Some Christians need a framework to put into place all the religious statements they profess, everything must fit into their beliefs, it must make sense to their carnal minds, they make lists of cross-references to support their personal beliefs in a system, they create their own human religious practices, they make Bible statements and holy laws their religion, they make themselves accountable to lists of requirements:
Resist the devil!
Be baptized!
Cleanse your hands!
Purify your hearts!
Work out your salvation!
Fast, tithe, pray without ceasing, turn from your wicked ways, forgive, repent!
REPENT AND SIN NO MORE OR YOU WILL BE DAMNED TO HELL!
Whereas one might say: I need gas in my car in order to drive.
That man is not blind to simple truth.
Another might say: I don’t have gas in my car so I am unworthy and am forbidden to drive unless I get some gas!
This man is blind to simple truth and is condemning himself.
Are you stating the truth or are you under condemnation?
We go back & forth with statements from the Bible like a ping-pong ball in our head.
Are you sure of your salvation in Christ? Do you have enough Scriptures to validate your assurance?
Or have you entered into the rest of Jesus Christ by the miracle of grace?
Jesus has made you enter into His faith by His blood and you can know that this is true because God Himself is working out His purposes through you. There is fruit. You were blind, now you see. You were in bondage, now you are free. You had fear, now you love. You were anxious, now you have peace. You were a slave to law, now you have assurance in Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself is the Author & Finisher of the faith in you. You have entered into His rest. You have ceased from your own works.
What is the essence of your faith? Is it Jesus Christ alone? What is your attitude? Is it freedom and peace or is it works and law?
“Not of works, less any man should boast.” Are you boasting about anything you are doing? Are you validating your own holiness?
John 3:16 – the context of this Scripture is:
"Lord, there’s nothing in me that’s able to live holy! I have tried and tried and keep failing! I need You!"
The blind man was asked how Jesus gave him sight and he answered, “I do not know! It was a miracle. I was blind and now I see!” It just happened and it could not be explained.
Something miraculous happened.
How did Jesus give you sight?
“I was blind, now I see.”
“I did not believe, now I do!”
“I could not obey, now I do!”
“I was striving, now I’m resting!”
"I was afraid, now I know nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus!"
"I doubted, now I trust Him!"
John 9:39
Jesus said to the Pharisees – “If you were blind, you would have no sin. Because you say you do see, so it proves your sin remains.”
These so-called enlightened ones who were in blindness professed they were the seeing ones, and that testified to Jesus that they did not see. They set up their own holy standards using Scripture and did not see that Jesus was God. They were their own gods using Scripture to validate their own system of beliefs.
Jesus came to shine Light on those condemned in their own darkness.
This is the judgment/condemnation/damnation – that the Light (Jesus) has come into the world and men loved darkness (their own blind beliefs) rather than Light (Jesus, the Truth) because their deeds are evil. Doing things in order to appear good and holy resists the Truth of Jesus Christ.
There is an operative darkness going on in the Christian realm. Many Christians need to be an agreement according to the flesh, they try to find others who agree with them to validate their belief system. They will vehemently attack those whose beliefs threaten to tear their religious system down.
The flesh wants to understand, the flesh wants some control, the flesh needs validation that they are doing something right. Otherwise, they will be condemned or damned. All their Scripture references make them more right than somebody else who believes differently. But it is impossible for the carnal mind to submit to God.The carnal mind will never be in agreement with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Those who believe in Jesus do not need an explanation. All they know is once they were blind, and now they see. It was a miracle that cannot be explained. They saw Jesus and it became a simple miracle of grace. They saw only that Jesus is Almighty God.
“I once was damned to hell (condemnation) and now I am entered into God’s kingdom (grace)!”
But he who practices the truth, comes to the Light that his deeds might be exposed.
Carnal man hates the Light because he knows that if he is exposed by God, he will come up short. We each within ourselves know the secrets we try to hide, the sinfulness of the flesh we are too humiliated to reveal. So some do things (works, obey laws) in order to validate that they are now obedient and holy before God.
A man lives under damnation when he is afraid to be exposed by God. He is living in fear of abandoning his belief system because he doesn’t see the miracle of grace through Jesus Christ. He does not understand that God is in control and man continues to try to validate himself with works and adherence to regulations.
This is the damnation – “I will be condemned to hell if I am not able to be perfect. So I will deny I am blind and instead will find Scriptures to support that what I do now makes me acceptable to God.”
This man lives in fear of displeasing and of being rejected by God.
This is the reality of grace - “I was condemned to hell and now I have entrance into the Kingdom of God!” Why? Because of the miracle of grace through Jesus Christ! No explanation. Just truth.
Nobody is able to judge you more harshly than you judge yourself. Your own heart condemns you when you say, “I must do this and that to please God!” You damn yourself to the law.
There is something that will fill us up, a completeness, a rest, a perfect peace, and that is Jesus Christ. John 3:16 is a miracle!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God loves you so much that He sent Jesus Christ His Son to die on the Cross that if you would just trust Him, you would see He will never condemn you but has given you eternal life BY HIS SPIRIT WITHIN YOU! You will never be separated from God! Nothing will ever separate you from God because the Spirit of Jesus Christ reigns in you. It is a miracle of grace! There is no other explanation. It defies human understanding.
God saved you from your worst enemy – YOU!
I am (the old man) crucified with Christ Jesus, nevertheless I am alive, not the old me, but Christ Jesus lives in me, and the life I am living now in this present body I am living through the faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me!
So does grace give us liberty to sin? No, God forbids that. God the Father won’t allow you to sin willfully because He will chastise you in love and correct you. You no longer have to fear punishment by God because Jesus took the punishment for you. If you fall, He will pick you up. If you start to condemn yourself again, Jesus will be your Attorney (your Advocate) and prove your innocence by His payment on the Cross. The Lord will renew your mind and make righteousness more desirable to you than evil. He will teach you that sin drags you back to that mindset of death and shame. God will teach you to dislike evil. The Lord will complete what He started in you. God will finish his work in you and you can trust in Him to do it.
The old man being judged vs those who stand in the light
Whatever is not of faith – is that my choice? Grace makes us free not only form our own judgment but free from the judgment of others. We are all parts of one Body (Christ), we are all weak in some areas, we are all strong in some areas, some more mature than others, some are brand new babes. We all have various likes and dislikes, we all have various talents, we all have different life & family situations. Don’t compare yourselves to one another and judge those who are different than you. If someone isn’t doing exactly what you are, the grace of God makes us one body anyway.
The reality of the grace of Jesus Christ is this: one brother celebrates this, this sister does not eat that, another sister dances to this music, that brother does not want to follow any traditions.
Happy is the one who doesn’t condemn himself/herself in what they approve. Jesus set us free to partake of life in the way He created us without fear of condemnation. Accept each other in the love of Christ.
The man who is in fear keeps asking himself, “Am I sinning? Am I sinning?” His heart is condemning him. He is afraid he will displease God and will push an agenda, condemning others with the thing he is condemning himself to. Jesus died to set this man free from his judgment upon himself.
We are all in this thing together. The Light, Jesus Christ, is a Living thing. He is the Vine, we are the branches. Jesus is working through us and producing the fruit. All we need to do is rest in that reality and be glad that we are one with Him.
