Dont Judge Me [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

Paul's saying here is that when you're judging other people and saying all the things they ought to be, when you're reading Chapter 1, religious person, and you're reading about all those people who have those terrible sins and you're talking about, yeah, you tell them, Paul, and the standards that you're setting for them, he's saying you don't live up to it yourself. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. Hi, I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series we call Oh Bologna, a study of Romans Chapters 1 through 3, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. Now, if you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, we sure want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer, and you can contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. The text says when he came to himself, I think he began to remember he was a son at one time. And he started thinking about how his father's house, maybe he could be a hired hand and go back and work off his debt.

He'd be better off there. And he's rehearsing this repentance speech and makes his way home. And he is shocked when his father runs to greet him and weeps upon his shoulder with joy and has a huge celebration because his son that was lost has been found. And then the attention turns to the older brother. And you realize the story is as much about the older brother as it is the younger brother, if not more. And the older brother is furious about the whole situation. We read in Luke 15, 28, he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and then treated him. But he answered his father, look, these many years I've served you, I've never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

You know what he's saying? Saying I'm so good. I'm perfect. I'm morally upright. I deserve to be honored. Honored.

I deserve it because I'm so good. But when this son of yours, verse 30, can't even call him by name, can't even call him his brother, this son of yours, came and devoured your property with prostitutes. You killed the fatted calf for him, bitterness. And he said to him, son, you're always with me.

And all that is mine is yours. And it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. And the story ends there and the reader and the listener to Jesus is just left wondering will the brother ever go in?

We kind of suspect he never does go in. So the younger brother, this rebellious one, one that Paul's talking about in Romans chapter one, all manner of sexual immorality, all manner of making your own version of right and wrong and saying there is no right and wrong and I'll do whatever I want to. And now he's talking about in chapter two something much more like the older brother. That's what he's talking about in Romans chapter two, something much more like an older brother who thinks that I'm the one that knows what's right and been doing what's right and I'm much better than the younger brother. Tim Keller's written a magnificent little book called The Prodigal God, all about this parable.

And he has this to say it's profound. The elder brother is not losing the father's love in spite of his goodness, but because of it. It is not his sins that create the barrier between him and his father. It's the pride he has in his moral record. It's not his wrongdoing, but his righteousness that is keeping him from sharing in the feast of the father.

Wow. And then he says this. There are two ways to be your own savior and Lord. One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course.

And one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good. So in a remarkable way, the younger brother and the older brother are the same. They're both trying to be their own God, but in very different ways.

And they have the same root problem and the same need for a father's embrace. But because the older thought he was better than the younger and thought he was entitled because of his morality, he judged the younger. And that's what judgment is. I'm better than you. I deserve more than you. I'm categorically different than you. So you ought to be judged and I ought not be. And the only way out of such judgmentalism of the younger would be for the older to realize that actually he was the same, just manifested differently. One of the most important things you could ever understand and interacting with people and understanding how to parent and understanding how we can have such joyous fellowship with every kind of believer and saints and Christ is understand that we are the same on the inside.

We have the same exact need and we have only one path to salvation and that our joy in the Lord is exactly the same. Where's this? I think I'd mentioned to you recently about reconnecting with a remarkable woman in Kansas city named Jessica. She was invited to a small group many years ago.

I was reading a book I wrote called shame off you. And what was unusual about this was that this is a group of middle and upper middle class suburban women in Kansas city. And that wasn't Jessica story. Jessica had a rough life and had been coming out of the sex industry of the Kansas city area, trying to find the right path. And they, somebody invited her to this group and there she was, it was so different.

She is a fireball and she, I love Jessica. I got to meet her some years after the, she'd done this team off your study. And she said she would go to it and she gets so mad at the things in this book that she'd storm out for about four or five different meetings. So the first she'd go and she they'd read a little bit and then she'd storm out. She told me later, she said, I was so mad at you. I said, well, what'd I ever do to you?

You know, you're writing about these things, talking about these deep issues of shame, who you to talk, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so she kept storming out until she didn't. And the Lord got through to her and grace started breaking into her life and she got really, really transformed. And then she began leading this same study for other women. Some years ago, I had such an encouraging note from her. She said that she had been, I'm reading from her notes. She said she bring, bring in her secret stash or same off your books into the city jail twice a month. She said, I sit with 12 women each time, dig into our past present, discuss what it looks like in our future to be shame free. She says the women are, are always wanting more. And she said, I've gotten the book approved to be in the library.

And I'm, I'm so excited about that. And she said, he asked one lady and wanted to read it so bad. She smuggled it back to her floor and her jumpsuit. And so she going on like this. And so I hadn't been in touch with her a long time. She reconnected and asked that now they have a residential program.

And would I be willing to get on a zoom meeting with some of the women that she has been leading through a shame off you that are in residence there that have had the same background as she is there stopping and working against human trafficking in the Kansas city area. And I said, sure. And so I got on for an hour and talked with Jessica and these women who on the outside appearance, couldn't be more different than me. I wrote this book about shame to tell about an inward tyrant that when you think you don't measure up and you got to do something to make yourself measure up, it creates anxiety on the inside. And I was honest about the brokenness of my own family and my need for a dad and about what it was like to grow up with that kind of shame and addiction in our home and all of that. But for me, I became a perfectionist straight A student and did all the things there by applause.

I would have never in a million years thought that women who have been trafficked in Kansas City and have spent years on the streets would be able to identify with this. And yet we get on for an hour and we talked about shame and we talked about grace and we talked about Jesus and we talked about family and some of the issues going on in their family. And I loved talking to them because you know what? We're exactly the same.

We really are. We're saying that's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. We're excited to tell you about Pastor Alan's latest book, Seeing as Jesus sees.

It's just been released and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Now followers of Christ tend to focus on doing so we've been told to ask what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works.

There's no gospel power in our self-striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book, Pastor Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this? It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. And when you make a gift to Allen Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from Pastor Alan along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life as you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes.

You'll start seeing as Jesus sees and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website pastorallen.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Allen Wright. And this is what Paul is saying in Romans 2. There are people that are far from God because they said I'll make up my own right and wrong, be my own God, and they're far from God. But then also people that think they're morally better than other people, that they're the ones that know God and they're the ones that do things right.

And these Pharisee types, these older brothers, they're very far from God. There's only one way that we ever really have true fellowship and love with one another and judgment ends. And that's where we all know that we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And we all deserve nothing but the judgment of God, except for the grace of God. Every one of us has to know that or else we'll never understand grace.

That's what he's talking about. And he comes to this, verse 14, and he, in some sense, he's reverting back to those rebellious Gentiles that were spoken of in chapter one. He says, when Gentiles, verse 14, when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they're a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness. And their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. What was he talking about here? This is where Paul is saying, hypothetically, those people that don't know God at all, don't have scriptures, don't have revelation in the Bible, but yet are trying to be good people.

That's what he's talking about. They do good things. You know, we all know people like that. They're completely irreligious, maybe even atheistic, and yet they're tempting to do good things. And what about that person?

Why would that person deserve judgment? And what Paul is saying here is that by the very fact that someone who doesn't have the law of God, who doesn't have revelation and know God, the very fact that they are trying to do what is good proves that they know right from wrong. It doesn't make sense, you see, to say, oh, I'm doing good things, but I'm not, I'm not a believer, but I'm doing good things. And you can't say that and then say, but there is no absolute standard of right and wrong, because you're proving by your own nature that you believe in a right and wrong. When people say there's no right or wrong, but spend a lot of time defining their idea of right and wrong, don't they prove that there is a right and wrong?

C.S. Lewis begins his timeless, brilliant book, Mere Christianity, with these words. Everyone has heard people quarreling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant, but however it sounds, I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kind of things they say. They say things like, how'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?

Or that's my seat, I was there first. Or leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm. Or give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine.

Or come on, you promised. He writes, people say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, children as well as grownups. And he writes, what interests me about all these remarks is that the man who makes them is not merely saying that the other man's behavior does not happen to please him, he is appealing to some kind of standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know about. And what's interesting, Lewis says later, is that rarely does the other say I could care less about your standard.

That's usually not what happens when people quarrel. Even the people who say their moral relative is, once they start quarreling, they're quarreling about whether or not I actually broke the rule or the standard. And it's interesting that people who say they don't believe in a standard right and wrong, they have a standard. It's like breaking line in front of them and you'll find out. And what's interesting also is that people fear very, very strongly about it when they perceive that you're breaking the standard. They feel real strong about it. That's what's crazy about it, is we've got this age in which people are saying, the culture is saying there's no right or wrong, and yet everybody's more mad than they've ever been because you're wrong and I'm right. What is going on? It's Super Bowl Sunday and tonight we're going to watch 325 pound men, some of the strongest men on the planet, hurl their bodies into one another, crush one another, pull one another, push one another, tackle one another, throw them to the ground, do everything they can to bust them.

And that's all right. And at the end of the play the ref blows the whistle and isn't it funny, isn't it funny if the whistle's been blown and the play's over, if one guy just barely shoves another guy, I mean wouldn't be enough to have killed a fly on his back, but he touched him. He's like, he touched me, he touched me. Teams are ready to fight each other over because you touched me. What are you talking about? You just about killed each other on the play and now he just barely touched you. Yeah, but now he broke the rule and I'm furious about that.

Weird. Why is there road rage? Someone's falling too close to you in another car and then you get mad and people do stupid things because they're like, you broke the standard. What standard?

My standard, the standard. I thought there was no right and wrong. Well, I'd like to give the moral relativists a quiz. Just a complete unbeliever, never heard of Jesus or the Bible or 10 commandments and who believes that you cannot set an absolute standard of right and wrong.

I'd like to give them a little quiz. I think my first question would be, question number one, just tell me which is right and which is wrong. You see an elderly woman carrying a heavy grocery bag preparing to cross a busy street. Is it better to A, offer to help her carry the bag and support her as she travels across the street or is it better B, to shove her into oncoming traffic and steal her groceries? A or B? Question number two, which is better? After a terrible natural disaster, you visit a devastated location where houses are crumbled, merchant shops are broken and open and people are weeping over their losses. Is it better A, to join a mission team who's carrying water and food to the hurting people and donate your time and money to help them rebuild or B, to scoff and laugh at the wounded and rush from store to store looting and stealing their stuff?

Which is right? You see how silly it is? That's what Paul's saying. The fact that imperfect people sometimes do good things doesn't mean there's no reason that they shouldn't be judged. It's proof that they know right from wrong and they can't even live up to that standard. So now, why all this talk about judgment?

Why do we even have to talk about this? This is an epistle of grace. I can't wait to get to Romans 8. I'm gonna preach five or six messages from Romans 8. I may never come out of Romans 8. I might get stuck in Romans 8 and never come out. I might have to do five Sundays on there's no condemnation in Christ. We might get up to that point and say there's nothing can separate you from the love of Christ Jesus.

I might have to stay there for a month. I don't know. Then we get to that part.

I can't wait. But why we gotta go through Romans 2 and talk about judgment and every person, first the Jew, then the Gentile, everybody deserving of judgment. I'll tell you why, because of verse four. One of the most important verses in the Bible that deserves to be underlined, highlighted and memorized. Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing, saying, Oh, please know this. God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

It's in the present tense in the Greek. It should be read. God's kindness is leading you to repentance. Alan Wright, our good news message.

Don't judge me from the series, oh, baloney. It's in-depth teaching of Romans chapters one through three. Hey, stay with us. Pastor Alan is back. Joining me in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. And we're excited to tell you about Pastor Alan's latest book, Seeing as Jesus Sees.

It's just been released and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Now, followers of Christ tend to focus on doing. So we've been told to ask, what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works.

There's no gospel power in our self-striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book, Pastor Alan Wright invites readers into a new, simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this? It's a prayer that the savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness, and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. And when you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life as you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes.

You'll start seeing as Jesus sees, and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Back here in the studio this year, Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day and our teaching, Don't Judge Me. You know, it's so powerful to think, as Francis Schaeffer was first to say it, and Tim Keller has talked about, that we really couldn't keep any standard. I mean, if we were to put, as Schaeffer said, an invisible tape recorder around our neck, and the only thing it recorded was the things I said about my standards for other people, I wouldn't even be able to keep that. So I just think it's so important that we realize we can't keep any standard perfectly, which is to say this is why we need Jesus so much. And keep in mind the principles that pointing out truth, that's not judgmentalism.

But thinking that you are more righteous than someone else and therefore need the Savior less, that is judgmentalism. And Paul's talking about that and clarifying that here in Romans chapter two, really, really important that we understand it. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.