Destined to Reign (18 page)

The next thing you hear is the sound of glass breaking, followed by the sounds of footsteps scampering away.

When the boys were walking down the street, was the desire to commit mischief in them? Yes, it was there all along. But because there were no laws, the desire to sin that was in them was not stirred up. That’s what the law does. It stirs up sin in us.

Let me give you another scenario. If you are the only person in a room and there is a door with a sign that says, “Private: Do Not Enter”, what would happen? Very likely, you would look around the room to make sure that there are no hidden cameras, and slowly, you would be stirred to peer behind that door!

That is the effect the law has on all of us. There is nothing wrong with the law. There is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments. Listen carefully to what I am saying. When you are dealing with the law of God, you have to be very precise, so let’s keep to the language of the Scriptures. Paul said that the law was designed to bring forth the offense — “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.”
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The law stirs up sinful desires in man’s flesh. Let me tell you that as long as you are in your current body, you will have the propensity to sin. I did not come up with this. It was Paul who said, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
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What does this mean? It means that as long as you are in this body, even though you hate to lose your temper and be angry, trust me, you will. No matter how hard you try not to, you will fail. And when you fail, the devil will be ready to use God’s law as a weapon to condemn you. He knows that if he is able to put you under condemnation, you will start to fear. That fear will bring stress, and then all kinds of psychosomatic sicknesses and oppression can start to make inroads in your life. This is no joking matter — condemnation kills!

The Secret To Overcoming Condemnation

So what is the solution to the accuser’s barrage of condemnation?

Paul was faced with the same struggles that you and I are faced with today. His lament is recorded in Romans 7: “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice... O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
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But Paul does not stop there. He goes on to show us in the first verse of Romans 8 how we can counter the accuser’s attacks:

Romans 8:1

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There is therefore
now no condemnation
to those who are
in Christ Jesus
.

There is NOW NO CONDEMNATION to those who are IN CHRIST JESUS! This is such a powerful verse. I encourage you to commit this verse to memory for with it, you can repel all of the accuser’s attacks! Are you in Christ Jesus today? Yes! Then, there is no condemnation over your life!

If you are in Christ Jesus today, there is no condemnation over your life!

“But Pastor Prince, you always talk about interpreting scriptures in their context, and my Bible says that there is a condition for having no condemnation — we need to walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. So it means that there will be no condemnation only if we do not sin.”

I am so glad that you brought this up. Let’s look at the entire verse of Romans 8:1 in the New King James Version (NKJV):

Romans 8:1, NKJV

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There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

That’s how it appears in your NKJV Bible right? But do you know that the last part, “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”, was added by the Bible translators and does not appear in the original Greek manuscripts
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? It is almost as if the translators could not believe that the declaration of no condemnation comes without any conditions. Don’t take my word for it, check it for yourself.

For a more accurate translation, look at the New American Standard Bible (NASB):

Romans 8:1, NASB

1
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That is it, my friend — no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
period
. There are no conditions and no prerequisites. It’s all about Jesus’ finished work and none of man’s efforts. Hallelujah!

Yet, there are people who will argue that there is no condemnation only when we do not sin. My friend, if there is no sin, why would there be any condemnation to begin with? Paul’s statement would be superfluous if there is no sin. So the good news that he was declaring is that even when there is sin, there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because Jesus has already been condemned for all our sins. Amen!

When the word “therefore” appears in a scripture, always find out why it is there for. When Paul said, “There is
therefore
now no condemnation…” he was referring to how “sin, taking occasion by the commandment”, had deceived and killed him. When Paul was struggling under the law, he was condemned again and again (you will find Paul’s account of his struggle in Romans 7). In fact, he said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” That was a rhetorical question. Look at his own reply: “I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
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It was because of Jesus Christ that Paul could declare that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!

Let me give you a practical tip on how you can grow in this revelation of “no condemnation”: Learn to see the Ten Commandments (the law of God) and condemnation as the same thing. Whenever you read or think about the law, think “condemnation”.

I was talking to a brother in church recently and he told me that his understanding of “obeying the law” was that one has to “do right”. While it is true that the law tells you to do right, you will nevertheless always end up being condemned by the law. The law is called the “ministry of condemnation” because it wasn’t designed to make you do right, but to condemn you. And you know what? The more you come under the law and attempt to be justified by it, the more you will fail and be condemned by it. This is not God’s way. He doesn’t want to see you living in guilt and condemnation because as I said earlier, condemnation is the deepest root that breeds fear, stress and all kinds of sicknesses. Condemnation literally kills you!

When the accuser comes to condemn you for all your faults and says things like, “How can you call yourself a Christian?” or “You are the biggest hypocrite in the world!”,
that
is the time to start seeing yourself free from any condemnation. The opposite of the ministry of condemnation is the ministry of righteousness, which exceeds much more in glory. Begin to see yourself righteous not because of what you have done or not done, but because of what Jesus has done, and because His blood cleanses you continually. Remind yourself that the Holy Spirit was sent to convict you of your
righteousness
apart from works. The devil will use the law as a weapon to condemn you. But praise be to God, there is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ. When is there no condemnation? The Word of God says NOW!

Boldness To Go To His Throne Of Grace

“But Pastor Prince, what happens when I sin?”

Well, does “NOW” cover the moment when you sin? Of course it does. “There is therefore
now
no condemnation…” is a “now” verse. The declaration is true every moment, every day. It is true in the morning. It is true in the night. And when tomorrow comes, it is still true. There is presently, continuously, no condemnation for you because you are in Christ!

What will give you the boldness to go to God is the knowledge that He sees you completely righteous.

“Shouldn’t we be at least a little bit condemned when we fail, so that we would return to God?”

When Adam was condemned, he hid from God. Beloved, when you fail, condemnation and guilt will cause you to run
from
God’s presence. It is a lie that condemnation and guilt will lead you back to God. What will give you the boldness to go to Him is the knowledge that today, He is ever gracious and He sees you completely righteous. What will cause you to go boldly before His throne of grace is the knowledge that He will never condemn you because you are
in
Jesus Christ!

The Father’s Heart Of Grace

Do you want to see how your heavenly Father responds when you have failed? Look at the parable of the prodigal son which Jesus shared:

Luke 15:11–24

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“A certain man had two sons.
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And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
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And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
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But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
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Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
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And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
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“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
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I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
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and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’”
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“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
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And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
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“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
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And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
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for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

We see a father who runs toward his prodigal son to embrace him the moment he sees him from a distance. Do you know that the father’s behavior is actually contrary to the law of Moses? I was studying this sometime back and I found that according to the law, if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who refuses to heed his parents, that man is supposed to bring his son to the elders of the city, and all the men of his city are to stone his son to death, so that they can put away the evil from among them, and all Israel shall hear and fear
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. That’s the law of Moses.

When Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son, all the Jewish people who heard Him would have been familiar with this law. However, instead of the condemnation and punishment that the rebellious son deserved under the law, Jesus revealed the Father’s heart of grace and forgiveness in the new covenant. At that point, Jesus had not yet died to establish the new covenant of grace and the people listening to Him were all still under the law of Moses. Jesus was giving them a taste of what was to come. He was showing them the reality that we enjoy today. Hallelujah!

Did the son sin against his father? Yes, most definitely. But did the father heap guilt and condemnation on his son before he received his son? No, he did not. In fact, the father did not even give his son the opportunity to finish his rehearsed speech. The father interrupted his son before he could ask to be made one of his hired servants. The father interrupted him not to condemn him for sinning against him, but to instruct his servants to bring out the best robe, put a ring on his son’s hand and sandals on his son’s feet!

Did it matter to the father that his son’s intentions may not have been all that good? We all know that the son was not returning to the father’s house because he had realized his mistake. He was returning because he was hungry! When he was feeding the pigs, he remembered that even the hired servants in his father’s house had more than enough food to eat.
That
was when he decided to head back to his father’s house. But the father did not care what his son’s intentions were. When the prodigal son “was still a great way off ” (and the father had no way of determining why his son was returning), his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his son’s neck and kissed him. What a wonderful picture of God’s heart of love!

Who was the one sharing the parable of the prodigal son? It was Jesus. I think Jesus knows His Father really well, wouldn’t you agree? We are hearing an eyewitness account of what God the Father is like, and Jesus should know! See how He described God’s response to those who have sinned. How is it that the father saw his son even when he was still a great way off? That’s because the father had been waiting and longing for his son to return. He must have kept his eyes on the horizon daily, hoping that each day would be the day his beloved son returned home.

Can you see His heart of love for you even when you have failed Him? You just have to take one step toward God and your loving Daddy in heaven will run toward you with no condemnation. He wants to fall upon you, kiss you, and lavish you with His love and blessings! He is waiting to clothe you with the robe of righteousness, put the signet ring of authority back in your hands and shod your feet with the sandals of right standing. He wants to reinstate you, wash you and throw a party because you came home! Our God is a God who will run toward you with NO CONDEMNATION.

Let’s cast aside our religious ideas about God. Take that one step toward your Daddy even when you have failed, and He will run to you and embrace you. He loves you and accepts you just as you are. He has all the power to help you when you fail and feel defeated.