Overview
Tony Washington examines the futility of self-judgment and self-condemnation. Using Paul’s example and passages from Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, and John, he argues that God has made believers righteous in Christ, the flesh cannot produce spiritual fruit, and believers should stop listening to accusation and instead put on the new nature.
Transcript
The Futility of Self-Judgment
And we're going to have Tony Washington from Utah. I've known Tony for, gosh, since 1982, 40 years, 41 years. So it's been great.
God knew that all our lives would interact and cross at different points in time. And so take it away, Tony. All right, thank you, John.
And God bless you, everybody. I'm thankful for this opportunity this morning to teach. What I'm going to share this morning, I think, has the potential to revolutionize your life, to change your life, to make you happier day by day.
I think if you've been a believer long enough, you're familiar with what it means to have self-condemnation, to condemn yourself, to judge yourself. And as I think about it, I can't think of anything really that negates a believer's walk or impact more than self-judgment and self-condemnation. So today, we're going to explore the futility of self-judgment.
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 4, chapter 4. And in verse 3, this is the Apostle Paul talking. And remember, Corinthians is a reproof epistle. So reproof means there's some doctrine that got a little twisted, and it needs to get straight again.
So in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 3, Paul says, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self. And I wanted to read this to you from a couple of other versions because of how impacting it is in these other versions.
Paul Refused to Judge Himself
And in the New Living Translation, it says, as for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don't even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove I'm right.
It's the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don't make judgments about anyone ahead of time before the Lord returns. And then here's another version, the Passion Translation.
In the Passion Translation, it says, but personally, I'm not the least bit concerned if I'm judged by you or any verdict I receive from any human court. In fact, I don't even assume to be my own judge, even though my conscience is clear. But that doesn't mean I stand acquitted before the Lord, for the only judge I care about is him.
So resist the temptation to pronounce premature judgment on anything before the appointed time when all will be fully revealed. So what the Apostle Paul is saying here is that he doesn't judge himself, right? And I think something that's incredible, if you think about Paul's life and Paul's past, there was a time when Paul was having believers murdered, executed, right? And so that would be back there in his mind, yet he still said his conscience is clear, he doesn't judge himself. And he doesn't judge himself because he's believing God's word in that category of life.
So Paul is our example of how to walk. So, interestingly, sometimes I think that voice we hear in our head, that voice that's accusing us or pointing out what we did wrong all the time, I think sometimes we might think that that's God's voice. In other words, that like people say in church circles, the Lord convicted me.
And I've always thought to myself, how could the Lord convict you if he's already judged you righteous in Christ Jesus? So the reality is that God doesn't judge us, period. So if you'll turn please to Galatians chapter five, we'll read it from the word directly. In, let's go here little computer.
Galatians five, it says, and we'll start in verse one. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Freedom from Law and Condemnation
And I'd like to substitute here, circumcised would be any work that we feel like we'd have to do. Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision or what you do availeth anything, nor uncircumcision what you don't do, but faith which is worketh or is energized by love. You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, right? This persuasion cometh not from him that calleth you.
It's not God's voice. It's not coming from God. Take a look at Romans chapter eight, please.
So the reality is that God does not judge us, period. End of story. Not in certain situations or only if you're this or if you're that, God does not judge us and God does not want us to judge ourselves.
In Romans chapter eight, verse one, it says, a familiar verse, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So there is therefore now no condemnation to you and I. And if you look down at verse 31, God says it another way. What shall we then say to these things if God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be against us? You know that includes you.
That includes me. We don't have a reason according to God's word to be against ourselves or to be always judging ourselves and acknowledging our faults and our failings and where we come up short. It's not God's will.
God Is for Us
It's just a trick. It's a deception. Look at verse 32, he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather than is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, right? So in other words, we have been made right by God in God's sight. So there is really literally no point in you and I judging ourselves. You know, it doesn't accomplish anything.
It doesn't make anything better. It's just a trick. It's a deception.
Look at Galatians, please, Galatians chapter three. And it says in verse three, and I love this verse, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? So each of us, we began in the spirit. We have God's spirit on the inside and it's perfect and incorruptible.
So can we improve upon that spirit God gave us by the flesh? You know, whenever you and I judge ourselves or condemn ourselves, what we're really judging is our flesh. Doesn't that make sense? What else could we be judging? The spirit inside us is perfect and incorruptible. It, you know, it doesn't go bad.
It's not affected by the world and things that go on in the world. So really what we're doing is judging our flesh. And, you know, we can't improve upon with our flesh what God has done for us in the spirit.
Look at what the word says about our flesh. Turn to Romans chapter seven, please. Romans chapter seven.
The Flesh Cannot Produce Spiritual Fruit
And then in verse 18, this is Paul talking again. He says, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's what the word says about our flesh.
So every time you and I are trying to improve our flesh or, you know, worse, make our flesh bring forth spiritual fruit, it's a futile effort, right? It's vain. It's not going to impact anything because I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. God already said it.
So your spirit inside is perfect and remains perfect. It's foolproof. God never asked you and I to improve our flesh, our old nature, right? He simply asked us to put it off.
Stop listening to it. Stop considering it. Stop judging it.
All of our misguided analysis and evaluation of ourselves is nothing more than trying to make our flesh bring forth spiritual fruit. And it's impossible. Look at John chapter six, please.
Gospel of John. Chapter six. And all the way down in verse 63, it says, it is the spirit that quickeneth or makes alive.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So it's that spirit inside us is where our life comes from.
Stop Listening to the Accuser
The flesh profits nothing, right? That's the reality of God's word. So again, whenever you and I are focusing or judging ourselves or condemning ourselves, really what we're focusing on is our flesh. And the adversary always, the accuser, always wants to drive our focus back to ourselves.
So you end up thinking about yourself and evaluating yourself and analyzing yourself and judging yourself. And it's not God's will. It's actually the opposite of God's will.
So we'll close today in Romans chapter seven again. And this is the Apostle Paul explaining for us, helping us to understand the dilemma that all of us face as believers by having this spirit inside, yet having an old nature that creeps up from time to time that God says is crucified in Christ Jesus. So Romans chapter seven, oh, we're gonna look at this in the NIV, because I think it had a good translation, if I can get there.
And it says in Romans chapter seven, verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. Have you ever been there before? For what I wanna do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.
And if I do what I do not wanna do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it's no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature.
For I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I wanna do, but the evil I don't wanna do, this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not wanna do, it's no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
That's the reality, right? That's why we shouldn't judge ourselves. Verse 21, so I find this law at work. Although I wanna do good, evil is right there with me.
Deliverance Through Jesus Christ
For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Or another way to say it, I think King James Version says, who will rescue me from this dead body? Paul is lamenting the fact that you and I have an old nature right now.
There's a time coming in the future when we're not gonna have an old nature, but right now we have an old nature, and Paul calls it a dead body. The body of this flesh is dead, it's pointless. So who shall deliver me from this? Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then I myself in my mind, I'm a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin. So that's the dilemma that each one of us as believers go through. God has made us righteous in Christ Jesus, and God does not judge you.
He does not judge me. So our job is to stop that voice, to stop trying to improve our flesh or evaluating our flesh or trying to make the flesh bring forth spiritual fruit. It is an impossibility.
It is the definition of a futile effort. Instead, God asks us to simply put on the new nature and walk in that new nature in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. We live by the grace of God.
So stop judging yourself, stop condemning yourself because it's just an exercise in futility. Amen? Amen.
Key Takeaways
- Self-judgment and self-condemnation can undermine a believer’s walk and impact.
- Paul refused to make himself the final judge and instead trusted God’s judgment.
- There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and God is for the believer.
- The flesh cannot be improved into producing spiritual fruit; believers are called to put off the old nature.
- Freedom comes through Jesus Christ as believers stop listening to accusation and live from the new nature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the teaching call self-judgment futile?
It says self-judgment focuses on the flesh, which cannot be improved into producing spiritual fruit, and distracts believers from the righteous standing God has given them in Christ.
Did the Apostle Paul judge himself?
No. The teaching points to 1 Corinthians 4, where Paul says he did not judge himself and left the final examination and verdict to the Lord.
What should believers do instead of condemning themselves?
They should reject the accusing voice, remember that God is for them and has made them righteous in Christ, put off the old nature, and live from the new nature.
Scripture References
1 Corinthians 4:3-5; Galatians 5:1-8; Romans 8:1, 31-39; Galatians 3:3; Romans 7:14-25; John 6:63
This text was prepared from the source transcript. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
