Romans Chapter 2:1-3

The Bible plainly teaches that we should not judge or condemn others. The moment you begin to be set free from the more besetting, the more obvious sins in your life, then you become very primed to fall into the temptation of self-righteousness and then to look at others and go, yeah, I don't do that anymore.

I used to do that when I was as lost as you are. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge and Kernersville, North Carolina. Throughout scripture, we find that we are to walk in love and not so much in judgment and condemnation. Find out how we can do that today as Pastor David continues in the book of Romans chapter two. But before we get into today's teaching, from beginning to end, the Bible shows the special nature of God's relationship with the nation of Israel.

But what does that have to do with you today? Romans chapter 11 tells us that God's covenant relationship with Israel has huge implications for you. To help you understand more, Pastor David wants to send you his teaching video recorded in the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible and You. This powerful resource will encourage and strengthen you as you learn how connected you are with God's chosen people. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request your copy.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with his teaching, Judgment. Romans chapter two, verse one says, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge.

For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge practice the same things. Now it's an amazing placement if you think about, you know, we just finished up chapter one, chapter one points out some of the unrighteousness of man. And it's just a beautiful placement here in chapter two. And of course, understanding the verse divisions came later, the chapter divisions came later. So understand chapter one flows into chapter two, chapter two begins to deal with what begins to deal with self-righteous people because you go through chapter one and maybe, you know, you've, of course we talked about last week, nobody gets out alive after chapter one, you know, in that little list, friend, you're in there somewhere.

Let me assure you, if you need somebody to point out your failings in that list, just ask your wife or your children. I'm sure they'll be happy to point out, you know, where you're messing up, but, um, it made me want to start with asking God, you know, that might be better. But at the end of that, you know, some of us can go, well, gee, I'm not really, I haven't done that or done this. And we can actually, you know, it would come in the spiritual prime and chapter two says, no, no, no, let me go. Paul speaks to the self-righteous says, let me speak to you guys.

Let me deal with these things. Now the new living translation in this verse says this. You may be saying what terrible people you've been talking about, but you are just as bad. And you have no excuse when you say they are wicked and should be punished. You are condemning yourself for you do these very same things.

You've probably heard the saying, but that anytime you point a finger at somebody, you've got three more pointing back at you. It's a good thing to remember. It's kind of what, you know, Paul is saying in here, because let's understand there is a theme and I'm going to balance this out. There is a theme in the Bible that we're not supposed to consider ourselves better than everybody else.

That's amazing. What happens because, you know, we're, we're lost. We, we don't know God. We don't know God's will. We come to a saving knowledge based on grace and faith alone. And then often what begins to happen is we begin to develop spiritual pride now based on what has been given to us by the Lord. I think everybody struggles with this and everybody goes through that phase where they think, you know, perhaps God saved them because he saw some spark of innate human goodness, or there was some gifting on us that the Lord wanted to use.

But the fact is it was by grace and grace alone. And we should all be aware of our own sinfulness and our own weaknesses. It's a beautiful thing about going through the Bible is you, you see these attitudes that we have and the Bible confronts us in these things, because see, if you're sitting there worried about everybody else's sin, you know what happens? You're not as concerned about your own sin as you should be. Often we tell the guys in the men's ministry, you know what, if, uh, if something gets shared with you during a prayer time or devotional time, devotional time, you know, what happens at the men's meeting kind of stays at the men's ministry. I've told the guys, look, if you're going to go home and talk about somebody's sin with your wife, talk about your own sin with your wife.

I'm sure she'll be interested in that stuff. Don't go home and talk about somebody else's sin. But you know, what happens is you can talk about somebody else's sin and there's no conviction.

There's no prompting of a need for change in your life. As a matter of fact, if somebody has done something dark enough or something stupid enough, you actually feel better about you when you talk about it. But the Bible says, don't do that.

Don't do that. Because according to this book, according to chapter one and in other places, we all stand condemned. We all stand guilty. And oftentimes what we do is we stand off and go, look at that part. We'll look at that part. We'll look at that person.

We'll look at that person. But what I found, friend, in following Jesus, is it's much better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Much better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

What I mean by that is if I'm walking in the Lord's love, if I'm walking in His joy, if I'm living this stuff out, that's what's really going to help somebody else that's struggling, not coming up and wagging my finger in their face. The life lesson is, seeing the evil in others does not root out the evil in you. Seeing the evil in others does not root out the evil in you. See, it's a useless, if you will, spiritual exercise to just point out the flaws of everybody else.

Again, the word here is going to balance itself out. But we need to understand that we should not condemn other people because what happens is that leads us to spiritual pride. Now, when we talk, we're going to use the word condemn a lot. So let's make sure that we understand what this word condemn means. The meaning is, condemn is to pronounce judgment or sentence against to consider unfit.

So that's condemning, to pronounce judgment or sentence against to consider unfit. Now, biblically speaking, everybody gets judged. Do they get judged by you? No, they get judged by God. They get judged by the truth. The truth, the same truth that sets us free also leads us to the conclusion that we stand guilty under the law, which places us in a position of needing Jesus.

But you understand, if I'm looking at somebody and I'm pronouncing sentence over them and I'm saying, you know what? You're never going to have your sins forgiven. You're never going to go to heaven. And absolutely, there's no hope in Jesus for you.

I can't share the good news. I can't say there's hope in Jesus for you. But meanwhile, you're completely condemned and you have no hope. So there's a balance here that we need to understand.

And a lot of times we think, well, it's our ministry that, you know, we got to run around, tell everybody what's wrong with them. John 3 16, we quote a lot. A lot of times we leave off 17 and 18 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But friend, let's read on for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Now I remember as a young believer, 3 16, you know, most people are familiar with that verse and you hear it and you see it, you know, John 3 16 and you know, at the football games and stuff. So, you know, a lot of us are familiar with that verse. I remember as a young believer, reading that verse reading in the 17 for Jesus didn't condemn, you know, coming to the world to condemn the world. And I thought, praise God, I found my ministry.

It's the ministry of condemnation. So I set out to condemn everybody else thinking that was a flaw in Jesus' plan that he had left that out. God doesn't need you to condemn everybody friend, because according to the law, if they are not believing in Jesus, they stand condemned already.

I think most people are aware of this. Most people that I've ever ministered to already knew they were messing up already knew that they needed forgiveness. Oh, occasionally you'll come across somebody amazingly enough. Then we'll argue that they don't sin anymore. It's an amazing conversation. If you've never had that conversation, you will be amazed that what will come out of people I don't sin anymore.

I don't do wrong anymore. Now here's the bizarre thing. Do you understand what pull of people those folks come from? From churches. I've never caught somebody coming out of a bar that'll debate the sin question with me. I've never caught somebody that's in that valley of life that will debate that sin question with me.

Kind of interesting. You're listening to pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's word in just a moment. But first, God's grace and mercy is greater than any of us could ever fathom. That's why he's been so faithful to the nation of Israel throughout the ages.

And he's not finished. He's promised to remain true to them to the end. We want to show you what God's faithfulness toward Israel says about his relationship with you by sending you pastor David's teaching video, Israel, the Bible and You. In this exciting teaching recorded in the heart of the Holy Land, pastor David unpacks important truths from God's relationships with Israel that impact your life today. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request yours.

Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Now back to today's teaching. Verse two, but we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. So friend, there is right and wrong. There are long-term consequences to continuing to do wrong, continuing to do evil.

Sometimes there's short-term consequences. But again, part of what Paul is speaking, he's speaking to self righteousness and saying, Hey, be careful in this area because here's the thing. The moment you begin to quit doing this and that and the other, and you begin to be set free from the more besetting, the more obvious sins in your life, then you become very proud to fall into the temptation of self-righteousness and then to look at others and go, Oh yeah, I don't do that anymore.

I used to do that when I was as lost as you are, but I don't do that anymore. And we're not really offering grace and mercy and hope with somebody. Next life lesson. The Bible plainly teaches that we should not judge or condemn others. Now again, there, I'm going to balance this out in just a minute, but the Bible plainly teaches that we should not judge or condemn others. It's interesting.

You understand there's certain things that you cannot say about other people without judging yourself. I grew up in what I would have term a religious home, but it gave me a love for the Bible. I went to, I went to a Lutheran day school for my young years and grew up knowing the parables and stuff. And we used to pray over the meals and I'll never forget one time we were praying over the meal. We got finished praying and I said, I got two older brothers, Bill and Tom. And I said, uh, I said, dad, when we were praying, Tom had his eyes open. Dad said, how, you know, I discerned it in the spirit that I just, uh, I just could sense in my spirit. I was burdened knowing his eyes. No, he, dad knew I had my eyes open. I know there I am with my eyes open, accusing him of having his eyes open. You understand? We do that sometimes.

Do you understand? There's certain things as a believer, you can't really say you can't really say, you know, so-and-so they are so unloving because that statement is unloving. Oh, here's another Christian classic, you know, so-and-so they are such a gossip.

You can't say that. I've had people say that to me and you, you know, my line really, how, you know, how do you know they're a gossip? Well, you should have heard the things that they said.

Also, you were sitting there listening. It takes two people to gossip, somebody talking, somebody listening. And if you're not listening, if you're not listening to gossip, then you're cutting that off. Now I've had people that have tried to engage me in gossip and I say, you know what? I'm not interested in hearing this, not interested in hearing this.

And sometimes if they got a good head of steam built up, they try to keep going. No, really, I don't want to hear this. And on the rare occasion, I've just said and walked away because I don't want to hear it. See, if I stand there and I listen, I'm participating in gossip.

So there's certain things that you can't, you say, and yet, see, we jump up to say somebody else is guilty of gossip when we are just as guilty because we've sat and listened. Friend, I know that you've probably had those conversations. You've talked to people on the phone after you, you know, you hung up the phone.

You ever seen Nickelodeon when people get slimed and they got that green slime poured on them? You know, you're probably like, I've had phone conversations. I don't, I'm not going to have them anymore. You know, I have phone conversations. I hang up the phone. I feel like I've been slimed. It's like, Oh my gosh, that was such an unedifying conversation.

And I've learned to cut those things off. Now, again, chapter two is such a beautiful balance to Romans chapter one, because chapter one points out the unrighteousness chapter two deals with the self-righteousness of man. Now, and there's some churches that, you know, all they won't hesitate to teach on Romans chapter one, although they'll build their life around that verse of how everybody else is messed up, but they will leave off chapter two that talks about the selfish righteousness of us, of people, of our bend towards that. And then there's other churches that'll deal with chapter two and say, Oh yeah, we need to be very careful of being too self-righteous and judgmental and condemning people. But then they leave off chapter one, which talks about the unrighteousness.

It's just a beautiful balance. It really, teaching the Bible this way, studying the Bible this way, kind of, well, it keeps us out of a lot of trouble. Romans chapter two, verse three. And do you think this, Oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God, judge those practicing such things and doing the same.

Oh, you look at that list and go doing the same. Let's understand something. The Bible not only deals with our actions, but if you just deal with your actions, that leaves you, well, well friend, you can be hypocritical.

If you're just dealing with your actions, we tend towards emphasizing the action. God says, you know what? I want to go deeper than that.

I want to go to the heart. I want to deal with your attitudes. It's when Jesus talked about, Hey, you know, you're told not to kill somebody, but if you have hatred and anger towards somebody, it's like murder. Now, probably a lot of us in here have not committed murder, but is there anybody in here who's never been angry at somebody or been hateful towards somebody?

Probably not. Maybe you read that list and you go, well, I've never committed adultery. And yet Jesus says, if you've ever lusted somebody in your heart or in your mind, you've done as much as committed adultery.

Now with a show of hands, no, I'm kidding. Every one of us stands guilty at that point because Jesus is going to the heart and saying, look, have you had these attitudes? And when you start to look at your own heart and you start to look at the attitude, you go, man, not the person I should be, but I hope you can add friend. Praise the Lord.

I'm not the person I used to be. God's doing something in me and he continues to do it. Jesus spoke about this judgment issue in Matthew chapter seven. And he says this, he says, stop judging others and you will not be judged. I'm going to stop there because this is probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. They usually use the King James version, judge ye, you know, judge not lest ye be judged or don't judge me.

It's kind of interesting that, you know, they kind of leave out other scriptural concepts, but let's read on. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye. Verse five is very important for context sake. Hypocrite, first get rid of the log from your own eye.

Then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with a speck in your friend's eye. That's kind of interesting that that verse is in there. It's not quoted usually when people say judge not lest ye be judged. But according to this passage, it says, hey, if you've already dealt with an issue or an area of your life, now you've been set free to help somebody else with one of those issues. But while you're still struggling in that area, you're probably not in a position to really help somebody. In other words, if you're struggling with alcoholism and you're still drinking, you can't really minister to somebody that's drinking now. But once God has delivered, you know, you've accepted God's deliverance and you're no longer drinking, then you're in a very special place to minister to people that are still struggling in that area. So there is a sense spiritually speaking that you can sense right and wrong. And then you can help somebody else be an overcomer in that area.

But if you're still struggling in that area, friend, you're not in a position to speak to somebody else's life about that sin or that area. But let's understand. And there is a sense that, you know, the Bible talks about iron sharpening iron. As we interact, as we have a relationship, there's friction caused. And as I'm up here teaching, I'm talking about these issues and, you know, we're being prepared to for life's journey. We're being prepared, if you will, for battle. And part of this as we go through the scriptures is go, wow, you know what? I'm still I'm still struggling in that area.

This is still an issue. And the word brings it up and we're preparing each other for battle. And we can sense what is right and wrong. The Marines do something, I've been told. I've never been a Marine, probably tell by the hair, but the they square off about six feet apart from each other and look each other from head to toe before they go in the battle. And if there's anything out of place or not right, then they tell one another, you know, hey, this is, you know, your boots not done right. You need to do that. Or you're, you know, your, your, your belt thing, you know, you know, and they tell each other that.

Why? Because they want to be prepared to go into the battle. Now, again, I've not been a Marine, but I cannot imagine two Marines doing that and a guy going, hey, you know, you really need to tie your boots. And the guy turned into that and go, oh, judge not, lest you be judged.

He's probably like, oh, thank you. I probably should tie these boots before I go into battle. You're, you know what? You don't have your gun. Go get your gun. You're going into a battle.

You're going to need your gun. So understand when we're talking about this type of judgment, we're talking about condemnation, not discernment. This is important for us to realize because the next life lesson, the Bible plainly teaches us that we can know right and wrong and that with love, important statement, with love, we can teach others what is right and wrong. We can know right and wrong and we can in love teach others what is right and wrong. And while I should not condemn people, I can discern.

If I'm talking to somebody and they go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I did that whole born again thing. I prayed that little prayer and they're not in fellowship. They're not attending a church like the Bible talks about. They're not tithing financially given to a church like the Bible talks about.

They're not serving others and serving God like the Bible talks about. In that conversation, I can't say, well, absolutely you're still going to hell even though you're telling me you've been born again, but I can discern that there's not fruit in their life. Now that's not condemning them.

That's not saying that you're going to hell even though you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins. But I can say, you know what? I discern there's not a lot of fruit in your life. Now that's not condemning. That's discerning. 1 Corinthians 2 15 says this, but he who is spiritual judges all things. He who is spiritual judges all things. Now that's not judgment in the sense of condemning. That's judging in the sense of discerning, judging in the sense of discerning. And that's something that we need to do and should do. But what the passage is pointing out is that according to the law, we are all condemned, whether we're unrighteous or self-righteous. See, and that's the thing.

As God begins to work in our life, there is a tendency to develop spiritual pride. And we need to be careful in this area, friends, because everyone else, how, you know, how, how are we going to escape this so righteous of a judgment, this standard God has of perfection for us that none of us can meet? How do we escape? Because there's the usual ways of thinking that you can escape, maybe get beyond the powers of extradition. You know, if you do something in this country, there's certain countries you can go to that they won't pull you back here. Well, that's not really going to work with God, is it?

Well, maybe the statue of limitations runs out. That doesn't apply to God either. There's only one real plan of escape. That's Jesus.

There's only one way out. When you realize that all of us stand condemned, there is only one way to be pardoned before the Lord. And He's given us that way. He's given us His Son so that we can be declared innocent and we can be set free.

But if you reject that one, then you're choosing to be condemned. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven? You can know right now.

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Before we go, we want to encourage you in your faith so that you can experience more of the grace and love of God for you. That's why we'd like to send you Pastor David's teaching video recorded in the heart of the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible, and You. This encouraging look into the history of Israel and God's covenant faithfulness to His chosen people will help you take bold new steps in your relationship with God. Israel, the Bible, and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station, and beyond, cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com now to request your copy. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge with David McGee to hear more from the Book of Romans. We'll see you then.