Who Is He That Condemneth?

Romans 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

I love this precious passage of Scripture! The Bible asks a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question has an obvious answer, but the questioner asks a rhetorical question to lay emphasis to the point. The implied answer is that NO ONE CAN CONDEMN US!!! Do you know why they cannot condemn us? The Holy Bible tells us the answer in our text verse from Romans 8:34—IT IS BECAUSE CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ON THE CROSS, AND IS RISEN, AS OUR INTERCESSORY HIGH PRIEST! Jesus died on the cross as our SACRIFICIAL LAMB and He raised up as our heavenly HIGH PRIEST! Pastor Jack Hyles explains this important Biblical truth in his sermon titled: “IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN.”

“The Devil will make you guilty about your past... You're not worthy to serve God, but neither is anybody else worthy to serve God, and so God's gotta have unworthy people serving Him... That's one reason why we should do everything we can to salvage people.” —a beautiful quote from an MP3 sermon by Dr. Jack Hyles titled: “If Thou Should Mark Iniquities, Who Could Stand?”

“THE GOSPEL” is that Jesus DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED and three days later He bodily RESURRECTED from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). BELIEVE IT OH SINNER, and you are instantly, irrevocably and eternally saved!!! The second spiritual birth is as irreversible as the first physical birth! If saved, always saved! Once a sinner is born-again, there is no risk of ever being lost again. If saved, always saved!

Now, if that person some future day claims to no longer believe on Christ, it just proves that they never really believed at all. When a person is saved, God SEALS THEM with the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). ...

Ephesians 1:12-14, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Christianity began as a NEW BIRTH by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; when it went to Greece it became a PHILOSOPHY; when it went to Rome it became an ORGANIZATION; when it spread throughout Europe it became a CULTURE; and when Christianity came to America it became a BUSINESS!!! Jesus said in John 3:7, “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN”!

According to Romans 8:34b, Christ is seated at the right-hand of God the Father, “WHO ALSO MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US”! That is so beautiful and encouraging! Jesus is every believer's intercessory High Priest in Heaven (Hebrews 4:14-16). My friend, even if the whole world condemns you; even if every court in the world condemns you; even if you are found guilty and sentenced to multiple life-terms in prison or receive the death penalty—THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS!!! Romans 8:1a, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...” 

Once you receive God's free gift of forgiveness of sins, through faith alone in the 'GOOD NEWS' (GOSPEL) of Jesus Christ, your sins are forever gone! Psalms 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” I love that truth! You can get on a jet plane and travel east forever, and there will never come a time when you are going west. The same is true if you travel eastward. But you can only go so far north until you'll be headed south again. And contrawise, you can only go so far south until you'll be headed north again. EAST AND WEST NEVER MEET! And likewise, if you've placed your reliance in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your sins have been blotted out and forever separated from you. Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

“You know the greatest difficulty and hindrance today, is not that people are not good enough. The great hindrance is they're not bad enough, to be saved!” —Pastor J. Vernon McGee, “Why The Gospel Is Not Preached Today”

All Believers Still Sin

Psalms 106:6, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.” King David had sinned horribly, conspiring to commit murder after impregnating a soldier's wife in an adulterous fling. Many of God's blessings departed from David. Sorrow became the norm in David's life. What evils David had done in secret, became openly known throughout the whole kingdom of Israel. David's neighbours avoided him in awkward fear. Some cast stones and dust upon him. David's enemies had a hey day! Yet, David realized that God's opinion was the only opinion that mattered at all! Psalms 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” This is exactly what Romans 8:34 teaches us, that is, no one can condemn us except God, and there is NO CONDEMNATION to those who have been washed in the sin-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1; 1st John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; 1st Peter 1:18-19). Thank God for the blood of Jesus!!!

“The Devil will make you guilty about your past... You're not worthy to serve God, but neither is anybody else worthy to serve God, and so God's gotta have unworthy people serving Him... That's one reason why we should do everything we can to salvage people.” —a beautiful quote from the MP3 sermon by Dr. Jack Hyles titled, “If Thou Should Mark Iniquities, Who Could Stand?”

It is important for every Christian believer to understand and always remember that, if we do choose to sin, God's grace will abound that much more, so that we can NEVER lose our eternal life or position in Christ as His redeemed child of God. Romans 5:20, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Isn't that precious? It sure is friend! Remember, we are not saved by our own righteousness, but by the imputed righteousness of God through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

“Church is a place where people should be able to hurt out loud. And I should be there to put my arms around those who are willing to hurt out loud.” —Evangelist Les Ollila, from the MP3 sermon, “The Judgment Seat Of Christ”

God's Harshest Judgment is Reserved for Those Who Deal Harshly With Sinners

The Bible's definition of a “hypocrite” is someone who considers another person a bigger sinner than them self. ...

Matthew 7:1-5, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

As we just read in the Holy Bible, God doesn't want us to berate, belittle, malign, attack, judge (condemn), degrade, criticize and continually throw someone else's past in their face, lest God deal the same hurtful and rotten way with us. There should be a desire in every Christian (God's unconditional love) that wants to forgive the mistakes and sins of others. Proverb:19:11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr.“When a person is condemned and goes to Hell, you don't go to Hell because of what you did. You don't go because you lied, you cussed, you drank, you smoked, you drugged; you don't go because you're a homosexual lesbian, adulterer; you don't go to Hell because of what you did, you go to Hell because of what you didn't do! You go to Hell because you did not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God! You go to Hell and you are rejected, and have God's judgment on you, because you refused to realize and embrace Jesus for Who He is!” —Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr., a truthful quote from the MP3 sermon, “Have You Been Born Again?” | MP3 | More MP3 Sermons By Pastor Jenkins Sr.

I am not saying that crimes ought to be ignored as if they hadn't happened. We ought not look the other way when a crime has been committed. However, if that person has been brought to justice and has since repented, who are we to condemn them for the rest of their life? To do so brings the judgment of God. In America, once you mess-up your life, people will try to keep you down permanently. Once you have a felony criminal record, you might as well go live in the storm drains under your city, because nobody will hire you (with very few exceptions). The world will drive you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. The world never meets anyone halfway on anything! The world is cold, unforgiving and cruel! 

The born-again Christian enjoys the gift of forgiveness that is obtained through the blood of Christ's cross, which supersedes all else. Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” God wants the Christian to RISE UP, knowing that you have been forgiven in Christ Jesus. I believe this is exactly what is meant in Hebrews 10:22, “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.” 

If you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, NO ONE can condemn you, so stop condemning yourself! Rest peaceful dear reader in the abundant forgiveness which salvation brings to every believer. Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” If you acknowledge being a guilty sinner in need of divine redemption, then simply BELIEVE the 'GOOD NEWS' of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and bodily resurrected from the dead three days later, and you will be instantly and eternally saved! You will be SAVED TO THE UTTERMOST!!! 

Redeeming The Time

“If there's anybody in the Bible that God had disdain for, it was those that had disdain for other sinners!” —an awesome quote from the MP3 sermon by Dr. Jack Hyles titled, “If Thou Should Mark Iniquities, Who Could Stand?”