How to Be Free From Condemnation

I want you to turn with me please to Romans in chapter 5. There's so much in the word of God that 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 say about a storybook.

I've read it. I've been reading the Bible for 58 years and I 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 5 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.

Transgression is referring to Adam. But by 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 physically a child of Adam and it is in our system. We inherit the flesh of Adam which is a sinful flesh.

And we 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 saying, yeah, 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.

One sin. The result was condemnation. Now what I want to share with you today is about condemnation and justification.

Some of you think you know it. Well, if you know it, I hope you know it better today. But many I fear do not know it.

So I'm going to go very slowly. Through one person came condemnation. Who was 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, it'll reign. It'll make you a ruler in life through Jesus Christ. You know if you really understand the import of just these 2-3 verses 15-18 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 increased when Jesus came grace abounded all the more.

So just as sin has reigned in death 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 going to 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? God 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 for 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 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 the current flows but you pull it out, the 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 is very upset with you and angry with you and He's 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 lies the devil keeps telling you. The devil is 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 uses the same word. Genesis 3.4 exactly like Jesus said God said you will surely die.

The devil says you shall surely not die You have 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 your sins are forgiven the devil can say you're 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 earth to stone people and when all the people wanted to stone her were 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 try 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've 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'm 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 the God of my fathers that people call they call Jesus a heretic they call 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 are struggling for victory over sin do not come to it because they are trying to go to the second step before they've taken 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 or from preachers who are

legalists who try to make 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 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 will 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 some other group I never say to him it will go badly with you never never never if I meet him on the road I

only ask him one question brother I hope you are following Jesus wherever you go that's all I want to know I never ask 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 want to live a 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 that's the 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 it very 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 you got to read them together Hebrews 3 12 to 14 take care brothers these are born again believers because it says in verse 1 they are holy brothers partakers of heavenly calling he's writing to holy brothers who are partakers of heavenly calling 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 fall away from the living God well that depends on whether you believe the Bible or whether you believe all the different preachers who are 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 fall away 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 verse 12 that you don't get an evil unbelieving heart and fall away from the living God I want to take care 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 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 that's the only thing 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 would 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 everyday 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 doesn't need your help to judge anybody he doesn't need any assistant judges leave it to him there's no need for you if you want to do something pray for that person don't just go spreading stories about him to other people or her you will not accomplish anything thereby except destroy yourself 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 their 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 is dressed immodestly, it's not going to 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 are 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 don't you think it will be good if she dresses a little more modestly that's the

way to do it instead of going to somebody and say hey 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 conversations I will tell you why, because God treats us the way we treat other people after 58 years I have discovered one thing God always treats 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, he has not yet become Christ like he has

not yet reached heaven, there is 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 give a 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 a hand of encouragement, say something good say something that will help them to face life more boldly, face 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 will be no more today when you die, for 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, it is obvious the hardening comes through deceitful sins deceitful sins 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 are not an overcomer in your relationship with your wife please humble yourself, don't try to talk too much spiritual language and give exhortations to others which you are not following in your own life just say brother please pray for me I am 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 in your own home let's humble ourselves, God gives grace to the humble when he sees you are so proud and try to give exhortations to people when you yourself are in a pathetic condition 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 how senior you are, you are in danger of hypocrisy all the time you are not in danger of hypocrisy with your worldly friends in your place of work there you are not a hypocrite, you are in danger of hypocrisy in CFC with CFC believers you are 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 especially when people get much older they don't have much control over the quality of their breath because their body system has all become weak a lot of older people just have bad breath, you can't do anything about it but they are not aware of it very often themselves when you are younger you may not have such a problem but pride is like that you are 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 a spiritually sensitive person who is mature can see pride in a person very easy, but you may not be aware of it yourself I have met numerous believers like this I can meet a person for 5 minutes, a total stranger a believer who claims to be a believer for 5 minutes and I can see where he stands I mean that's because I have met so many believers but they are not aware of it there are people who come to some of our churches who want to take over their churches 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 have actually had to tell some people in some of our churches watch out for this guy let him sit at the back seat but don't let him ever have any influence

in this church put him out if you find he is 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 it becomes thinner but you still haven't got to 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 you 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 won't 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'll never dirty their hands to clean the toilets and 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 going to 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 used 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 exalt 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 said 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've 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've often heard me say that you must never go and correct a brother if you have not encouraged him first,

before you go to correct a brother ask yourself have you ever prayed for him and encouraged him if not, keep your mouth shut you've 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 he's saying so many things this, this, this but he can't see anything you know why he 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 encourage one another and like that if you hold

on, verse 14 Hebrews 3, 14 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 or 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 there, people taking each other to court after the breaking of bread some people would not share their food with others, the poor people, it was a terrible church they were all speaking in tongues without any interpretation Paul said you fellows are mad people coming into your church will 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 say when I go to some churches I say these guys are mad they're mad according to 1 corinthians 14.23 but anyway if you don't know that verse you must remember it if everybody speaks in tongues 1 corinthians 14.23 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 1 corinthians 1.4 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 are not lacking in any gift awaiting eagerly the revelation of 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 his son Jesus Christ our Lord and I say hey Paul hang on, do you know whom you are writing to are you writing to Ephesians or Corinthians Paul says I know, Corinthians then he says, 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, chapter 3 verse 3 you've got jealousy, you've got strife you're walking like men and

listen to this, chapter 4 verse 21 shall I come to you with a rod like a father, shall I give you a spanking shall I come to you with a 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 lot 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 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 husbands, 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 or wife that is a proof that we are pathetically poor and some of you who earn 100,000 rupees 50,000 rupees, 30,000 rupees a month you're poor in the most important thing of learning how to encourage your wife or your husband it doesn't come easily but then without encouraging you, correct, this is wrong that is wrong, that is wrong, it's 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 he 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 are 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 around condemning others correction is different correction can be as strong as what Paul

says you are fleshly, you are worldly I have to come to you with a rod yeah that is godly man's correction but he begins 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 is constantly encouraging others one word of correction comes clearly on the blackboard it produces results if you don't believe that, believe me, try that next time with your children, with your marriage partners begin with encouragement and don't tell lies don't say to your wife, you are the most beautiful person in the world and all that type of thing, I am not asking you to tell lies like that be honest say to me, you

are the most beautiful person, that's right but don't tell lies you are so intelligent, I wonder if anybody is more intelligent than you because they know that you are just trying to tell lies be honest you know if the meal 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 always saying, what a rotten person you are do you hear God saying you do that? that's not God by the way, that was the 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 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 in those days we didn't have any CFC conferences we were just meeting in our house, but some other place I was staying somewhere and I was going to speak and there was 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 discourage me 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 always 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 is not telling you to do better, he is 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 verse, a beautiful verse lot of people 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 you know what is the word for believers, John 3.17 next verse a 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 his son into the world to judge the world but that the world must be saved through him not to condemn you, not to judge you but to save you do you find some filthy rotten 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 has 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 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 he must have been about 8 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 do you think I expected you to do go and work as a coolie or laborer somewhere earn the money and buy the bread and come no, 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 and say 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 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 one is Acts chapter 24 and verse 16 keep a good 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've 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 or 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've done that I've done that because I'm like you, I've been 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 two illustrations if a thorn gets into your foot, take it out immediately if you fall down on the road, get up immediately don't lie down there and pray, pray 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 God is 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 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 Jesus said there were two men, verse 10 who went into the temple to pray Luke 18 verse 10, verse 11, the Pharisee now read this carefully, the Pharisee stood and prayed to himself, Oh 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 is listening, because my conscience is not clear that can often happen in public prayer Oh God some wonderful things, but you're only praying to the congregation to hear you, I want to try a fantastic prayer God is not listening a lot of prayers are prayed to the congregation or to yourself they don't connect with God, and that's why we say, Oh Lord why that prayer was not answered, you never prayed to him you never prayed to him you took out 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 a lot of our prayers are just to ourselves turn to 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 if there's sin in your heart, if you've not confessed your sin to him if you've hurt somebody and you've not confessed to that person the Lord will not even pick up the telephone you can keep on speaking on that phone speak for hours, but the line is not connected God hasn't picked up the phone because you've 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're 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 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, 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 taught it, 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 10th time, the 100th time as I've often done, I want you to be good to me here is someone who is in a lower social level than me in my house, I want to be good to that person give them an unexpected bonus ever 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 are 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'm 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 the kind, you will show yourself kind last part of verse 26 but with the crooked, you will show yourself smart or astute, you can't outsmart God I'll tell you something with the kind, God shows himself kind you want God to be kind to you be kind to others, I've seen parents who are very lenient with their own children, very strict with other people's children I won't be surprised if your children go astray be good to other people's children, always God will 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 is 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 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 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 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 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 read the Bible half an hour in the morning, much easier to read the Bible some people ease their conscience, I've read the Bible no, that's not all, even if you didn't read the Bible treat other people the way God treated you, keep your conscience clear 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 used to read the Bible to ease my conscience oh, I didn't read the Bible, so maybe I'll have an 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 studied the Bible is I

said, 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'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, oh 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 I'm sure a number of you know this song he did not come to judge the world he did not, he's 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 the faith rise in your heart that that filthy habit which other people don't know which you are hiding from others, he will save you from it and when we call him savior, not just forgiver 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, then we glorify his name

let's sing that he did not come to judge the world he did not come to blame he did not only come to seek it was to save he came and when we call him savior and when we call him savior, and when we call him savior, then we call him by his name we do not have the right to judge we are not here to blame we are only called to bless and help and love in Jesus name then we glorify his name now we gotta learn it, we'll sing it just one more time so that you can sing it, I sing that song to myself many times, 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 we do not have the right to judge we are not here to blame we are only called to bless and help and love in Jesus name

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 side against the devil all the time help us to be those who encourage one another everyday we pray in Jesus name, Amen