Don't Judge! Stop condemning me!

Don't Judge! Stop condemning me!

Mary Ann Wray

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8: 1

How many times have we heard this verse quoted on Sunday morning in any given church service? Typically, the message you hear attached with it is that if you believe in Jesus, there is no condemnation for you at all. But is that the whole story? Do they read the rest of the verses to you and expound them?

Allow me to share the whole context for you:

"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. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God…

That sounds a bit different doesn't it? That's because it is.

I gave you just the first eight verses of Chapter 8 but Paul goes on to explain that what God is after in a child of God is to be "conformed to the image of His dear Son." All things word together for the good of those who LOVE GOD and are called according to HIS PURPOSE. This has nothing to do with living your best life, being a casual Christian who may or may not go to a building to "worship" or one who lives any kind of way they but expect everything to WORK OUT for my good.

I'm afraid not friends! It has everything to do with walking in obedience and submission to Jesus Christ and pursuing the call of God to be His ambassadors (representatives) on this earth.

Having said that, if you lift Verse One out of its entire context, and preach a sermon on that portion alone, you are not preaching or hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are hearing another gospel or someone is preaching another gospel… a watered down, weak, anemic, and sugar-coated gospel that is NOT God's Gospel.

On the other hand, if you feel any sense of condemnation after a friend, loved one, or preacher speaks God‘s Whole Counsel to you, it is not because that person is condemning you but the devil is. Why and how is that you may ask? Because the enemy of your soul sees you are not walking by the Spirit, but after the flesh. He's got you right where he wants you. Condemnation is guaranteed, either now or later unless there is repentance.

Too many confuse the devil‘s condemnation and the accuser of the brethren. He does accuse the righteous day and night. This passage is taken out of context too, especially by guilty leaders who have been caught in egregious sins. This is not what Revelation 12: 10 is talking about so I won't digress.

We are talking about two different things here: to accuse someone will either true or false. To falsely accuse a brother or sister in Christ as being evil or sinning when they have not is false accusation. But the Bible is clear that if anyone has an accusation against an elder, or another brother for that matter, it must be established out of the mouth of two or more witnesses. That's a whole different subject so I won't discuss further here.

But one should honestly ask ones’self, if there is in fact any sense of condemnation or accusatory speech the question(s). ..”Is there any sin in my life that opens the door and gives the devil any reason to point his finger at me?” Is there anything unpleasing to the Lord in my life as a believer in Christ that would cause another brother, sister in Christ, or family member for that matter, to question my integrity and/ or purity before the Lord?

Let's be honest folks. Sin is a REAL problem in the "church". Let me just say that the word church is used in so many ways and so many contexts that it has lost it's true meaning. A more accurate but shortened term is ekklesia-the called-out ones of God who are separated from the Word unto God for true Worship and Service unto Him. They may or not be in a building. It's the Body of Christ. We are a BODY not a BUILDING!!! Cults and Freemasons meet in buildings too but that doesn't make them a "church". But that's a whole other topic too, so I won't digress here either.

The correct context of the often quoted Romans 8: 1 follows with verse 2 so please hear this:

..."who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

If an individual is walking carnally in the flesh by practicing sin and disobedience against the revealed Word of God, the condemnation they feel from others, who are bold and loving enough to speak the truth, is not coming from them, it is coming from the enemy of your soul and even your own conscience. Hopefully, it hasn't been seared. There is a remedy and we'll get to that in a minute.

The enemy of your soul wants to keep you bound in sin and clutched his chain of lies to eventually take your soul to hell by convincing you that Christians, who speak the truth and preachers (in some unusual cases) who preach the whole counsel of God are judging you and THEY are your enemy.

This is not a typical message you will hear preached in too many pulpits today because it is “offensive” and it won’t grow a congregation. Lights, cameras, trendy worship music, cafés in the foyer, convincing people that by giving a certain amount of money guarantees God's "blessing", not a curse, and/ or they can receive a financial harvest, prophesying over individuals by "reading their spiritual mail," performing false signs and wonders along with bloviating feel-good hyped-up messages is what grows a modern church in America today. This is NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's another gospel and FALSE! See 2 Corinthians 11: 3-4.

The remedy for humanity and its inherent sin problem along with its consequences of condemnation and eternal damnation is and always has been repentance, forsaking and confessing your sins before an Almighty God and confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (publicly, by the way). There are no secret agents for God. This is the ONLY way to avoid condemnation.

Otherwise, anything you or I may try to do to cover sins through justification, good works, religious exercises and excuses is a spiritual Band-Aid that won’t last a second. It will leave us naked and ashamed before our God and King Jesus Christ when we all stand before Him.

Pulling out the “I believe in God or I love God," card, or “God understands me," card, or “who are you to judge me," card, or “I am Catholic, or I am Baptist, or I go to church," card is not enough, my friend.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is what saves those who believe in it and is THIS….

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The law couldn’t save us, so in the fullness of time, God sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of a virgin was fully God yet fully human. Yes, HE was ONE of a King! There is NO OTHER MESSIAH. He went about doing good, healing all manner of sickness, and disease, casting out demons and raising the dead to prove His Divinity.

He died on a bloody cross used for criminals, though He was innocent, sinless and pure and He took on the sins of the world for ALL humanity. He did all this and rose from the dead to prove to humankind that HE is the ONLY way to The Father. HE IS GOD incarnate-come in the FLESH!

HE the way, the truth and the life and no man can come to the Father except through Him and accepting his shed blood is the atonement for your sins.

Therefore, if you confess your sins and repent of them, God will give you the free gift of eternal life. Salvation i.e., eternal life, is not something you can earn by being good enough or going to church because none of us are good enough. You are not saved by works; no one can boast. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. PERIOD!

Romans 10: 9-10 says “If you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved. “

Jesus will split the eastern sky very soon, and if you are not ready to meet him when he comes back or stand before him when you die, you will be on the wrong side of the throne of God when He returns as king of kings and Lord of Lords , to judge the dead and alive.

To reinforce this look what Paul said in Galatians 5: 16-21

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication (any type of sex outside the bounds of marriage between a man and a woman), uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

This is the kind of preaching that cost John the Baptist his head for calling out Herod’s adultery. This is the kind of preaching that cost Paul, the apostle, to be chained and stoned. This is the kind of gospel that Jesus gave his life for…

It isn’t pretty, it isn’t glamorous, it isn't popular, and it won't make you feel good. It will either make you glad, if you are truly Born Again, but it will cut you to the heart if you’re not.

Jesus bled and died for you and for me. It was necessary in order to save as many souls from the fire of hell as possible. Without the shedding of bled, there is no remission for sins. No other human sacrifice could or can suffice. For as many as believe Him, to them He gives the power to become a child of God!

If you are offended by this message because I am a woman that’s one thing, but if you are offended because it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that reveals if you are Born Again or not, that’s another. As an ambassador for Christ, who happens to be a female, I must share the truth with you, whether you read this post or follow me on Facebook or YouTube.

There, I said it and I am under no condemnation…