Destined To Reign - Part 7 - The Gift of "No Condemnation"

Dear friends,

The Blood of Jesus Protects You From Condemnation

When I was growing up as a Christian, a charismatic preacher told me: "There is power in the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus will protect you from the attack from the enemy. Before you start your car and drive, you should apply the blood on Jesus (symbolically, but with faith) to the car and to everybody inside the car, so that God will protect you from accident and everybody inside the car will get no harm. You also should apply the blood of Jesus around your house so that it will be protected from thieves, fire, and any other attacks." I started covering everything with the blood of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with that, but today I have a deeper understanding of His blood.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, during the last supper, when Jesus held the cup in His hands, He said, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." His blood was shed for the forgiveness of all your sins. Does the blood of Jesus gives you protection? Certainly, though to give protection is not the main reason His blood was shed. The main reason our Saviour's blood was shed was for the forgiveness of our sins. This means that the blood of Jesus also offers us protection from any form of condemnation, from the accuser, from yourself, or from anybody. It is imperative that you understand this because it will give you the confidence to go before the Throne of God boldly and see Him as a loving Father, or exactly a loving Daddy. As the result, it will cause you to reign over sin, addiction, or depression that is holding you in bondage today.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit


Mark 3: 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.



28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Somebody told me that we could commit the unpardonable sin if we blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The unpardonable sin refers to the sin of consistent rejection of Jesus Christ, thus the Holy Spirit. Now I understand that it is impossible for a believer, who has already receive Jesus Christ to be his/her Saviour and Lord, to commit an unpardonable sin. Don't ever fall to such deception from the devil.

Erradicate All Condemnation From Your Life

The devil will come at various times to make you feel guilty for anything you can think of. He makes you feel guilty in your role as a father or a mother. He makes you feel guilty as a provider. He makes you feel guilty as an employee. He makes you feel guilty as an employer. He even makes you fell guilty for being sick or being broke. By the way, a believer should never feel guilty for being sick or broke. We have to be careful not to create a culture in the church where people think that you will never be attacked by symptoms os sickness or by some financial challenges if you are walking with God. Having sickness or disease or going through a financial challenge does not mean that you have sinned or that God is teaching you a lesson. I just means that your healing or your blessing is on its way. When there is a problem, deal with it and don't ask whose fault it is. Don't ask if it is you father's fault, or your grandfather's fault, or your great-grandfather's fault.

Do you know what the devil's name is? His name is not "murderer", even though he kills. His name is not "thief", though he steals. It is not "destroyer" either, though he destroys. His name in Hebrew means "the accuser". He is the prosecutor against you. A prosecutor never talks about any of your good points. He is there to prosecute you for every one of your failures. He will bring back every piece of dirty laundry and show you evidence after evidence of your failures. He knows that when you are under condemnation, fear, stress, guilt, all kind of sicknsses, and all kind of poor judgment in your life will follow, so he is not shy to attack straight to your weakest areas.

What should we do, then? We should kill condemnation at its very root and erradicate it from our lives. So when you hear the voice of the accuser, remind yourself that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because no matter what the devil condemns you of, the truth is that the blood of Jesus has been shed for the forgiveness of all your sins. No wonder Isaiah chapter 54 says that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. What is the weapon that the devil uses against you? We have learned that it is the Law. The devil uses the law to condemn believers and remind them that they have fallen short. But the Word of God declares, " (Isaiah 54: 17) No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn." The devil uses his tongue to speak words of guilt and condemnation to you, but by the blood of Jesus, we have the authority and the power to condemn every word of judgment that comes against you.

The Gift Of No Condemnation

Do you remember what Jesus said to the woman who was caught in adultery? Let us see the verses from John 8: 10-11:
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Now, pay close attention to this: Jesus gave her the gift of "no condemnation" before He told her to go and sin no more. Yet, many churches today say, "Go and sin no more first, and only then we will not condemn you." That's the reason why people are shying away from churches. It is not because they are rebelling against Jesus. It is because they have not been introduced to Jesus who gives guilty sinners the gift of no condemnation!

Too often, non-believers have been introduced only to religion - a set of rules that only judges and condemns them. If you conduct a poll among non-believers and ask what they know about Christianity, many of them would probably be familiar with the Ten Commandment. They know about the Law, which kills, and not the Person, who came to bring life. If Christianity was only about laws, it would be no different than from all other religions. Every religion in the world today is guided by a set of moral law. Even Jesus Himself rebelled against religion. His strongest words, such as brood of vipers and hypocrites, were said to the Pharisees and not the sinners.

Now, let's go bck to the story of the woman caught in adultery. Was the woman guilty? Yes, absolutely. However, instead of condemning her according to the law of Moses, which requires her to be stoned to death, Jesus showed her grace and gave her the gift of no condemnation. Do you think the woman would go off , look for her lover, and jump back into bed with him, after she received the gift of no condemnation? Of course not! It is obvious that Jesus believed that when someone really has a revelation that God does not condemn them, they would have the power to get out of the vicious cycle of sin. They would have the power to "go and sin no more". What are you going to put your trust in today? Jesus' grace that would swallow up sin? Or, man's fear that believers would use "grace" as a lincense to sin?

The Power To Sin No More

If you are under condemnation, you are doomed to repeat your sin. Why? Because when you are under condemnation, you feel guilty and condemned, and you believe that your fellowship with God is broken. Since you believe that God is far away, you will end up committing that sin again. You may do something good that makes you feel that you have restored fellowship with God, but when you fail again, you start receiving condemnation again. The cycle of defeat continues. On the other hand, Jesus' method of countering sin is completely different. When you sin, Jesus says to you, "I do not condemn you, go and sin no more". The question is: "Can a person under grace still live in sin?" Differentiate between "committing sin" and "living in a lifestyle of sin". There may be people who claim that they are under grace but live in a lifestyle of sin. First, we should not back away from the gospel of grace just because you see some negative examples. You can actually go to the person and confront him or her. The Bible clearly says that "sin shall not have dominion over you when you are under grace, and not under law". Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Anyone who is living in sin (as a lifestyle) is not under grace and has not experienced the gift of no condemnation. Grace always results in victory over sin!

I believe that most believers desire to live lives that are glorifying to God and most of normal and rational believers are NOT looking for an excuse to sin. But, there is struggle which Apostle Paul himself wrote about: "For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." I am writing to believers who have this genuine struggle with the law and who, like Paul, are crying out, "O wrteched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" If this is your cry, then this is written especially for you: "The Person who will deliver you is Jesus." Your inheritance today is no longer guilt, punishment and condemnation for your sins, but righteousness, peace and joy through Jesus Christ. This is God's way for you to experience effortless success in your life. He has done it on your behalf. Your part is simply to believe and receive.

Amen.

Dedo Suwanda

PS. The above message is taken from the book "Destined To Reign" by Joseph Prince