not salvation, but judgment…how we will be
judged.
B. The Practice 13
Not hearers only but doers
1.There are two key words: Just and Justified before God.
2.God judges men not according to what we know, but what we do. What we do reveals what we are! WE ALL FAIL! How could there be sin if there were no standard?
C. The Problem 14,15
What about those in China or a native in the jungle somewhere?
1.God judges men not according to what they do not know, but according to what they know. The greater the light the greater the judgment.
2.Gentiles do not possess the Law of God. The have a law written on their hearts. They also possess a conscience that tells them they ought to obey. This inner law condemns them if they don’t…a law for themselves. In reading the book Peace Child they can’t live up to their own standards.
D. The Pathway 16
Accusing or excusing one another…
1.Judgment…sin must be paid for. Chapter 2 deals with judgment…According to truth (2:2) …According to his deeds…what he does (2:6) Impartially…who we are doesn’t impress God (2:11) Greater the light the greater the judgment (2:14, 15)
God will judge our motives…the secrets of men…why we do what we do. (2:16)
2.Life never comes out of Law. Life comes out of Life. That Life is in Jesus Christ. New Life is found in a New Lord.

If you are a Christian…why don’t you act like it?