In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is not condemnation. The work of the Holy Spirit is not to condemn the children of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us, make us aware, bring us to accountability, bring us to reality, bring us to acknowledge, bring us to confession, bring us to repent, bring us to learn a lesson, and bring us to be edified and learn from our failure, not to condemn us. Condemnation is not the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

Guest (Male): When you become a Christian, all your sins are forgiven. So what's happening when you feel unforgivable and unworthy of God's love? Today's edition of In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, brings practical insights on forgiveness from a conversation between Jesus and a woman accused of adultery. His response to her clearly reveals God's attitude toward us.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I want you to imagine something. You have just sinned against God, a gross sin against God, and you're standing in His presence and He's looking at you. Let's say that Christ is looking at you. What kind of facial expression would you imagine that Jesus would have if you were looking into His face and you knew that He knew you had just committed that sin?

Well, your answer would probably reveal a couple of things about you. First of all, it would reveal your relationship to Him. And secondly, it would reveal your understanding of the person of Christ and His reaction to one of His children. Sometimes our feelings are condemnation. We feel condemned when we disobey God, when we stumble, when we fall, when we make mistakes. And you may say, well, should we not feel condemned if we've sinned against God?

Well, let's see what God says in His Word. I want you to turn to a passage of scripture in John chapter eight that I believe answers the question about those feelings of condemnation that we have as the children of God. The Bible says in chapter eight, verse one, "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And more than likely He spent the night out there praying and talking to the Father. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them."

"And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do You say?' And they were saying this testing Him in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground."

"But when they persisted in asking Him, that is the same question, He straightened up and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she had been in the midst."

"And straightening up, Jesus said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?' And she said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go your way; from now on sin no more.'" Now, what is this that Christ, who did not question the fact that this woman was caught in the very act of adultery, what is this that Jesus could say to a person who is caught in the very act of adultery, did not deny that she was guilty?

No one else seemed to deny that she was guilty. She did not plead her case. She just stood there and Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." Do you ever get those feelings of feeling condemned? That is, it's a little difficult to identify exactly why you feel condemned. That is, condemnation is alienation and it is separation. And condemnation places us in the category of being an enemy of God, that is, we're on the opposite side of Him, that something has gone on that God and us are no longer together. But condemnation speaks of separation and judgment and wrath and all the rest.

What do you do when you get those feelings of condemnation, that you feel condemned? Well, I want us to look at this story for a few moments, and then I want to talk about these feelings, where they come from, and that is, what is the proper response for a believer when you and I feel condemned? And what is it that you and I do that would cause us to feel condemned? Or let me put it this way, is there ever a reason for a child of God to feel condemned about anything?

The first response is probably, there sure is when you sin against God and commit adultery or murder or steal, lie, or cheat or violate the Ten Commandments. Surely you ought to feel condemned. Well, let's see if that's what God teaches about His children. Let's look at what's happening. More than likely Jesus has been out on the mountainside there in the garden praying all night and coming in that morning to sit down again and to teach in the temple and the people flocking in to hear what He had to say because they never heard anybody like this.

And even in the midst of while He was teaching them, here come the Pharisees and the scribes in, and they shove this woman in the midst and say to Him, not because they're concerned about her, not because they want to know what justice is, not because they want the laws of the land upheld, but simply to entrap Him. Notice what they ask Him. They say, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do You say?"

The law of Moses said exactly that. And if you'll turn to a couple of passages in Leviticus chapter 20, look there for just a moment. Verse 10 of Leviticus says, "If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." What I want you to see in this passage is this, that's the law, that's what Moses said. But isn't it interesting that when they brought this woman, there was something missing?

And what was missing is the man. Where was the man? It took two to commit adultery. And if you'll notice the Bible says that she was caught in the very act. They only bring the woman and present her before Jesus and say, the law of Moses says she should be stoned to death, what do You say? Now Jesus was never caught in any dilemmas. That's what they attempted to do.

First of all, He couldn't set aside the law of Moses or that would have been a real problem for everybody, including Him. On the other hand, He could not have said, stone her to death because the Romans would have been in the middle of all of that and that would have put Him against Pilate and the whole Roman government. And you of course know what His response was, not because He felt that He was trapped, but that was their purpose. They were trying to trap Him. They wanted to kill Him. They wanted to get rid of Him because He was stirring up the people and they were beginning to follow Him. They knew that no one had ever taught like this.

And the people were beginning to sense something in Christ they didn't see in the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all of these folks. And so they said, never did a man teach like this. And so this seemed to be the trap from which there is absolutely no escape. Now let's think about those feelings of condemnation that come into your life and mine once in a while. Why is it we feel condemned? First of all, because of sin. Sin will make you feel condemned.

You say, well, shouldn't every person who sins against God feel condemned by God? Well, let's see. But one of the reasons we feel condemned is because of sin in our life, so our conscience smites us and we're convicted of sin and so we feel condemned. A second reason we may have feelings of condemnation is the same as this woman, the accusation of others. People who see you commit a sin or who know something about your life, they're quick to condemn us, quick to accuse us, quick to judge us. Sometimes those judgments are false, sometimes they are real, that is, what they're accusing us of may be true.

And then of course, a third reason is when a person sins against God knowing that they sinned against God in the presence of omniscience, that is, you and I have never sinned against God outside the presence of God. You and I have never sinned against God outside the knowledge of God. You and I have never sinned against God outside the power of God. So that every single sin we've ever committed and every sin we will commit has always been in the awesome, holy presence of Almighty God.

Naturally we would have feelings of condemnation. Well, the question is, are those feelings legitimate? You say, well sure they're legitimate when you sin against God, naturally you feel condemned. Well, let me ask you this question. What is it that condemns us? You say, well, it's my conscience. Well, let's limit this just for a moment to believers. To believers who are still being condemned because of sins that are 20 years old, 30 years old, 10 years old, two weeks old, two days old. The feeling of condemnation, alienation from God because of sin.

The question is, is that legitimate? Is that the way God would have me feel, condemned? Well, I want you to turn to several passages of scripture and I want you to turn, if you will, first of all, on over to John chapter 16. And if you recall in the 16th chapter, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, the night before the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, these are some of the most precious chapters in all the Bible for believers.

Here He is reassuring His apostles now and He said to them in verse seven, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you," that is the Holy Spirit. "But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment; concerning sin because they do not believe in Me; concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged."

Now He says the work of the Holy Spirit is to condemn, right? That's not what He said, is it? The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is not condemnation. The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is conviction of sin. That is, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is to enlighten our minds and our spirits in order that you and I see our sin in the light of scripture. That is, that the conviction of the Holy Spirit is that when you and I see our sin, our disobedience and our rebellion in the light of what the scripture says, we are smitten in our heart, in our spirit with conviction.

The work of the Holy Spirit is not to condemn the children of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us, make us aware, bring us to accountability, bring us to reality, bring us to acknowledge, bring us to confession, bring us to repent, bring us to learn a lesson and bring us to be edified and learn from our failure, not to condemn us. Condemnation is not the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Now I want you to listen very carefully. Jesus did not condone her sin. Jesus did not condemn her. He would have condemned her behavior, but not her.

Instead of Jesus condemning her, the Bible says that Jesus died for her. Jesus at Calvary was condemned in your place and my place. He died with all the sin of all mankind upon Him. It was imparted to Him. It was imputed to Him, laid to His account in those moments. And when Christ went to Calvary, He took all of our judgment, all of our condemnation, all of our wrath. And that's why He cried out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Jesus in those moments was bearing the weight and the burden of the sin of the entire world so that every single believer from that moment on could stand in the presence of a holy God and know without a shadow of a doubt, we are not condemned, we have been justified, we have been redeemed, we have been reconciled once and for all, eternally, to a living God through the death of His son Jesus Christ.

That doesn't free me to sin. You know what that frees me to do? It frees me to walk obediently before God. Now let me ask you which is the worse sin. Is it a worse sin to be caught in the act of adultery, lying or stealing, cheating, or whatever it might be? Or is it a worse sin to know that you and I have been cleansed, washed, justified, redeemed, made a child of God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and then to turn around and sin against truth, sin against grace, sin against Christ, sin against God, sin against love, sin against holiness, sin against mercy, sin against gentleness, and go on our way.

You see, if your heart's right, you're not going to go out and sin against God and say, well, you know, don't have to feel condemned. I didn't say you wouldn't be convicted. I didn't say anything about the fact that you wouldn't be disciplined because you see, when you and I sin against God, if we've been saved by the grace of God, the work of the Holy Spirit within us is to convict us of that sin, but that's not being condemned. You see, being convicted and confessing and repenting and making restitution and looking for the lesson that God is in the process of teaching me in this, and then applying it to my heart, and then using my own failure as a tool to share my faith and witness to others and encourage them and build them up.

There's a lot of difference in that and simply backing off and walking around, having a pity party about how awful I've been and my condemnation and my guilt and God couldn't love me and God's not going to answer my prayer, God doesn't, I'm alienated and separated from God. None of those things are scriptural. Now but old human nature says, but man, you are guilty before God. God the Father said this 2,000 years ago, the whole world lies guilty before Me, and I'm going to put all of their guilt on My sinless son.

And I'm going to separate Myself from Him and He's going to die on a Roman cross and in His death He's going to experience what He's never experienced before, the turning of My face away from Him. He's going to suffer hell for every single man and woman on the face of this earth, past, present and future, He will pay their debt. And therefore, you and I, when we sin against God, we certainly should be ashamed. You know why? Because we sin against love, unconditional love of One who has declared us not guilty.

Now here's the thing I want to say to you primarily. Many of you feel guilty and condemned because of your past. What I want you to understand is this. When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ confessing that to Him, God does not, listen carefully, because this is going to run across the theology of many of you. Listen carefully. When you sin against the Lord God, you confess that to Him, you repent of it, that is you turn away from it, you make restitution if necessary if you possibly can, you look for the lesson in your failure, you use that as a tool in your testimony for others.

But the one thing you don't do is to go out and try to do penance. You can't pay the church. You can't go out and try to win souls to get God back on your side. You know why? He's never been off your side since the moment you trusted Him as your Savior. He's not expecting you to pay Him back for anything that He's ever done for you. All He wants you to do, listen, is to walk obediently for your sake because He knows the tragedy of disobedience. And He wants you to walk uprightly before Him that He might be glorified and that others may see Him in your life.

You can lay down the feelings of condemnation once and for all right now, no matter what your past is like. That's why we sing, there is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. How can the sinless Son of the living God shed His blood and justify me as, justify me and redeem me 2,000 years later? That's why we say it's that wonder-working power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You can lay that shroud of condemnation down right now by confession and repentance.

And if you've never surrendered your life to Christ, by placing your trust in Him, asking Him for the forgiveness of your sin, receiving Jesus as your Savior and accepting His forgiveness. If you are a believer and your past has haunted you for years and years and years and you can't get it out of your system somehow, you can lay it down right now by faith if you will simply believe not your feelings, but the testimony of the Word of God. He says you've been washed, you've been cleansed, you've been justified. And God says of every single one of His children, listen to this, "Neither do I condemn thee; go and walk uprightly before Me." Condemnation is an awful kind of torment, but you don't have to continue in it if you'll take His word. Stop going by your feelings and take Him at His word.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. The Bible tells us there is no condemnation for those who trust in Jesus. That promise frees us to draw close to God with confidence. If you have more questions about forgiveness, eternity, or about how to live the Christian life, stop by our website intouch.org and listen again to this lesson at the link today on radio. You can also connect to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "Feeling Condemned." Again, that's intouch.org. To call or text, it's 1-800-INTOUCH. You can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

Is something causing you to doubt your salvation? You can learn to trust what God has said about you in His Word. Today's "Moment with Charles Stanley" is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this, that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God.

Guest (Male): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus as we all want to do. You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org. In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It's vital to have strong convictions based on the Word of God. He's working out things that you and I would never know about in our future.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming 24/7. Now watch this. In Touch Plus, streaming free on Local Now. You're listening to In Touch. It's not uncommon for Christians to doubt their salvation. Hear about the remedy for that in a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, feeling lost is not from God. Feeling lost is not from the Holy Spirit. Feeling lost is not from Jesus Christ. That is the devil creating doubt in your mind and heart. When you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, that's a one-time decision and forever and ever you are eternally secure in Christ. Naturally, Satan's going to try to create doubt. So here's what you do. You begin to read the scriptures till you find some of those verses, say for example, in Romans or John or whatever passage it may be. Paul makes it so simple when he says, "For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any person should boast."

So more than likely when you say you're feeling lost, then that's a feeling you're having, not based on the Word of God. One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is not only to convict you of sin, but to convict you of the awesome, eternal security that you have because you've placed your trust in Jesus. Sometimes we have to forget our feelings. You go back to the Word of God and ask this question, what does God say?

Guest (Male): Learn more about the perfect forgiveness Christ offers at intouch.org. If today's program gave you renewed motivation to obey God, we'd love to hear from you. Coming soon on In Touch, we'll hear a clear explanation of what it means to follow Christ. I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.