I'm Not Good, But I'm Good.

We are in a series right now called But Now God.

But now God.

And what we're doing right now is we're actually going through the entire book of Romans in the New Testament.

If you're familiar with Romans, it is by far one of the most challenging letters that we have in the New Testament.

It is dense, it is full of very, very heavy theological concepts.

There's a lot of practical takeaways.

In fact, the section we're going to read this morning, it has a really practical takeaway, something that we can all look at, examine, take with us, and apply to our lives from this moment on.

But a lot of Romans, it's heavy on theology.

And I think it's really important for us to understand this, that we are, we're believers, right?

We call ourselves believers.

That's what Jesus' followers are often called.

And if you're a believer, it's probably really important that you know what you believe.

In fact, 1 Peter says that we should always be ready to give an account for why we believe what we believe.

It's important for us to understand what we believe.

And Romans is actually crucial to that.

Romans is one of the most foundational aspects of the New Testament when it comes to us really understanding who our God is, what Jesus has done for us, why we needed Jesus to do what he did for us in the first place, and what it means for us to live in response to what Jesus has done.

And so, yes, we're going to cover some pretty heavy concepts as we go through Romans, but you guys are smart, and I believe that you're here to grow.

And I don't believe that we grow by skipping the hard stuff.

You know, if you went to a gym to work out and you said, hey, can you take all the weights off before I get there?

It wouldn't be effective.

Romans is it's a little bit heavy lifting, but I'm excited that we get to do that together.

Now, we just so happen to be covering right now one of the most challenging sections in Romans.

So we're covering one of the most challenging aspects of one of the most challenging letters that we have in the New Testament.

Who's excited about that?

Who's ready for a challenge this morning?

You're up for it?

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Those of you watching from home, I hope you're ready for a challenge too.

And so uh we're gonna get to that in just a second, but this section is Romans 1.18, all the way through the the end or right at the end of Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

And this section begins with this statement.

This, by the way, is no one's favorite Bible verse.

Uh, Romans 1.18, but God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

I said that's no one's favorite Bible verse.

Is that anyone's favorite Bible verse?

Anyone in here today?

Anyone ever have that verse pop up on your verse of the day app?

You know, just, hey, just a little bit of encouragement for you to get you through the day, right?

No.

This section of Romans, Romans 118, all the way toward the end of chapter three, it covers this concept that we see in scripture called the wrath of God.

And to be honest with you, this is a concept that a lot of people, a lot of Jesus' followers, a lot of preachers, pastors, churches won't touch.

Not because it's not clearly defined in Scripture, it is, but because it does not mesh well with the sort of cultural leanings of our day.

We don't like to think about God being someone who is just, someone who judges.

God's wrath, it's connected to his justice, that he is good, that he will one day judge the world.

We don't like to think about that because we live in a culture that says, hey, I'm I'm the authority of what is good for me.

I'm the authority of what's right for me.

And so, you know, like you do you, I do me, that's the way our culture is.

And we very much like to think about God.

We like to take our cultural preferences and sort of superimpose those on God and say that's how God should be too.

And here's the thing: this idea of a God who just says, hey, yeah, whatever, whatever makes you happy, you do you, whatever, whatever feels right to you, you do that, that's not love.

That's apathy.

A God who doesn't care what you do is not a God who loves you.

God cares about you.

He cares about you, he cares about every aspect of your life.

As a father, I care about my children.

And I do not have a mentality when it comes to my kids of like, hey, yeah, whatever, whatever floats your boat, whatever makes you happy right now, that's what I'm dedicated to.

Of course I want my children to be happy, but I also want them to be healthy.

I want them to do what's right.

In fact, one of my younger kids right now is mastering the phrase, I want.

Says it all the time, really good at it, I want.

And I have to have this regular conversation.

And I have him look me in the eyes and say, hey son, listen to me.

What you want is not more important than what is right.

And sometimes I have to say no to what you want in order to do what's right.

And then I have to have that conversation every day, and I will for years and years and years, until hopefully it sinks in.

A God who doesn't care is not a God who loves you.

That's an apathetic God.

And God's justice, the fact that God is a judge and will judge the world, that that's connected to his goodness, to his love.

A loving judge would not fail to do what he's supposed to do.

And so, this whole section of Romans, it's designed to help us understand this concept of a holy God who is just, who will judge the world.

Now, here's what's great though.

I've been talking about Romans 1.18, this whole anger, wrath of God.

I haven't heard anyone say woo, but check this out.

Romans 3, verse 21 and 22.

Romans 3:21

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law.

As was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago, we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, and this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who they are.

There you go.

There you go, there's some woos there.

Now that that's a verse that might pop up on your verse of the day app.

That's a verse that someone might say, that's one of my favorite verses in scripture.

But that's quite the leap from Romans 1.18.

Right?

Romans 1.18, but God shows his anger from heaven to Romans 3.21.

God's made a way for all of us to be made right with him, no matter who we are.

That's a big leap, and that's what Paul the author is helping us understand.

He's working us through this idea that, yes, God, because he's just, because he's good, there are things that God looks at and he says, that will not do.

That is not right, that is not okay.

And scripture is unbelievably clear, and I want you to understand that Jesus, if you're a Jesus follower, Jesus could not be more clear at the reality of the fact that he will one day judge the world.

And what Paul's trying to help us understand is that if not for the intervening work of Jesus on the cross, if not for what Jesus has done for us, every single one of us would be standing on the wrong side of the wrath of God.

But because of what he's done, because of that but now God, every single one of us can have the assurance that we are completely and totally free, that we are completely and totally right with God, that he looks at us and he says, You're good, not because of what you've done, not because you've done more good than bad, not because you're doing exactly what he wants you to do, but because he loves you and he's the one who's made the way.

That but now God is powerful.

But if we don't understand what comes before the butt, we'll never fully appreciate what he's done for us.

And Paul's trying to help us see that.

And so, with that in mind, we're gonna jump into Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

We're gonna read verses 1 through 11.

By the way, I'm reading all of this off the His Hands mobile app, and those of you watching from home, feel free to download that.

You can follow along.

Here we go.

This is this there's a lot.

We could spend months on this, but we're gonna go through it in one day.

So, Romans 2, verse 1.

Romans 2:1

You may think you can condemn such people, but you're just as bad and you have no excuse.

Again, this is no one's favorite verse.

Now, the such people that Paul's talking about here, a few weeks ago we went through a couple of groups of people.

The first group that Paul talked about are people who deny God.

They deny that God exists, or they deny that God truly is God, and they elevate created things and worship those things.

There is no such thing as a person who doesn't worship something.

We are all wired to worship something.

It's just that we have a tendency as human beings to choose far lesser things than God to worship.

And our whole life becomes about that thing or that person, and it's it's all about serving that thing and making time and room for that thing.

And all of us have done that.

All of us have worshiped something less than God at some point in our lives.

And he talks about that simple fact the fact that we've denied God, that's that's a wrath situation.

And then a couple weeks ago we talked about another group, and it's not people who deny God, it's people who cannot deny themselves.

People who live life dominated by their desires, almost like a three-year-old who just says, I want, I want, I want, and that is the driving motivation for every decision they make, is what they want.

I have to satisfy my desires.

I can't help myself.

If I want something, I gotta, I gotta follow my heart.

Like this is Disney song stuff, right?

I gotta follow my heart.

But we often follow our heart to ruin.

And not just our ruin, but sometimes the ruin of others.

And that that can't deny ourselves mentality, that way of living, that that's a wrath situation.

That's the such people that he's talking about.

But then he says, you may think you can condemn such people, but you can't.

You're just as bad, you have no excuse.

When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you're actually condemning yourself.

For you who judge others do the very same things.

And we know that God in his justice will punish anyone who does such things.

Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same?

Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?

Does this mean nothing to you?

Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

But because you're stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you're storing up terrible punishment for yourself.

For a day of anger is coming when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will judge everyone according to what they've done.

He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and or immortality that God offers.

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.

There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil, for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good, for the Jew first and also for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism.

Like I said, this is a challenging section of scripture.

But I know you guys are up for the challenge.

Paul's actually talking to a third group of people here, right?

First group was deny God, second group was can't deny themselves.

This next group, this is what a pastor that I listen to on a regular basis called the moralist.

This is someone who would say, Yeah, but I'm a good person.

So that whole wrath of God thing, yeah, there's there's probably some people out there, there's some pretty wicked people in the world, there's probably some people that need to worry about that, but not me.

I'm I'm a good person.

And Paul says that that by just saying that, by just being able to make that claim, we actually condemn ourselves.

Because when we say that we're a good person, what we're actually acknowledging is that we can discern good from evil, we can discern right from wrong.

And when we say that we can do that, we're now accountable to that discernment, right?

That's one of the reasons that any parent who's had a young child hates the moment.

You hate the moment when you realize that your child knows right from wrong.

Because when they're really little, they don't know right from wrong, and they do terrible things, like horrific things, and you laugh at it.

Like a little one-year-old will grab something and throw it across a room, and you're like, oh, that's the cutest thing in the world, right?

But a four-year-old does it and it's a whole different story.

And as a parent, you have that moment where you're like, oh no.

They know right from wrong and they're doing wrong anyway.

Now I have to, I have to, I have to discipline.

I don't want to discipline, but I have to.

See, if we make the claim that that we're good people, we're saying that that we can discern right from wrong, and that means we're accountable.

But here's the here's the hard thing, and we've got to be honest, we have to have the ability to look in the mirror.

There's not one of us in the room, there's not one of us watching from home right now who can say that that you have lived up to your own standard of goodness 100%.

Like we we we don't live up to our own standards.

I mean, there are so many times that I disappoint myself.

Like anyone else like that?

Like you have disappointed yourself.

You're like talking to yourself, like, why did you do that?

You haven't lived up to your own standard of goodness?

That's that's what condemns us.

We don't even live up to our own standard of goodness.

And here's the kicker: our standard of goodness isn't even what God would call good.

What we call good is not what God would call good.

And so if our argument is, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm good because I'm a good person, we have another thing coming.

It's an interesting exchange between Jesus and a man in Scripture, usually called the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Very famous interaction.

It begins, verse 17, by saying, as Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus does what Jesus often does.

He responds to a question with a question.

He says, Why do you call me good?

Only God is truly good.

Now, now, show of hands real quick, and those of you watching from home, just like hit the like button or something like that.

Uh, how many of you agree with that statement?

Only God is truly good.

All right.

I know not all of you are raising your hands.

That means either you don't agree or you don't want to participate, you are not gonna be made to participate.

That's fine.

I get you.

All right?

I would raise my hand and say, yeah, I believe that only God is truly good, but then honestly, do I believe that?

At the end of the day, probably no.

Like in terms of just my natural thinking, I probably do class, I classify a lot of things in this world and a lot of people in this world as good that aren't God.

But that's what we have to understand.

We as human beings, we have this tendency to come up with very convenient definitions of good.

Good for us is often like a sliding scale.

And it's a sliding scale that we somehow always interpret to make sure that we're on the right side of, so that we're good.

Because it's all about it's all about who you compare yourself to.

I actually had a really interesting conversation with my oldest son, Liam, about this in the car uh about a year ago.

Now, humor me because it's been a while.

Uh, if you don't know, I have a son named Liam who happens to be a really good basketball player.

Um, in fact, this is a picture of Liam.

He's gonna be on the right here, and uh on the left is his favorite player, a guy named Steph Curry.

By the way, that picture of Liam, that's just like a week ago.

He played for Team Georgia in a huge national tournament and they won the whole thing.

So they're national champions, which is pretty awesome.

Yeah.

He did really, really well.

In fact, the first game, they played Team Michigan, and uh Liam was named player of the game.

He he did a great job.

You know, 10 years old.

He's he's already accomplished so much.

Don't let it go to his head, though.

He's in the room.

All right, and he didn't know I was gonna talk about him, so there you go, son.

Um, all right, so Liam, Liam, if there's one thing that he's just exceptionally good at, he is an unbelievable shooter.

Uh, he can really shoot a basketball.

And this is just my my dad just being excited here.

Here you go.

Um he's a good ball handler, he's a good passer, he plays okay defense, um, but uh but he can really shoot the ball, and and more so than the average kid his age by a mile.

He's just a phenomenal shooter, right?

Now, he's grown up watching this this player, Steph Curry.

And uh Steph is also a good shooter, uh, but kind of on a different level.

You know what I mean?

Like on the level of uh no one has ever shot like that before, no one has ever been as good of a shooter.

He's he's literally the greatest shooter of all time and just does things on a regular basis that normal human beings couldn't do if they tried a thousand times.

Okay?

So Liam has grown up watching Steph Curry.

And so, okay, all this to say, we're in the car one day and we're having a conversation about this concept that only God is good.

And Liam's like, is that true?

Like, only God is good.

There's lots of good things, lots of good people.

And I said, Okay, well, let's talk about that.

Are you a good shooter?

And he's like, Yes, I am.

He's confident.

Yes, I'm a I'm a good shooter.

I said, Okay, is Steph Curry a good shooter?

He's like, Oh yeah, Steph Curry's a really good shooter.

I said, Okay, so you're saying that you're just like Steph Curry?

He's like, Well, no, no, not even close.

Like, I'm I'm nothing like Steph Curry.

I said, Okay, so that means you're bad.

And he's like, No, no, I'm not bad.

And I'm like, well, I don't understand, son, because you said that you're good, and then you said that Steph Curry is good, but then you said that you're nothing alike.

So how can Steph Curry be good and and you be good, but you be nothing like Steph Curry?

And he's like, Well, dad, I'm just saying that like I'm good compared to, you know, kids my age, but he's just on a whole different level.

So when I say that he's good, I mean like it's just different.

And I was like, exactly.

Exactly.

See, we we create definitions of good that are convenient for us.

We create definitions of good that are based on who around me is less good than me.

And that's why we actually have a phrase in our culture that says, well, they're not Hitler.

Like, is that the standard?

You know?

Like, I hope that's not the standard of good.

Anything that's better than Hitler should not be considered good, right?

But we do that as people are like, well, I've never killed anybody.

I hope not.

Like, but see, if we make our standard something that is undeniably good, things are very different.

And so for my son, if I say, oh, the standard of being a good shooter is Steph Curry, he's like, well, then I'm not that good.

And if if the standard of good as a human being is Jesus, if that's actually what God means when he says good, that puts us in an interesting situation.

What we have to understand is that is that God's definition of good is not our definition of good.

God's definition of good is Jesus.

That's what Paul's saying here.

He's saying, you know, you who say you're you're good, you who judge other people, like you, don't do that.

In doing that, you're actually condemning yourself because you're actually saying that you believe you have the capability of living a good life, an arguably good life.

And and the truth is we don't.

I mean, I spent so much time this week preparing for this message in prayer, kind of coming face to face with the reality that apart from Jesus, if I didn't have Jesus, I would stand before God and I have no defense.

I would stand before God, knowing all that I've done, all that I've thought, and I would have to come to terms with the reality that yes, I knew that was wrong.

Yes, I knew that that was not what you wanted.

Yes, God, I knew that that wasn't right, that that wasn't pleasing to you, but I did it anyway, knowing full well that what I was doing was wrong.

And I've done that more times than I could count, more times than I would care to admit.

And so without the intervening work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I would stand before God and I would have no defense.

The only rational thing for me to do would be to tremble.

Because God is good and he's holy.

And in church, our culture, even our Christian culture in America, we've lost sight of that.

We've lost sight of the fact that yes, God is love 100%, but he's holy, he's above everything.

Like when you get visions of heaven, in heaven, the angels aren't like hanging out with God and having a beer and just being like, oh God, they're not cracking inside jokes with God.

The angels are worshiping him.

They're bowing in front of him because they recognize he's holy, he's great, he's mighty, he's above all things.

And in light of that, face to face with that, if that's what good is, what are we?

Paul's saying that if our argument for avoiding the justice, the wrath of God is that I'm a good person, we are we're in trouble.

But again, Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

I want to go back to it.

Romans 3, verses 21 to 22.

Romans 3:21–22

Take everything that we just said into consideration.

I'm not a good person.

Not compared to God's definition of good.

But now God.

But now God has shown me a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law.

As was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

I am made right with God.

In other words, he says, You're good by placing my faith in Jesus Christ.

And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who you are.

That's what's called good news.

That God is just, that God is holy, that God is good.

And no matter how hard we try, we just we just can't we can't hit that target.

But praise God, we don't have to.

Because God loves us, he loves you.

And he recognized the fact that we can never we can never reach his definition of good.

And so what did he do?

He came, he came to be with us, he came to live with us, he displayed his love for us, his power, he died for us, he died for you.

And what scripture says is that on the cross, not only did Jesus pay the price for your sin, not only did He did He take your bad and deal with it, but it actually says that He gave you His good.

So now, in the eyes of God, guess what?

You're good.

You're good.

If you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, you're good.

Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter that you've failed to live up to that standard, you're Good.

Like, come on.

Come on.

Like that, that is this whole section of Romans.

If I sound like a broken record during this series, it's because maybe maybe Paul's trying to emphasize a point here that is so powerful that we cannot allow ourselves to miss it.

That we have to understand just how far Jesus has taken us.

We have to understand that it's not like he got us that last step.

It's not like we did this amazing job and we were almost there, but then Jesus came and just kind of gave us that little nudge that we needed to get across the finish line.

No, no, no.

Jesus came and he picked us up and he carried us the entire way, covering our sin, covering our shame, covering our guilt, and he's put us in a position with God that we don't have the right in and of ourselves to be in.

I don't know if you've ever been somewhere that you don't have the right to be.

I don't know if you've ever been included in a situation that you're like, I shouldn't be here.

I don't belong.

This is above me.

And that is every single one of us when it comes to Jesus.

You are all, you're in the family of God.

If you put your faith in Jesus, scripture says you're a co-heir with Christ.

You are co-with Jesus.

You feel like you could have a business card that says co-Jesus.

That doesn't make sense.

And if you think that makes sense, if you're like, no, no, no, I think I am that, then you gotta, you need to wrestle with God.

You need to go pray, figure that out.

But this is good news that even though we're not good, God has made us so.

He has made us so.

That is beautiful news, and that should move our hearts to gratitude.

There should be a relief.

There should just be this absolute undeniable sigh.

Like, like just breathe.

Like right now, breathe.

Breathe like you got away with something.

Right?

I hear my kids breathe like that sometimes.

They know they got away with it.

Be filled with gratitude for that.

Now, as we wrap up, there is there is a really practical takeaway.

Like I said, Romans, it's like heavy theological stuff, stuff we need to believe, right?

If you're gonna be a believer, know what you believe, you're not good, but guess what?

You're good.

Like you can say that I'm I'm not good, but I'm good.

That's good news.

But there is one super practical takeaway.

We'll go through this really quickly as we wrap up.

Because anytime we look at scripture, anytime the truth of what Jesus has done for us really sets in and it hits us.

And guys, I know I keep saying this, but I'm praying that that there's a rebirth in our in our community, in our in our nation, a rebirth that Jesus followers literally being in awe of what Jesus has done for us.

To actually be moved to tears, to be moved with that kind of gratitude, to not let what Jesus did on the cross just be like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Glad he did that.

That was really good.

Now onto the onto the blessings that I'm promised.

No, no, no.

Like that, there's no greater blessing than what Jesus has done for you.

But when we we recognize what he's done, we have to ask ourselves, okay, well, how do I live in response to that?

And we actually have that in the very first few verses of this section.

I'm gonna go through this really quickly.

Romans chapter 1, verses 1 through 3.

Romans 1:1–3

You may think you can condemn such people, but you're just as bad, you have no excuse.

When you say they're wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself.

For you who judge others do these very same things.

Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same?

I skipped over a little bit of that.

Just want to emphasize the fact that what do we do with this whole knowledge that we're not good, but we've been made good?

Number one, we're filled with gratitude, we're excited about it, we should all go woo in our spirit.

There should be like a cry from within us.

But number two, we should resist at every possible turn the temptation to judge other people.

Because when we judge, we we again we condemn ourselves.

But it's so easy to judge, right?

Like we live in a culture that loves to judge.

Like our entire society is actually built on the judgment of others.

Like social media, it comes with little emojis.

I like it, I love it, I laughed, I hate it, right?

We watch TV shows where people do their best and then others judge them.

And oftentimes the people judging the people on stage aren't even as talented as the people they're judging.

But our whole society is kind of built on this idea of judgment, and unfortunately, in the history of our faith, judgment has been something that has become associated with the way the average Jesus follower lives.

We we judge.

But we're told here to not do that.

Now, I want to address a few quick caveats because this whole don't judge thing, it can sometimes get taken and applied in ways it's not meant to be taken.

Um, not judging does not mean that you don't practice wise judgment in your life.

Okay?

Jesus said this, Matthew chapter 7, verses 15 through 20.

Matthew 7:15–20

Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.

Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

A good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit.

So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down, thrown into the fire.

Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

So clearly, Jesus wants us to practice wise judgment.

Sometimes we will use this whole, well, I don't want to judge as just a covering to not use wise judgment.

And that is not at all what Jesus wants.

He doesn't want you to be goable.

He doesn't want you just to be like, well, I guess everyone, I should trust every person, because I don't want to judge.

No, no, no.

Not at all.

Practice wise judgment.

Do not judge also doesn't mean that we deem everything good.

Sometimes, especially right now in kind of modern American Christian culture, the desire to not be judgmental often gets applied by us just going, well, I'm not gonna say something is right or wrong, because I mean, who am I to judge?

But there are certain things that God has already made it very clear through his word that are either right or wrong.

Like God, God's clear about that.

There are some things that are less clear, but many things in Scripture, like it's, I don't have to wonder what God thinks about certain behaviors, certain actions.

And if he said something is wrong, I should have a moral compass and be able to say, yeah, I believe that's wrong.

Why?

Because God makes that clear.

But sometimes in this whole, like, I don't want to judge, what we actually end up doing is we just sort of deem everything to be okay.

And when we do that, we're actually judging.

In fact, in a lot of ways, we're actually trying to override the judgment of God.

It's like God has said something is right or wrong, and we kind of put our judge's robe on and act like we're on a higher court and say, well, actually, I think, I think it's fine.

And understand this that God is, He's not at the mercy of the court of human opinion.

It doesn't matter how many people believe something is right, if God says it's wrong, it's wrong.

Period.

It's simple.

So us saying, I don't want to be judgmental does not mean that we just deem everything to be okay.

We actually don't have that authority.

That's God's alone.

What not judging means is simply this.

We recognize that we do not have the knowledge nor the authority to determine the status of a person's heart.

Because we don't know where they've been, we don't know what they're going through right now, we don't know where God is taking them.

When we do that, when we think that we can actually make a judgment call on someone that's final, that's like an eternal judgment, we can say that person is blank, we're actually saying that we have the authority that only God has.

Jesus kind of speaks to this in a parable in Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

He says, Here's another story.

The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field, but that night the worker slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then slipped away.

When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

The farmer's workers went to him and said, Sir, the field where you planted that good seed, it's full of weeds.

Where do they come from?

An enemy has done this, the farmer exclaimed.

Shall we pull out the weeds?

They asked.

No.

He said, You'll uproot the wheat if you do, let both grow together until the harvest, and then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.

In this parable, we're not the harvesters.

We're not the ones who determine the wheat from the weeds.

That's an authority God hasn't given us.

In fact, it's really interesting.

This parable follows another very famous parable of Jesus.

It's called the parable of the four soils, or the farmer who sowed seeds.

That's what's immediately before this.

And in that parable, we're we're the farmer.

We're just supposed to go out and share the love of Jesus and share the truth of Jesus and the message of Jesus and trust that God's gonna take what we say and take what we do, the example that we live with, and it's gonna, it's gonna hit certain people in such a way that causes them to put their faith in Jesus.

That's who we are.

We're not the harvesters.

There's a really funny interaction between Jesus and two of his closest friends, James and John.

Jesus called them the sons of thunder.

So I love one of the things I love about Jesus, guys, you'll appreciate this, he's very masculine.

Like he gives nicknames to all his followers or many of them, but they're like, they're like wrestling monikers.

Like he calls Peter the rock, and then James and John are the sons of thunder, right?

So it's like uh it's pretty epic.

And so one day the sons of thunder come to Jesus and they see someone who's who's doing something that they they don't think Jesus would approve of, and they go, hey Jesus, do you want us to like, I don't know, call fire down from heaven and and burn them up?

And Jesus is like, no.

Like, where on earth did you did you get the idea that that you had no, clear, no, because you'd get it wrong, you'd burn the wrong people.

The simple truth is that God alone is good enough to judge.

And when we understand this, it actually frees us up.

Because we have the ability to look at things in the world and go, I don't agree with that, I don't believe it's right, I don't believe it's right in the eyes of God.

And I really wish people would stop doing that.

Because I don't think it's good, I don't think it's healthy, and that doesn't mean we don't, we doesn't mean we throw away our moral compass and we just say, well, I guess I can't say that that's wrong.

No, have a backbone, say things are wrong.

But recognize and understand that in the story of Scripture, many of the people who everyone thought were out were the ones that were the absolute closest to a breakthrough with God, to being the very people that God would use to do things that none of us could have ever imagined.

And when we look at any human being, any person, we have to recognize that that God is not done with them yet.

And praise God, because he's not done with me either.

And if he was, I'd be I'd be in trouble.

Only God is good enough to judge.

So we'll wrap this up and we'll pray.

And by the way, guys, I'm so excited that you're here this morning.

It is so good to be in the room with all of you.

And those of you watching from home, I'm so glad you're with us, too.

You guys count.

You guys count.

In a big way.

We're gonna keep doing all the online stuff, but but here's the takeaway.

Again, we covered a lot of ground this morning.

I'm so excited.

We get to go through scripture together.

This is tough stuff.

This is not, you're not gonna go, unfortunately, you're not gonna go to church all the time and like we're going through Romans, and we're gonna go through it, and we're not gonna avoid the hard stuff, but this is stuff that if we get it, it's so key.

We're not good, but we are.

We're not, we're not good on our own, not good enough at least, to hit that standard that God has.

That's why scripture says, all have fallen short of God's glorious standard.

But how awesome is it that you've been made right with God, that when you walk out of these doors today, if you've put your faith in Jesus, God looks at you and he's like, Yes, that one, I love that one, I approve of that one, I approve.

God looks at you and he says, I approve.

Because of what Jesus has done for you.

That should fill you with gratitude, with excitement.

You don't have to earn it.

And walk out these doors this morning, or when you turn off this stream, breathe a sigh of relief and experience that.

Take it in.

God's good with me.

And then resist at every turn the urge to turn around and judge.

Like, I'm not judging that baby for crying, you know?

Maybe I've been talking too long, right?

Resist the urge to judge.

Because only God is good enough to judge.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for this unbelievable opportunity for us to be together, to worship you.

We love you.

God, we love you with our whole heart.

And Lord, I pray if there's any person in this room right now that hasn't put their faith in you, that hasn't put their trust in you, that's still living, trusting somehow on their own merit, that you would bring them to the end of that idea and you would have them recognize the fact, Lord, that's that's not the way to live because that's a way that leads to disappointment, to frustration, to failure.

But when we put our trust in you, when we receive what you've done for us, the gift that you've given us with your love and your mercy, for the first time we can breathe a sigh of relief because we know that even though, yes, you're holy, and yes, you're just and yes, you will judge the world, that is clear.

We know that because of Jesus and the covering he gives us, we don't have to worry about that.

Because in in your eyes, we're good.

We're good, and it's final.

We love you, Jesus.

I pray that you would give us the ability to love others the way that you love us.

God, help us keep from judging people, even the people we disagree with the most, Lord.

Help us keep from judging them.

Give us a love for everyone around us that only comes from you.

I pray all this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.