Judgment Without Comparison

along with the troubles our computer has been having we don't have our usual video so we're

! we're going to hope the the sermon slides that i prepared to assist in preaching today will show up

! but y'all just bear with us all right computer troubles are not the end of it they just make

everything a little more challenging but we'll get past it um take your bibles if you would turn

to romans chapter 1. as you do i hope you are edified by the picture on the screen

Romans 1 · chapter mention

has anybody ever felt like that

just had a face palm kind of moment face palm kind of day what in the world

i'm gonna move this out of the way this is for when people come up here

and speak or pray or something they can grab this mic but i don't need it because i have mine so

y'all just forgive me i'm gonna move that out of the way um romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

paul's talking about those kind of people the people that just make you go

every community has those people

the ones who drive slowly in the fast lane

can i get an amen the people who don't return their shopping carts

leave them in the parking spot

and then on a windy day it blows it into your car the people who let their dog do its business and

just keep on walking come on now look we walk our dog every day and i gotta carry two i gotta carry two bags now

because he's a big dog

we all know who these people are look a lot of these are sometimes you know some more humorous things

but a lot of times those people can get into some pretty rough stuff that makes you go more than

oh my word sometimes those people just they need jesus they need to get right with god

that's exactly where paul starts us where we're picking it up in romans chapter 1 verse 18 he's talking

Romans 1:18

about those people and that's what we're going to talk about today is those people so whoever that is

for you get their face in your mind and just think about all the things you can't stand about them

that'll be the perfect spirit for you to be in as you receive the word this morning romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

but listen y'all there's a bait and switch coming so just work with me romans chapter 1 verse 18.

Romans 1:18

we're going to read a long passage of scripture i'm not going to have you stand you've stood a lot

today uh but let's pick it up in verse 18. for the wrath of god the wrath of god is revealed

from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth

in unrighteousness you see what kind of people these are because that which is known about god

is evident within them god made it evident to them since creation of the world his invisible

attributes both his eternal power his divine nature have been clearly seen if you're paying attention

being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse and you can see evidence

of god all around the world through creation all around us for even though they knew god they did not

honor him as god watch that or give thanks to him but they became futile in their reasoning

and their senseless hearts were darkened you ever looked at those people and just said man they just

don't have sense but paul's saying the same thing their senseless hearts were darkened professing to be

wise they became fools exchanged the glory of incorruptible god you can't corrupt god but they exchanged his glory

for an image of god in the likeness of corruptible man of birds four-footed animals crawling creatures

and you go to some dark parts of the world and you'll find people worshiping idols made out of

stone or wood and oftentimes they'll look like creatures i used to go on these trips to india

anybody ever been to india before it's an interesting place yeah yeah i know you have

bentz has been everywhere all the places that you don't think about going bentz has been there okay

it's amazing talk to him um india is fascinating land of a billion people and over 300 million

different things they worship as a god over there it's crazy the hindu culture kind of contributes

to that and in the part of the the region we were mostly visiting uh they worshiped the monkey god

so they had this this god that looked like a monkey all decked out in gold and jewels so it's kind of a

picture of what paul's talking about here they make it they made these things that god created as part

of nature and they've lifted them up as god birds four-footed animals crawling creatures therefore

how did god respond to this he gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity

so that their bodies would be dishonored among them so they exchanged for they exchanged the truth of god

for a lie you ever know somebody who exchanged the truth of god for a lie have you ever been somebody

who knew the truth of god but exchanged it for a lie instead that's what he's talking about

and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed to all eternity amen

for this reason god gave them over to degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural

function for that which is unnatural in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the

woman and burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in

their own persons the due penalty of their error and y'all know what it's talking about there here you know

he there's a direct reference to mix uh same gender relationships and sin so god's calling that out as

unnatural paul is calling that out as unnatural as he's inspired by god to write this they say and it was

against god's design and they're pursuing this as an act of rebellion against god and his created design

just as they did not see fit to acknowledge god god gave them over to a depraved mind

to do those things which are not proper being filled with all unrighteousness wickedness greed evil

full of evil full of envy murder strife deceit malice there are gossips slanderers haters of god

insolent arrogant boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents y'all see that list of really bad stuff

and then he throws in disobedient to parents kids i hope you're paying attention paul's listing that along

with a list of really bad sins don't disobey your parents all right kids

without understanding untrustworthy unloving unmerciful and although they know the ordinance of god

that those who practice such things are worthy of death they not they know this but they not only

do those things they also give hearty approval to those who practice them

that's paul's those people that's the people that makes him go what are they doing what in the world

pretty bad right now let's not stop there let's go to chapter 2 and verse 1

you may think you can condemn such people let me put it this way you may think you can condemn

those people paul says but he continues but you are just as bad

can we just pause there for a minute before we continue on

and then he says just in case you think you're better than those people you're just as bad

as bad as you're going to do that and then he's writing this to jesus followers in rome

both historic jewish believers in the messiah and those who recognize that jesus was their promised

messiah and then those gentiles who were brought into the faith of christ and now they're all trying

to coexist and follow jesus together and they're struggling to do it they're having a hard time

reconciling some issues with each other and he says you guys are just as bad

and you have no excuse when you say they are wicked those people and they should be punished

you're condemning yourself since you who judge do these very same things you know what our minds do our

minds say no i don't what are you talking about i don't get into that lifestyle because you know what

we just did we forgot about all the other things on that list and we went straight to the worst of it

or what we perceive to be the worst of it we go straight to the well he was talking about those

people who change their their natural created desires and they they go after same gender and all this

i'm not that what's he talking about and you missed the entire rest of the list

greed envy strife deceit gossip slander arrogant boastful disobedient to parents without understanding

untrustworthy unloving unmerciful all these things paul is saying you do them too

this is a hard passage for us to read but if we're gonna preach through romans we've got to park it here

for a little bit and we've got to figure out what was paul writing about it's an important message so

we're into chapter two and he says you're condemning yourself if you're pointing the finger at these

people and saying man they deserve harsh judgment they should be punished for all this because you

who are doing the judging do the very same things we started many weeks ago i think this is week 14 of

this series well there's 16 chapters in paul's letter to the churches in rome that we have preserved in

the scriptures to this day and it's helpful for us and we started at the very end we're working our way

from the back to the front we don't normally do it that way but this this time it's been kind of a

different perspective on this letter which many of you have already read before so we've been in this

series for a while and now we're covering not the entire chapters of romans 1 and romans 2 we might be

able to finish romans 1 next sunday and kind of put a bow on this series through romans but we're

going to get from romans 18 down through verse 32 where he gives this whole list of really bad those

people you know who i'm talking about and you probably have a picture in your mind of who those

people in henrietta or clay county or your life or your circles who those people are that kind of fit

some of that list that paul was giving us maybe it's you maybe it was you maybe god's rescued

you from some of that but paul's telling us he's doesn't about face here and he's telling us in

chapter 2 and verse 1 you're just as bad why because some of those things on that list apply to you too

so this leads us to truth number one god does not judge by comparison this is something that makes

us different from god this is something that makes our natural instinct different because what do we

want to do we want to compare ourselves to each other and we want to always come out on the better

end of that if we can help it we want to think well yeah i'm not perfect i know that but i'm not as bad as

so and so right in a marriage relationship oftentimes the temptation is to come out on top that i'm the

one with the upper hand i'm the one who maybe i'm some at fault but she's more at fault he's more at

fault he's the real problem here so we compare ourselves and paul warns about that many times in his

writings to the early church of jesus followers he says don't fall into the trap of comparison

that's not how god judges us he doesn't look at us as mankind and say well some of you are really

bad sinners i'm going to send y'all to hell and the rest of you you're only kind of bad sinners so i'll

offer you forgiveness that's not how it works god doesn't have a grading system of how bad you think

you've done or how bad you think you are or how bad your sins are that you've committed he said if you

unless you have faith in me you're all guilty and your number one sin is unbelief it's not believing in

me john chapter 16 shows this to us jesus kind of explains what sin actually is and all these other

John 16 · chapter mention

things that we call sins a lot of them are listed here at the end of romans 1. these are actually

symptoms of the one true sin which is unbelief it's not recognizing god as god and when you don't believe

you produce a different kind of fruit not the fruit that comes from the holy spirit of god

and all these fruits are what we commonly refer to as sins disobeying god disobeying his commands

going against his natural created order so god doesn't compare us according to how much of that list

we've committed well i might be deceitful sometimes i might be prideful sometimes but i'm not going out

and getting plastered on friday night i'm not addicted to whatever substance i'm not sneaking around and

looking at pornography or i'm not cheating on my wife or whatever you think i'm not doing these things so

i'm not as bad as somebody else that's human thinking that's not how god sees us what that's actually doing

is minimizing your lack of belief and faith in the son of god and in god's eyes that is the number one

way that you sin against god the other things are a result of that they're the fruit of that unbelief

so god does not judge us by comparison now pick it up in verse 2 of romans 2. we know that god in his

justice he's going to remind us what we already know about god he will punish those who do who do such

things this whole list that he just went through god there's going to be natural punishment that

comes from the naturally created order and system that god built this world around you're going to

be punished by doing these things since you judge others for doing these things why do you think that

you can avoid god's judgment that naturally comes from these things why do you think you can avoid it

it when you do them too don't you see how wonderful kind and patient god is really that's what we're

talking about right now after we're just talking about how god punishes evil and all this wrongdoing

now we're going to talk about how wonderful kind and patient god is well he goes on to explain can't you

see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin it's not to let you live there and stay

there and be continue in these things because you convince yourself that you're not as bad as so and

so and so and so the things that you do struggle with just aren't that big a deal god says no no paul

says no no god's kindness shows you that that's not a healthy way of thinking that's not reality that's not

truth that's a lie but because you're stubborn and you refuse to do what god's kindness is supposed to

lead you toward which is turning from sin you refuse to turn from your sin you are storing up terrible

punishment for yourself punishment that god never intended for you to have to endure but when we go

against his path the path that jesus is leading us on and we go off into all these other directions

we encounter all these other things that god never intended for us and then we're so arrogant as to

turn around when we have to endure the punishment of our sin the judgment that we naturally have to

encounter and we shake our fist at god and say why did you let me go through this he says man you're so

far from the path that you're supposed to that i wanted you on i didn't do that to you that's the

natural judgment that occurs from that choice that you made that path that you're on now get back to

where i have you you won't have to encounter any of that and ultimately that other path any other path

leads to permanent eternal destruction and judgment but we get a little taste of it here on this earth

just like when you walk with jesus you can get little tastes and experiences of heaven on this earth

by the same token when you don't walk with jesus you get little tastes and experiences of the eternal

judgment and punishment that waits for those without god so

so

he talks about that day of judgment paul says the day of judgment is coming

romans 2 when god who's right judgment is often now hidden it's hard to often see god's judgment

happen sometimes we experience it and we recognize it sometimes it's like man they're getting away with

everything the wicked people are winning they never have to suffer for their wrongdoing well they do

it's just always not public he says sometimes it's hidden but someday that day of judgment is coming

when it will shine for all to see and he will judge everyone according to what they have done

he will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good do you see that he will give eternal life

romans chapter 2 verse 7 to those who keep on doing good put a little finger there we're going to come

Romans 2:7

back to that in a minute because if you know the path of salvation to jesus christ you might be looking

at that like wait a minute what did he just say that doesn't track seeking after the glory and honor and

immortality that god offers that's an elaboration on what it means to keep on doing good but he will

pour out his anger and his wrath on those who live for themselves who refuse to obey the truth and instead

live lives of wickedness that's not always outward wickedness sometimes it is usually it'll come out at some

point but he could also there be talking about inward wickedness that on the out like on the outside you look all

clean you're all buttoned up you're good you're fine but on the inside he told the pharisees are full of

dead men's bones he says you're you're wicked on the inside you put on this show of following after god

but you're actually leading a life of wickedness there will be trouble and there will be calamity for

everyone who keeps on doing what is evil for the jew first and also for the gentile but there will be glory

honor and peace from god who for all who do good for the jew first and also for the gentile notice

there just a little side thought god doesn't discriminate he's not prioritizing well for the jews

i'll i'll give them they're my special people from the old testament and i'll give them special

privileges and they won't have to suffer as much as these gentiles who weren't part of my original crowd

that's not what he says he says it's for everyone same level ground level playing field across the board

jew gentile it's the same fruit of the same life depending on which direction you're going it's

true for both for god does not show favoritism that's how he ends it now let's go back to verse 7. what did it say

i underlined it here he will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good

now this is a talk back moment i know we don't do a whole lot of that and you go to some cultures you

go to um some black churches man they're talking back with the with the preacher the whole time

anybody ever been in a black church service where you saw how they do it that's their culture man

sometimes it's very entertaining it's i can really get into it um but i'm glad we don't do that all the

time because they their sermons you know can last about two hours i don't know if i could go that long

y'all for sure could not listen to me that long uh but this is a talk back moment right now okay so

when we read in romans 2 7 he will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good

let's not dive into the theology that you may already know about the truth

what is that telling you seemingly what is salt paul seemed to be saying here he'll give eternal life

to those who keep on doing good somebody tell me who gets eternal life then

works doing good right

is that consistent with what the scriptures teach us what jesus said and what even paul teaches

about the path to eternal life with god no so what do we do oh no we've got a contradiction in the bible

the bible must not be true right of course not only someone with an agenda of trying to disprove the

scriptures and too lazy to do the research would settle there and stay there but if it's making you

scratch your head then let's look around and see what is he actually trying to say here because that's

so inconsistent with what we know about god well let's look two chapters over so flip your bible over or

pull up your bible app and pull down the chapter list and go to romans 4 romans 4 and verse 5

while you're turning i'm going to read it to people who do not work

to people who do not work

but trust god who forgives sinners their faith is counted as righteousness this is not talking about

people who don't have a job that's not what he's saying when he's saying people who don't work he's

talking about in the context of romans 4 he's talking about work salvation people depending on

the works they do the good works they do man i gave money to charity i went out and served i helped my

neighbor i went to church i read my bible i tried to pray i did all these good things tried to tell the truth

try to be an honest man or woman he's saying to people who do this

they're depending on that for salvation and it's going to fail them but the people who are not

depending on their works romans 4 and verse 5 but instead they trust god who forgives sinners

it's not their works that are counted as righteousness because what do we learn from

the scriptures all our righteousness is as filthy rags in god's eyes you think your resume of righteous

deeds is is is impressive and god says man i'm not impressed at all it just looks like unrighteousness

to me because the only thing that makes you righteous is right here at the end of romans 4 5.

their faith is counted as righteousness you want to be righteous in god's eyes don't commit the sin of

unbelief

unbelief have faith have faith and if your faith is shaken go back and work through that with god wrestle

through that with god until you can say yes i do believe i have faith sometimes doubt tries to creep

in sometimes it'll be shaken but i have faith in god this is what paul is saying

john 14 and verse 10. he's going to give jesus is going to give the ultimate clarity

to what paul is writing about in romans chapter 2 and verse 7. what did paul say god will give eternal

Romans 2 · chapter mention

life to those who keep on doing good john 14 verse 10. man whenever you read the bible you got to read

John 14:10

it through the lens of jesus the bible the whole purpose of the bible was to point us to jesus the new

testament points back to jesus the old testament pointed forward to jesus but it was all about the

coming of christ that's what it was there for so let's see what jesus has to say about this john 14

and verse 10. don't you believe that i am in the father and the father is in me how many of you believe

that god and the father uh that god the son and god the father are one how many of you would raise your

hand and testify good good we got just about everybody in the room the words i speak jesus says

are not my own but my father who lives in me does his work through me do you see where the works come

from god the father does the work through the son well by that same token god the father can accomplish

his work through us so it's not your works of righteousness it's by faith you get access to god

and then god works through you so if you are continuing on in good works it's because god is

present with you by faith he's offered this out of his grace to us and by faith we have this relationship

with god so when paul writes god's going to give eternal life to those who keep on doing good yes because

those who keep on doing good doesn't mean they're doing good perfectly doesn't mean sometimes they

don't do bad because they listen to the other side the flesh not the spirit but because you keep doing

good that is evidence that you have faith in god because god is going to do good through you it's not

you it's not your works of righteousness that produce this relationship with god it's god working

through you because of your faith so this is not a contradiction but you got to read it in the

context of all of scripture and not just pull one verse out and say well i don't know about that

sounds to me like we're saved by our works nope that's not it so the truth is what we do reveals

who we're surrendered to i'm surrendered to god he's going to do his good works through me

i'm surrendering to something else my flesh my desires my pride sin it's going to be different

kind of works that leads us to number two and we'll be finished god doesn't judge by what we know

he doesn't judge by comparison he also doesn't judge by how much we know look back at romans 2

down in verse 12 when the gentiles sin they will be destroyed even though they never had god's written

law well that's not fair right they never had god's written law that was given to the israelites

why were they going to be destroyed and the jews who do have god's written law they will be judged by

that law when they sin watch this for it's not merely hearing the law that makes us right with god

it's obeying the law so what did paul say makes us right with god

i'll read it again it's not merely hearing the law that makes us right with god it is obeying the law

so what did paul say makes us right with god obeying the law okay so we can walk out of here and tell

everybody obeying the law makes you right with god is that true yes and no don't you love yes and no

answers so clear it's great we got to go back to the scriptures and we got to search it out we got to

figure out what's he saying even gentiles who do not have god's written law we've established that

right god gave it to the israelites they show that they know his law in their hearts see god just didn't

just give us his law written down on ten commandments or scrolls he gave us his law on our hearts there's

a conscience there's a mind there's nature that testifies to god and his laws because they obey the

gentiles obey his law even when they don't have it

their own conscience their thoughts either accuse them or they'll tell them they're doing right

it's not perfect it's not the holy spirit of god but it's something that god gave you to help point

you back to him so this is the message paul says i proclaim that the day is coming when god through

jesus christ will judge everyone's secret life just as my message says so this is what paul is

communicating to them here in verses 12 down through 16. see we want to say look at the other people

look at them look at those bad people that whole list in romans 1 look at them look at all the people

that drive you nuts in henrietta or wherever you live look at those people paul says look at yourself

quit looking at them look at you we say me i know the law or we could say i know the bible what are you

talking about i'm a christian paul says are you living it are you obeying it say man i'm religious

what do you mean i'm a good person paul says god doesn't show favoritism it's not about that

are you obeying him and finally he ends with this little zinger jesus will judge what is hidden

might be getting away with it on this earth you're not going to get away with it in god's eyes

he reveals the secret things

it's a hard passage so look back at verse 13. i underlined this one too because what did he say

it's not merely hearing the law that makes us right with god well that's true hearing it only

doesn't do you any good you got to obey it he says obeying the law makes us right with god man that

doesn't seem to be right talking about it's not obeying the law that makes us right with god

let's go over one more chapter one chapter to romans 3 and verse 20. no one romans 3 and verse 20 should be

one page over for you no one can ever be made right with god by doing what the law commands

what he just said obeying the law makes us right with god now one chapter later he says no one can

be made right with god by doing what the law commands the law simply shows us how sinful we are

well this is a different angle why is he contradicting himself let's go to what jesus said and we'll understand it

jesus told them john 6 29 you can turn there or you can mark it down for later but i'm going to go

ahead and read for sake of time jesus said in john 6 29 this is the only work god wants from you

believe in the one he has sent all the law abiding all the obeying that's not what god was ultimately

interested in those things would come from god giving you a new heart god has to replace your

sinful heart with what he calls a new heart that means your desires the why behind what you do the who

behind who you are god's going to give you a new identity he's going to give you a new set of

desires and they're going to conflict with the old desires that are still hanging around

but he says this jesus tells these people he said man jesus you do all these great works how can we do

that kind of stuff too and jesus tells the crowd the only work god wants from you

is believe in the one he has sent the only work or law keeping that god is interested from you and for me

that's what we believe is belief in his son because if we believe

he will change us he will work through us really the same answer to the contradiction we found earlier

is the same answer to the contradiction we find here which isn't really a contradiction

and we see that when we compare all of paul's writings together and not just cherry pick one thing

and we tie in what jesus taught because that's who we're all following that's who this is all about

anyway and we see that the only work that god wants from us is belief in the son so you know how

god judges us how much do you believe how great is your faith in me guys the standard's not high

he said if you just got a tiny little bit of faith you can move mountains you just got to have faith

faith so i'm not impressed but who cares if i'm impressed or not god's not impressed

by your list of qualifications for how good of a person you are how religious you are how great of

a church member you are how great of a member of the community you are those are all good things we

need good members of the community we need people to get involved and help each other and be good as

citizens but you know what impresses god your faith in him your belief in him so how strong is that

how strong is it in your family what are you communicating to those around you is it that

faith and belief in god is the number one most important thing i'm going to finish with first

first corinthians 6 and verse 11. here we go man i was supposed to have that on the screen when i read

it just a moment ago but that's all right there it is okay sometimes i get a little behind in this

first corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11. such were some of you what's it talking about it's talking about

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

those people remember those people paul gave his list you've got your list in your mind if whoever

those people are whatever they do that just drives you nuts and you're like who in their right mind

would do such a thing paul tells this church in corinth he says such were some of you you were like

those people and sometimes you still act like them but the only difference is you were washed you were

washed in the blood of jesus christ set free from the bondage to those things that make those people

behave the way they do you were sanctified you were set apart to be god's people and no longer the people

of darkness you were justified made right with god in the name of our lord jesus christ and by the spirit

of our god so church let me just say this to you and we'll be done instead of worrying so much about

those people ask yourself god speak to me don't ask yourself ask god god what do you want to show me

about me what do you want to show me about me i'm gonna quit worrying so much about those people

god you change me breathe this prayer today lord i believe help my unbelief breathe this prayer today lord

increase my faith god show me the reality about me show me the truth about me would you bow your heads

with me in prayer let's all pray that together you don't have to say it out loud but can we join together

as many of you say god show me the truth about me ask him today right now in your hearts and in your

minds god what do you want to show me about me it's easy to point the finger at those people

it's way harder to accept the truth that you revealed to me about myself god loves us so much

he accepts us as we are but he loves us too much to leave us as we are he's gonna change you he wants to

change you maybe he's already changed you a lot maybe somewhere along the way you notice he hasn't been

changing you as much that's going to go back to a faith issue it's going to go back to a surrender

willingness to him issue the organ's going to play and just before we dismiss

this would you have a moment of silent prayer with god if you feel moved to get up from your

seat and come down here to these steps and kneel if you'd like to pray with somebody

can help you with that if you want to just remain in your seat

let this be a moment in the busyness of our week let this be a moment on a sunday a day of rest

we just let god speak to us god what do you want to show me about me

maybe he's going to show you that you need him you don't need to trust yourself you don't need to

trust a priest or a preacher or a church your parents you don't need to trust anything else

to have a right relationship with god you need to trust jesus his sacrifice for your sins

and his willingness to accept you into his family by your faith in him

so if that's what god wants you to do today you say today is the day i want to place my faith in jesus

once and for all then would you slip your hand up right now and i'd love to pray with you about that

encourage you in that you got a room full of people who have made that decision

they'd love to welcome you into that faith family

maybe something god wants to show you about you is you need this community of believers

maybe it's your first time in a long time maybe you just started recently coming or maybe you've been

here for a while but you haven't really dived in you haven't really engaged in this community and

this this life with jesus was not meant to be lived solo we need each other so maybe god wants to show you

quit trying to maverick this thing jump in with this family of believers and you want to place your

membership in this church let's do this jesus life together

whatever it is you say yes to jesus today you'll never regret that decision

just as

just as i am without

one plea

but that

thy blood

was shed

for me

and that

that

thou

bidst me

come

to

the

oh

lamb

of god

i come

come to jesus

i

come

god we come to you today with open hearts

flawed hearts

flawed hearts sometimes we listen to the wrong voices but god

you never expected perfection from us you just

require our faith

let no one in this room fall into the trap of comparison

judging ourselves against each other

let us see and be reminded that we are as god says we are

sinners saved by god's grace

through our faith in him

in him

ignite that faith

maximize that faith grow that faith in us

so we can see the fruit

of that faith

in our lives that you want to show us so much

it's in jesus name we pray