Seeking Jesus First - Aug. 11, 2023
Condemned - Censured; pronounced to be wrong, guilty, worthless or forfeited; adjudged or sentenced to punishment.
Before Christ Jesus died on the cross, condemnation was a pre-existing, untreatable condition for every human on earth.
Jesus removes condemnation from all who believe in Him. Simple faith in Christ Jesus delivers you from condemnation.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:18–21, NKJV)
The condition of being condemned makes many people reject themselves as they look for a way to be accepted. They look at themselves and despise what they see. They begin to think that changing their looks, or in extreme cases, even changing their gender, will make them feel better. But suicide is higher among those who take the hormone blocking drugs and have transgender surgeries. Until the heart of the problem is dealt with, each of us lives in condemnation and self rejection.
The condemnation is not the fruit of a relationship with God. It is the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We could call it, “the tree of comparison”, or “the tree of never good enough”. The fruit of that true made us aware of what is wrong with us. It shifted our focus off of The God who made us and landed that focus squarely on the flesh and its pride and desires. After that, we could only see how we were different from others - especially God. This caused us to live in the pride of self exaltation or the pride of self destruction. They both resulted in condemnation.
The pure love of God that had flooded their hearts prior to eating that fruit was diminished through the pursuit of self over others. Maybe I should say, “the pursuit of self at the expense of others.” Condemnation is the state of being worthless, so I try to re-establish my own worth. Being condemned is being judged and sentenced to punishment. Condemnation is a type of hell on earth. It is knowing/believing that you are not accepted or loved.
Every person, all of humanity, has the consciousness of this condemnation, the consciousness of sin, until faith in Christ Jesus removes us from it. While we have this consciousness, our only recourse is to try to do good. But trying to do good if others are doing bad makes us want to judge and punish those who do bad. In the absence of a “national standard” of what is good or bad, everyone chooses for themselves what is good. In came The Law with a national standard and this resulted in the killing of those who did not live up to it. So “good” people killed “bad” people. But doesn’t that make “good” people into “bad” people? Yes, but they were justified in what they did by the national standard. There was no escape from condemnation. When I did good, I wanted to do bad. When I did bad, I wanted to do good. When I did bad things for the right reasons, I justified myself. When I did good for the wrong reasons, my heart condemned me even more. There was no freedom from condemnation.
But Jesus came and took the sin and condemnation. He swallowed up the sentence of punishment for the whole world. He endured torture, punishment, scorn, condemnation, public execution, death, the grave, and hell.
“And just as Moses in the desert lifted up the brass replica of a snake on a pole for all the people to see and be healed, so the Son of Man is ready to be lifted up, so that those who truly believe in him will not perish but be given eternal life. For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” (John 3:14–17, TPT)
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:19–25, NKJV) Read all of Hebrews 10 in The Passion Translation.
The blood of Christ Jesus has purified our conscience from condemnation. Jesus has sanctified us and justified us with His loving word. Because of Christ Jesus, sin is no longer imputed to us. We no longer focus on the forbidden fruit from the garden of Eden. But we focus on love. Love is the fruit of heaven. Love forgives and tells the truth in kindness. Love is joyful, peaceable, patient, kind, gentle, good, faithful and self disciplined.
Eat the fruit of God’’s love, which is Christ Jesus. He flesh is bread and His blood is drink because it represents the love of God. “For God so loved the world…”
Each of us has been made right, guiltless, worthy of acceptance, redeemed, and justified. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”.