1. The great theme of the apostle Paul's epistle to the Romans is "the gospel of God" (1:1).
2. According to the Bible, those who believe the Gospel are saved, and those who reject the Gospel are lost.
3. Before He ascended into heaven, our Lord said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15, 16).
4. All throughout his epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul emphasizes the terrible results of sin, and the certainty of God's judgment (cf. Rom. 1:29-32).
5. Sinners have no excuse (2:1-3).
6. The "things" referred to in Romans 2:1-3 are mentioned in Romans 1 (cf. 1:23-32).
7. Therefore, the judgment of God is inevitable (2:1-3). Sinners cannot escape the judgment of God. It is "the righteous judgment of God" (2:5).

I. THE CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT

1. Nothing is more certain than the fact that every man will be judged hereafter (2:1-3).
2. Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
3. In 1726, the great author Daniel Defoe (he wrote Robinson Crusoe) published a book entitled, The Political History of the Devil.
4. In that book, Mr. Defoe wrote, "Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed."
5. Benjamin Franklin quoted Daniel Defoe in a letter in 1789, which was later re-printed in The Works of Benjamin Franklin (1817), "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
6. Well, in this world, yes -- nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
7. But I want to speak of the next world. And in the next world, the Bible repeatedly speaks of a coming judgment. This is certain!
8. A preacher said, "The thought of this should lend solemnity to every part of our life" (W. H. Griffith Thomas, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans).
9. The Bible tells us sinners have hard and impenitent hearts (Romans 2:5). Sinners are stubborn, stiff-necked, obstinate, proud, sin-loving, and spiritually blind (cf. Romans 3:18).
10. The word "hardness" means that which is insensible. When it is used in reference to the heart (the center of knowledge and understanding), it describes a stubborn sinner who is insensible to all appeals.
11. Proverbs 1:24 and 25 says, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof."
12. Romans 2:5 says sinners are treasuring up (hoarding up, accumulating) to themselves "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
13. I like H.A. Ironside's illustration of Romans 2:5. He spoke of a poor old Christian woman who was taunted because she believed what the Bible said about a literal lake of fire and brimstone.
14. Scoffers laughed at her and said that “no such an amount of brimstone could be found in one place.” She replied, “Everyone takes his own brimstone with him!”
15. Ironside said, "Ah, that is it! Each rebel against God, each sinner against light, each violator of his own conscience, carries his own brimstone with him! He is making his own destiny" (Romans).

II. THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT

1. Here in Romans 2, Paul is not describing the basis for salvation, but the basis for judgment.
2. The basis for salvation is the shed blood of Christ (Rom. 5:6-8).
3. The basis for judgment is the deeds of men (2:6).
4. "The judgment of God is according to truth" (2:2).
5. In a courtroom, witnesses take an oath -- "Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
6. Unfortunately many of these witnesses lie. And often the lawyers lie, and the judge lies, etc.
7. But in God's great courtroom, there is no dishonesty -- "The judgment of God is according to truth" (2:2). It is "the righteous judgment of God" (2:5).
8. There are hypocritical moralists and politicians who judge and condemn certain evils. But God declares that they are no better than the rest. The very things they condemn they are guilty of themselves.
9. Roman Catholic priests condemn homosexuality, and meanwhile they molest little boys.
10. As New York’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer broke up prostitution rings, and raised the penalties for patronizing a prostitute. Then as governor, Mr. Spitzer signed a strong anti-prostitution bill into law.
11. But then he was arrested for patronizing prostitutes (2:1-3).
12. I could give many more examples, and so could you if you read the newspapers. Ironside said, "Philosophy does not preserve its devotee from the indulgence of the flesh. A recognition of the evil is not necessarily power to overcome the evil. Culture does not cleanse the heart, nor education alter the nature."
13. That is why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).
14. Here is another important principle: The judgment of God is according to every man's deeds (2:6).
15. Men sin with impunity, and think they can get away with it, but Romans 2:6 says the Lord "will render to every man according to his deeds."
16. Revelation 20 describes the great white throne judgment of God, and these words are repeated -- "and they were judged every man according to their works" (Rev. 20:12, 13).
17. By the way, the word "treasure" in Romans 2:5 denotes abundance, and it also denotes secrecy. What an awful idea is expressed here!
18. The sinner is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of Divine wrath, which will burst upon him on his Judgment Day!
19. If you drive around down south, you will notice big billboards with Bible verses, such as Amos 4:12 -- "Prepare to meet thy God." We need signs like that here in this part of the country!
20. And here is another important principle -- the judgment of God is based on absolute impartiality. "For there is no respect of persons with God" (Romans 2:11).
21. Romans 2:2 says, "the judgment of God is according to truth." Romans 2:6 says God "will render to every man according to his deeds." And Romans 2:16 says, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
22. "God shall judge the secrets of men" (2:16). A pastor friend of mine used to preach at a senior citizen's home. One man attended faithfully and always cheered him on with a loud "Amen!" But my friend was broken-hearted when he later discovered (after the man's death) that the man had a large pornography collection hidden in his room.

III. THE RESULTS OF JUDGMENT

1. W. H. Griffith Thomas said, "The rewards will be generous and eternal. The doom will be certain and terrible" (Romans).
2. The other day I read a newspaper article about the new 9/11 Museum (New York Post, May 15, 2014).
3. The author described his visit to the new museum, and wrote these words: "The most wrenching displays are at bedrock level of the mostly underground structure. Wending its way seven stories below street level...the museum takes guests on a slow, at first deceptively mundane, descent into hell."
4. Unfortunately, when people use the word "hell" in this manner they imply that hell is not real. In their minds, hell is just a myth.
5. For the record, sinners do not walk down the stairs into hell. The Bible says repeatedly that sinners are "cast into hell."
6. For example, our Lord said in Matthew 18:9, "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
7. And in Luke 12:5, our Lord said, "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
8. Revelation 20:15 says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
9. The writer ended his article by referring to "a long escalator ride" that took him back to street level.
10. But there are no escalators or elevators in hell! Once sinners are put in hell, they can never get out. There is no "escape" (Rom. 2:3).
11. Over and over again, Scripture warns us that punishment in hell is eternal. Second Thessalonians 1:9 refers to "everlasting destruction."
12. In Mark 3:29, our Lord referred to the "danger of eternal damnation."
13. In Matthew 25:46, our Lord warned about "everlasting punishment."
14. Hebrews 6:2 warns of "eternal judgment."
15. Jude 7 warns of "the vengeance of eternal fire."
16. In Matthew 18:8 and 25:41, our Lord warned about sinners going into "everlasting fire."
17. Daniel 12:2 describes hell as a place of "shame and everlasting contempt."
18. Revelation 14:11 says, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night..."
19. One preacher wrote, "Both (heaven and hell) rest upon the same divine revelation, and both have the same word 'everlasting' applied to their duration. If the threatenings of God's Word are unreliable, so may the promises be; if the denunciations have no real meaning, what becomes of the invitations?" (William C. Procter, The Fundamentals).
20. In his book, Death and The Life Hereafter, Dr. Herbert Lockyer says, "Belief in a life beyond the grave is all but universal...When the Eternal God created Adam and Eve, He wove into their nature the hope of immortality which the succeeding centuries of sin and darkness were not able to completely erase from man's inner being."
21. Furthermore, there is deep in man's inner being a belief in divine retribution. The doctrines of heaven and hell must stand or fall together. Man instinctively believes in a future judgment.
22. Therefore, these truths must be pressed home on every man's conscience. God has given us these warnings so that sinners will repent (Romans 2:4).

CONCLUSION:

1. The goodness of God leads to repentance, but oftentimes sinners are too proud and stubborn to repent.
2. The devil likes to fool people into thinking they have plenty of time when in fact they are getting closer and closer to hell.
3. The great evangelist George Whitefield wrote in his journal that during his first voyage to Georgia he tried to witness to the ship’s cook, a man with a bad drinking problem.
4. When Whitefield and others reproved the drunken cook, the man boasted that he would continue on in his sin until the last day of his life.
5. He said he would then repent and get things right with God.
6. What this cook did not realize was that was the last day of his life. Whitefield wrote in his journal that the man got sick and died six hours later from an illness related to his heavy drinking (Rom. 2:2).