Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1419 | Jase Pushes Back on America’s Favorite Excuse: ‘Don’t Judge Me’

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Jase, Al, and Zach challenge the way we think about success, judgment, and having life all figured out. The guys push back on the “don’t judge me” culture, drawing a line between hypocritical judgment, healthy accountability, and calling out what’s wrong without playing God. Jase points to James’ sobering reminder that life moves fast and that money, plans, and worldly success can create a dangerous illusion of control. Plus, Zach learns that Unashamed Nation has definitely chosen sides in his ongoing rivalry with Jase. In this episode: James 3:15; James 4:1-17; James 5:1-6, 16; Titus 3; Matthew 7; Luke 15; Acts 2; Acts 17; Romans 1; Romans 2:1-11; Romans 4; Romans 8; Romans 9:30-33; 1 Corinthians 5; Psalm 127; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2; Proverbs 3:34 Want to watch the Lost Episodes of Unashamed, only on EKKL? Get 20% off with code UNASHAMED, and watch faith- and family-friendly movies, podcasts, and more: https://ekkl.com/ “Unashamed” Episode 1419 is sponsored by: https://www.covesmart.com/unashamed/ - Use code UNASHAMED at checkout for up to 70% off your first order! Go to curehydration.com/unashamed to get 20% off your first order with promo code UNASHAMED https://bravebooks.com/unashamed - Get both of the Robertson books completely free, plus a free starter kit, all for 70% off! https://myphdweightloss.com - Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Visit the website or call 864-644-1900 and mention "Al Robertson" to get 2 weeks free in the program! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ - Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters 00:00 Team Jase vs. Team Zach 05:55 Resist the Devil & Draw Near to God 12:19 Confession & Double-Mindedness 18:41 “What Is Your Life?” 25:34 The Prodigal Son & True Repentance 30:46 Faith & Works Go Together 37:29 When Christians Should Judge 42:05 Do Less Isn’t the Way 51:09 Doing Isn’t the Same as Earning - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Discover coffee plus on nispresso.com. I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to unashamed. Jason, we have no idea where we're going to. Organized chaos. Look, I know a lot of you who are, how would you classify that? You all are listening to all the episodes.

Right. We had a little break from James. But not really. Yeah, they're called the audience. But not really. The honest word. Because when you think about it. Well, we've had a lot of guests on lately.

Well, and you're putting into practice, if you're just reading this and studying it, and it's not leading to your life and you see transformation in people, what are we doing? Right. So the guests, I think, are illustrations. Yeah. They drive the content. We had been on recently. He was a live wire for Jesus.

like that guy. So, yeah, we've had all kind of distractions. But what's funny is we had him on, I think the only verse we read, he read where we left off in James. I took that as a sign, yeah, that we were going to. And we were going to get back into James and then we got into Zach's dream that led us down a whole rabbit hole about the kingdom. King David, Nazar, well, the Daniel thing.

I mean, anytime someone goes to, like, Daniel, we are kind of loaded for bear on that. So there is that. But, Jason, I got to tell you something before we get started. Somebody, I performed a wedding this past weekend at our church. And the groom's mother came in, and a big fan of the podcast. And so I was like, we got to talk in, and she was talking about how much she loves the podcast. And I don't know why I thought there would be like a kind of a loyalty to me because I was, you know, marrying off her son. I said, yeah, you know, she said, how do you?

and jason you know how y'all do it y'all? She's bringing up our our relationship and I said you know jace gives me a hard time and I'm telling the people don't like it do what and I said I'm like it's kind of a little bit of a bit yeah she's like well I like well I like jace I mean she straight up told me that you were her favorite in that whatever altercation we get into she she said that she's team jace so that was that was kind of like I know you've had people to tell you their team Zach now I've got there so I love our audience because they're straight up with us, but I met one that was Team Jace. She told

me to tell you that. She loves everything that you say and do and ask me to give that encouragement to you. It was hard for me to agree to it. After, she just told me she was Team Jace. But I want you to know that. You still married her son. You did good.

I still married her son. I did my part. Well, everywhere, every appearance I do now, there's at least one and sometimes multiple people that are avid listeners of the podcast and they will say, someone will say inevitably, this podcast has changed my life and then tell me why. Sometimes it's to lead someone to Christ, sometimes it's to strengthen their faith, get them through something.

It's their normal Bible study now. I mean, so we appreciate the encouragement. And I always say, well, you're the reason we're doing it. So thank you for telling me that. I mean, I think the kingdom after we did that. Zach had a dream. I hope that's what they, y'all titled it. That's what I had in my notes.

Zach had a dream. That's a dream. 50 minutes later. I came up with a more provocative title. Oh, good. Are you the one that comes up with these times? I don't normally, but this one was something about the prophecy revealed the exact timing of the kingdom of God coming to earth or something like that. It was kind of like a.

Zach had a dream is so much better. Well, I was just going to say, you know, I'm a pretty simple guy and, you know, nobody outside of Jesus. So where else in the kingdom of God can you come together with these different kind of personalities and different kind of backgrounds and experience love for one another? Even though we do challenge each other, which I like having relationships where you're not so thin skin that you get your feeling. heard every five minutes. That's why me and Zach have such a combustible relationship. We need that. Because I don't mind

confrontation or conflict. I think that's how you learn. We both have one thing in common. If there's a zinger that's delivered, if I really get Jase good or he really gets me, I find it

enjoyable to be. If he gets me, I laugh. I think that was pretty good. When you know you've won, when the person is laughed on the other end of it. So we actually, it is a weird love language that we have. Well, the two or three times that's happened, I'm sure you are very proud. So I wanted to get to James. I had some notes. And the problem with having these little black and white notebooks is I have stacks of them. Yeah. Because we're doing some of me. I know. They've invented a thing called the computer, Jay, you had to look into it. Well, I have one of those too, but I'm...

You can actually look, they'd look like this. And they're always there. I have Phil's impression of that. I'm always kind of scared of that. Because now they're watching you and they're listening to you. Who is they? I don't know. Who is they? But I'm pretty sure they are.

And so I'm nervous about putting anything in there. Just don't talk. What did Dad call the smartest woman in the world? Tell me Alexa or Siri. Siri or Alexa? Yeah. He said he thought she was an atheist. So since it's been a minute, let me at least catch us up,

kind of where we were, because we went through James 4, which I call that a house divided, because it was this idea of the, why do we divide with one another? And then we talked about why that is. It's a different kind of wisdom, right? We either go with worldly wisdom. And James sort of provocatively calls it adultery with the world. He used the word, adulterous, which literally means that. and the idea is if you're with the world, that's what it is.

And we got to James 4 or 5, which is kind of a scripture that has a lot of different implications because of the translation, but correctly translated, do you think scripture says without reason that God jealously longs for the spirit he made to live in us, meaning that he loves us that much? I mean, he wants us to follow him. And then, of course, it's our choice to do it. And then in 7 through 10, which gets us up to where we are today, and that's the text that Ben read on the podcast about how you respond to it. It's a submission of will. It's resistance of evil.

And it reminded me of the comments made about Job. He feared God and shunned evil. Because it says, if you will resist the devil, he will flee from you, which is interesting. Because you don't see that. I don't think that's anywhere else in scripture that particular phrase. Be cleansed both outside and inside, and it made me think of Titus 3, the washing of rebirth. Because you think about being cleansed from your sins and what the cross does, but the Holy Spirit is that consistent sanctifying work, renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

So I like that idea, Zat, that it's like a continual cleansing. It's not just the idea that that's what a life does in Christ. And then, of course, it talked about the weeping and wailing. when you're in that position, and that's to recognize the gravity of depravity and the depth of desperation. That's that idea that once you're there, that's a bad place to be. You don't want to be, you know, that's not a place for laughing and joking. That's the time to get serious. Well, what's interesting about that is he depicts, if you look at this letter as a whole,

because that's where he's headed at the end of James IV about having a lot of money, bragging about you can do whatever you want to do. Got all your business lined up, yeah. You know, you're getting the front seats at the gatherings. He's depicting this picture of you need to wail, grieve, and mourn because you're in that position. Yeah. I find that fascinating.

Because you're like, oh, I've made it. But he's like, you're in the worst position possible because you think. You make. You've made it. You've made it and you're successful and you've got it all planned out and your retirement's all set. Your 401k is... It's all a lie. You should just say, oh my goodness, I've been duped.

Yeah. I think that's his point. So, Al, do you ever worry about the content that's coming in your home that your grandkids have access to you? Are you ever worried about that? Every single day. You know, I'm always talking to my kids about making sure they know what's going into the young minds of my grandchildren. and it's a constant fear. Well, I know that a lot of us have thought about the kind of content that's streaming

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That's EKK.com Code Unashamed. Three or four months ago, someone had stolen the bike out of our yard. And so, I don't know, y'all, everyone in your neighborhood's families. I would argue, Zach, that if you're surrounded by family, there is a greater likelihood that something's going to be stolen. They just call it borrowing. The fact is, the camera doesn't lie. That's why we take protecting our home seriously with Cove.

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That's C-O-V-E-Smart.com slash Unashamed. Code Unashamed at checkout. You see the progression of the whole book of James is interesting how it ends than the very next chapter. And you're seeing that push into this final climax, James 5, around verse 16. He says something like, confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed. And then it's like this idea of anyone who kind of gets a brother and snatches him from the, like if you can get a brother to turn away from his sin, then you've snatched him from the fire. So it's this whole idea of like returning to what is the, like that's that submission that's kind of smack dab in the middle of chapter four when he says, submit yourselves, therefore to God, resist the devil, he'll flee you and draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Like aligning up, aligning your will with his.

And dad did our communion talk on Sunday and it was so good. He was talking about the word confession. And, you know, he's doing, dad's leading CR in our church. And so they're going really well. A lot of people are, you know, coming to Christ, getting sober, you know, getting right. But this idea of confession, he mentioned, like, the Greek word for this is, it's, oh, let me pull it up real quick, so I don't butcher it. The Greek word for confession in the Bible is, it means it's homo legia. So that word logia, think of logos, you know, the word in the beginning was the logos.

and homo being the same. And so when you actually confess your sin, what you're doing is you're coming in and saying, may my word be the same as your word, God, like Yahweh. My word needs to be the same as your word. And so I think that's what that double-minded idea that he talks about in verse 8 is about, it's kind of the human condition that when we start with ourselves

and we're trying to live autonomously away from God, Like we have, he has, God has his word, and then I have my word. And if those, you know, if there's line up, great. Yeah, we can actually do something together. But I am going to have my own autonomous existence, my own autonomous will, my own autonomous thing. And that's what I think is James is getting out in the whole book, as he's getting to that truth. And he's saying, the problem with you is that you're dragged away and enticed by your own evil desires.

Your own word, it doesn't coincide with his word. or in verse chapter four. The reason why you have quarrels and fights among you is because of the passions that are within you. You got your own autonomous passions that don't line up with the passion of Christ. And so everything seems to be this contradiction between, are you going to start and end with yourself?

Because if that's where your word begins, then you're going to be at odds. You're going to be double-minded. Or are you going to be aligned and submission to the will of God? And that's where the confession, the whole book comes to the point that you have to say, Yeah, I'm operating autonomously. I need to confess this.

I need to align my word with the word of God. And that's really how you found salvation. Well, and it's a good point because it's actually where we're headed in these next few verses. Well, let's just read the next few verses. Because I feel like there's an overview. If we're going to do overview, let's do overview. you. So when he says all this about grieve, mourning, well, and he has this depiction of humility versus pride, which is where he started the letter. Remember James one?

Yeah. Where he said, he brings up the double-minded there when he says. And I told Joe, that phrase double-minded, it was not even in the Greek language. James literally invented that word. It's nowhere does that appear in Greek language until the book of James. But we all don't know. Simple. It's double. Yeah, exactly. That's what's amazing. I mean, like it was spoken, it was spoken into language

by James because of the idea of this double spirit. That's what the word literally means. This inside when there's these competing wills that happen. And you're right. We know it, but other people had the competing wills and didn't even know what it was, which is pretty amazing.

So he started off that saying, you know, if you'd like wisdom, you know, ask God. Because obviously, the people that he's addressing, not unlike today, we're saying, oh, I believe in God, but then treating people terribly, or boasting about all this earthly stuff,

having an affair from God with the friendship of the world, all that's in there. And he brags on people, ironically, about people in humble circumstances in verse 9. In verse 10 says, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position because he'll pass away like a wild flower. That's why I said when you get to this point,

he then brings up the evil one again who is providing this earthly wisdom with thoughts and delusions and lies. That's in 315, all in cahoots with your selfish ambition, all these things we've already said. And so then you should realize the gravity of your situation,

if you're having an affair against God and you're hooked up with the evil one, then he pretty much calls him a coward when he says, resist the devil and he'll flee from you. At the end of the day, he'll flee. He's a coward. This is all delusion.

So then he gets to verse 11, and it gets back to how you treat people again. He's going to revisit the theme from verse 1. He kind of has three different, I think you put warnings in your notes. Yeah. So he says, don't slander one another. Because you got to remember this tongue, he devoted a whole chapter to it,

which is the greatest weapon we have for self-exaltation. What? I mean, we just go out there. Pride, flattery, it's all. Lying. Lillusion. You're making yourself bigger than... Demean other people.

Exactly. And so he says, don't slander one another. anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it which is that's that idea about putting yourself in God's position what Zach was talking about earlier it's a great point we're going back to the garden now exactly deep down we all want to be our own God exactly there is only verse 12 one lawgiver and judge the one who is able to save and destroy you remember Jesus Remember the quote where he said, don't fear the one.

What did that say exactly? But I have to look that up. He's like, fear the one who can, who's able to save and destroy and send you to hell or something like that. Not just the one who can take your life. Well, he's talking about Satan, yeah. Yeah. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? Nobody.

That's the answer to the question. You're just a. You're just a human. Yeah. It's rhetorical because there's no answer for that because you're not it. There's one God you're not him. So verse 13, now listen to you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year, carry on business and make money. Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.

Then I love this. What is your life? and I'm pretty sure if he was saying that instead of writing it, he would just stop. Yeah. What's your life? What is your life? It's a very good question.

A great question. What is your life? How would you answer that question? Yeah, and it's like the ones, what's the three days you have? I mean, why are you here? What's your purpose? Why are you here? What are you doing here?

Right. How are you leaving? But what is your life is a very good question. Now, he answers it because he says, what he said in James 1 about the rich being like a wild flower. He says, you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. It's a very morbid thought, but it's so true. Yeah.

I mean, I looked up. It's like, what happened? I'm on the backside of 40 here. I'm 60. I know, yeah. It was like, you were in your mind. I still can. I have great memories.

of being a little bitty kid and watching life, and then all of a sudden you look up and it's just, it's sped by it. It is a miss. It's a miss. You are a mist that pierce for a little while and then vanish, which is a different version of the year of wildflower that grows up and, instead you ought to say if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.

And look, it's not just, you know. Yeah, when I was a kid, my grandma, you remember? Lord, I said it all the time. Lord willing, Lord willing. And I was, what's you mean by that? Well, she got it from this verse. Right. But it's bigger.

It's bigger than that. Yeah, it's bigger than that. If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, well, this really gets interesting. You boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. And you say, well, why? Because it's coming from a selfish.

ambition, earthly wisdom from the devil place. Anyone then who knows the good, he ought to do and does it do it sins, which really gives you, I think, a better definition of sin than what we usually think, which is just breaking a law, committing immoral failure. You know, you've heard the definition of sin being missing the mark, and this really defines that. That's right. If your life is waking up every day being a part of self-exaltation, which is what this

is really about, the whole book, to the expense of other people. Yeah. Whatever it takes to exalt yourself and find earthly success, be on a pedestal about it, brag about it, look down on other people because of what you've done. You've missed. You've missed the mark. It's a frightening passage when you think about it. It's because it brings the idea that evil and sin can be as much about omission as co-mission, like to commit a sin.

We think about that. Wow, that's obvious. Acts of the Simple Nature, obvious. But what about if your lifestyle is a place where you're sinning by what you're not thinking about, what you're not doing, who you're not serving? I mean, it's a scary place to be because you don't even realize. That's what he said. I mean, you're in this place. Which is why people feel so far away from God, or God is so far.

Yeah. Because remember right in the middle of all this, when he says, humble yourself, and then there's that little phrase in verse, or is it, eight, come near to God in the spirit of humility. He'll come near to you. He'll come near to you. That's why he seemed so far. Right.

Because there's no plans in your life. When he asks that question, what is your life? Well, there's no room for God in your life. What Jesus used that exact phrase two or three times. Remember when he would say, you don't have any room for me? Yeah. He would say that to religious leaders, which is so shocking. So just this week, I looked in our house.

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do something. And that's the prodigal son story. You know, the prodigal son, I mean, he wasn't just sitting out there in the pig slop, and then the father just made him come out of there. So you're going to come with me. I'm going to demand it. What you see is the son actually has a moment of repentance. and his posture is, I'm going to go back and just ask my father,

I can just be a servant, because even the slaves in his household eat better than I'm eating. So he actually sees that. And so his repentance is, I just want to be a servant, and he's rehearsing what he's going to say. So you do see him turning towards the father. But you also see that he never gets to the father and repents like that. He never gets to verbalize it. He literally turns, postures his body, in a position that goes towards. the father, and as soon as he hits the horizon of the hill, while he was a long way off,

the father sees him, and then the father pursues him and runs and embraces even, said my son was dead. And now he's alive. Get the fat and calf. Get the ring. We're going to have a party. You're a son. You're in my house.

You're in. And I love that picture because it's, you do see a response from the son. The father does not impose that on him. He doesn't say, I'm going to impose relationship. on you. He, he waits for the son to say, I want to be in the house. Now, the son did come not with any entitlement. He came with a true confession, true humility, a weeping and a wailing. And I think it's the posture here, as what he's talking about is when you, we'll draw near to the Lord and then they'll draw near to you. It's not saying you're going to work your way

into it. It's just saying, man, you got to come to this thing humble. Just turn to the Lord. And God's like, they're Emmanuel God with us. He's there. Acts 17, that each one should seek him out and perhaps find him that he's not far from each one of us. So we do have a responsibility. We are, this is not a, we're not robots. Like we are relational beings because we're made in God's image. And so the bid is to come.

The bid is to come near. And God's already there. I'm ready. I'm ready to receive. And that's also why he starts it off by saying, remember in chapter one, count it all joy when you face persecutions. To Jason's point about it being upside down, you should be, because you don't tend to seek him until something's wrong in your life, not everything's right in your life, in your mindset.

You're on cruise control. You're thinking, oh, yeah, I don't, you know, God, that's, that's some corner of some section of my life that, yeah, you know, I think he's there, but I'm doing my thing. Well, that's all great. And, man, you got plenty of money and all that to you, till the, to the, you know, doctor tells you you got cancer. Then all of a sudden it's like, wait a minute, all these things I prepared for, all these things I'm planning on doing it in my life, and now I've got to face this,

it forces you, and I love the picture you painted of the prodigal, because until he ran out of money and ran out of friends and ran out of booze, he was fine being where he was. And then all of a sudden it wasn't fine anymore. And that's what, for most people, you have to get to some desperate place. and it's not necessarily just sinful situations. It could be something else. Whatever it is, if it doesn't allow you to look at yourself and then look at your relationship with God,

then that's a very sad place to be. You've got to get to first nine. You've got to be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. I've squandered the inheritance. I'm eating the pig slop. What have I done? I've demanded with an entitled spirit my own autonomy.

me not realizing that everything that I've ever received and have is because of my father, my loving, benevolent father, and you're in that slop, and then it's like humble yourself before your father, before the Lord. And then he says, I'll exalt you. I'm going to give you the fat cap. I'm going to give you the ring, but not because you earned it, because I love you. You came in wanting to be a servant, and in return, what you got is you got sonship. That's, that's Romans 8.

Yeah, that's good. What I think is ironic about this is most people go to James to argue, are you saved by faith? Or you say by deeds. Yeah, it works, which if you've been listening as we've gone through this, we really haven't gotten into that. Because we're just trying to share what I think James had in mind. Because we don't believe it's an either or. I never bought into the thesis that it's an either-or. That's the problem.

But since Zach brought up that picture, because that's what happens when people say, what he's getting at is a lot of people say, well, there's nothing you can do. You know, God does the choosing, and people will just come out and say, you're saved by faith alone, and then you read James 2, and you're like, huh? Because he seems to say the exact opposite, and he uses, Abraham, you know, for an example. But they're getting that, and I'm getting into the debate a little bit, just because I think it's interesting.

They're getting that from Romans 4, who uses the same, Paul uses the same illustration. Same guy. Abraham, just in a different place in Abraham's life, about being, say, through faith. It was credit to him in his righteousness. But it makes you think, why do people come up with these kind of doctrines or whatever? And what I find most fascinating about it is these people on both ends of the spectrum are very prideful about it. And I'm like, I know one thing. I know the point of James is if you want to posture, as Zach brilliantly illustrated, of coming near to God, you better be humble.

And so that's what bothers me about this big debate in the religious world already, because it's like you can't get any more prideful and Bose for. on both extremes of the argument. It's like, have we not missed the whole point here? But what I feel like is necessary to read, and I think you had this in your notes. I'm not sure why you put Romans chapter 2 there. They're your notes. Because it's a, I was talking about the idea

of do you really trust God to be the guide? Because if you're looking at yourself, you put yourself in that position. and that's what Paul talks about in Romans too. I mean, yeah, he's painting the picture. Which is right before Romans 4. Exactly. Yeah.

So I wanted to read it because I think it's, you know, there's not a contrast between Paul's point and Romans and James's point. No. So you think, well, why does there seem to be? And I do think it's some of this religious dogma that's entered here that creates a contrast. I think if you actually read what it says, it kind of makes sense because James gets into this about judging. And so did Jesus, by the way, Matthew 7. Exactly. And so does Romans, chapter 2.

So he says in verse 1, I mean, Romans 1 is, you know, everybody kind of has that in their mind where he started about God's wrath against mankind. you exchange God for things on the earth, you know, images made to look like, it's a picture of the earthly wisdom versus the heavenly wisdom. Right. It's a rejection of God. Exactly. And so then he gets to two, and he said, chapter two, he says, you therefore have no excuse who passed judgment on someone else. For whatever point you judged the other, you are condemning yourself because you who passed judgment do the same thing. things, which don't misunderstand because people in the world use an earthly wisdom, their biggest excuse for excusing their lifestyle is, well, don't judge me because the Bible says

don't judge. Yeah, sure. I mean, people use that for the most evil acts you can do. They're like, well, the Bible says don't judge. Yeah. Who would you judge it? As if the Bible is saying you can't call out evil behavior, that's not what it's talking about. Not what it's talking about.

Think, where is that, 1 Corinthians 5 or whatever when they had a situation where there's I mean, it's pretty graphic, but it's in the Bible. So, where you had a son having an affair. Probably with his stepmom or whatever. Well, Paul addresses that. He's like, that's going on in your midst. You're not doing something. He used the word there.

He used the word judge. He said, now look, because, you know, we know the part about judgment, but not meaning in the church. Oh, no, you're supposed to stand up. say. Well, P. Peter said it bluntly. He said, are we not to judge what goes on inside the body of Christ?

Of course we are. Well, the reason I wanted to bring that up also, because he brings up the evil one, even in that chapter, he does. So in James, he says, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. So, Jay, it's always important for us to have opportunities with our grandchildren. And, you know, it's important for us to be able to instill godliness in them. Would you agree? Well, Al, this was not planned, but I'm in my place in Nashville.

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lining up with the character of God, and he actually says, no, hand this man over to Satan. This is 1st Corinthians 5, 5, 5, so that this sinful flesh may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. You see the same language that you see in James. And then in verse 9, he said, I have written you in my letters not to associate with sex and moral people. not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters in that case you'd have to leave the world.

You have to function when these are, I'm reading between the lines, but these are your target audience for Jesus to share. They don't know Jesus. They're doing this. But verse 11, but I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother

but his sexual immoral in the context of this, you know, greedy, adulter, drug, or, What such a man don't even eat? What business is it of mine to judge those outside of the church? Are you not to judge those inside? What's the answer? Yeah. Yes.

So it gets into how you go about judging, which is Jesus's point. I think we made in the sermon on the Mount. Remember first he says, don't be judge or you'll be judged, but then he goes into basically how you judge it, how you should do it, with the measure of how you're going to be judged before God. He says that you're going to be measured. He says if you look and your brother's got a speck in his eye, he wants you to get the speck out.

He says the problem is you've got a plank sticking out of your eye. You need to get rid of that first so you can see more clearly to help your brother get that. So the idea is we're supposed to help each other. But Paul's born in Romans too, James's point in James 4, not as you as God, but Zach, to your original point, but me as a sinner who's confessing my own weakness. Exactly. There's the deal.

There's the point. Go ahead. Because the dilemma comes up with the discussion on like who's responsible for what, particularly on the salvation issue and all that. And you get into that debate, I think on either side of it, you're missing the broader point. You read a Psalm like Psalm 127 that says it, unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers, build it in vain,

unless the watchman watches over the city, then the watchman watch over it in vain. And so one thing that to notice in there is there does seem to be builders in the psalm. There does seem to be people who are watching over the city in the psalm. And the psalmists, Solomon wrote it. He's not saying, nobody needs to build anything, nobody needs to watch anything.

God's going to do it all. You can't even live like that. What does that even mean? Like, you know what I mean? That's like we're conflating two different things. We obviously have a vocation. Genesis 128. There's a vocation given to man.

So it's not an abdication of man's responsibility in anything. And I think James is threading what this is together, is that it's not, the Lord is not saying he doesn't want us to build clearly. He's not saying that he doesn't want us to watch over. In fact, that word watch in Psalm 127 is the same word for watch in Genesis 2 when he says he put Adam in the garden to work it, to build it, and to watch over it. Right? That's the role of the priest. Here's the problem is when you do it autonomously. That's why the whole point of James, he keeps coming back to this idea. Where does your problem actually come from?

Is it not the sinful nature inside you? Is it not your passions within you? Each one is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desire. The point is, is that we are vice regents. God has essentially, He's the chief cornerstone of the whole deal, but he does say to us, go do stuff. It's my show. It's my strategy. It's my will. Align under that. And then I'm saying, go, go out and make disciples.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up because before I read this Romans too, I think it's going to answer some questions. But it's like, that's why we haven't made a big thing about this debate, because it's even in the world, they look at this. debate about whether it's faith or deeds. I don't know if y'all've ever seen these videos. They're really funny. But they're only funny because it's also a reflection of how disturbing it is. And the videos are like, it's this debate. There's nothing you can do, you know, do less.

This statement that sounds true, you know, based on verses you read. and they're like this idea of there's nothing you can do it's just faith alone and God initiates everything and so they apply that to like learning how to surf. So there's a surf instructor. These are little parodies. I've seen a number of these. So the guy, he's on the surfboard,

and the instructor's like, okay, do less, do less. So every time he tries to do something, it's like, no, no, no, less. The whole video is the guy laying on the surfboard, and there's a 10-minute instruction. Of not doing less. Well, every time he tries to get up on the start, do less, do less. And my point is, if even the world takes that concept of what you're trying to create out of the Bible, it becomes absurd. It's like, and that's their point. It's like if you play this out, at some point a guy's going to have to get up on the

surfboard. You're going to have to pull it out of the ocean. And it's what Zach described with the guy in the pig pen. You know, this is not some kind of mind-controlled robotic. Because if it was and God initiated that in him alone, and there's absolutely no human decision, a posture of humility or whatever. Well, then the ones,

what about all the ones that are not initiated? Well, whose fault is it then? Well, he didn't initiate them. That's right. So now you've got it, you've got God creating the negative. Nobody wants to talk about that. Right. It's like there has to be a choice somewhere in here.

Because it said that text says, He came to his senses, and he got up. Yeah. And he left. Well, I think they would say that's when he initiated whatever that is. They'd probably say through the spirit, you know, it initiated. Let's say that. Let's say that.

Let's look at it like this, though. This is an interesting place to go. But here's the problem with the debate. Here is the problem. Is that you have effort, like the word effort or pursuit or work. These are like words that are kind of synonymous. Like, I got to do something. I got to pursue God.

I got to pursue righteousness. I got to pursue. Or is it faith? That's the dilemma. Here's the problem with it. These are not the opposite of each other. That's the assumption. And here's how you know that through Scripture.

And I want to read this. This is out of Romans 9. And Romans 9 is a setup of it's about eschatology. It's about Israel and the Gentiles, us being grafted in. to the promises of God. We've made that point on here before. It's not the DNA that makes you Israel.

Well, maybe I should read Romans 2 before you read Romans 9. I think Romans 2 is going to set up what you're fixed to say. But if you want to go first, we'll do it. But I'm saying two is before 9. I don't know if you know where I'm going to go with this. Oh, I know exactly where you're going, and I'm with you 100%. But I think if I read this... I'll be surprised.

You read yours and if it's... Okay. Because I think where this is going, because you think, well, why is there a debate seemingly if Romans 4 is using Abraham as an example about your save by faith alone, why is James using the same guy saying Faith without deeds is dead? And he uses the same guy. Abraham, so you're like, well, it's a contrast. And so this argument developed. I wanted to read Romans 2 because I think if you read this, this is the same language James uses.

And then when you read Romans 9, I think I know where you're going. It's going to be like a button. So, all right, I read the first verse. You have no excuse to pass judgment. We talked about that. So then verse 2 talks about God's judgment because it's just like James.

He said there's one lawgiver and one judge. Now we know that. that God's judgment against those who do such things, look, is based on truth. So that's the problem. When we become the judge based on our truth, well, guess what? What if our truth is wrong? We're not the standard by which this should be going, and that's Jesus' whole point on the sermon on the mouth.

It will be wrong. So when you, a mere man, which is James's point, we're all just mere people, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things. Do you think you're going to escape God's judgment? It's Jesus's point on the sermon on the mouth. It's James's point. Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience not realizing that God's kindness

leads you, leads you to toward repentance. Sounds like faith that works. So, you know, it's interesting, guys. I was, when I watched my little 12-year-old grandson, it just reminds me back, it takes me back when we were pre-teens and teenagers. And, you know, he's just like a great white shark. He's just, he's constantly hungry. He's always eating. It takes me back to when it's the same thing for me. And for me, it's probably until I got into my 40s, mid-40s, my metabolism worked great. I didn't have to worry much about what I ate, you know, I worked out some. And then all of a sudden,

the metabolism just went kaput. And that's what happens to a lot of middle-aged men, just like me. And so when you feel stressed, it slows that metabolism. It makes you harder to lose weight and you're gaining weight. And our good friends at PhD weight loss told me about that. They taught me how to restore that metabolism where it's working with me. And here's a picture of me at the beginning of the journey. We're now almost two years into this.

Here I am now, 80 pounds less. And I've been in maintenance now for several months, maintaining right where I'm supposed to be. Right now, when you call, mention Al Robertson, you'll get two free weeks and they'll pay for the cost of your food. That's a $1,500 value. Call $864, 64, 64-4-1900. That's 864-644-9100 or go to my Ph.D. Weightloss.com. The goal isn't to lose the weight once, is to never having to start over again.

Again, that's 864-644-9, or go to my Ph.D. weight loss.com. Yeah, it sounds like faith and action to me. Yeah. But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, think pride, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he's done. That is a quote, guess where?

From Proverbs 24 wisdom in James when we just read in James chapter 4, Do you realize that that God opposes prayer and gives grace to the humble? Is a quote from Proverbs 334. They're both quoting from Proverbs, is my point. Verse 7, to those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality, they're getting up on that surfboard. He will give eternal life. But for those who are, look at that, self-seeking, the exact phrase in James 3.

for where you have envy and selfish ambition, and who reject the truth and follow evil, there'll be wrath and anger. Now here's where the argument, where I think you're going to go, here's how we got here in the religious world. Because we missed verse 9 and 10. Paul's point was,

you have a group of people outside of Israel called Gentiles, and you have a group of people that God chose, elected to be his representation of character. They did a terrible job. The Jews. And that was his whole point. It wasn't about each individual finding some faith. And his point was in verse 9 and 10.

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil. First for the Jew, then for the Gentile. What's he talking about? He's getting into whether you're a part of the Jewish, nation, or whether you were just a regular human outside of the Jews, he described in chapter one, those people, the Gentiles. Even though they didn't have God's law, they did, they should have looked around, Romans 1.20. They should have looked around by what had been made, God's invisible qualities and concluded there is a God. That was his whole point there.

And the reason why he's so harsh is because the Jews should have recognized the Messiah. He was a Jew. Yeah. I mean, he's saying it's first on you because you should have recognized him but didn't. So, but look, but look, verse 10, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. And this is the verse of one to read, verse 11. For God does not show favoritism. Right.

Which is in direct contrast to this. That's why I brought this up. If you think, well, God is the only one who initiates this, you know, for all people, then you're like, well, what about all the people who don't come to him? Well, God didn't initiate it. Right. So now who's to blame? Is it them for choosing their lifestyle and to go in cahoots?

Or is it God? Yeah. There's where the problem comes in. And all I wanted to illustrate is that logic seems to fly in the face of Romans 2 1 through 11. But if you don't figure out why he was making the point, and get off that and just get into this individual basis and God's got this matrix system

and there's where the contrast comes in. All right, go to Romans 9. Yes, I mean, I think what we're talking about is more kind of understanding Romans through the lens of eschatology, which I think is important. And what you mean by eschatology is what happens at the end. Yeah, to be ready at the end. And the whole thing is God's drawing all people, all kinds of people to himself, Jew and Gentile.

So you read the way the book of Romans starts that Paul says that his purpose and apostleship, very, very singular purpose to bring the Gentiles to the obedience of faith. With that obedience of faith, that doesn't even make sense. I thought it wasn't about obedience. I thought it was about faith. They're not in contrast. That's the whole point. There's a quality to obedience.

You can obey in faith. and you can obey to earn it. So the problem is not the obedience itself. It's what is the context that qualifies the obedience. And so you see the same thing at the end of Romans, nine when he's talking about this idea that not everybody who has the DNA of Israel are actually children of the promise, right?

It's not the children of the flesh that are the children of the promise. It's the it's us. It's the church. It's God's people. And that's the point that he's making. So then he gets to this, this whole thing at the end of it in Romans 9 verse 30 he says what shall we say them that gentiles

who did not pursue righteousness have attained it that is a righteousness that is by faith but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the law so in other words somehow how in the world are you saying that the gentiles got it but the but the Jewish people Israel did not get it and he tells us right here in verse 32. Why? Because they did not pursue it. They didn't pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on work. So the point is, is the pursuit is not work, effort is not in contrast to faith. There's a quality of your pursuit. There's a, how are you pursuing God? How are you pursuing righteousness? The problem with Israel was that they did not pursue

righteousness by faith. What does that even mean? There is a quality to the pursuit that makes it salvatic and one that does it. The one that's salvithic is the one that's based in faith. What does a pursuit by faith look like? A pursuit or a work or an effort by faith, it looks like this. It looks like God reveals to me the nature of reality and says, this is the good life. It's what you read in Romans too just in it. It's God's good and perfect and pleasing will. And we see this. And we're like, man, I look at the revelation of God now that this has been, I didn't come up with it. So I have nothing to do with what God tells me. But God tells me, he shows me, and the pursuit of faith is I trust.

That's what Abraham did. I trust and I believe that you are good and you are powerful and that your will, your word, that's the right word. And so I'm going to go and I'm going to do the thing that you said to do, not to earn it. I'm not earning anything. I'm doing this. not I'm not doing this, for example. I'm not touching the hot stove because you said it would burn me. And I'm going to open the present under the Christmas tree because you told me there

was an incredible gift there and I believe you. So as I'm opening that gift, I'm not earning anything, but I am doing something. I am opening the gift. And when I think the argument comes to whether you're doing something, no, no, I'm opening a gift. I'm not doing something, but I'm not earning anything. So doing is not earning. And I think that's where the thing falls apart for a lot of people.

Yeah. And I want to say this, because ultimately what you just depicted comes to who is the draw. And the one telling that story about why he's eating with tax collectors and sinners, the story of the prodigal son was Jesus himself. He was ultimately the one who did it all right and showed us that. I mean, and I think James is going to reference that kind of indirectly when he gets to chapter 5. in verse six, and he's talking about the difference in the rich who are like saying, ooh, tomorrow we're going to do all this.

Because he starts off chapter five and says, listen, you rich people weeping well because of the misery. And we'll go over that next time. But when he gets to verse six, he uses this little phrase, you have condemned and murdered the innocent one who were not opposing you. Well, who is the ultimate innocent one who was condemned? murdered and who was who would champion the poor the broken thank sermon on the mouth all these quality right it was jesus himself it was which is why the passage zachary in romans 9 he didn't

read 33 it's a see i lay a zine a stone that causes men to fall and stumble a rock and who is that rock that's the one that well my point is and i know we're out of time but jesus after he was resurrected he's fixed to pour out his spirit on all people, which happens in Acts 2, but he makes this statement. He said, now let me tell you, his disciples are there. He said, go make disciples. And there's a little phrase, of all nations.

He has fulfilled the Jewish system. He became the temple. He became the sacrifice. He became the high priest. All these things. And now he's like, go get them all. And make disciples. of all nations.

Faith and works. All right, we'll pick it up here next time. We're not ashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.