Condemnation or Love?

Commentary By:  Gordon King

I find it troubling and disheartening that I am not only condemned by the world but by believers in Jesus Christ!  I am not talking about whether or not we choose to celebrate Christmas, or if we choose to wear a cross or not, but by being condemned for doing so.

Let us not condemn those who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God Almighty, but share His love the way He shares it with us!

We must all be aware that there is no condemnation in believers, we have been saved, born-again, washed clean by the blood of Christ!

Romans 8:1-2

“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. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. “

Legalism is following a set of laws in order to maintain ones salvation, this is neither scriptural nor did Christ say this.

We are not saved by the law but by belief in Jesus Christ.  Nor can we lose our salvation by anything that we do or have done!  Does this then mean that we shouldn’t try and follow the Ten Commandments, of course not, if we are saved then we will want to!  According to the apostle Paul nothing can separate us from the love of God, nothing!

Romans 8:38

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“

Once saved always saved, as long as you were truly saved in the first place!  We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, what then can break that seal?!  Nothing and no one!

Ephesians 4:30-32

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.“

The apostle then goes on to say that we should be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving, even as God forgave us.  Doesn’t this mean anything or are they merely words written on paper?!

As children of God Almighty we should treat each other with respect out of love not condemnation.  Condemnation does not belong to us but to God in heaven, the Creator of heaven and earth alone.

What did Jesus tell us that if we did it then we would lose our salvation?  Where in the bible does it say this, what exact verses does it tell us these things?  I read just the opposite!  If we say that we can lose our salvation, then we are saying that the death of Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead was not enough to pay for our salvation in the first place!

My point is that we can make choices in this life as believers, choices which we may not all agree with yet do not condemn us.  What saves us is not what day we worship God, what food we eat or don’t eat, or even what church we either go to or don’t go to, but by repenting of our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior!  That’s it my friends, there is nothing else, no other way.

Colossians 2:13-23

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.“

Christianity is not about following laws which have been nailed to the cross, but by placing our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  What is so difficult to understand about that?!  It’s actually that plain and simple, so let’s not make it more difficult to understand then it really is.  Legalism has the appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, and it has no place in the kingdom of God.

I used to believe that I had to be perfect in order to be saved and remain saved.  That if I didn’t conform to a set of principles and standards that I would lose my salvation.  However, God loved me as a sinner, and guess what, I still sin.  Not because I want to, but because I am battling with the flesh!  All of us sin, and if we say that we don’t then we are liars.  Not one of us is perfect, and if you claim to be then once again you are a liar!

Romans 7:18-20

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.“

We are weak but He is strong, it is not by our own strength and power that we turn away from sin, but by the strength and power of God Almighty, Jesus Christ.  It’s very arrogant and proud to believe that you can do it on your own, that you can overcome sin by your own doing.  We all need Christ and it’s a daily struggle.

The times we are living in are becoming more perilous as the days go by.  With each passing day we will see the increase of evil, we will also see the separation of the church, of those saved and those thinking they are saved.  We will see those close to God becoming closer and those far away becoming more distant.  We will see the increased persecution of believers, and we will see those believing in Jesus Christ being mocked and scorned.  We will see the separation of the wheat from the chaff before the coming of the Lord!

So what does God want from us?  To love others, even those who hate you.  Treat others with kindness and respect, show them the love of God.  Believe it or not, God knows the heart, all of them.  It is not for us to judge but for Jesus Christ.  It is not for us to condemn, but for our Father in heaven.  Justice remains in the hands of our Father, what has not been made right on earth will be made right in heaven above.

We are not of this world, we are not of the flesh but of the spirit.  Therefore, let us not walk according to the flesh but by the spirit.  This life is so very short, let us spend it doing the right thing in the eyes of the Lord.

God bless my friends!  Maranatha!