Against Condemnation

Hello people, how are you? Hope you are all are doing fine. Today I would like to write on something to encourage you. I haven’t been able to write very often as I am home only rarely. I have seen people faced with condemnation and believe me it is disheartening. Condemnation to joy is like blotting paper to ink, Condemnation sucks you dry of every reason that you may have to smile. So yes today I shall write to build you up against the condemnation that is against you.

Condemn: to express an unfavorable or adverse judgment. This according to dictionary.com is the meaning of condemn. Biblically, condemnation has more to do with the Law that it has to do with anything else. All religions all over the world have their own form of Law and depending from religion to religion, the penalty for disobedience to their Law is severe to their own degree. The Old Testament in the Bible speaks of Law too, God did that because that was his first step to show man that Salvation is not dependent on religious self reliance and what condemnation does is not only to beat you down, it is to beat you down till you are finished.

Exodus 22:20
“Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any god except to me, the Lord.

Ezekiel 16:38
I will condemn you for adultery and murder, and in my anger and fury I will punish you with death.

You can plainly see that condemnation relates more to death than just a severe punishment. Believe me condemnation is such a thing that it will be sentenced upon you and you have no choice or say in the matter, it will be like you being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and a bolt of lightening strikes you from the sky. It will be an outrageous attack directed towards you at full strength with the intention to annihilate you. But there is good news my friend, well under the law everyone has been found guilty of sin and is therefore condemned (Romans 5:12-13, 18) but there is an escape route. A route where the condemnation fell on Someone else, Someone who came into this world just to be condemned (Mark 10:33) that he may saved those who accept what He has done for them.

Mark 10:33 (He is speaking of His death)
“Listen,” he told them, “we are going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles,

Do you know who this Son of Man is? Check this out.

Luke 22:47-48
47 Jesus was still speaking when a crowd arrived, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. He came up to Jesus to kiss him. 48 But Jesus said, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the Son of Man?”

If you think that the Son of Man is Jesus who is only a man then read this from the Old Testament about the Son of Man.

Daniel 7:13-14
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a Son of Man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

You can rack you head over the above scripture but only God can receive such glory. So you see the Son of Man who is Jesus, is God. Coming back to Mark 10:33, we see that this condemnation was ironically passed on Jesus by the teachers of the Law themselves because Jesus was the one who came to fulfill the Law.

Mat 5:17-18 (Jesus’ Word)
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Luke 18:31 (Jesus speaks about his death on the cross)
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

We see from Mat 5:17-18 that the Law would remain till all was fulfilled and accomplished in Christ (Luke 18:31). So my friend you see Biblically that you have a God approved escape route in Christ away from condemnation. Check the scripture below for proof.

John 8:3-11
3 The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?”
6 They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened himself up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. 10 He straightened himself up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she answered.
“Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.

Romans 8:1
There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

It is important for you to also know what “conviction” is because there is fine line between conviction and condemnation. The dictionary says that conviction is: to impress with a sense of guilt. Condemnation comes only after conviction (John 7:51) and as Satan (this world’s ruler) has been judged/condemned for opposing belief in Christ so will unbelief also be judged or condemned.

John 7:51
51 “According to our Law we cannot condemn anyone before hearing him and finding out what he has done.”

John 16:7-11 [Jesus’ word] (judgment ~ condemnation)
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Remember in stark contrast for those who trust in Jesus, you have already been substituted where condemnation is concerned, your sin is already all paid for even if you are convicted time and time again. Stronger the conviction or stronger the reprove that God may place upon that person, will only be indicative of God’s greater love towards them (Rev 3:19) and this covenant of Salvation of God the Father is worked out through God the Son and sealed/guaranteed by God the Spirit (Eph 1:3, 12-14).

Rev 3:19 (specific to the Church)
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Ephesians 1:3,12-14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, …12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

To conclude, I would like to tell you that if there is burden of a certain sin that you are carrying then you have readymade one size fits all solution in Jesus. If you already believe in Jesus then ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to repent. Repentance is not feeling sorry but making a U-turn in that area of life and this is not easy, you need God the Spirit to empower you in this because some bondages are strong and freedom is hard to attain on your own strength. Think of this as a Spiritual battle, just as Moses’ hands were supported as he held them up, that the Israelites may win the war against the Amalekites in Exodus 17:10-13. In the same way Almighty Jesus’ allowed His hand to be nailed up, opened & out against cross that you may win your battle against all condemnation even at the cost of His life.

Exodus 17:10-13
10 Joshua did as Moses commanded him and went out to fight the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning. 12 When Moses’ arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down. 13 In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.

God’s presence is so powerful that wickedness & death can never stand in His presence & so when Christ entered into His death, forget about death not being able to hold Him but eternal death was forever destroyed & Christ rose to His resurrection to declare His victory and a Christian now only lays to rest to be called into eternal life.

1Corinthians 15:51-57
Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.
53 For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. 54 So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: “Death is destroyed; victory is complete!”
55 “Where, Death, is your victory?
Where, Death, is your power to hurt?”
56 Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. 57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!