4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Overcoming Satan When He Accuses Me to Myself Conviction and Condemnation
Condemnation = Guilt—Conviction = Peace
Condemnation = Burden—Conviction = Cleansing
Ways in Which God Deals With Our Sin
Divorce and Remarriage
Forget the Past
About the Author
Chapter 4 Overcoming Satan When He Accuses Me to Myself Conviction and Condemnation
Matthew 18:18 is a well-known verse. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever yeshall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. " The Greek verb tenses are the reverse of the English tenses in the King James Version. A more accurate reading is: Whatsoever you bind on earth has been bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth has already been loosed in heaven, or by heaven. Let us look at this verse in the light of overcoming the accuser. The accuser is overcome in heaven whenever he assaults God’s people. We can overcome him here on earth because he has already been overcome in heaven. We can bind the accuser when he comes to us with condemnation, with inferiority, or with anything else. We can overcome him on earth because he has been overcome in heaven. We can loose ourselves from the accuser’s influence here on earth because we have already been loosed by heaven.
We are to overcome the accuser when he accuses us to ourselves. We need to know the difference between conviction and condemnation. Romans 8:1 reminds us,
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " As long as you abide in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. There is CONVICTION, but there is no CONDEMNATION. An illustration follows. When Joshua the high priest was clothed with filthy garments, Satan resisted and accused him (as discussed in chapter 2). The angel of the Lord overcame the devil’s condemnation in Joshua’s behalf; but after He cleansed him and put a new change of garments upon him and a fair crown on his head, then the angel of the Lord protested to Joshua concerning his responsibilities. That is the picture of CONVICTION.
There are very definite CONVICTIONS for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no CONDEMNATION to those who abide in Christ.
I am not under CONDEMNATION. I have passed from death to life. I shall not see condemnatory judgment so long as I abide in Christ.
Conviction can make you quite miserable; the chastening of the Lord can be a truly sobering thing.
Condemnation hinders you from approaching God, whereas conviction will cause you to flee to Him.
Condemnation can hinder your fellowship with God, whereas conviction will actually aid you in walking with Him.
Condemnation looks at your failures as grounds for your having no rights to the fellowship of God, whereas conviction looks at your failures and sins as hindrances to your fellowship with God. Conviction teaches removal of those sins and will greatly aid you in your fellowship with the Father.
Many of God’s people are experiencing the condemnation of the accuser of the brethren. They are 76
Overcoming Satan When He Accuses Me to Myself being accused by the tormentor and are mistaking it for the conviction of the Comforter. There are vast differences between condemnation and conviction.
How can I ascertain whether or not I am being convicted by the Lord or condemned by the devil? One great difference is: CONDEMNATION is a general, all-around putting-down of the child of God. It comes to you in a general sense. "You are just generally a poor Christian.
You don’t pray enough, read the Word enough, fast enough, or witness enough.
You don’t have enough love.
You don’t have enough joy. You don’t have enough peace.
Look at you, see how those around you do so much better in their walk with God!"
I’ve prayed for people and asked them, "What’s the problem?"
"I don’t know, I’m just bad all over. " This is what condemnation does: it is an accusation implying that you are just an all-around good-for-nothing; you are the sorriest Christian that ever took the name of Jesus. "Who are you to raise your hands, and who are you to prophesy when there are other people more spiritual and closer to God than you?" "Who do you think you are to be used of God?" That is the voice of the accuser.
CONVICTION is very specific. To follow this line of thought, go to the Old Testament to Psalms 139:23-24:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. " I appreciate my background and what I was taught, but I was under such condemnation, as were most of the people around me. One of our first steps in seeking revival was to gather around the altar. The evangelist would exhort us to "search our hearts. " When we desperately want to serve the Lord, we tend to look inward; but the inward look is not always the right one. When you "search your heart" you will find all kinds of things that will burden you, weigh you down, and bring you low. In fact, you will just want to quit praying.
You will get to the point of saying, "It’s impossible. I’ll never be what God wants me to be if that is the way it is. "
You will throw in the towel. This was brought to me so forcefully one day when I was reading this Psalm. I realized I had been doing the Holy Spirit’s job. In my early Christian life one of the things I would do at the close of the day was endeavor to check where I might have failed God. I would go over the conversations of the day and question, "Did I really operate in love towards those people?" And the devil would say,
"No, you really didn’t. You didn’t have nearly the love you should have had toward that brother. You didn’t say what you should have said to that sister, " etc.
Then the Lord reproved me with, "How dare you take My place? You are doing My job. It is My job to keep you in line." When the shepherd is tending a flock of sheep, whose job is it to keep the sheep in line? The Lord is my shepherd and His rod and His staff comfort me. When I go a bit crooked, He puts His rod over and gently nudges me back in line. He puts it around my neck, but He doesn’t jerk my neck out of place. The psalmist David didn’t say, "Thy rod and Thy staff they torment me. " My Shepherd gently takes me and by His Word and by His Holy Spirit instructs me in the way that I should go.
David said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know mythoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. " That is to say, "God, YOU do the searching. YOU do the looking. YOU see if there is any wicked way in me. "
Now when I come to the close of the day, I’m learning to just open myself up to the Spirit of the Lord, "Lord, You search me, You know me. I’m going to leave all the searching up to You. " This then opens my soul for divine correction, for the Holy Spirit is faithful. When I have stepped out of bounds, it is clear; and when I confess that, no sense of guilt comes, just peace and cleansing. And I’m growing closer to the Lord rather than hanging my head.
I’ve turned the searching over to Him.
Jeremiah 17:10 tells us, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins. " We tend to become too inward in our Christian experience. We are like the land of Canaan, which is a land of many giants, many walls, many cities.
Thirteen years ago when I was saved, I thought that all the old things had passed away and that all things had become new. I thought that was meant for my spirit, soul, and body and didn’t realize that it was just in the spiritual realm (2 Corinthians 5:17). Then when something bad came up in my soulish realm, I thought that I needed to be born again all over again. What I needed was deliverance and sanctification. I praise God that He did not answer my request to reveal to me, immediately and entirely, everything in my soulish nature that was needing cleansing and correction.
One evening I got before the Lord and said, "Lord, I have two or three hours that I’m going to give to You. Will You please tell me anything that is wrong with my life, and let’s get rid of it right now. " It must be because of our American way of life that we want "instant everything. " A lady came to me for prayer. "I want everything the Lord has for me, right now!" "Sister, " I said, "I can’t pray for you. "
"Why not? I want it all. If there is anything wrong, I want to get rid of it right now. " I knew where she was coming from. Instant coffee, instant potatoes. Instant. . . instant. We want instant perfection.
It takes many years to grow a tree. It took many years to conquer and possess the land of Canaan. God said, "I didn’t give you all the land of Canaan at one time,
’Thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee’ " (Deuteronomy 7:22). We have to learn how to go in and conquer and then reign, and then to go in and conquer something else and reign. You don’t just go in and conquer, for you have to learn how to reign over each area that you conquer; otherwise the wild beasts will come again. The Lord said to CONQUER and then REIGN. Don’t permit the enemy to point out other walled cities in your life and sidetrack you from REIGNING over one area where God has given you deliverance and victory. The Holy Spirit convicts in specific areas in which He wants to deal. The time that I asked the Lord to show me everything that was wrong in my life and to take care of that night, He did show me one particular area of fault in my life. I stayed with Him several hours dealing with it, and when the time was over, the area still wasn’t completely gone. The Lord said, "Don’t be impatient. I never get in a hurry. I take just as long as I need to do a work in you. Just rest in Me. Let Me do My work in you. "
Many times I see Spirit-baptized Christians who open themselves to the accuser because they are just rushing right in with: "I want everything God has for me right now; I want to overcome everything. " If they have one 80
Overcoming Satan When He Accuses Me to Myself little area in their life that doesn’t match up, they run for deliverance. We tend to look at deliverance as a means to instant, total perfection. It is not. It is just getting rid of a few giants.
There will be more giants later.
"I want to get rid of anything else that I have so I won’t have any more demonic problems, " a lady said to me. I understood her plight. I said, "Sister, praise the Lord, there are things in your life that would make you feel just like giving up if God were to reveal their enormity. " God is gracious. At one point, I thought I was entirely clean; then God showed me terrible pollution. "Oh God, I didn’t know that was there!" But He knew it all along, and in His merciful kindness He showed me just enough for the two of us to learn how to conquer and reign over one city at a time.
City by city, stronghold by stronghold, here a little, and there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept. Stone upon stone.
Condemnation = Guilt—Conviction = Peace A second difference between condemnation and conviction is this. When Satan condemns you and you yield to that voice and you confess it to God (for you think it is the Holy Spirit, and you think the Lord is convicting you of something), rather than experiencing relief and peace over what you have confessed, you experience guilt. And more voices begin to speak to you: "You really shouldn’t have done that. " "You really did that, " and you reply, "I know, I know. " A vicious cycle begins of confessing that sin over and over, over and over. With each confession of it, you get deeper and deeper into condemnation. Rather than coming out of guilt into peace, you get laden with more and more guilt. When the enemy is condemning you and you are tricked into confessing something over and over to God, you are actually sinning. That is the reason you become more and more laden with guilt. You are calling God a liar. You may be sincere and very well-meaning, but Satan has taken introspection and twisted it, and he has you operating in unbelief.Romans 14:23 tells us, "Whatsoever isnot of faith is sin. " By repeatedly confessing a sin, you are telling God something He doesn’t know. He forgets when He forgives. Since you are not operating out of faith, the confession is a sin, and hence the guilt keeps coming back.
During conviction by the Holy Spirit that true voice doesn’t go away. David said,
"When I kept silence [about my sin], my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long" (Psalms 32:3). God’s voice didn’t go away. It was persistent, very specific. When sin is confessed, God changes the drought into the moisture of the rain. In other words, great peace and great relief and release come when the yielding is to the true conviction of the Holy Spirit. That "still small voice" will be known for it does not come with condemning undertones. It comes in a yearning, beseeching tone with, "Turn ye, turn yefrom your evil ways" (Ezekiel 33:11). That is the gracious voice of conviction.
We should praise God for this convicting power in our lives. It is this power that corrects us. God is correcting us when we’re beginning to go to the right or to the left. We need to stay on the straight and narrow. If we begin to veer, this gentle voice is heard. The Scripture says, "And thine ears shall hear a word behindthee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isaiah 30:21).
Condemnation = Burden—Conviction = Cleansing A third difference: when Satan condemns the child of God, he does so to rob him of his effectiveness; he does so to kill, to destroy, to burden. When the Holy Spirit convicts, He does so to cleanse, to release, to deliver and to set free.
There is a vast difference in the purpose of conviction and of condemnation.
I was praying because Satan was continually bringing up my past failures. They would fill me with such regret, with such a sense of shame and remorsefulness. I thought it was good to feel that way, a sign of my repentance. But it was filling me with condemnation, and I was losing faith for God to meet my needs. I did not realize it was the voice of the accuser.
"You remember the time you failed God?" Satan would taunt.
"Remember the time you did that to that brother?"
"What about the time you lost your temper?"
"Do you remember the time you yielded to that spirit?" When these accusations came, I would say, "Yes, " and he’d lay it on me. Talk about a burden! A burden of condemnation was upon me. As I continued praying, the Lord said, "You have yet to realize that when you confess the sin to Me, I not only cleanse and change you, but also I deal with that sin and change it. I so change that sin that Satan can never point to it again because it has been dealt with and destroyed. " In the Old Testament the sin offering was burned and reduced to ashes. God said, "That’s all that is left of your sin. " When as a Christian we accept the atoning blood, confess a sin and repent of it, then in the sight of God that sin is no longer; it is reduced to ashes. When Satan says, "Look at that sin, " we can answer, "All I see is a heap of ashes. "
"Don’t you remember when you did this or that?"
"No, all I can see is a heap of ashes!" My sin is reduced to ashes!
Ways in Which God Deals With Our Sin
It was easy to say, "Before I got saved, I did this and that. " I’d be talking about the most horrible sin and feel no condemnation whatever because all that happened before I got saved. Then some little things that were sins, would bother me continually after I got saved. It was easy to forgive myself for the things I did BEFORE I was saved, but it was so much harder for me to learn to accept God’s forgiveness for the things I did AFTER I received Christ.
Many Christians today are looking for an easy way, looking for an excuse to continue to entertain the fleshly life. The message of holiness, which a lukewarm church needs to hear, ought to be preached often. But I am addressing these remarks to people who are sincerely wanting to serve the Lord. They are aware that there are areas in their lives that they have not overcome.
Perhaps you are one of the individuals reading this book whose greatest need is comfort. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. . . . Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem" (Isaiah 40:1-2). If you are endeavoring to serve the Lord, and Satan brings to you little and big things, pointing them out to you after you have repented, haranguing you, I want to comfort you with these words.
"I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for MINE OWN SAKE, and WILL NOT remember thy sins" (Isaiah 43:25). That is to say, it isnone of your goodness that will effect your forgiveness, but it is I, even I, just because I am who I am. In showing us His reason for forgiving us, God bases His forgiveness on the merit of His goodness alone. Just because He is who He is, God said, "I blot out thy transgression. " For whose sake? Not for our sake, but for HIS SAKE. Remember David’s famous line: "He restoreth my soul for HISNAME’S SAKE"?
God does it for His honor. He blots out our transgressions for HIS OWN SAKE. I have called you by My name, you are Mine, and I’m blotting out your transgression for My honor.
It was this very concept that helped me overcome condemnation. His Holy Spirit continued to tell me, I came to you by My free grace. I cleansed you and robedyou in My righteousness. I did that for you when you were lost and undone, how much more will I do it for you now that I’ve called you by My name! That is why David, when he was blessing the Lord, said, "Bless the Lord, O mysoul. . . who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalms 103:2-3). The Lord heals all the diseases of the soul. He forgives all the iniquities of the soul. The transgression itself is blotted out, and the blotting out substance, praise God, is the precious blood.
We overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We confess the merits of Jesus’ blood right back in the face of Satan when he comes to condemn us. We say, "Praise God, it is written; my transgressions are blotted out. " God has blotted out that sin. Not only has He cleansed and purged me, but that sin isn’t what it used to be—it has been blotted out. In Isaiah 44:22 we read some examples in nature to help us see what God does to our sins. The first to consider is that of a FOG.
"I have blotted out, AS A THICK CLOUD, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me. "
That’s conviction. That is the beauty of the Lord—no matter how we transgress or how we fail God, inwardly or outwardly, iniquity or outward transgression. God’s call to us is always: RETURN TO ME. RETURN TO ME.
Condemnation: the voice of the accuser says, "You are not worthy to go to God. Look what you’ve done, " but, God said, "Forget about those transgressions. I have blotted them out. Keep coming to Me. Just keep returning to Me. " When we were first married, my wife and I would have a little spat during the adjustment period. When we first had problems, I’d go to someone and ask, "How long does this adjustment period last?"
"Oh, " they would say, "the FIRST year is the hardest. "
After we got through the first year, we were still having some of these difficulties, inadequacies, etc.
"Well, " people would tell us, "It’s the first THREE YEARS. "
I went to someone the other day and they said, "The first FIVE years of marriage are really the adjusting time, the molding time. "
If it is the first year—it is the first year; if it is the third year—it is the first three years, and if it is the fifth year—it is always the first five years. Then I look at people who have been married many years, and they, too, are still adjusting!
People have a tendency to look at Dianne and me and see how we are loving and worshipping the Lord and say, "Oh, you are so beautiful. "
I had a young brother come to me saying, "When I see you and your wife, I just pray God will give me a helpmate, such a wonderful wife. "
I said, "Brother, He will, and it is glorious, glorious, glorious!"
It was hard for me whenever we’d have a little argument, to go to a service and lift my hands in the worship of God. Yet, here was Dianne so freely getting into the worship. I’d look at her and think: "Well, who are you to be worshipping the Lord like that?"
We must learn to overcome things because that is why the Lord said: RETURN TO ME. When you do have a transgression or failure, RETURN TO ME! That is what Dianne was doing: she was always returning to the Lord. I was always standing afar off, hanging my head. "Who am I to come to you, Lord? Your Word says live at peace one with another and I haven’t done it. " I was in condemnation. The Lord said, "View your transgression after you give it to Me as you would something that was on the other side of a thick fog, a thick cloud. " Well, I’ve started doing that and it is quite hard to see through a fog!
Yet Satan will tap us on the shoulder and say, "Hey, can you see way back there through that fog?" "Well. . yes. " And we gaze right back, trying to lift that fog that God said to forget. In Isaiah 43:25 God shows us another aspect of forgiveness. He chooses to forgive our sins, then tells us, "Thou shalt not be forgotten" (Isaiah 44:21). God deals with us as with children. He willingly forgives our sins. When He forgives He forgets our sins, but still remembers us. That is the grace of God. It is not so much that God cannot recall our sins, but that He has willingly chosen to forget them forever (Hebrews 10:15-17).
Many of us have been taught that according to the new covenant, God will forgive you; but He is still going to reward you after your iniquities. Psalms 103:10 specifically tells us, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; norrewarded us according to our iniquities. " God does not reward us according to our iniquities. (Iniquities are the sins within us—the inward sins.)
God gives us another example in nature that will help us to realize how great His forgiveness is toward His children. This Scripture is found in Psalms 103:12.
"AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. " The Holy Spirit said something here that undoubtedly David did not know when he wrote these words, that is, east and west are an immeasurable distance one from another, whereas north and south are a measurable distance. The Holy Spirit said "east and west. " Picture your hand as the globe of the earth. There is a North and a South Pole, and an equator. If I say I am going to go south, after I cross the South Pole and come up on the other side of my hand, then what direction am I going? North. When I cross the North Pole the same thing happens, from there on I’m going south. The poles determine that. Had David been speaking from his own mind, it would have been easy for him to say, "As far as the north is from the south, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. " But the Holy Spirit knew that north and south do meet at the poles, but east and west do not. You can go north only halfway around the world. You can go south only halfway around the world. But you can go east all the way around the world and when you get back to where you began, you are still going east.
You can go west all the way around the world; so long as you don’t change your course, you are still going west. So, "as far as the east is from the west"—an immeasurable distance—"so far hath he removed our transgressions fromus. " Not our transgressions from God, but our transgressions from us. My sins are an immeasurable distance from me! When I confess sin and repent of it, how dare I let Satan even bring to me the remembrance of that sin, for that sin is as far from me as the east is from the west! In Micah 7:18-19 we are given another comparison of God’s forgiveness to help us realize we can be overcomers.
"Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. " In Micah’s day they did not have submarines; they could only go a few feet under the surface of the ocean.
Even in our day, the measurement of ocean depths has been changed a number of times. Not too far under the ocean surface, light disappears, and it is very dark. Mile after mile it is dark, dark, dark. The next time the devil says, "Look at your past, " you can tell him, "I can’t see; it is eight miles deep. It is too far down for me. " Don’t endeavor to gaze into your regrettable past. Don’t try to gaze at your former sins.
They are in the depths of the sea. So we overcome Satan with the Word of God. In Isaiah 38:1-22 we find another picture of what God does with our sins. When King Hezekiah was approached by Isaiah with the words, "Set thine house in order:for thou shalt die, and not live, " the king turned his face toward the wall and began to pray to the Lord. The Lord speaks to the prophet Isaiah and again sends him to King Hezekiah with another message: "Go back and tell him that he will have fifteen years added to his life. "
Hezekiah praised God for the answer of extended life and wrote a short psalm of praise for his deliverance.
Notice what he said about his sins:
"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: forthou hast cast all my sinsbehind thy back. " The picture here is God taking a sin and slinging it behind His back with the same mighty arm that flung the planets and stars across the sky. With that same outstretched hand, that mighty hand of deliverance, God has taken all our sins and flung them behind His back.
"Well, " you ask, "what is so significant about His flinging my sins behind His back?"
Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son ofman, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" To repent means to look in the other direction. God takes my sins and flings them, or casts them behind His back never to look upon them ever again! He is never going to turn around and look at them.
They are behind His back, not before His face.
I don’t have to argue with Satan, and I don’t have to please him. When he comes with "You are a dirty, most rotten Christian, " I don’t have to say, "But. . but. . but. . . . "
Let him think what he wishes. I’ll never have to give an account to him. I do not have to please him. I do not have to answer to him. I can be completely silent to his accusations. I confess the merits of Jesus’ blood because it is Christ who died, and I’ll appear before His judgment seat. It is God who gave Jesus for me, and I’ll give an account of myself to God and to Him alone. When I realize what God does to sin, how He blots it out, removes it from me as far as the east is from the west, plunges it into the depths of the sea, and flings it behind His back, then I should never ever again let the adversary whisper condemnation in my ear over some regrettable thing that I have repented of.
Instead, I should look to the merit of Jesus and overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony.
Divorce and Remarriage
Sometimes situations occur in people’s lives that they cannot change, situations like divorce and remarriage. I meet many Christians who are under condemnation over a mistake they made in the past which is now impossible to correct. The Bible does not give us many grounds for divorce. I find only two legitimate reasons in the New Testament: adultery and desertion. The adultery has to be a repeated event and not a single act. God requires of you to forgive from your heart that unfaithful partner if he or she sincerely confesses, and then to forget the adultery. (If the adulterers continued on in adultery, according to the law, they were to be stoned to death.) Desertion is named in 1 Corinthians 7:15: "Ifthe unbelieving depart, let him depart" (if he deserts the Christian partner).
". . . A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. " As we travel we meet many who have not had sufficient grounds for divorce, and yet they are now divorced and remarried. Some segments of the church absolutely close any area of responsibility to those in second marriages, even such responsibilities as serving as janitor or cutting the grass. These same governmental structures, however, will accept the tithes and offerings of such "second-class Christians. " They can come sit in the pew, but they cannot serve God within that framework. And these groups feel justified in what they are doing!
Some people come to me asking, "What about this?"
Satan uses this tactic continually. In some cases unfaithfulness (a Scriptural ground for divorce) took place on the part of the Christian! The unfaithfulness is sometimes a cause of the divorce, or sometimes because of pressures that are not apparent. In some instances the whole prior failure occurred before Jesus came into the picture, and sometimes the parties, or one of them is a Christian at the time of the dissolution. Some people point to the book of Ezra, Ezra 9:1-15, and say that the only solution is for the husband and wife to separate, even though this would cause great pain. Some teach that all unsaved people are in marriages unrecognized by God. I have sought the Lord for answers on this subject, and I believe He has given me a word.
I cannot accept the ever-popular view that heathen marriages are not joined by God. King Herod, who was by no means a righteous person, heard from John the Baptist, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife"
(Mark 6:18), so God does recognize the marriages of those who are unsaved. God recognized the adultery that Herod was in with the wife of his brother Philip.
We are far too lenient on the subject of divorce and remarriage. When you see preachers leave their wives for their secretaries, it needs to be severely and publicly denounced. I presently know several ministers who have sought divorce in recent months and very quickly have remarried. In my opinion, they have, in several cases, sinned greatly against God. I am not condoning such action. If I were a pastor I would not have such a man in my pulpit.
I am not addressing the problem of those who, as Christians, divorce each other and marry other partners on the flimsy grounds of "incompatibility. " That is unscriptural nonsense.
I am primarily speaking to those who, before they were enlightened, entangled themselves in marital difficulties and now find themselves willing and eager to serve God, but bound by feelings of hopeless despair over their past. For example, one divorced man and divorced woman met and later married and had a child. They later were baptized in the Spirit and subsequently came under the teaching that God wanted them to separate. They were greatly bothered by the condemnation that was upon them.
Let us look to the Word to see what God says about it. In 2 Kings 5:1-27, is the story of Naaman. It has nothing to do with divorce or remarriage. It has to do with idolatry. Naaman, captain of the Syrian army, was a leper who had gone to all the physicians in the land of Syria. He said, "I need help. " His maid said, "A prophet lives in Israel. Go, let him pray foryou, and you’ll get healed of that leprosy. " (Leprosy was a fatal disease.) He went to the land of Israel, but Elisha, the prophet, didn’t even go out to meet him.
Naaman had heard of this prophet and had it all worked out in his mind. "I thought he would surely come to meet me, strike over the place and decree saying, ’Your leprosy is gone.’I thought it was going to be like the snap of a finger. Instead he didn’t even come out to meet me.
He sent a messenger with the instructions: ’Go dip in the River Jordan seven times.’" He did, and his flesh came back again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2 Kings 5:14). AND THE HEART OF NAAMAN was changed.
Naaman had been an idolater. None of his Syrian gods had been able to remove the leprosy. But Yahweh, the God of Israel, was able to cleanse his flesh. Naaman was filled with tremendous praise unto God. So much so that he converted to Hebraism in his heart. "And he turned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. "
Elisha answered, "As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. " Naaman urged him to take it; but Elisha refused. Elisha wanted Naaman to realize that he could not pay for the blessing of God, that it was a grace provision of God, and that he had not earned it in any way.
"And Naaman said, shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD" (2 Kings 5:17).
Naaman was converted to the true God. He changed his religion. He would no longer go back to his king in the land of Syria and offer a sacrifice to any idol. He was saying, in essence, "I am never again going to offer any sacrifice to any idol. I am through with idolatry. I want to serve the Lord GOD. Would it be all right with Him if I take two mules’ burden of earth from the land of Israel? I want the dirt of Israel. I’m going to take these loads of dirt back to my country and build an altar there to Yahweh. "
Because of his healing Naaman was convinced that there was no other god but the God of Israel. He had tried all the other gods. Now he said, "I’m going to serve the Lord. "
Then he remembered. Oh, no, this is an impossible situation.
Naaman is now going to ask Elisha to give him permission to do something for which, under the law, he could be put to death. For him this is an impossible situation. In the natural there is no way out. "In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing" (2 Kings 5:18).
Naaman is troubled. He is saying, "I really believe in the God of Israel and I love the Lord. He is the one who healed me. Rimmon never did a thing for me. But my master requires me to go with him when he worships. When I go with him to the house of Rimmon and he leans on my hand, I have to bow down before the idol—forgive me" (paraphrased). Deuteronomy 18:1-22 says these persons should be put to death if they do such a thing.
Now what is Elisha going to do?
"No, Naaman, you can’t do that! It says in the Word so and so. " But God knows that sometimes there are impossible situations.
Listen to this inspired answer of Elisha in Deuteronomy 18:19 :
"And he said unto him, GO IN PEACE. " Elisha’s true advice to Naaman would have been condemned according to the letter of the law.
Some people find themselves in second marriages when they begin their walk with God. Because of their desire to serve the Lord, they are willing to do anything.
They think of leaving each other and the heartache. Little children now have come along the way. An impossible situation? Something happened that from your heart you did not want, but something which, according to the natural and according to the legal limits of life, you must do. How much better is it to rest in Elisha’s decree: "Go in peace. "
"Elisha, are you a true prophet? You’ve told Naaman to go in peace. Moses taught to bow down before an idol was an abomination. Are you sure your advice to Naaman is correct?" one may well have asked.
"Yes, that’s right. Go in peace, " Elisha may have responded. For couples who find themselves under condemnation and can’t go back and unscramble the egg: "Go in peace. "
Forget the Past When Satan condemns you and accuses you before God, ask these questions:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?" (Romans 8:31-34). When you are under condemnation you need to ask yourself: WHERE IS THAT CONDEMNATION COMING FROM? Who is he that condemneth? It is not Christ. "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" (Romans 8:34).
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. " So if it’s not God and not Christ, then who is he that condemneth? It is Satan, our adversary. In my earlier Christian life, I’d say, "There are several things that I need to do to get to the place I really want to be spiritually. I need to pray more. I need to study more. I need to learn the Word better. I need to become a better witness. "
I’ve met Christians who say, "I have six or seven things to take care of; then I feel I’ll be in the place God wants me to be. " The Apostle Paul said he only had to do ONE THING.
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: BUT THIS ONE THING I DO,forgettingthose things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" (Php 3:12-13). The things which are behind are the only things you can forget. Actually Paul does more than one thing—"I follow after, I count not, forgetting those things, reaching forth, pressing toward the mark"—but he doesn’t even count those as things he has to do. Those things just naturally happen. But one thing he has to consciously practice: forgetting.
We need to learn to forget the regrettable past. Forget and let the past be put behind you.
Jesus said, "Remember Lot’s wife" (Luke 17:32). What Lot’s wife did was to look back at Sodom. Sodom is a picture of the regrettable past. She couldn’t forget Sodom.
She had to look back and crystalized into a pillar of salt.
Jesus tells us to remember her; He used her as an example.
You will not progress in your Christian life if you continue to look at your past.
Jesus gives us another admonition: "No man, having put his hand to theplough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). We are not fit for the Kingdom or for the work of the ministry if we keep looking back. Let the past be the past.
One sister was being prayed for and the Lord said to me: "She’s condemned overthe things of her past. " I spoke to her and she began to weep. We rebuked that thing; it came out and she began to rejoice and to praise God. It is so rewarding to see God’s people set free from the accuser of the brethren. To be set free from those condemning, accusing spirits that point a finger at us.
All of us are overcome at some time by condemnation, or at least condemnation comes against us. Our only merit to overcoming is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You’ll never measure up enough to please Satan. He will always be saying, "You could have done this. You could have done that. You should have done the other. " You can rely on the merit of the righteousness of Jesus’ blood and overcome by your confession of faith. Join with me in prayer.
"Father, I come to You in the mighty name of Jesus.
"I realize that Satan has come to me in the role of the accuser of the brethren. He accuses me to myself. At times I have been deceived into thinking that it is the voice of Your Spirit, whereas I now understand that the former things are forgotten, and it is Satan who brings my past back to me.
"In the mighty name of Jesus, I reject condemnation. I resist the accuser of the brethren. I will no longer allow him to accuse me to myself. I bind his condemning tactics in Jesus’ name and will confess the merits of Jesus’ blood against his lies. I surrender my will to You, Lord, and believe Your Word of promise.
"I purpose in my heart to put a watch over my mouth to keep my tongue from speaking evil accusations against my brethren. I will not bite and devour, but will bless and deliver through words seasoned with grace.
"Thank You, Jesus, for Your advocacy at the Father’s right hand in my behalf. "
—Amen and Amen About the Author
Sharing his testimony with host Roger Holloway David Alsobrook is a living testimony to God’s great grace. Although he was raised in a minister’s home he rebelled against the church’s teachings in his early teens.
He became involved in all forms of sin embracing the hippy tradition of the late 60’s.
Through active involvement in Transcendental Meditation a strong spirit of suicide obsessed his mind in the Summer and Fall of ’69 until in his despair he called on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born again on November 30, 1969, and read the Bible from cover to cover four times the first six months. As a result of intensive study of the Word of God he was led into a conviction of the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for today. At the age of 17 he began traveling the country sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching the Word of God without partiality to man’s traditions.
God has confirmed His Word through supernatural signs and wonders on many occasions. David teaches the Kingdom of God on a wide variety of subjects. Dianne, his wife, assists him in ministering to people’s needs. They are the happy parents of two lovely children and make their home in Paducah, Kentucky.