How To Be Free From Condemnation by Zac Poonen

I want you to turn with me please to Romans in Chapter five there's so much in the Word of God we never can reach the end of it no matter how many times we read it it's like a well that never runs dry so don't say about the Bible like you stay about a storybook I've read it I've been reading the Bible for 58 years and I can't still can't say I've read it many storybooks I've read but it's different in the Bible so I want you to see something very interesting in two verses here particularly Romans five verse 16 maybe we'll begin at verse 15 he's comparing what Adam did with what Jesus did what Adam did in the Garden of Eden with what Jesus did on the cross so for the free gift which Christ gives is not like the transgression transgressions referring to Adam for buying the transgression of the one person Adam many people died that means the entire human race was born into spiritual death and that was through a physical lineage every child born into the world is so physically a child of Adam and it is in our system the we inherit the flesh of Adam which is a sinful flesh are born with an old man which is a tendency towards sin so that's what we've inherited much more the grace of God by the gift of grace by one man Jesus Christ abound to many he's comparing what came through one man Adam and what comes through one man Jesus Christ very important to understand this don't just skip through this and saying yeah I know that you don't know it actually many of you what came through one man and which you got you didn't choose it you got it and what came through Jesus Christ which we inherit then it says the gift that is the gift that comes through Christ is not like that gift which not that like that which came through the one who sinned on the one hand the judgment which came on Adam arose from one transgression he sinned once he did not commit two sins before he was condemned rejected by God once in the result was condemnation now what I want to share with you today is about condemnation and justification but some of you think you know it but well if you know it I hope you'll know it better today but many I fear do not know it so I'm gonna go very slowly through one person came condemnation who is that one person tell me Adam tell me who was the one person through whom condemnation came Adam right on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification so now he's contrasting it if by the transgression of one Adam death became king you know how spiritual death became king over your life long before you decided to sin you inherited something the transgression of one person who was your forefather and my forefather Adam and if through that death could reign much more if you receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness with rain it'll make your ruler in life through Jesus Christ you know if you really understand the import of just these two three verses 15 to 18 I believe it can make a tremendous difference in your life so read carefully and listen carefully that death reigned over you once and righteousness will reign in life righteousness will rule you so then by one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men now see how the one sin of Adam is being compared with the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross have you ever thought of that one act of sin and one act of righteousness on the cross one act and I inherited death now I can inherit life on that side I got condemnation now I can get justification by one act the first one did not come through me it came through another the second also does not come through what I did it came through another it's very important to understand that so if through the transgression verse 18 of one transgression condemnation came on all men even so through one act of righteousness of Christ there resulted justification of life to all men who come into the lineage of Christ it was because we were in the lineage of Adam that we got the condemnation and if you come into the lineage of Christ you inherit that justification even so through the one man's disobedience many were made sinners now through the obedience of one Jesus Christ many are made righteous and the law came so that transgression might increase means people see how serious sin is but where sin agree increased when Jesus came grace abounded all the more so just as sin has reigned in depth so grace might reign in righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and then he says what shall we say then are we gonna continue in sin no see if you understand this so what I want to say is why is it many Christians including some of you perhaps many of you sitting here live under condemnation why do you condemn yourself or feel condemned why do you always have the feeling that God is frowning on you Lord is always angry with you he's always got something against you that is condemnation why is it because you haven't understood this passage he goes on in chapter 8 and verse 1 to say Romans 8:1 there is no condemnation those who are in Christ Jesus as long as I remain in Christ Jesus I can never have condemnation so that teaches us so let me revise this condemnation came through Adam and if you still are connected to Adam you deserve to have condemnation every day of your life but the moment you switch to to be connected to Jesus Christ not just intellectually believe in Jesus Christ but to be connected you know how when you put a plug into a socket you're connected to the power then the current flows and as long as you're connected to the power that current flows but you pull it out connection is gone it's like that as long as you're in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation so if you ever condemn yourself or somebody else condemns you or you feel condemned or you feel that God's very upset with you and angry with you and is always frowning at you it either means that you're not in Christ you're not connected you pulled out the plug sometime or you don't believe the Word of God you're believing all the lie that devil keeps telling you the devil's always ready to say the opposite of what God's Word says you know God told Adam if you eat from this tree you will surely die you know what the devil said you don't have to turn there but let me just read it to you this is what the devil said in Genesis 3 he didn't say you will die he didn't say you will not die God said you will surely die in the day you eat of it that is very clear word that the Lord spoke to Adam in the day you eat of it Genesis 2:17 you shall surely die and the devil said not you shall not die he said you shall surely not die he uses the same word Genesis 3:4 exactly like Jesus said you God said you'll surely die devil says you shall surely not die you to see exact opposite anything the devil says God says I'm your father devil says he's not your father you can choose whom you believe and God says forgiving the devil can say you are not forgiven you remember the woman caught in adultery you remember what Jesus told her very important to understand it the Full Gospel in one sentence the full gospel in one sentence John chapter 8 and verse 11 this is the woman caught in adultery she was probably a prostitute and Jesus did not stone her because he didn't come to her through stone people and when all the pea wanted to stone her was sent away listen to these words two sentences neither do i condemn you from now on no sin no more this is the full gospel he didn't say sin a little less gradually overcome it no no no that's not the full gospel he's not saying trying to sin no more Jesus words are clear I don't condemn you don't sin again that is the full gospel that we have preached here and I want to say to you that is the main difference between CFC and all other churches which only preach I don't condemn you they don't preach that second part go and sin no more they say as long as you live on the earth you will sin that's like telling this woman caught in adultery Jesus saying listen you're a prostitute so you had this habit for a long time so it will happen don't worry but I will forgive you that's not what he said that's a lie that's a false gospel and it's being preached all over and because we preach the true gospel the full gospel we are called heretics I've had that label for 42 years and I am not bothered the Apostle Paul told the governor Felix according to this these people call me a cult leader and a cult I worship God above the god of my fathers let people call they call Jesus a heretic they called Paul a heretic doesn't matter but this is the truth what is the first sentence I do not condemn you it's very very important you cannot get to the second sentence until you get past the first that's what I'm trying to say here and I feel that many people who are struggling for victory over sin do not come to it because they are trying to go to the second step before they take in the first one they're trying to go to college before they finish school you can't do it there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus woman or man I do not condemn you condemnation is from the devil or from your own mind or from other human beings are from preachers who are legalists who try to you feel condemned so that you will listen to them and follow them or you will give your money by making you feel condemned God will curse you if you don't pay your tithe ah that's enough condemnation I want to say to you my brothers and sisters never never listen to a preacher who tries to bring you under condemnation or makes you do anything in your life by condemning you if you don't join this church condemnation will come don't listen to such a man he's a liar if you leave our group and go to another group it'll go badly with you condemnation will come that is a lie I can publicly say if a person decides to leave CFC for any reason and goes and joins to some other group I never say to him that you go badly with you never never never if I meet him on the road I only ask him one question brother I hope you're following Jesus wherever you go that's all I want to know I never asked him to come back I never tell him that we are the only group that will be raptured when Christ comes that's a lot of rubbish are you following Jesus that's the important thing I don't know why you left CFC or whatever reason it is I don't want to know but you don't go to hell by leaving CFC no not at all you go to hell if you leave your connection with Jesus Christ don't let that happen and if you live a one deliver worthwhile life on earth then follow Jesus and I hope that the church you go to will encourage you to follow Jesus every Sunday not once in a while every Sunday I see only type of church I want to be in and I'll tell you the reason for that Hebrews chapter 3 is a very important verse which many of you may not know those of you who know well be patient there are other people sitting here who don't know it so I need to instruct them Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 to 14 okay you got to read them together Hebrews 3:12 2:14 take care brothers these are born-again believers because it says in verse 1 they are holy brothers particles of heavenly calling he's writing to holy brothers who are partakers of heavenly keling take care listen to preachers who tell you to take care those are the preachers you should listen to take care lest there should be in one of you believers believers holy brethren an evil unbelieving heart not an evil murderous heart or adulterous heart maybe you don't have that but an unbelieving heart now many people don't think an unbelieving heart is evil they think adultery and murder is evil here it says an unbelieving heart is evil because if you keep that you can fall away from the Living God hey you say you mean after I become a holy brother I can follow you from the Living God well that depends on whether you believe the Bible or whether you believe all the different preachers were preaching different things today there's a group called the Calvinists who preach like that and some Baptists and brethren follow that you'll never follow a I prefer to believe the Bible take care holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling verse 1 holy brethren partakers of a heavenly calling please take care was 12 that you don't get an evil unbelieving heart and fall away from the Living God I want to take care of it's not condemnation I'm just being careful if I'm walking through a very dangerous you know like for example if there's been a storm and electric poles and I have fallen on the ground and there are electric wires lying on the ground on a wet ground you know how dangerous that can be I would say brother please take care when you walk through that road you can be electrocuted I said that's the only thing else it's the same type of warning I give to people when you walk in this world with all types of things that can lead you to something worse than electrocution spiritual death take care any good father will say that because you can fall away from the Living God you holy brethren can fall away from the Living God so what should we do to prevent it verse 13 encourage one another every day encourage one another not condemn one another encourage one another not to fall away when you talk to a brother when you talk to a sister if you gossip you're helping him or her to fall away leave all these problems that brothers and sisters have leave it with God he's a good judge he can handle all those problems he doesn't need your help to judge anybody I'll tell you that he doesn't need any assistant judges leave it to him there's no need for you if you want to do something you hear something evil about somebody if you want to do something pray for that person don't just go spreading stories about him to the to other people or her you will not accomplish anything thereby except destroy yourself you can those who have ears to hear please hear I know that after years of saying this some people will still not hear I cannot do anything about them there are some people who have such a loose tongue such a loose tongue that they always their conversation gets exciting only when they say something bad about somebody else they will never say anything bad about their own children oh no no no no that children are perfect they will say bad about somebody else some other elder some elder in the church or some sister maybe the way some girl dresses or something if you have a problem please go and tell the girl's parents why talk to somebody else who cannot help that girl who's dressed immodestly it's not gonna help you see some young sister dressed immodestly if you really want to help her you love her go and talk to her father or if you're a sister go and talk to her mother and say sister I love you I just want to say with a love I prayed for your daughter you know don't you think it would be good if she dresses a little more modestly that's the way to do it instead of going to somebody and say hey and see how that sister dresses that way you will destroy yourself you mark my words in the day of judgment if you have not destroyed yourself all those who carry on such conversation I'll tell you why because God treats us the way we treat other people I'm absolutes me the way I treat other people the way I treat other people's children God treats my children believe it or not the way you treat other people's children God will treat your children the way you treat other people God will treat you I believe it I have 58 years of experience to prove it encourage one another day after day because that brother that sister has not yet become perfect is not yet become christ-like he is not yet reached heaven there's a danger of every brother or sister you talk to is in danger of falling away from the Living God do something to help him if you see somebody slipping into a river what do you do what do you stand there and exhort him come on stand properly or you will give us hand and pull him out that's all it's saying here's a person people around you in danger of slipping away please stretch out a hand and this hand of encouragement say something good say something that will help them to face life more boldly faced the devil more boldly and it says as long as it is called today means this word today will not last forever one day there'll be no more today when you die what Christ has come today is over so as long as it is called today encourage one another otherwise people can be hardened not through obvious sin through the deceitfulness of sin obvious sin is murder adultery hitting people getting angry no no no these things don't harden people because they know they it is obvious the hardening comes through deceitful sins deceitful since one of the number two or three deceitful sins let me tell you hypocrisy pretending to be more spiritual than you are talking spiritual language when you are not overcoming in your life if you're not an overcomer in your relationship with your wife please humble yourself don't try to talk to my spiritual language and give exhortations to others which you are not following in your own life just say brother please pray for me I'm struggling to live a holy life that's a much better thing than going around trying to preach to others when you yourself don't know how to live a godly way with your in your own home let's humble ourselves God gives grace to the humble when he sees you're so proud and try to give exhortations to people when you yourself are in a pathetic condition at home God will never give you grace because he sees you as a hypocrite the deceitfulness of sin number one is hypocrisy pretending to be more spiritual than we are and I want to tell you I don't know who you are or how spiritual you are or I think you are or how senior you are you are in danger of hypocrisy all the time you're not in danger of hypocrisy in your world with your worldly friends in your police or place of work there you're not a hypocrite you're in danger of hypocrisy and CFC with CFC believers you're in great danger of being a hypocrite deceitfulness of sin that's number one and number two is pride pride is another very deceitful sin you can't even see when it has come it's like bad breath you know we usually don't have we are not aware when we have bad breath other people can smell it when they come near us and our bodies are such you know eyes again especially when people get much older they don't have much control over the quality of their breath because the body system has all become weak and a lot of older people just have bad breath you can't do anything about it but they're not aware of it very often themselves when you're younger you may not have such a problem but it's pride is like that you're not aware of it but other people can see it and sometimes if the other person is not spiritual they may not see it a spiritual person is like if you have a sensitive nose you can pick up a smell anywhere in the same way as spiritually sensitive person who is mature can see pride in a person very easy but you may not be aware of it yourself I've met numerous believers like this I can meet a person for five minutes a total stranger a believer who claims to be believer for five minutes and I can see very stance I mean that's because I've met so many believers but they're not aware of it there are people who come to some of our churches who want to take over their church as if they are spiritual and I can see from day one they are carnal and I have to warn the elders make sure this fellow never comes into your church I actually had to tell some people in some of our churches in some places watch out for this guy he let him sit at the back seat but don't let him ever have any influence in this church put him on if you finally he's talking to too many other people here we don't want to corrupt the church we must sense where a person is arrogant and proud it's a deceitful sin and third is selfishness that's one of the most deceitful it's very very difficult I'll tell you honestly I'm still discovering areas of selfishness in my life even though I've tried to cleanse myself for years it's like an onion like you've often heard me say you peel and peel and peel and peel and peel it becomes thinner but you still haven't got at the bottom of it blessed are you if you can acknowledge that you have not come to the bottom of that onion if you think you have come to the bottom you'll be pretty proud but if we can honestly say I'm still discovering areas in my life where I may be selfish and I'm not even aware of it in your home particularly in your relationship with your brothers and sisters you see there are a lot of people in CFC who in their relation to CFC they don't realize how selfish they are how they make other believers do all the dirty work and they themselves choose work which is once soil their hands or soil their clothes they don't realize the utter selfishness of their action they volunteer to sing in the choir and do all the media work they will never dirty their hands to clean the toilets or anything and they don't realize this sadly that's ok but they don't realize how utterly selfish they are I'm not saying that we all have to go and do that but my point is are you willing to do anything there you see layers of selfishness and if you don't cleanse it who's gonna suffer CFC will not suffer I tell you CFC will never suffer if you don't do a job because there are 10 other people who are ready to do that job you will suffer I remember when I was a young Christian and I was just very young 21 years old 22 years old nobody thought anything of me and I was to go to different big assemblies and I would always seek to do the lowly job always always always take the lowest place do the lowly job that's how I grew and I would encourage all of you to do that don't seek for the place of honor and position God will one day lead you there if he sees that you're happy with the low place let God exalt you don't ever try to exalt yourself I can say with all of my heart that in 58 years of my Christian life I have never once tried to exhort myself in any church never means never because I saw right from the beginning that Jesus always humbled himself and I'm thankful I saw that when I was 19 years old I did not need to grow in the Christian life to see it I saw it and I say Lord I want to go that way it's been a long process it took me time to overcome other sins but I never tried to exalt myself so I want to say to you there's a deceitfulness of sin in these three areas be very very careful and if you see other people having this because you're more mature than them be merciful because you got the same flesh as them don't go around talking about them that won't help them and it says you can help them by what verse 13 encourage them you often heard me say that he must never go and correct her brother if you have not encouraged him first before you to go to corrector brother ask yourself have you ever prayed for him and encouraged him if not keep your mouth shut you heard me use the illustration that when you encourage a brother you're building a blackboard on that blackboard you can take a white chalk and correct him but the blackboard is encouragement if you have not encouraged him you'll be taking a white chalk and writing in thin air saying so many things this this is but he can't see anything you know why you can't see it because you've never encouraged him in your whole life it's a blackboard what you say may be right what you're writing in thin air may be right but he can't see it so if you really want to help somebody begin by encouragement very important to encourage one another and like that if you hold on verse 14 Hebrews 3:14 until the end until the end you will become a partaker of Christ you are a partaker of Christ already hold on till the end and you'll be a partaker of Christ at the end don't fall away they're amazing with so many clear verses I'm amazed how people go around teaching that a believer cannot fall away they have to scratch out certain verses in the Bible amazing heaven and earth will pass away this word will not pass away so I believe in that's why my life is secure so it's very important that we try to follow these examples let me give you an example among all the churches which Paul wrote to which was the worst Church which one Corinth there was somebody committing adultery with his stepmother their people taking each other to court after the breaking of bread some people would not share their food with others in the poor people it was a terrible church they were all speaking in tongues without any interpretation and Paul said you fellows are mad people coming into a church you'll see or think you're mad all of you speaking in tongues like that that's what the Bible says when you go to a church and you hear everybody speaking in tongues 1 Corinthians 14 says won't they say you're mad that's what I that's what I say when I go to some churches I see these guys are mad they are mad according to 1 Corinthians 14 23 but anyway if you don't know that was you must remember it if everybody speaks in tongues 1 Corinthians 14:20 3 people will say you are mad and that's exactly what I say when I go to any church where I see everybody speaking in tongues in a chaotic way and I've been to many churches like that I don't tell them but if somebody asks me I'll show them the verse so that they fight with the Holy Spirit and not with me anyway but Corinth was one of the worst churches and do you know what Paul writes to them to this church which has so many problems there's quarreling fighting court cases adultery and not sharing their food with the poor and all types of things and this is how Paul begins 1 Corinthians 1 listen to this it's amazing what an example one current is 1 for I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which is in you in Christ Jesus in everything you are enriched in him in all speech all knowledge as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you you're not lacking in any gift waiting eagerly the revelation of Jesus our Lord Jesus Christ who will confirm you to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with son Jesus Christ our Lord and I said hey Paul hang on do you know you're right when we are writing - are you writing to Ephesians or to the Corinthians Paul says I know Corinthians then he says he's now he's made the blackboard right and on this blackboard he writes verse 10 now I exhort you brethren agree because I've heard verse 11 there are so many quarrels among you and then he goes on to say chapter 3 you are still fleshly well chapter 3 verse 3 your jealousy you got strife you're walking like men and listen to this chapter 4 verse 21 shall I come to you with a rod it's like a father saying shall I give you a spanking shall I come to you with the rod can you ever go to a brother and say shall I come to you with a rod he was an apostle he was a spiritual father but he began with encouragement a good lesson for earthly fathers in the way they correct their children a word of encouragement can do a la great more wonders than many words of correction any child will say that encouragement I fear that parents and especially I think in India we don't have the habit of encouragement we really don't have it I find it's very difficult I find in many Indian people to learn to appreciate godly elder brothers why is that it's just not in our system not only godly elder brothers you husband's please ask yourself when was the last time when was the last time you said something to really appreciate your wife was it 10 years ago or 20 years ago please try and remember Bible says encourage one another daily the only person you see daily is your husband a wife that is a proof that we are pathetically poor and some of you who earned one hundred thousand rupees fifty thousand rupees 30000 rupees a month you're poor in the most important thing of learning how to encourage your wife or your husband doesn't come easily but then without encouraging you correct this is wrong that is wrong that is wrong all writing into thin air your wife can't hear anything brother your wife cannot hear anything what you're saying sister your husband cannot hear what you're saying what you're saying is right but you can't see it because you're writing in thin air let's build a blackboard encourage one another I'll tell you why we don't encourage one another let me go back to what I said in the beginning because we live under so much condemnation ourselves there is no condemnation you see the connection between the two we go around condemning others because we ourselves under condemnation can you honestly say please be honest with yourself now can you say that you wake up every morning believing that God is smiling at you and happy with you and he's not angry with you he's not frowning at you can you honestly say that no I fear that many believers live under condemnation and that spirit affects them so much they go on condemning others correction is different correction can be as strong as it Paul says you are fleshly you are worldly I have to come to you with the rod now that is godly man's correction but he's as big ins with encouragement it's always like that Jesus sometimes spoke to his disciples strongly how long shall I stay with you you people of unbelief but he also spoke tremendous words of encouragement I have kept Thrones for you in heaven so a person who's constantly encouraging others one word of correction comes clearly on the blackboard it produces results you don't believe that believe me try that next time with your children if your marriage partners begin with encouragement and don't tell lies don't say to your wife you're the most beautiful person in the world and all that type of thing I'm not asking you to tell lies like that be honest say to me you're the most beautiful person that's right but don't tell lies you're so intelligent I wonder if anybody is more intelligent than you this is B because they know that you're just trying to tell lies be honest you know if the mean is not good you can at least say thank you so much for working so hard to produce this meal you don't have to say what a rotten meal you made today so many things if you look at it and I'll tell you the reason is because we think God is also speaking to us like that God is only saying what a rotten person you are do you hear God saying you do that that's not that that's not God by the way that there was a devil you got your phone connection wrong that was the devil you got connected to I'll tell you about a dream I said this to and CFC I think about 38 40 years ago I had a dream which I shared with I had very few dreams that are meaningful this is one of them I saw myself in this dream coming back from speaking in a big conference those days we didn't have any CFC conferences we were just meeting in our house but some other place I was staying somewhere else had gone to speak and there's a great liberty in the meeting and as I came back to the room I was staying in in that conference center I heard a voice behind me saying that was not good enough it's in my dream that was not good enough you could have done better and I thought I had poured out my heart there and in my dream I'm saying to the Lord Lord why is it when you speak to me face to face you always encourage me but when you speak from behind my back you always discouraged the Lord said to me in my dream turn around and see who is speaking and in my dream I turned around and I saw this black figure it was obvious the devil running away I learned a lesson that day and I shared it with the church then and I share it with you now never forget it that voice that you hear from behind your ear saying not good enough not good enough you can do better you think it is the Holy Spirit you say how can the devil tell me to do better he's not telling you to do better he's trying to condemn you it's not the Holy Spirit God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world you know that so beautiful verse a lot of people know John 3:16 you know John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life that is the word for unbelievers do you know what is the word for believers John 3:17 next verse well lot of believers don't know the next verse you need to know John 3:17 you've already come through John 3:16 you need to know John 3:17 God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world must be saved through him and you got it not to condemn you not to judge you but to save you do you find some filthy brought in habit in your life maybe your anger maybe your dirty sexual thoughts you are struggling maybe your addiction to pornography have you got some dirty habit like that I want to tell you today my brother if you have given your life to Christ Jesus has not come to condemn you he's come to save you two sentences I do not condemn you go and sin no more and you say Lord I can't I fall into sin I will help you let us rush to the throne of grace to get grace to help us in our time of need I'll tell you another story when my one when my children were all small one day I sent one of my sons I told one of my sons please go to the store and get a loaf of bread I mean he must have been about eight years old or something and obedient son that he was he dashed off to get the loaf of bread and a few minutes later he came back dad give me the money I said son what did you expect what do you think I expected you to go and work as a or laborer or somewhere earn the money and buy the bread and come now when I told you to go and buy the bread I expected you to ask me for the money and when the Lord says to you don't sin he expects you to ask him for the grace not run off and say ok I'm not going to sin and you'll come running back saying lord I sinned that's what's happening so learn a lesson from that don't run away before you ask God for grace he doesn't ask you to work and earn and produce that loaf of bread yourself or to work and hard and overcome that sin no he says come back and I'll give you grace to overcome there is no condemnation so how shall we live this life without condemnation I don't want to say too much but I'll tell you two simple rules number 1 is Acts chapter 24 and verse 16 conscience number one always keep a good conscience Paul says I do my best he's not saying I do my best never to sin that's another thing I do my best to keep my conscience blameless that means if I sinned I immediately said it right and my heart is cleansed my conscience is clear he's not saying for so many years I've never sinned that is foolish people who don't know what sin is speak like that they imagine they have become like Christ Paul never said that he said I keep my conscience clear acts 24:16 always with God and with men that means if I had a dirty thought or some sin I had against God a bad attitude towards somebody I immediately confess it to God I want to ask you how many of you do that when you discover that you had a bad attitude towards some person a brother or sister do you realize that's a sin first of all do you realize that you're swallowing a poison right there it's a wrong attitude to a brother or sister or to your wife her husband a wrong attitude you haven't said a word it's just inside the poison is only inside do you go to God and say Lord I'm sorry I had a wrong attitude please cleanse me I have done that I've done that because I'm like you I mean tempted to have wrong attitudes to people I immediately say Lord cleanse me because I want to keep a blameless conscience before God if you slip up in your thought life sexually or in some other way immediately go to God and say Lord I'm sorry forgive me cleanse me keep your conscience clear immediately like I used to illustrations if a thorn gets into your foot take it out immediately if you fall down get up immediately don't lie down there and pray prayer can come later you get up first that is all I'm saying as soon as you're aware of a sin confess it immediately to God and to men did you hurt somebody confess it immediately I'm sorry that was my mistake please forgive me develop this habit men are not as holy as goddess but we think we can go to a holy God and just say Lord forgive me but we can't say to a man forgive me I'll tell you why you're not really saying to God that's why that's why we never come to a life of victory do you know sometimes we can think we are praying to God and we are not praying to God you can say the right words Oh God Heavenly Father I'll give you an example from the Bible Jesus himself said turn to Luke 18 Luke 18 Jesus said there were two men verse ten who went into the temple to pray Luke 18 verse 10 and verse 11 the Pharisee now read this carefully the Pharisee stood and prayed to himself o God I thank thee he was saying the right words but to whom was he praying did you read it to whom to himself Oh God I thank you but I'm only praying to myself I don't believe God's listening because my conscience is not clear that can often happen in public prayer Oh God some wonderful things but you're only praying for the congregation to hear you on try a fantastic prayer God is not listening Lord of prayers our pray to the congregation or to yourself they don't connect with God and that's why we say O Lord why that prayer was not answered you never prayed to him you never prayed to him you took up the phone and without dialing the number you started talking like little children you know they pick up the phone and start talking you start Oh God Heavenly Father 101 things you say but you didn't even connect to him so it's possible that Lord of our prayers are just to ourselves don't a psalm 66 and verse 18 psalm 66 and verse 18 if I regard sin in my heart the Lord will not hear me did you hear that the Lord will not pick up the telephone is there sin in your heart if you have not confessed your sin to him if you have hurt somebody and you not confess to that person the Lord will not even pick up the telephone you can keep on speaking on that phone speak for hours but it is not line is not connected God hasn't picked up the phone because you have not confessed your sin Paul knew that so he says I do my best to always keep my conscience free from offense toward God and toward men as soon as you're aware of something confess it to that person I'm sorry my mistake please forgive me I want to set it right with God and with men because I want to keep the lines of communication with God open all the time very important brother very important if you are doubtful better to assume that you hurt the person don't say well I'm not too sure well if you're not too sure you assume that you hurt the other person it's always better that way so that is the first thing keep your conscience absolutely clear always always means 24/7 you'll have a wonderful life and the second thing I told you I'll tell you two things one keep your conscience always clear and the second thing always treat other people the way you want to be treated yourself Matthew chapter 7 and verse 12 the way you want people to treat you treat them because that is the message of the whole Bible that's what it says there that is the message of the whole Bible the law and the prophets is an expression Jesus used for the Old Testament Bible so he's saying the message of the whole Bible is treat other people the way you want them to treat you do you like people yelling at you No don't yell at others do you like people gossiping about you behind your back no don't gossip about others do you like people accusing you before finding out the facts No don't do it to others first find out what happened don't immediately go to judgment do you like listen to this carefully do you like people to remember the things that you have apologized for you apologized for it five years ago do you want them to remember it no no I did wrong I apologized it's set right I don't want them to remember it then don't remember against others what they have apologized to you for it's a very simple rule treat other people the way you want to be treated in the world they call that the golden rule but Jesus started treat other people the way you want them to treat you and I would go one step further and that is that is the way God will treat you I'll tell you something some of you have got servants in your home it's fine let me tell you something the way you treat your servants God will treat you I've had servants in my home I always felt Lord I want you to be good to me I want you to be good to me when I make mistakes when I make mistakes for the tenth time the hundredth time as I've often done I want you to be good to me here is someone who's in a lower social level than me in my house I want to be good to that person give them an unexpected bonus never thought of that you're cold and calculating yeah I know some CFC believers who try to extricate the maximum work from their servants they say we are paying we must get the maximum work out of them no wonder you don't grow spiritually you think you're spiritually or religious you don't have the fullness of the Spirit the joy of the Lord because you are hard on others you want to extricate the maximum work from others God will extricate the maximum from you it's a law it says that in Psalm 18 you know when you understand the laws of God life becomes so wonderful I can tell you I am NOT a perfect man I'm not completely free from selfishness I'm battling but I want to be like Jesus but I'll tell you one thing I want to be kind to others Jesus says be merciful like your heavenly Father is merciful and I want to do that Psalm 18 verse 25 with a kind you will show yourself kind last part of verse 26 but with a crooked he will show yourself smart or astute you can't outsmart God I'll tell you something with the kind God shows himself kind he want God to be kind to you be kind to others I've seen parents who have very lenient with their own children very strict with other people's children oh ho I won't be surprised go astray be good to other people's children always got to be good to your children believe me I've experienced it don't live in the condemnation of God God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world live justify that means my conscience are clear I've been accepted in Christ I am in Christ if your conscience is clear number one and you're trying your best to treat other people especially those lower than you in the same way you want to be treated in the same way of God you want God to treat you I can tell you you are justified in Christ and you can live all the time under an open heaven never fearing that God is frowning on you okay one day you didn't get to read the Bible in the morning or you didn't get to read the Bible the whole day that can happen sometimes you live or he must be angry with me because I didn't read the Bible today rubbish there are other people who read the Bible half an hour in the morning and tell lies in the office during the day God is unhappy with that person the important thing is not reading the Bible in the morning the important thing is obeying the Bible 24 hours got it it is easier to read the Bible half an hour in the morning than to obey the Bible 24 hours to treat other people the way God treated you 24 hours is that easy or to read the Bible half an hour in the morning much easier to read the Bible some people use their conscience I've read the Bible no you're not that's not all even if you didn't read the Bible treat other people the way God treated you keep your conscience clear we why do we read the Bible not to ease my conscience in my early days when I did not know this wonderful message of freedom from condemnation I just read the Bible to ease my conscience oh I didn't read the Bible so maybe I'll ever accident on my scooter today rubbish I was under law I realized that God is more interested in my obedience than a ritual but I studied the Bible thoroughly the reason I study the Bible is I say I want to know what are the laws of God what are the laws of God you people who are studying in the computer field working in the computer field tell me honestly don't you always try to keep pace with the progress in computer science otherwise you lose your job you know that you work hard to see the progress in your field medical field computer field you want to know the names of the latest medicines otherwise you won't you'll be a useless doctor you'll be a useless computer scientist you keep progress why don't you keep in touch with the Bible like that Lord I want to know more of your ways that's why I read the Bible not to ease my conscience saying I read it in the morning brothers and sisters there's no condemnation he did not come to judge the world don't judge other people I want to sing a song now please I'm sure a number of you know this song he did not come to judge the world he did not talking about Jesus he did not come to blame he did not only come to seek it was to save he came not to forgive us but to save us from that filthy wretched habit that you are enslaved to today he came to save you from that and when we sing that song let a faith rise in your heart that that filthy habit which other people don't know which are hiding from others he will save you from it and when we call him Savior not just forgive her when we call him Savior we call him by his name we don't have the right to judge we are not here to blame others we are only called to bless and help and love them in Jesus name and when we love each other and we glorify his name let's sing that did not come to judge the world he did not come to blame he did not only come to see it was to say he came and when we call answer and we call him say and when we call him singer then we call him by his name we do not have the right to judge we are not here to blame we're only called to bless good Jesus and when we love each other and when we love each other and when we love each other then we glorify his name okay you got it now we got to learn it we'll sing it just one more time so that you can sing it I sing that song to myself many times and I encourage myself it's a good song to sing when you're having a bath or when you're doing nothing else encourage yourself to the way you should live let's sing it again he did not come to judge no he did not come to play he did not was to save pecan and when we call him Savior and we're I'm savior and when we call call him by his name we do not have the right to judge we are not here to blame we're only called to bless in Jesus name and when we of each other and when we love each other and when we love each other then we glorify his name let's bow in prayer Heavenly Father thank you for your wonderful word thank you for the holy spirit that's moving in our midst and speaking to our heart at this time I pray that you will give many people here a year to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying and the seed that is sown will bring forth much fruit thank you Lord that you did not come to condemn us we don't have to live thinking you're frowning upon us help us to change to stop listening to the devil and Lord to recognize that you smile upon us you love us with an everlasting love and you're on our ice you're on our side against the devil all the time help us to be those who encourage one another every day we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: kpbVE6GkcPg

Length: 62min 44sec (3764 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 13 2017