"The key to understanding the Bible is to look for Jesus in the Bible. Jesus is the hero of the Bible. If you read the Bible and don't find Jesus, re-read it! The Bible has one hero, His name is Jesus; one villain, that is Satan; one problem, that is sin; one solution, that is salvation. That is what the Bible is all about." -Dr. Adrian Rogers

Monday, July 13, 2015

What It Really Means to Be Condemning

Do you remember the story of Jonah? I do. I remember learning about Jonah and the really large water-dwelling creature (whether it was a fish or a whale is beside the point) when I was no more than four or five years old in Sunday school. I remember learning about Jonah running from God, being swallowed by the fish, and then later being spat out to go and do what God had originally told him to do. However, I don’t remember being given the in-depth reasoning for why Jonah made the decisions that he made. Perhaps it was because a four-year-old isn’t capable of grasping the concept of being angry at the mercy and forgiveness of God. But whatever the reason, it is a story that is most certainly important for us to discuss today, especially in light of what is being taught in many a modern church in today’s world.

In the culture we live in today, it is becoming more and more difficult to call sin sin without being labeled as “condemning” and “judgmental,” and it has become evident to me that many within the church even have become greatly confused as to what these terms really mean. If we look at Scripture close enough, I think we’ll find that to call others to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is far from condemning. Therefore let’s look back at the life of Jonah to see what a truly condemning spirit looks like.

We find in the book of Jonah that God called Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach a message of repentance. However, instead of going to Nineveh as God had commanded him to do, Jonah fled to Tarshish because he knew that, if he went to Nineveh and preached repentance, the people there would repent and turn to God and find mercy and forgiveness. The problem was Jonah was angry with the people of Nineveh and didn’t want to see them repent and be forgiven. No. Jonah wanted nothing more than to see the people of Nineveh eradicated from the face of the earth forever. This, my friends, is a spirit of condemnation.

Indeed, many people will say to you, “What right do you have to condemn me”? However, in response, you can say, “I can’t condemn you anymore than you already are.” John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If the person you’re talking to does not know Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life, you don’t have to condemn them because they’re condemned already. All you have to do is convince them of their sinfulness and then lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus. It’s as simple as that.

Perhaps you’re here today, and you’ve never acknowledged Jesus as the Lord of your life. If that’s you, let me invite you to come do so before it is eternally too late for you. If you die in your sin, you will spent eternity in Hell separated from God forever; however, if you will turn from all sin and trust Christ alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

No comments:

Post a Comment

This blog is intended to help you. I want to be able to post all comments and questions you might have, so I ask that you follow a few rules in order for me to do that. Any questions/comments that don't follow these guidelines will be thrown out:

1. Absolutely no profane, blasphemous, or immoral comments.

2. Comments containing links will not be approved.

3. Please keep your comments relevant to the post on which you are commenting. All irrelevant comments will be rejected. Remember, your comments should be helpful to other readers as well.

Thank you so much for reading!