Something that new believers often experience before maturing in the Lord is a time period in their life of condemning other sinners. Jesus taught that the person who is forgiven of the most sins, loves the most. Luke 7:47, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” A sign of an immature believer is talking harshly against other sinners. Some people don't see themselves as woeful sinners saved by God's grace, and so they are quick to condemn other sinners whom they perceive as being worse than they are. Aren't we all sinners in God's eyes? Yes, we sure are! You are as much a sinner as anyone else in God's eyes (and so am I). Read our text verse again from James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Committing even one sin makes you as unworthy of the Kingdom of God as the worst sinner in history!
If you are a Christian and recently rejoiced over news reports of 50 homosexuals murdered and 53 more wounded in a nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, then you don't grasp how much of a sinner you are my friend. I didn't write this article to scold anybody; but rather, to teach fellow believers the proper Biblical attitude we should have toward unrepentant sinners. I tell you Biblically, you and I are as sinful as the most promiscuous homosexual in the world! You and I are just as wicked as Adolf Hitler! We are all woeful sinners, deserving of God's wrath against us in the Lake of Fire forever! Romans 3:9-11, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”
There is only one difference between all of us. There is only one difference between those ungodly reprobate homosexuals who were murdered in Orlando, and the millions of sinful Christians who attend church every Sunday across America—and that difference is the imputed righteousness of God which comes only by faith in Jesus Christ! If you are a born-again Christian, the only claim to righteousness that you have is God's imputed righteousness!!! Without the imputed righteousness of God, IN GOD'S SIGHT you'd be just as filthy, wicked, dirty, rotten, contemptible and loathsome as the vilest sodomite, drug addict, child molester, thieving, murderous, thug in history!!!
If you grasp the truth that I am teaching you from the Holy Bible, then you will never look at anyone as being a worse sinner than you again. Look at our text Scripture again from James 2:9-10, “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” You, nor I, have any right to condemn anyone for their sins, past or present. If you are an active homosexual, I do not condemn you for your sins! Jesus plainly taught in John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Who am I to condemn anyone, when I am in the same boat, a sinner in every way? Jesus didn't have to condemn anybody, because the law of God condemns mankind! Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. That debt was our sins! What a precious Savior!!!
There are unsaved sinners who repent of their sins, like Judas (Matthew 27:3), but they are not saved. You don't get saved by turning away from your sins. That is not Biblical repentance unto salvation. Some of the most upright, moral, kindest, decent, people in the world are going straight to Hell when they die. The reason why is because no amount of good works can undo our sins. The Bible condemns all mankind as being sinners (Romans 3:10-23). Anyone who admits their faults, but denies being a sinner, is calling God a “liar” (1st John 1:8-10). I am a sinner by nature and by choice, and so are you buddy boy! (or buddy girl.. lol).
The same self-righteous attitude that many
unsaved religious sinners have, oftentimes carries over into our Christian
churches—to where even saved people develop a Pharisaical, superior, holier
than thou, unbiblical attitude, toward other sinners who aren't as moral and
disciplined as they are, or have made horrible mistakes and sinful choices
in the past, or aren't even saved at all. I tell you kindly, but truthfully,
if you are saved it is only because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ!
You have nothing of your own to boast about my friend! If there is anything
good at all in me, it is the righteous Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ!!!
(Romans 8:9; 1st John 4:4) If it weren't for God's love and mercy, for
sending His only begotten Son into the world to bleed, suffer and die on the
cross as a criminal for our sins, WE'D ALL BE HOPELESSLY LOST, CONDEMNED BY
OUR OWN SINS TO BURN IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!!! Praise God for His love and
mercy! Thank God for the dear Lamb of God Who was slain on the cross, and
His glorious resurrection from the dead as our heavenly High Priest! (Romans
8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16; Colossians 3:1-2).
To Judge “Righteous Judgment” in the Bible Doesn't Mean to Point Fingers
Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath Day. The Pharisees condemned Him for it. Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy, because if any one of them had an ox fall into a pit on the Sabbath Day, they'd pull the ox out. Aren't humans more important than animals? Yes, of course! Jesus told the Pharisees to judge righteously, or rightly. He basically told them. “You fellas aren't looking at this situation the right way. This is a man! You'd be willing to help one of your own animals. We'll, I am helping this hurting man. Which is more important?” This is the context in which Jesus said to judge (or weigh in on a matter) rightly.
I hear many Christians spouting off, trying to justify pointing fingers at the sins of others by quoting Jesus' words, “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24b). Again, this has nothing to do with condemning people. The Lord is teaching us to use Biblical wisdom before we weight in on any matter. Matthew 7:1-5, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” Jesus is teaching us not to point fingers at others, because in so doing we are bringing judgment upon our self. Does this mean that we ought not speak out against evil? No, God expects us as believers to stand up against evildoers and workers of iniquity (Psalms 94:16).
People say, “Don't judge me!” Does that mean
preachers ought not preach against sin? Preachers must preach against sin!
(John 7:7) Does that mean Christians ought never take a stand for God
against public wickedness? Christians are commanded to refute all works of
darkness (Ephesians 5:11). However, no one has a right to condemn (judge,
jury and executioner) other sinners, because we are all woeful sinners!
Albeit, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't discern people, carefully choose
our friends, expose public wickedness, or practice Biblical separation. The
Bible plainly teaches that our Lord Jesus Christ DIDN'T judge anyone. If the
Lord judged NO MAN, then who are we to judge ANY MAN? John 8:15, “Ye
judge after the flesh; I judge no man.”
God's Righteousness is the Only Righteousness I Have!
I became a born-again Christian at age 13, almost four decades ago! If I have learned anything as a sinner saved by God's grace, it is that the only thing that makes me more righteous than the worst sinner on the planet is the imputed righteousness of God. That is, God literally placed Christ's righteousness upon me by faith. God placed (imputed) my sins upon Jesus on the cross. All my sins were counted to Christ on the cross! 2nd Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” What a beautiful Scripture! Jesus died a sinner's death on the cross, but He was innocent. The Lord did that for us, taking our sins upon Himself, so that by childlike faith (by simply believing on Him) we could have His righteousness!!! I get happy just thinking about it!!! What a great God and Savior!
So, please my fellow dear believer, do not have a holier-than-thou or hateful spirit toward other sinners, for YOU ARE ONE TOO! Thank God for His righteousness (which is counted to every believer by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ), which is the ONLY reason that any Christian can be righteous at all. Let us brag about the righteousness of God, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ! Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
You need GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! Neither you, nor I, have any righteousness of our own to offer God. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Our best effort to please God in the flesh is filthy rags to God. For any Christian believer to point fingers at other sinners is like saying you're not as bad a bank robber, than other bank robbers, because you've robber fewer banks! Just because you've committed fewer sins than a hardened sinner doesn't make you more righteous in God's eyes. You still are a sinner! You still deserve to burn in Hell. You are not worthy of Heaven! And neither am I. The only reason I am going to Heaven when I die is because of what Jesus Christ did to pay for my sins on the cross. I have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, that He sprinkled upon the heavenly Mercy Seat in the presence of the Father on my behalf (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24; 1st Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5; 1st John 1:7).
Adam couldn't impress God with his fig-leaf religion. God instead killed an innocent animal (which pictured the innocent Lamb of God Who was slain on the cross for our sins). Adam's son, Cain, tried to impress God with the best crops his fields could produce, but the Lord again rejected Cain's offering. Cain had a brother named Abel. God accepted Abel's animal blood sacrifice, demonstrating his faith in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ! We are saved by believing on the Messiah, the Lamb of God! John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” We are saved simply by believing the Gospel—that is, Jesus Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED and bodily RESURRECTED three days later from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Simply believe and the work is done!
In summary, as a Christian I am as much a sinner as the vilest unsaved sinner! One of the biggest sins of all is thinking that you're not as sinful as others. Don't judge others because they sin differently than you do! The only righteousness that I possess as a Christian is the imputed righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, I am going to boast and rejoice in the gift of God's righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, and not in my own self-righteousness as a Christian. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Thank God for the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins by faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
