When Law Exposes Us And Grace Rebuilds Us

Ever notice how easy it is to spot someone else’s flaws while quietly excusing your own? We take a clear-eyed walk through Romans 2–3 to uncover why our hearts bend toward self-justification, how condemnation masquerades as discernment, and what it takes to trade the gavel for grace. Along the way, a simple airplane cookie mix-up exposes the hidden mechanics of hypocrisy—and why God’s judgment, anchored in truth, slices through our favorite excuses.

We explore Paul’s sweeping claim that both the religious and the irreligious stand accountable—those under the law and those guided by conscience. Hearing what’s right is not the same as doing it. That’s where the cross re-centers everything: Jesus bears the penalty we cannot pay, fulfilling the law’s demands and opening a Spirit-led life that actually changes us from the inside out. No more hiding behind rules or pedigree; no more “form of godliness” without power. Instead, we learn to deny ourselves, take up the cross daily, and apply Scripture to our own hearts before we use it on anyone else.

You’ll hear practical guidance for spotting the shift from wise discernment to hard condemnation, how God’s kindness leads to real repentance, and why the Spirit’s leadership frees us from the crushing weight of performance. If you’ve ever wrestled with judgment, hypocrisy, or the tension between law and grace, this conversation offers a grounded path forward—rich in biblical insight and honest about the daily battle.

If this resonated with you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help others find it. Your reflections matter—tell us where you’re trading judgment for grace this week.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Because you do this, you're not worthy of heaven. If you do this, you're not really a Christian. That's the judging that we're talking about. That's the condemnation that we're talking about that Paul wants to bring to the surface that apparently this church in Rome was doing. And I could easily start pointing out to some of y'all and using some of your condemnation that you have toward other people as an example. But the problem is when I do that, I have three more fingers pointing back at me.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

We tend to be very good at seeing the weaknesses in others while completely ignoring our own shortcomings. I mean, there's probably a good reason for the choices we make. We can perform some amazing mental gymnastics to justify what we know is wrong. But when our neighbor does something wrong, there's no excuse for that type of behavior. Today, Pastor Carl will remind us that we're only part of God's family through grace. And it isn't our place to judge or condemn others. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

All right, let's get into a study of God's Word, because that's why we're here. We're here to simply teach the Word of God. That's what we do, and that's how we do it. So we're in Romans. We'll be in chapter 2 this morning. Um, actually, I'm gonna try to go through two and three this morning. So put on uh your seat belts and uh we're gonna get into it. Romans chapter two this morning, but before I get into it, I want you to look at this verse. Consider this verse from Jeremiah. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? What does that mean? It means our hearts are wicked. Our hearts are deceitful, they fool us, and they're desperately wicked. Who can know it? We need to keep this in mind as we go through these next couple chapters this morning, because that is really the key to it all. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked. And uh yet, the Lord says, I the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. Now, if we considered the verse before this, that our hearts are desperately wicked, deceitfully wicked, um, what kind of rewards can we expect? All right, keep that in mind. And in chapter one, uh we had Paul wanting to write to the Romans. He's heard of the great work that the Lord has been doing. The gospel has come to Rome and the church has been birthed and it's growing, and he wants to encourage them and say, This is great, you're doing a great job. And he says, you know, that's it's the gospel that changes everything. You've gotten a hold of the gospel, and you know, it's the I'm not ashamed of it. I want to proclaim it. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek, for it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And then we made the point, okay, who are the just? The just are those that have received the gospel and have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus. You are justified, you are just before the Lord in the gospel, right? And if we're to live in the gospel, we're to walk faith by faith. But like the Galatians, Paul points out, you start out in faith, but you want to continue and grow and mature in your faith and your flesh. And that doesn't work. The just cannot live by the flesh. If you're living by the flesh, you're not walking as the just, and you're not walking in the gospel. I'm not trying to talk in circles, but this is to set us up for what Paul is going to be telling us in chapters two and three. And then after this verse, he goes in and he gives a litany of sins in chapter one. Evil, just despicable sins, that we would go, oh, those people are terrible. They're sinners, they're not like me. Which is where he takes us in chapter two. So, like I said, put your seat belts on, here we go. Chapter 2, verse 1. 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. We go through this whole list of sins, and you think you don't do any of them? You could you you're you're judging others, you're condemning others based on these bad things that they do, but you don't even realize that you do the same thing. Judging as opposed to discerning, because we're called to judge, right? We're called not to judge, and we're called to judge. Again, I'm talking in circles, but this is how Paul is approaching it. We're called to discern. Jesus said, You'll know them by their fruits. So you you have to understand, you know, what the fruits look like and have a discerning mind. But this judge me, judging that we're talking about, when Jesus says, judge not lest ye be judged, this is the idea of condemnation. Because you do this, you're not worthy of heaven. If you do this, you're not really a Christian. That's the judging that we're talking about. That's the condemnation that we're talking about that that Paul wants to bring to the surface that apparently this church in Rome was doing. And I could easily start pointing out to some of y'all and using some of your condemnation that you have toward other people as an example. But the problem is when I do that, I have three more fingers pointing back at me. So I'm not going to do that. But I am going to share a little story that I heard that is an interesting example of this. There was a lady, um, good Christian lady, she had to get home. Um, she's late, she's in the airport, she's rushing to get to her plane, she's she's exhausted, she's hungry, she needs to get something to eat. She looks at the little snack bar there, and then there's some cookies, and there's a whole long line of people. She's gonna miss her plane, and she goes, I just Lord forgive me. She takes the pack of cookies and she puts it in her purse, and she kind of says, sorry, and she's thinking in her head, you know, well, you know, they charge$20 for those cookies, they're only worth 50 cents. It won't hurt them, and I really need to be to be fed. And and the Lord feeds people when they need them in the Bible, so I'll be okay. So she gets into the plane, she throws her things on the middle seat because it's open, and uh there's a fella on on the on the window seat, and and and they they they settle down and she made it, and and on and on they go to the flight, right? So then getting into the flight, the fella next to her sees the cookies and opens them up and takes one. And she's like, What is he doing? He's taking my cookies. So she takes a cookie and eats it, but she's trying to be calm about this because she's got a little bit of conviction, you know. It's like, well, I stole the cookies too, but he's stealing my cookies that I stole. This isn't right. He takes another cookie, and she doesn't say anything, but she kind of looks at him funny, and she takes another cookie. They get to the last cookie, he takes it and breaks it in half and gives her half of it. And he eats the other half, and she says, What nerve this guy has! Well, long story short, they get off the plane, she finally gets into her car, she opens up her purse, and lo and behold, there's a bag of cookies that she stole. She was eating his cookies. Don't condemn, don't judge. All sorts of things that go on in our wicked, deceitful hearts, aren't there? And Paul's starting to bring it out to us to say, listen, we need to walk in the gospel. And there's a lot of reasons why. Verse 2, but we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. How would God have judged that situation? He would have judged it through the lens of truth. We have a lens of our truth that we perceive from the word of God, but we also twist it to meet our situation, and we also kind of add our own rules, like the Pharisees would, to make it good, and we just justify what we do, don't we? But God just God judges justly. He judges in truth because he is the truth. And do you think this, oh man, that you would judge those practicing such things and doing the same that you will escape the judgment of God? She's condemning him for stealing her cookies when she's really stealing his cookies, because the other cookies that she really stole are in her purse still. Do you think she would escape the judgment? She's guilty, isn't she? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Here's something that gets twisted in our minds, too. I I I justified this sin before. It makes sense to me. God hasn't struck me with lightning yet. It must be okay. Don't we do that? We justify our own sin, we fool ourselves into thinking it's okay because God hasn't laid the loud down on us yet. Well, let me show you another verse to consider in that regard. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some would count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9. Just because we haven't felt the result of our sin in the immediate, does not mean it's not wrong, and does not mean that we don't need to repent. We do need to repent. And even as Christians, this is the point, we we tend to drift back into the flesh, like the Galatians. You foolish Galatians, you've begun in the spirit and you want to perfect yourself in the flesh. I don't know about you, but I know when I came to faith in Jesus Christ, I was made a new creation, a new creature in Christ, right? And yet this old man keeps coming back and keeps wanting to trip up who I am. And in this body that we live in, Paul describes it as a body of death, we have this struggle between the spirit and the flesh. The spirit was dead before we came to faith. Now it's alive, but but the flesh is still alive too. It's supposed to be dead. And ultimately, when when we see the Lord face to face and we have our new resurrected bodies, these bodies will be done away with. But during this time we still have this struggle. And Paul wants us to recognize this struggle and give us answers for it. But he wants to address some other issues because our hearts are deceitful. Verse 5, but in accordance with your hardness and your impetent heart, you're not repentant, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. If you're living by, you know, if you're if you're pointing out other people's sin and you're you're basically you're saying, I live by grace, I've been forgiven by God, but everybody else is condemned by the things that they do. If that's the case, you're not really walking in that grace, and you're you're you're storing up for yourself judgment. He will render to each according one, uh each one according to his deeds, eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. And he's saying, Okay, if you want to go by the law, let's go by the law. Have you in your whole life been patiently continuing doing good, not doing what your flesh wants to do, but obeying the law and never sinning. If you are, yeah, you can get eternal life, but chances are you're not, right? But, and we know this one, verse 8, but those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And he will be making the point that nobody does good. So if you're going to put that on as the as the um, this is how it is, if you're gonna judge others by the law, then you're gonna be condemned by the law as well. Are you following that? And it doesn't matter if you're of the chosen race or if you're of the Gentiles, um, if you don't perfectly fulfill the law of God, um, condemnation comes your way, talking about condemnation. Verse 11, for there's no partiality with God. For as many have sinned without the law, will also perish without the law. You know, we don't need the law to tell us that we're sinners, although the law was sent, and Paul will show that to us later. That's the chief purpose of the law, to point out our sin so that we would be without excuse. But everybody knows we've fallen short of the glory of God. That was kind of shown to us in first chapter. All of creation recognizes God and recognizes that we are far from Him. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. We can hear the law and we can say, yeah, that's right, or yeah, that person's wrong, or, you know, fill in the blank. But if we're not doing the law, it does us no good, no matter how much we agree with it, right? For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. The law points out sin, but if you don't have access to the law, you still realize that you're walking in opposition to the Lord. And you don't need the law in order to tell you to walk right with God. And if you walk as a Gentile right with God, you'll be rewarded for it. But the implication there, of course, is that uh we don't. None of us, Jew or Gentile. Now there was a big paragraph there. I'm gonna take that paragraph out and read this sentence again without that paragraph, with with the parentheses, that part of with the parentheses. Let me read this again. For there's no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. Verse 16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now that points to the end time judgment, but I think it also points to two other events. One is on the cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. When Jesus became one of us, he represented us, he took our place, he represented us on the cross. And while he was on the cross, he was judged by the law. While he was on the cross, he took the penalty of our sin upon himself. All the sin, all the secrets, all the blatant sin, everything was judged by God the Father through Jesus Christ on the cross. Because we couldn't fulfill the law, he did. And because we couldn't pay our sin debt, he did. Are you following? And if he did, it should affect how we relate to other people, right? Again, here's this idea of the law. When Paul talks to the Galatians in Galatians 5, 16, he says, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If you have applied what Jesus did for you on the cross, which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, which when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. You're not under the law because you're now under grace, and if you're following the Holy Spirit and allowing him to work in and through you, you fulfill the law more than the law even points out. Are you following that thought? There's a whole lot that Paul is throwing at us, I realize. But chew on it, pray about it, and see what it is that the Lord wants me to learn and apply in my life as a result of this. So it's not about the law. So how do we look at others? Through the eyes of grace. That Jesus died for that. Jesus has set me free, Jesus is setting them free as well, especially if they're in the church, if they're believers. This is what we're talking about. The Roman church. And we're pointing out each other's problems in the church. Indeed, you are called a Jew and rest on the law and make your boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. Now the Church of Rome was uh had a lot of Jews in the church. It was founded by Jews. Uh last week we looked at the possibility that the church was founded by some Jews that were in Jerusalem for Pentecost that that Sunday that uh Peter gave that first sermon, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and 3,000 people came to faith. And so they took their newfound faith and they brought it to Rome and they started telling their friends, and the church was born. And there were a lot of Jews, but it's a Roman town, it's a Greek town, it's a Gentile town. So others came into the church and they found freedom and forgiveness in the gospel of Jesus. But the Jews still had this idea that we have legacy behind us. We're the chosen people, and we're sharing that with others in the gospel. And there's this idea that they knew the law. They knew what was right and wrong, and they and they told other people about it, and they taught other people about it, and they had this form of knowledge and truth in the law, and yet it wasn't focused necessarily on the gospel. It was focused, again, on the law. And what Paul is saying we need to be careful because we're still in these bodies of death. We still have hearts that are deceitful, and if and if we allow us ourselves to Go along this path, sin is going to grab hold and do all sorts of weird things. There's a similar verse, especially this knowledge of the truth, or this idea of the knowledge of we act like we know what we're talking about. When Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor, and said, okay, this is some things you need to watch out for in your ministry, especially in the end times. 2 Timothy 3, 1 through 5, but know this that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And then this line having a form of godliness, but denying its power, and from such people turn away. Of course, we read that and say, oh, none of that applies to me, because that's that's all the bad people out there. I'm good people. But if you go through some of these things, aren't there times where your heart goes in that direction? Have you ever been unthankful? Have you ever been disobedient to your parents? Have you ever loved pleasure rather than loving God? I mean, I love God. I go to church and everything, but I sure love having fun. I love the things of this world. And it's so easy for us to switch our allegiance so subtly from God to the world, isn't it? And it's a form of godliness. Yeah, God bless you, brother, and then we go and curse them as we leave. Maybe not out loud, but maybe in our hearts. Paul wants to address some heavy issues here. And then he says, from such people turn away. What if I find that I'm that person that I need to turn away from? How do I do that? Because I'm stuck with myself all the time. Well, Jesus addressed that too. In Matthew 16, verse 24, he said, If anyone desires to come after me, let him what? Deny himself, take up his cross, and follow after me. If you want to walk in me, if you want to walk in the power of the Spirit, if you want to walk in the freedom of the gospel, you need to deny yourself. You need to bear your own cross. Because in reality, um when you accepted Jesus, who took your place on the cross, you also died with him on the cross. I no longer live, Paul says, but Christ lives with me. I've been crucified with Christ. So your old man is dead with Christ, and now you've been giving a new life. The problem is in this life we have to apply it. And in this life, we so easily drift astray and go our own way. And Jesus reminds us deny yourself. And if you did it yesterday, great. This morning we've got to do it again. Deny myself, pick up my cross, follow after me. Trust in Jesus, trust in the cross, walk in the gospel. And back to our study, verse 21. You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You're telling other people how they need to live. But are you listening to what the words are saying to you? You preach that a man should not steal, but do you steal? Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip from work, some cookies from the snack bar that, you know, they didn't really lose anything, and I really needed it, and God forgives me. You say, do not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? And of course, Jesus said, if you look upon a woman with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart. Even if it was for a split second, you're guilty. Are you recognizing that? Are you applying that to your life? Are you teaching yourself from what the word says?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

That's Pastor Carl of the Mountain Cross. We are a group of believers located in Waynesville, North Carolina. We simply teach through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter. If something you heard today in the book of Romans has you asking some questions, would you get in touch with us? On our website, we have a contact and prayer form that you can fill out. Just go to themountaincross.com and fill out the form. Someone will get in touch with you soon. If this ministry has been a blessing to you and you'd like to find a way to partner with us in the ministry, there's a donate tab on our website where you can give a financial contribution. It's safe and secure for you to give online. We appreciate any donations. Once again, the website to go to is themountaincross.com. The Mountain Cross meets every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Smoky Mountain Cinema. We'd be delighted for you to join us there this weekend. In addition to Sunday mornings, we host a Faith Film Night every first Monday of the month. This is a great way to connect with others in the community and to be immersed in content that is spiritually encouraging. To learn more, just search for Faith Film Night on Facebook, and we'll see you at the movies. Thanks for listening today. That brings us to the close of our program, but we look forward to the next time. Come on up to the mountain with us again tomorrow as we seek to learn more from the Lord through His Word. Come on Up is sponsored by the Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.