In Romans 2 the apostle Paul shares with us the seven factors of judgment that Jesus will use when he opens the Books of Works at the Great White Throne Judgment. From these books, Jesus will prove why good people are not fit for Heaven.
Romans 2 does not show folks how to be saved. This passage shows folks why they are lost! These are not the principles of salvation. These are the principles of evaluation.
Here are 7 of the reasons why good people are disqualified from entering into God’s Heaven.
1. God will evaluate according to truth as outlined in the Bible (Romans 1-3).
God will judge everything according to truth because we all are in the habit of comparing ourselves with others.
On Judgment Day, God will say to those who died without Jesus Christ as their Savior, “Let’s judge you for who and what you really are.”
2. God will evaluate according to his kindness (Romans 2:4).
God’s judgment will be in proportion to the amount of kindness that God has poured out to people during their lifetimes.
God expends his kindness to us that he might lead us to repentance.
Christians often wonder why lost people seem to have it so good. The answer is that it’s just God’s kindness to turn them to repentance — the longer they reject his kindness, the more inexcusable they will be when they stand at the Great White Throne Judgment.
3. God will evaluate according to his accumulated wrath (Romans 2:5).
Hardening of arteries can take us to an early grave — but hardening of the heart, spiritually, will take us ultimately to the Lake of Fire.
If the grace and kindness of God have not led us to repentance, then every day, moment by moment, hour by hour, we are storing up drops of the terrible treasure of God’s wrath which will break forth at the Great White Throne.
God is allowing us to live and he is holding back punishment — giving us kindness — so that we might turn to him in repentance.
Our judgment for eternity will be in direct proportion to the amount of kindness that God has given to us to which we ignored as coming from God.
4. God will evaluate according to deeds (Romans 2:6-10).
Standing before God now is the person who says, “Look, God, judge me according to my deeds. I’ve lived a good life. Take my good works and put them beside my bad ones and certainly the good will outweigh the bad!”
But the problem with the moral man is that he thought that his good deeds will be weighed against his bad deeds or at least be compared against the deeds of others.
That will not be the case. And that’s where good people are mistaken.
God will take the best works of the moral man or woman and compare them with Jesus’ deeds. Jesus raises the lame, gives sight to the blind, and heals the sick. He takes on the sins of the entire world and by his death and sacrifice brings salvation to those who commit to him as Savior and Lord.
No person in his or her right mind wants to be judged on works. He or she wants mercy.
