Joseph Prince - No Condemnation Leads to Divine Health
You know, we are hearing time and time and time and time again how, when people are free from condemnation, the result is a victorious life. It is not a life of licentiousness, all right? We have preached the gospel of grace, and we have always emphasized where grace prevails, you don't need Hagar, the law, to raise your own son. Sarah does not need the help of Hagar, her bondwoman, to raise her son Isaac. Amen, grace does not need the law. Grace transcends the law. Amen, the law says, "Thou shall not kill". Grace says, "Give, give and bless the person who is in need". Law doesn't say that. You can't find give in the Ten Commandments.
So, we are not advocating: when we say we are not under law, we are not saying go break the law. Nobody who hears me in their right minds comes to that conclusion. I said in their right mind. All right, but what we are saying is that grace can accomplish in you, through you what the law never can because the law presupposes your strength, your obedience, your effort. Grace says, "You have no strength. I am here to assist you, I am here to help you". No, "I am here to take over," amen. And let grace take over, amen church? Praise the name of Jesus.
Now I'm ready to preach. Romans chapter 6, verse 1. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound"? Now, this is the question I want to answer in this session. "Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any loner in it"? How shall we, the question is how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Now, this died to sin thing is a very interesting statement that has caused a lot of Christians to misinterpret this as saying we died to the influence and the power of sin. That's how we died, we have died to sin, so we don't live anymore in it. But actually, the reasoning and the divine reasoning of our Lord Jesus, as well as the apostles, is always this. If people are free from condemnation, all right, sin will lose its power. The problem is condemnation.
Remember the woman who was caught in adultery? She was caught in the very act of adultery and they brought her before Jesus. The Pharisees want to catch Jesus, remember that? And you all know the story, and so I won't go through that story. But remember what Jesus told her, when he saved her and he saved her righteously? He didn't say, "Don't stone her. Show mercy to her". He didn't say that. He says, "He that is without sin throw the first stone". One by one, they left. In other words, yeah, if you are without sin, throw the first stone, so they all left one by one. Actually, there's one that's without sin, him. All right, they would if they could, but they could not. He could if he would, but he would not.
So, there's only one without sin, and he didn't stone. And what did he tell her? "Where are those thine accusers"? Watch what he said, "Where are those thine accusers? Has no one condemned you"? It seems like Jesus is preoccupied with the idea of condemnation, not her sin. It seems like Jesus is concerned about the, "Are you still feeling the condemnation? Are you still feeling the shame? Are you still feeling the accusation"? He wants her to say it. He wants the words to come out of her mouth. "Has no one accused you? Has no one condemned you"? She says, "No one, Lord". Notice the Lord. Hey, hey, and what did he say? Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more".
So, when you receive no condemnation, you are empowered to go and sin no more. Are you listening? Then, then, don't forget the then, the order of it. "Then Jesus spoke to them," to the Pharisees all outside, "saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me,'" in this case she, all of us who follows me, "shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life". Would you like to see the word "shall not" that I underlined for you? Would you like to see shall not? Shall not is a double negative in the Greek, which means no, never, ou me, strong negative. You cannot walk in darkness when you're a disciple of Jesus. When you are following Jesus, you cannot walk in darkness. You simply cannot. Wow. The light that Jesus brings into your life is a light to show how clean you are by his blood. The light that shines on your conscience is to show how perfect his work is in removing all your sins. Because it is tied with what happened to that woman.
Now, so what does it mean? You see, many people don't realize that many of the problems they have today is because of condemnation, somehow, some form. You know what, I just read this just yesterday. I've read this before, but it jumped out at me. Even Rachel, when she could not give birth, her sister was giving birth in a prolific way, and Rachel could hardly give birth. And finally when Rachel gave birth, this is what she said. Rachel said in Genesis, "And she conceived and bore a son, and said, 'God has taken away my reproach.'" The word "reproach," kherpah, all right, kherpah, reproach, is the word for disgrace, shame. See the definition here, kherpah means resting on conditions of shame and disgrace. This is how you spell it, kherpah, kherpah. Shame, disgrace, kherpah.
All right, see it reads from right to left. Chet, resh, peh, hei. All right, I'll tell you why it's interesting. The devil wants to bring reproach. Even not able to produce results, you feel condemned. I'll tell you, the devil wants to condemn you on every little count. Lately, you have not been spending enough time with your son, you feel condemned. There are people who work very hard for their family, they work overtime, they are doing their best, they don't have enough time. The devil say, "Yeah, you're working hard, but you don't have enough time". And that's true also. The devil knows how to use half truths, even complete truths, to put reproach, to put kherpah on you. Are you listening, people?
You know, when David saw Goliath, people saw Goliath, his size, his height was the threat. David saw Goliath and David says, "His words are a threat". David had a different reaction. David said this like this, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach, the kherpah, the condemnation"? See the word "kherpah," huh? See the word "kherpah"? Notice the three words, the first letter is chet. Chet is a picture of a fence. I told you before every Hebrew letter has a picture, it's a fence. It's fencing in something, it's fencing in raphah. Can you see that?
Remember last time I told you the word "heal," raphah. Go to the word "heal". Raphah, this is raphah. Every time you find the word God healed someone, it's the Hebrew word "raphah". Resh peh aleph, raphah. Remember I told you this? The root word of raphah is raphah with a hei. In other words, relax. Raphah is relax. The root of healing is relax. When you know your sins are all forgiven, you relax. When you think you must confess every single sin, you're not relaxed. When the worship leaders says let's raise our hands and worship God, and you don't feel your sins are forgiven, you believe in a doctrine that says some of your sins are not forgiven until you confess them, and you never know whether you have fully confessed them. You are never raphah. You are never letting go. You are never relaxed. But the root word of heal is the word "relax". See the word "relax," resh, peh, hei.
Now, go back to the word "reproach" in Hebrew. Chet is a fence, raphah. The last three is raphah. In other words, if the devil can fence you from relaxing, he can make you sick. Forty days Israel was under the kherpah, the reproach of this giant. And David says, "How dare he? I'll take away this reproach". David saw the problem. And guess what happened when the reproach was removed? Israel won. Israel didn't go into defeat. Your life will be a powerful life. Okay, now because of time, let me just bring you down to Romans 6. Look at Romans 6 again. Let's drop down all the way now to Romans 6, verse 9. "Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him".
Now, how many know that Jesus died for our sins? All right, the Bible says not only he died for our sins, he died to sin at the cross. How did Jesus die to sin? Watch this, it says here, "Death no longer has dominion over Jesus". Next verse, verse 10, "For the death that Jesus died, he died to sin once and for all". It's all in the same chapter. We must understand these two verses if we must understand, "How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it"? So, the death Jesus died, he died to sin once, ephapax in the Greek, which means once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. How did Jesus die to sin? Because the next verse is important, it's how you die to sin.
Likewise, you know what's likewise or not? It means in the same way, in the same manner. "Likewise you also," we believers, you and I, okay, "reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord". The word "reckon" in the Greek is the word "logizomai". Say logizomai. It means this, reckon means this, look at this. Logizomai means take into account, calculate. It's an accounting word, by the way. Count over. That means you calculate what is there. I like the last one also, meditate on the fact that you are dead indeed. Now, what is more absolute than death? So, whatever it is, this death to sin, we must answer verse 10 before we can have the proper logizomai. Before we know what is in our spiritual bank, we must know what happened to Jesus. Are you all with me?
All right, question: how did our Lord Jesus die? Did the Lord Jesus die, A, to the power and influence of sin? Was Jesus ever under the influence of sin, ever? There was nothing, he had nothing inside him to be tempted by. For us, we are tempted. There's something inside us to be tempted by, it's called the flesh. Jesus came in flesh and blood, but Jesus didn't have a sin life. There's nothing inside him to be tempted by. There are no latches for sin to latch on. You and I, we have. He doesn't have. So question, was Jesus ever under the power and influence of sin? So, how did he die to sin then at the cross? Number one, we know it's our sins, right? So B, did the Lord Jesus die to the imputation? Imputation means what? God takes our sins and God put it on Jesus, all right? Did he die to the imputation, the guilt, or the condemnation, the guilt and the penalty?
Many people, when they sin, they are afraid of the penalty. All right, did God put on Jesus at the cross the imputation, guilt, and penalty of sin? Yes or no? Yes, that's how and that's the only way Jesus died to sin. Which means what? Likewise logizomai, take into account the same way Jesus died to sin, once and for all, my friends, logizomai. Understand this, you are dead indeed to the imputation, the guilt, and the penalty of sin once and for all, death. Amen.
"Pastor Prince, this morning, I said something I shouldn't have said". Yes, it is a sin. Sin is still sin. That was the power of sin. All right, and usually the power of sin come sin when we forget to reckon the truth. But the thing is this. From now on, there is no imputation. There is no guilt. There is no penalty. So you can live for the glory of Jesus. Now, because of this truth, because of verse 11, verse 12 comes in. "Therefore," therefore is also like because of the previous verse, "therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts". Do you see that?
Many people want to jump to verse 12 and they are finding problem trying to curb their lust because they don't understand verse 11. Many are trying to practice verse 11 without understanding what happened to Jesus in verse 10. So, unless you know there's no condemnation, you'll not be able to let not sin reign. Because verse 12 starts with therefore. If you truly take into account you have died to the guilt, the condemnation, the penalty of sin, now you are ready, you have the power to let sin no more reign in your body. Mmm. That's where I think the missing link is in churches today. Are you with me? All right, so let's drop down. Because of time, verse 14 you all know. "And do not present your bodies". Go back, go back please. "Do not present your members as instruments". All this "and" is because of verse 12. It's all together, in other words living holy, your bodies, your members as instruments.
The word "instruments" here is weapons, you know, literally weapons of righteousness. My hands are weapons of righteousness. When I lay my hands on your head, all right, that disease, all right, I declare war on it in Jesus's name. In Jesus's name, I command it to go out of your body because my hands become weapons of righteousness. All our members become instruments or weapons of righteousness. You cannot present unless you know what has happened in verse 11. It is all follow-through, okay? Then 14 again, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under law, but under grace".
Now, this is very interesting. We left just now, we said that we died to the imputation, the guilt, and the penalty of sin, right? But what about the influence and power of sin? What about that? What about that? It's telling you now sin's power is no longer over you because you are no more under law, you're no more under condemnation. You are under justification. Why is all this important? I told you just now it's got to do with healing, right? Show them the picture of the sickly plant. God showed me this picture many years ago.
All right, you know, sickness, broken marriage, before there can be strong words, before there can be resentment, all right, the person's not in the right state already, okay? And usually it's because of stress. Stress makes you do things you normally will not do, say things to your spouse you normally will not say. So, the deepest root the world can go to is stress. Some people go deeper. They say, "What causes people to be stressful"? They say it's fear. All this God showed me, but God showed me this. The world can only touch on fear and stress as a deep root. "But my Word go deeper".
What causes people to be afraid? Condemnation. So, condemnation is the root of all these bad things we are experiencing: depression, suicidal, condemnation. Long before poverty came to Adam and Eve, they were the richest people on planet earth. Before poverty came, before sickness wracked their bodies, before they died, long before all these things happened, they felt condemned, they hid from God. Condemnation comes first. Then by the sweat of your face, all right, you will eat bread, stress. They feared God. "I heard your voice and I was afraid". They were never afraid of God before. Now, they were afraid.
So, in other words, the moment people are feeling condemned, straightaway all these things start operating. Are you with me? Then we go to last verse, 1 Peter 2:24, we close. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body," notice body, not Spirit. Jesus bore our sins where? In his own body, "On the tree, that we, being dead to sins," see that expression? "We, being dead to sins". Dead there is dead, not a process of dying. "We, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness".
Now, here's where we miss a lot, people. Those who are baby Christians, they will say righteousness means we must live to doing right, saying right, thinking right, living right. No, righteousness in New Testament is a gift. God wants you to be dead to what? Condemnation and guilt so that you live your life as a person conscious of the gift of righteousness. You live to that. You live, you breathe that. You share that with your friends. You share with them the gospel of good news. Finally, it is really good news.
Now, I shared all that to tell you this. See the last six words, "By whose stripes you were healed"? In other words, righteousness, then colon, see the colon there? Your New King James doesn't put a colon, it puts a long hyphen. It all means the same thing, it means this. Whatever was said earlier can be summarized like this, "By whose stripes you were healed". But we know healed here is physical healing. In other words, unless you understand you are dead with all finality to guilt and condemnation of sin, you will never be punished again for sin. There's no more penalty.
Unless you understand the finality of it, and you live your life from now on conscious you are righteous in Christ, this is the same effect by whose stripes you are healed. You're going to experience healing. A lot of people are trying to get the benefits of the last six words without understanding the first. You cannot because the last six words is telling you only when you're free from condemnation, when you're free from sin consciousness, then what Jesus did for you when he bore the stripes becomes real.
Now we understand why, when they lowered the guy from the rooftop, obviously he was lame in his feet. Right, remember the guy sick of the palsy? But what did Jesus tell him first? "Son, your sins be forgiven you". It was obvious he needed healing for his legs, but Jesus gave him forgiveness of sins. Then Jesus says, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk". Once you forgive someone's sins, or once the person knows he's forgiven, now he's in the posture to walk for Jesus, now he's in the posture to be healed, to do what he cannot do before.
So, sometimes you've got to tell people, "Brother, I forgive you of your sins". You know, when your husband or your children come to you or whatever, and they say, "Please forgive me," don't put conditions. Say, "I forgive you completely". Whenever someone says, "Forgive me," just say, "I forgive you completely". They need to hear it. Don't say things like, "Oh yeah, it's okay, lah. Forget about it, lah, you know". "No, please forgive me". "No, no, no, it's okay, lah. I'm your mother, lah. You know, I'm your brother, lah. I'm your sister, lah". Don't do that. The person needs you to say, "I forgive you completely". Even your child, "Look at me, look at me, I forgive you". Look into your child's eyes, "Look at me. Daddy forgives you completely". And that means what? Do your best never to bring it up again, you. Don't talk about it again, amen? And then you know what? We put them in a posture to be well. We put them in a posture to walk in holiness.
Church, I am for holiness. I am for freedom from the influence and power of sin. But it comes by understanding the gospel. Amen, here is where the challenge is, here is where the attacks come, here is where the devil is so afraid, all right? Yes, people calling me all kinds of names and all that, but it's too late. The gospel revolution, the gospel reformation is all over the world now. It's too late, praise God, and more and more people are seeing the reality of this. And guess what? Once they know this, they walk in holiness. Not only holiness, they walk in the reality of by his stripes I am healed.