Condemnation
The woman told me that she as not under the condemnation of the law because Christ became a curse for us.
No more condemnation in the New Dispensation? That sounds pretty good. Let’s party down! Let’s celebrate!
But please, let me respectfully disagree. Because there is condemnation in the New Dispensation and it’s aimed at the church just as much as to the world. Here are some New Testament verses; you tell me if they don’t sound menacing.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” (Rev. 14:6,7).
“Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (Jn. 5:14).
“But He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” (Matt. 15:13).
“Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit…. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (Jn. 15:2,6).
“While it is said, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Heb. 3:15-4:1).
“For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (Jas. 1:7).
“She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (Jn. 8:11).
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses , know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (Jas. 4:4).
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain.” (Gal. 3:3,4).
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” (2Pet. 2:20).
“I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee .” (Rev. 3:1-3).
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs.” (Rev. 22:14,15).
“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed .” (Gal. 2:11).
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2Tim. 4:2-4).
“Ye fools and blind : for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?” (Matt 23:17).
And there are many, many more. Ananias and Sapphira received the same consequence as the man who was found breaking the Sabbath after hearing the commandment boomed from Mt. Sinai—death.
Truth is condemning. It hurts the pride and the arrogance of sin. It rudely opens our eyes to wrong doing and awakens the conscience. And as Paul counseled Timothy, sinners need to keep hearing the truth—even the churched sinners—or they would very quickly begin to gather about them leaders who would tell them only what they want to hear.
Is this any different from what Moses said, “Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
“For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.
And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended….” (Deut. 31:28-30).
We don’t like condemnation. We take offense to it and to the person delivering it. So we take the attitude of Babylon and ignore heaven’s voice of authority. “Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.” (Is. 47:8).
“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:7).
“How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman.” (Ez. 16:30).
“Thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” (Jer. 3:3).
Moses told Israel, “For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?” (Deut. 31:27). How different is this from what Paul said to the Galatians, “From henceforth let no man trouble me.” (Gal .6:17).
So, is there condemnation in the New Testament? Yes, and rightly so. We need to be shamed when we do wrong and when we care little that we did. We need to stand guilty before God in order for faith to grab a hold of us.
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.” (Lev. 19:17). But we need to remember that it must be done out of love.
“And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” (2Cor. 10:6).
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2Cor. 7:8-10).
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Rev. 3:19).
“For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6).
No more condemnation in the New Dispensation? That sounds pretty good. Let’s party down! Let’s celebrate!
But please, let me respectfully disagree. Because there is condemnation in the New Dispensation and it’s aimed at the church just as much as to the world. Here are some New Testament verses; you tell me if they don’t sound menacing.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” (Rev. 14:6,7).
“Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (Jn. 5:14).
“But He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” (Matt. 15:13).
“Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit…. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (Jn. 15:2,6).
“While it is said, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Heb. 3:15-4:1).
“For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (Jas. 1:7).
“She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (Jn. 8:11).
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses , know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (Jas. 4:4).
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain.” (Gal. 3:3,4).
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” (2Pet. 2:20).
“I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee .” (Rev. 3:1-3).
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs.” (Rev. 22:14,15).
“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed .” (Gal. 2:11).
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2Tim. 4:2-4).
“Ye fools and blind : for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?” (Matt 23:17).
And there are many, many more. Ananias and Sapphira received the same consequence as the man who was found breaking the Sabbath after hearing the commandment boomed from Mt. Sinai—death.
Truth is condemning. It hurts the pride and the arrogance of sin. It rudely opens our eyes to wrong doing and awakens the conscience. And as Paul counseled Timothy, sinners need to keep hearing the truth—even the churched sinners—or they would very quickly begin to gather about them leaders who would tell them only what they want to hear.
Is this any different from what Moses said, “Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
“For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.
And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended….” (Deut. 31:28-30).
We don’t like condemnation. We take offense to it and to the person delivering it. So we take the attitude of Babylon and ignore heaven’s voice of authority. “Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.” (Is. 47:8).
“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:7).
“How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman.” (Ez. 16:30).
“Thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” (Jer. 3:3).
Moses told Israel, “For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?” (Deut. 31:27). How different is this from what Paul said to the Galatians, “From henceforth let no man trouble me.” (Gal .6:17).
So, is there condemnation in the New Testament? Yes, and rightly so. We need to be shamed when we do wrong and when we care little that we did. We need to stand guilty before God in order for faith to grab a hold of us.
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.” (Lev. 19:17). But we need to remember that it must be done out of love.
“And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” (2Cor. 10:6).
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2Cor. 7:8-10).
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Rev. 3:19).
“For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6).
posted by David | 8:29 PM
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