Freedom From All Condemnation (Video) — Zac Poonen

It's good to see so many of you here this morning. You know that in our church we have majored for many years on knowing the distinction between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant, but sometimes that can be a something we just say very lightly without understanding how serious it is, or we don't understand all the implications of it.

Living in the New Covenant

The important thing is not to speak about it or to use those words New Covenant, Old Covenant and not even to glory in it, but to actually live in it. I want to show you some verse from 2nd Corinthians chapter 3.

2nd Corinthians chapter 3 speaks a lot about the difference between the two covenants. The Old Covenant was made with Israel on Mount Sinai when Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. The New Covenant was made on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the first church of 120 people and Jesus is the mediator between God the Father and us.

There's a lot of difference if you want to know how much better is the New Covenant and the Old Covenant that is as much better as Jesus is than Moses. That's how much. So the possibility of a New Covenant life is as much higher as Jesus is than Moses.

But in 2nd Corinthians 3 .9 there are two expressions describing these two covenants. Verse 9 The Old Covenant is called the Ministry of Condemnation and it said even that had a glory because verse 7 when Moses came down from the mountain there was a glory on his face.

But it says in verse 7 it was a glory that was fading away. In other words when he came down from God's presence there was a glory but as time went on that glory in his face began to dim and dim and dim and that's why he put a veil over his face.

It says here so that people would not see verse 13 so that people would not see that this glory is decreasing. And that's one mark of people who live under the Old Covenant. They have to cover the fact that the glory in their life is decreasing from what it was once.

That's what it says here. He put a veil on his face verse 13 so that people would not see that underneath that veil the face the glory was decreasing and decreasing and if you find in your life that some glory that you experienced in the Christian life once upon a time is decreasing and decreasing and you try to cover it up in some way or the other that is one mark that you're really living under the Old Covenant because you're living before the face of men.

They live before the face of men in the Old Covenant, but in the New Covenant we live before the face of God. God sees us through and through there's nothing to hide. But the thing I want to emphasize is in verse 9 is called a ministry of condemnation whereas the New Covenant is called a ministry of righteousness and it abounds in glory.

Conviction Versus Self-Condemnation

I feel that a lot of us who hear the Word of God in this church live under condemnation many times and condemnation, self-condemnation is not the same as the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It's very important to understand that.

Conviction of the Holy Spirit is when we do something wrong. You spoke a bad word or an angry word or you had a dirty thought or you hurt somebody in some way or you gossiped or spoke evil, something that you did or spoke or thought and you're convicted immediately.

Hey, that was wrong. If you're sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you'll feel it immediately. If you're not sensitive to the Holy Spirit you may feel it only when somebody preaches about it which means you're not sensitive, but when somebody preaches about it, then you sort of get alert, which is second best.

It's better than nothing. Some people don't even get convicted even after they hear a message. That's worse. But if you get convicted when you hear a message, that's second best. The best is to be convicted as soon as you do something wrong.

Conviction, but conviction of the Holy Spirit is very different from condemnation. It is not God's will that we should ever live under self-condemnation, not even for a moment. And yet I know that born-again Christians can live under self-condemnation because I lived like that for many years after I was born again till I knew that in the new covenant, there is no condemnation.

The opposite of condemnation is righteousness, not my own righteousness. Because if I live with my own righteousness, I'll condemn myself all the time. But because I have truly turned from my old life, and if this applies to you, then it's true of you as well.

If you can say to the best of my knowledge, I really want to give up that old way of life where I lived for myself and sin. I'm not perfect, but I've changed direction. Repentance means just change direction.

Now, I really want to follow the Lord and seek to please Him. And if that is your goal, there is no need for condemnation. If you are quick to confess a sin as soon as you are convicted of it, there is no need for condemnation.

Because the righteousness of Christ clothes us as soon as we confess and turn around from our sin and ask the Lord to cleanse us in the blood of Jesus. So think of that word, condemnation and righteousness, two very important words.

The righteousness of Christ or condemnation, you can't have both. In Romans in chapter 5, the Word of God has given us to set us free from every type of bondage. In Romans 5, it says here that we are justified by His blood in verse 9, declared righteous.

And it goes on to speak about Adam's sin when we were in Adam and we are in Christ. In verse 18, through one transgression, let's begin at verse 17, by the transgression of one, that is Adam, death reigned over all men.

If so, then those who received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life. There it was death that was reigning. Now it is life that will reign. And that one transgression resulted in condemnation.

The Spirit of Condemnation and Accusing Others

Again that word, condemnation. But through Jesus there results one act of righteousness, there results justification. Now the great danger of condemning ourselves is first of all, I mean you see yourself, supposing you're condemning yourself because you think that you're being more holy by saying, Oh, well, I'm so good for nothing and there's nothing good in me and all that.

And you stop there. And the result of that is you ultimately, people who condemn themselves usually tend to condemn other people as well. You tend to have a spirit of accusation where you see something in somebody and you immediately condemn him without even finding out the facts.

Do you find that in your life that you hear something about somebody and immediately condemn that person? Oh, he was like that. That's the result of people who live under condemnation themselves. Because if you live under the love of God, rejoicing in how God is so merciful to us, we will be merciful to others.

But if I always feel God is condemning me and he's always looking at me in a very angry way, what happens is we become like that. There's a verse in the Psalms that says, Those who worship idols become like them.

So if I worship a false God, by a false God, I don't mean some other God. I mean a wrong picture of Jesus. A wrong picture of our Heavenly Father is a false God. You can call it Jesus, but it's not the real Jesus.

It's a Jesus who's very angry with you all the time and who is looking down upon you with a frown and condemning you. That's a wrong Jesus. It's another Jesus. The Bible speaks of another Jesus. You're worshiping a false God.

And what happens is you worship that God long enough, you'll become like him. You'll become condemning and accusing others without knowing all the facts, etc. Very quick to condemn. That's what the Pharisees were.

The Pharisees were very quick to condemn people and there was no mercy there at all. See in John chapter 8, the classic example of the Pharisees bringing a woman caught in adultery and what it says in Romans, sorry, John 8 3, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and having set her in the center.

She'd be delighted in something. They were so proud of the fact that I didn't get caught in adultery. I mean these guys must have been committing adultery in their mind. Nobody was there to catch them.

But they were quick to pounce on somebody else who they found is doing something wrong. And they said we got to condemn this person and they brought her to condemn her and they brought her to Jesus because they knew Jesus is a very compassionate person.

Jesus had already got a reputation as a very compassionate person, merciful, forgiving and they're wondering what he's going to do now when this person has violated the law. They thought they could catch Jesus and trip him up and prove to people this person is not.

Moses said person who's commits adultery must be stoned to death. But this person is not obeying that law. That was their aim. The aim was to condemn Jesus himself. But you can't catch Jesus. He caught them in their their trick and he said okay.

Okay, if she has to be stoned, if any of you is without sin, throw the first stone. Go right ahead and he didn't say anything more. One sentence. That is the word the father gave him and it says here in verse 9 when they heard it, they went away one by one.

Because their heart told them, you can't throw a stone. Look at the things you've done wrong. Do you hear that voice? When you are tempted to throw a stone at somebody in words, do you hear a voice saying, are you qualified to throw a stone at that person?

Think about it. These Pharisees were at least honest. They said no, we are not qualified and they went away one by one. But they did want to condemn her. And Jesus used that same word condemn in verse 10.

Then Jesus, when they'd all left, he said, woman, where are they? No one to condemn you? He said, no one Lord. He said, I don't condemn you either. Now remember what Jesus said was, if there's anyone here without sin, obey the Word of God and throw the stone.

There was one person without sin, that was Jesus. He could have obeyed the Old Testament law, which said, stone that woman so that people take adultery seriously. This is one of those examples where Jesus did not obey the letter of the law.

See, those who are legalists are very careful about the letter of the law. Usually on other people, are they keeping the letter of the law? They're very quick to condemn others. Maybe a sister who doesn't veil her head in the meeting or someone wears a little extra jewelry or something.

Quick to condemn. Because you say, I don't do that. And you'll find such people, I'm not saying they become evil, but they're like people who get a hundred percent in kindergarten always. They say, I'm okay, but you're still in the kindergarten after 20 years.

What's the use of glorying that you get 100 if you're still in the kindergarten? It's better to get 80 in first standard than to keep on getting 100 in kindergarten. That means there's no growth there.

Quick to condemn others. Not aware of sin within oneself. So Jesus, we can say he violated the letter of the law. But he kept the spirit because God loved the world. God loved the world. He didn't give the law to condemn people.

He gave the law to save people. And we must remember when we look at the commandments in the New Testament also, they are not commands with which you're going to hit somebody on the head with. Why aren't you doing this?

It's so easy to do that. And if you find that attitude in your heart, I want to say, my brothers and sisters, it's possible that you're living under the old covenant, where you're living under condemnation.

And that's why you are quick to condemn others. It's a great example, that story, where Jesus said, I don't condemn you. It doesn't mean I tolerate your sin. He said, go on, don't sin again, but I don't condemn you.

And that's a great story for us to remember always, that sometimes what we think we are right in judging, we may not be. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 7, verse 1, and the real translation of that word is, don't condemn others.

Do not judge. The word judge can also be translated as condemn. He has a clear command. Do not condemn others. Otherwise, you'll be condemned yourself. Because with the same standard, with which you condemn somebody else in one area, maybe you're okay in that area, so you can condemn that person, say, hey, you're wrong there.

When God will use that same standard to judge you somewhere else, in another area, where you're not so perfect. So, by the standard, verse 2, with which you measure out to others, it'll be measured to you.

It's a very important word for all of us to remember. Because we live in a world of imperfect Christians. You know, all of us sitting here are imperfect Christians. Not one is perfect. Maybe some people look perfect, because you see only 1 of their life.

But if you live with them every day, you'll discover that everybody sitting here, including me, we are imperfect. By that, I mean, we are not fully like Jesus Christ. Perfection is like Christ, and we are not like Christ, none of us.

And that's the main reason why we should be merciful. Because it says here, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, don't notice the log, verse 3, in your own eyes? So don't condemn, and don't condemn yourself.

If you're convicted about something, be quick to acknowledge it, and say, Lord, forgive me, cleanse me, and righteousness, I come close to the righteousness of Christ. That's the opposite of condemnation.

Pursuing Holiness Without False Peace

Now, the reason I say this is because I've seen with many, many people, many believers, even in CFC, if they're honest, they will say, that in our pursuit of righteousness, we condemn ourselves, and they'll say that in the old days, when we never pursued after victory over sin, we were not bothered about victory, we knew we were defeated, and we never sought for victory, and we would just ask the Lord to cleanse us and get us to move on.

There was no condemnation then. It's true. Many people who in other churches, who don't even preach about victory over sin, and have no desire to give up sin in their life, they seem to live without condemnation.

They're not condemning themselves, and their sin in their life. They say, yeah, we are sinners. We slip up every day in numerous ways, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us. Now, that is a false peace, and a false comfort.

We don't want that. But at the same time, we don't want to go to the other extreme. See, always in the narrow way, there are two extremes. One is this, where we say, I'm not under condemnation. The blood of Jesus takes care of me.

I may sin 25 times a day, but it's okay. I'll keep on sinning till Christ comes. And I'm cleansed in the blood of Christ. I'm accepted. I'm saved once. I'm saved forever. And he looks happy. What a shock he will get when Christ comes again.

And he discovers that he was probably not even saved. His attitude to sin indicated that he was not saved. See, one mark of a person who has repented is not that he stopped sinning. No, but his attitude to sin has changed.

By that, you can make out whether you've really repented, all of you. Please examine yourself. It's not that you stopped sinning. That will not happen till Christ comes. But your attitude to every sin has changed, even the smallest little thing.

You get convicted. It may take you many years to overcome something. It doesn't matter. But your attitude to it is, I will never tolerate that in my life. If you have that attitude, you've really repented.

But don't condemn yourself. Because we live in a flesh in which dwells nothing good. And God, in his great wisdom, when we got converted, did not remove the flesh. I've sometimes thought about that. When we were converted, that desire for sinning which we had before is gone.

We still sin, but the desire for it is gone. It's one mark of being born again. That's called the old man. The old man is this desire to sin all the time. That's gone. The old man is killed. There's a new man that's come inside us, when we are born again, that does not want to sin.

It may sin. But that's because it's not strong enough. It's like I often use the illustration of this. The lusts in the flesh are like a gang of robbers, who are coming to the door of your heart saying, let me in, let me in.

I want to steal your joy. I want to steal your peace. I want to steal your purity. I want to steal everything that's good, everything that's godly. I want to steal it. And the old man, in the olden days, when we were unconverted, said, yeah, come right in.

And the old man, who's like a servant, would just open the door and say, come in, and all these lusts come in and make us commit all types of sins. But then one day god killed the old man, when we were born again.

And now we are a new man. The old man is the one who wanted to sin. Now we don't want to sin. See, when people come to me for baptism, the question I ask is, do you want to sin again? Not, will you sin?

That nobody can say, I'll never sin. Do you want to? Want to, that's the question. Do you want to sin again? Do you want to live a holy life? That want to is the new man. Not, I will not sin, but I don't want to sin.

I hope you understand the difference. You understand that there's no condemnation. I don't want to sin. That's a new man. So even though the new man doesn't want to sin, when these lusts come in, how do they come in then?

They come in because the new man is not strong enough to keep the door shut. He wants to keep it shut. But he's weak. Why is he weak? He doesn't eat. He doesn't exercise. He doesn't read the bible. He's not quick to acknowledge whenever the holy spirit convicts him.

So he's weak. See, if you don't read the scriptures and you're not quick to set right a sin that you committed by confessing it to God or asking forgiveness from someone, you'll never become strong. See, that's the way we get muscles.

You need two things. You need to eat food and you need to do exercise to be strong. So the new man doesn't keep the door shut and so the lusts still come in. So that's how believers sin, but there's a difference because believer doesn't want to sin, but he still sins.

Then he condemns himself. So the thing we need to do is say, Lord, I want to strengthen this new man. I want to read God's word and be strong. That's how we will make progress and then there is no condemnation.

Following Christ Through Progressive Growth

Now turn with me where Paul, Paul is such a wonderful example. You see the reason why God has given us two examples in the new testament. Jesus who said follow me many times and Paul also said follow me.

As I follow Christ in 1 corinthians 11 verse 1 Philippians 3 17 Paul said follow me and not only me. He says all these others who have walking in the same way follow me. It's a great example. Was he saying that because he was perfect?

No. In the same Philippians 3 he says I'm not perfect. How can a man who's not perfect say follow me? Yeah, Paul had the boldness to say that. I've not become like Christ, but I say follow me because I'm following him.

It's like saying that Jesus has reached the top of the mountain. He's perfect. I haven't reached there. I'm climbing but you can see my footsteps. You can follow me. We're going in the same direction.

And you know anyone who you are spiritually older than, spiritually more mature than, you should be able to say that person follow me as I'm following Christ. Follow me as I'm following Paul who's following Christ or follow me as I'm following this brother who's following Paul who's following Christ.

It's a stream of people climbing this mountain towards perfection. And you see anybody in that line who's pursuing perfection follow that example. So in Romans chapter 8, see what it says. Again that word condemnation.

There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Or as King James version also says who walk not out of the flesh, but after the spirit. Yeah, that means who do not want to sin. In other words, there is no condemnation.

If you don't want to sin, there is no condemnation and yet see we must see the previous verse always and sometimes the chapter division makes us forget that there is a verse before it. Listen to this.

The last part of 25, 725. On the one hand with my mind, I serve the law of God. That means with my mind, I don't want to sin even once for the rest of my life. I think that's true of most of us here. But I find on the other hand the law of sin is still in my members and I'm sinning occasionally.

I don't want to but I do it. But there is no condemnation. How is that? It's amazing with my mind. I'm serving the law of God with my flesh the law of sin, but still there's no condemnation. Because it depends on which direction your mind is set.

If you understand this, you'll be free from condemnation for the rest of your life and it will liberate you. It's liberated me. I'll tell you what it's liberated me from for many many years now. From condemnation and from discouragement.

Condemnation always brings discouragement. And I used to be one of the most discouraged people in the early years of my Christian life before I understood what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and what the new covenant was all about.

And I understood the distinction between walking in the Holy Spirit and obeying God's convictions and yet recognizing I have a flesh in which dwells no good thing. So I want to try and explain this in a little way to you so that it will deliver you from condemnation.

Rejecting Satan's Accusations

Remember condemnation is a weapon of Satan with which he will try to prevent your progress in the Christian life. Year after year after year, you'll find you're sitting in the same class defeated by the same sins because you're condemning yourself.

And the devil is called the accuser of the brethren. He's there to accuse you day and night and he will try and put that spirit in you so that you begin to accuse others. Beware of the spirit of accusing others particularly in areas where you think you're okay.

You will never speak against another person in an area where you yourself are defeated. Supposing you're defeated in some areas, you'll never criticize people who are doing that. But you think of the areas where you're not defeated.

Those are the areas where you tend to criticize others. But the Lord says before you do that, see if you have never sinned in any area without sin, then open your mouth. Otherwise keep your mouth shut.

I'll tell you something. It's much safer to keep your mouth shut. Much much safer. You'll progress a lot in your Christian life. If you stop making accusations against others, stop condemning others and use your mouth to bless others, to say something that will encourage them instead of always looking for some fault to find in somebody to tear them down.

And very often if you examine your heart, you'll find that it's because you got something against that person that you say that. Not that you hate him or her but you don't like that person. And because you don't, not very happy for some reason, maybe that person said something against you or your family or something like that and you've never forgotten it.

It's terrible. This memory can destroy your life. You got to say, well, I'm going to forgive that person. I'm not even going to bother about what that person said. Okay. Treat them like little child who did something stupid.

We don't hold something against a child because they did something stupid. I'll tell you, your life will progress tremendously. Please listen. If you learn one quality, what's written at the back here?

Mercy, Authority, and Responsible Correction

Be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you. I remember we had this in the old building as well. And when brother Ian was asking me what word should be put up there at the back, I said, do you know the biggest temptation that people pursuing holiness have?

We preach holiness perhaps more than any other church in Bangalore or perhaps even in India. What is the biggest temptation for people who pursue holiness? I said it is being unmerciful to others. Where do I learn that?

From the Pharisees. I mean the sinful people in Israel did not want to condemn that woman caught in adultery. It's the Pharisees. Those who pursue righteousness like us are the ones who are in greatest danger of being unmerciful and condemning others.

And we are the ones who need to hear Jesus saying, he who is without sin cast the first stone. Have you heard it? I've heard it clearly. It doesn't mean I don't correct people. I have children who grew up in my home.

Of course, I corrected them. I didn't say I'm correcting you because I'm perfect. No, it's because God gave me a responsibility as a father to correct them. But I never go around correcting other people's children because God has not given me that responsibility.

But the other area is when if I'm an elder in a church, I have to correct people and that may include children as well sometimes because I have responsibility over them as an elder. Then I have a responsibility to correct them and as far as possible to correct them privately.

Not to humiliate them publicly. I mean even my own children, I would never humiliate them before guests and punish them publicly. No, that would be bad. So we must recognize before you pass an opinion on someone or try to correct someone, is that person under your authority?

Do you have some responsibility for that person? Maybe you're a manager or a supervisor in a factory or an office, then you have to correct people under you. Yes. You have to rebuke them, correct them, even fire them from the job if they are inefficient.

That's okay. The question you need to ask yourself is, has God given you some authority over that person? You're a father or a mother, definitely over your children. But don't go judging other people's children.

God has not given you any responsibility for them. If you want pray for them, that's fine. Don't judge them and condemn them. So often we have opinions in our mind. We can't help that. We need to have opinions.

Otherwise, we don't have discernment. We need to discern, is this person, for example, people come to join our church. As an elder, I need to have discernment. What type of person is this guy? What is he coming for?

But I don't have to judge him. I don't have to condemn him. And you may have opinions of different people in the church, but you don't have to express them. The moment you express them, you're condemning someone as if you're a perfect person and you have no authority over that person.

It's very, very important, dear brothers. And if you follow this, I'll tell you, you yourself will be free from condemnation and you'll go from, you'll get promoted from one standard to another standard in the Christian life.

And if you find that some of you are not making progress in your own Christian life, ask yourself, is it because the spirit of condemnation is there in you, which is condemning you and you're condemning others?

Romans 7 and the Struggle With Sin

So, how is it with Paul? He said, in my flesh is a law of sin, but in my mind is the law of God. That's why there's no condemnation. In my mind, I never want to sin again. But this flesh makes me, sometimes when I don't even want to do it, I lose my temper.

Or I don't want to do it and I slip up. So that's what Paul says. Let me read to you from Romans 7, the previous chapter, which leads to Romans 8 verse 1. It's very important to understand this is a very, very difficult passage for many people who try to interpret it.

I'll tell you what most Christians say. Most Christians say, when Paul says, let me read this first to you. Romans 7, 14 onwards. We know the law is spiritual, but I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin.

Not I'm sold into bondage to sin, my flesh is sold into bondage to sin. That's what he's saying. I am a flesh which is sold into bondage to sin. What I'm doing, I don't understand. I'm not practicing what I would like to do.

I'm doing the very thing I hate. Do you find yourself in agreement there? That sometimes you do the thing you hate and you're doing what you don't want to do? And verse 16, if I do the thing I don't want to do, then I agree with the law that it is good.

And if that is the case, it's not I doing it. It's not me doing it. It's sin which dwells in me doing it. It's not me. And then he says, I know that nothing good dwells in my flesh. The willing is present.

That means I want to do it, but the actual doing, I can't do it. You find yourself in agreement there? The good that I want to do, I don't do. The very evil that I don't want to do, I end up doing. And if that's the case, I'm doing what I don't want to do, then it's not me.

It's sin that dwells in me. Still, then he says, I find a principle. I want to do good. I agree with the law of God, verse 22, but I find another law in my members always warring against this law of my mind and making me a prisoner to that other law of sin.

Oh, wretched man that I am. How will I ever be set free? I'll tell you what most Christian Bible scholars and preachers and everybody else say. They say that is Paul describing his unconverted life. It's not true.

Be honest. Don't some of those verses refer to you and me? And that's because people have not been careful in studying the scriptures. Paul writes the book of Romans very systematically. He doesn't jump from sixth standard to fourth standard.

No. From sixth standard, he goes to seventh standard. What I mean is from Romans 6, he goes to Romans 7. And Romans 6 here, this wonderful verse which says, Sin will not have dominion over you. Romans 6 14.

You're not under law. You're under grace. You come there and then what's he doing in chapter 7? Going back? No. He's going progressively. I'll tell you how Romans is. Romans chapter 1. The world full of sinners.

Romans chapter 2. Religious people are sinners. Romans chapter 3. All are sinners. And Romans chapter 4. We are justified in Christ. Romans chapter 5. We are accepted by God. The blood of Christ has cleansed us.

Good. Then you go further. Romans chapter 6. Now we go to another step. Sin does not rule over us. We are going higher and higher. And Romans 8. We come to a wonderful life in the Holy Spirit. In between is Romans 7.

He's not going backwards. He's going forwards. Romans 7 comes after sin shall not have dominion over you. So then how do you understand Romans 7? One simple sentence. Let me show it to you in Romans 7.

Then you'll understand Romans 7 and you'll understand today more than what many Bible scholars have understood. Romans 7 .15. What I'm doing, I do not understand. That is the introduction to all that he says in those verses.

In other words, he says, I'm not agreeing with it. I'm not agreeing with what I'm doing. I hate it. It is unconscious sin in me that's making me do it. So in our life, there are two types of sin. One is conscious sin.

That means when you do it, you know it is wrong. Then there's unconscious sin, which makes you sometimes do something without even realizing it. Then afterwards, you realize it's wrong. But it's almost something you don't have control over.

And in all of us, there is unconscious sin, which we discover more and more as we walk with the Lord. So now let me read that passage. He says, I don't understand it. Because there's something in me that's making me do what I never want to do.

I hate it. And if I hate it, that means I agree with God's law. So there's something in me, he says, this flesh in which dwells nothing good. And that, when he thinks about that, as I just read it, he feels so bad about it.

He says, I'm such a wretched man. How will I ever be free? If you constantly have a longing to be free from all sin, you're on the right path. Never condemn yourself. If a day comes in your life, when you don't have a longing to be free from all sin, 100%, backsliding has started.