Ep198 Avoid God's Judgment and Wrath
Judging Rightly Without Hypocrisy: Brother Jim Shaw Preaches Romans Chapter 2
Brother Jim Shaw preaches through Romans chapter 2, untangling what it means for Christians to judge sin without hypocrisy, and closes with Paul's teaching that God shows no respect of persons and writes his law on every heart.
A Warning Against Golden-Calf Tolerance
Brother Jim Shaw opens the broadcast asking listeners to pay close attention because the message concerns judgment, a subject he says gets so confused that some religious circles forbid judging anything at all, even an idol or a golden calf set up for worship. He turns to Romans chapter 2 and reads Paul telling the man who judges others that he is inexcusable, because in judging another he condemns himself, since he does the same things. Brother Jim explains this is not a blanket command against judging, but a rebuke of hypocrisy, comparing it to someone who claims to hate adultery or fornication while secretly practicing it and condemning everyone else for the same sin. He notes Paul then shifts from addressing "O man" to addressing "we," meaning believers who follow the Lord Jesus, setting up a contrast between hypocritical judgment and judgment exercised honestly by Christians who do not excuse the same sin in themselves.
Christians Judging In Truth, Not Hypocrisy
Brother Jim Shaw reads that "we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things," explaining that Christians are not giving anyone a pass for evil because they know such behavior opposes God's word. He says that when believers see family members or others sinning and recognize in their hearts that it contradicts scripture, judging it is as natural as telling an apple from an orange, since it is not done in hypocrisy. He frames the Christian's authority to call out sin as rooted entirely in Jesus, saying it is only because of Jesus that he can fight sin, has been alerted to it, and can repent of it, yet still retains power to confront someone else's sin out of love rather than condemnation. He contrasts this with the unbeliever who judges others for sins he himself commits, asking rhetorically whether such a person truly expects to escape the judgment of God.
A Father's Lesson From Raising Five Daughters
Brother Jim Shaw illustrates the nature of judgment with a personal story about raising five daughters, moving them between homeschooling, public school, and Christian school depending on circumstances, and facing ordinary peer pressure along the way. He recalls telling a daughter to tone down her makeup or change a dress he disliked, prompting accusations of "Dad, you're judging me," since his role, he says, is to be a parent rather than a friend. He contrasts this with moments he praised what a daughter wore, noting he was casting judgment then too, yet never once heard "you're judging me, Dad" in response, only gratitude. He concludes that people only object to judgment when it says something they do not want to hear, calling the observation simple but easy to overlook, and clarifying that he is not judging anyone personally but committing his judgment to God, who alone judges.
The Deceptive Pleasures Of Sin
Brother Jim Shaw returns to Romans 2, reading that those who despise "the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering" fail to realize that God's goodness is meant to lead them to repentance. He describes such people wanting the rituals, the clambakes, the baptisms, confirmations, communions, stained glass, and candles, but refusing to hear that anything they do is wrong. He contrasts the word "pleasure," which he calls nice, friendly, and calming, with the words scripture actually uses for the Christian life: denial, endurance, resistance, the narrow gate, tribulation, and the shield of faith, none of them pretty. He says Satan locks people down with the pleasures of sin rather than urging repentance, and observes that comfort itself, a full refrigerator, a full bank account, children with straight A's, can make the flesh so content that sin's deception goes unnoticed until God allows a crisis that leaves no escape but a miracle.
No Respect Of Persons With God
Brother Jim Shaw reads Paul's warning that an impenitent heart treasures up wrath against the day of judgment, when God renders to every man according to his deeds, glory to those who do good and tribulation to those who are contentious and disobey the truth, to Jew and Gentile alike, "for there is no respect of persons with God." He says some mysteries of why God chooses to work in a particular life may never be explained, comparing himself to the blind man in the Gospel who testified only that he was blind and now sees, a miracle the religious people around him hated. He adds that believers are told to keep praying, recalling the paralytic whose friends had such faith they tore open a roof to lower him to Jesus, and says God can supply faith on behalf of those who pray for others who lack it themselves.
God's Law Written On Every Heart
Brother Jim Shaw continues reading Romans 2, that those who sin without the law will perish without the law, and those who sin under the law will be judged by the law, since it is the doers of the law, not merely its hearers, who are justified before God. He says even someone deep in the African jungle who never heard the Ten Commandments still carries God's seed and law within and will be judged by it, just as a university-trained preacher remains accountable to the conviction God places in every heart. He declares Jesus Christ is Lord, today is the day of salvation, and tells listeners to eat the bread of life today, since Christ already lives within them rather than somewhere far away, closing the sermon with amen. The announcer then returns with the ministry's website, P.O. Box address in Vero Beach, Florida, phone number, and YouTube page.
