In this sermon, the speaker discusses the challenges and negative influences of the world. They emphasize the importance of remembering that the blood of Jesus washes away all sins. The speaker also encourages listeners to adopt a positive mindset, like the apostle Paul, who believed in the freedom from condemnation through Christ. They share a powerful illustration of a drowning man being saved at the last moment to illustrate the need for complete surrender to God. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the power of faith and the victory over condemnation through Jesus.

We might give this title to the study, No Condemnation. May we open our Bibles to Romans, the 8th chapter, where we read, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. You know that in some versions these last words, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, are left out. We're told in the earlier manuscripts it's not found. It's true, and it appears a little later in the chapter, in its proper place, verse 4, who walk not after the spirit. But there was a time, I remember, in my life, when I was very happy to discover that this is not found in all versions, and we're told not found in the earlier manuscripts. It really should read, There is now, therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, without the words, who walk after the flesh, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And it was quite a relief to me to discover that, because I was having a terrible time, my Christian experience, and when we read that it is here, it seems to throw us a bit over on words, as though our condemnation, no condemnation should spring from the fact that we walk in the spirit. Well, it doesn't. It really springs from Christ. It springs from the blood. It springs from the blessed Redeemer himself, and what he wrought for his son Calvary. I say it is true, and it appears a little later, but the fact that there is no condemnation does not have to do with our words. I think we're all agreed that this thing is very prevalent, and on occasions I'm sure we're all victims of it, and we know what a crippling thing it is in our experience and in our Christian service, this being under condemnation. It can be like an annoying toothache, which would knock one out, leave one altogether helpless. Or it could be like the undertow. If one were to get in certain positions, going swimming of the sea, you know how the undertow is. And I say this thing of self-condemnation is a terrible thing, and we're to be free from it, altogether free from it. And the points I have here this morning are to help us in this regard. In the first place, I think if we would face the thing squarely, look it right in the eye, it would be a great step towards victory, because often it springs from pride, a certain pride in the reverse. It looks like humility, but it's not humility. When we begin condemning ourselves, it's really pride. As Newell brings out in his book on Romans, it shows that we're still expecting something great from ourselves. If we weren't, we wouldn't be under condemnation. We're still expecting something from ourselves. Now, if all of our expectations from the Lord, it would be otherwise. I found such a good word this morning in this book, The Deep Things of God, by Norman Grubb, about this. But then, equally, we must not stay, even temporarily, under condemnation when Satan has caught us. It is the easiest thing to do, and our distressed feelings are really self-pity and pride. It is not so much that we have grieved the Lord that disturbs us, as that we have failed. The acceptance of condemnation is a form of self-righteousness. Now, we may not like that, but I think it's true. It's a form of self-righteousness. Then, in the second place, we must be very careful not to confuse the voice of conscience with the voice of the evil one, Satan. I think here we have, in relation with this particular point, one of the subtlest workings of the evil one. I remember an experience with a dear lady over in Cuba about a year ago, a little less, for it was just after having been with you here that I went to Cuba. This lady had come down from Havana to be in the gathering, and she told me, she asked to speak with me alone, and she said, now I've come for this very purpose. I seem no longer to be in victory. I lost my temper sometimes back with the girls. Now, just what am I to do? Her feeling was that she was somehow to pray this thing through, get back to a tremendous experience with the Lord in order to regain his favor. She said she had become estranged, no longer in victory. At the head of a school for girls, what was she to do to recover her victory and she kept going over this fact that she had lost her temper and she was turning in on herself and going around and around this. And I finally said, no, my dear lady, I think you're mistaken. I think perhaps you're confusing the voice, your conscience with the voice of Satan. And I said, you know, he loves to come up alongside of conscience like this and all of a sudden slip ahead and take over and it's no longer the voice of conscience, it's the voice of Satan. The Lord's not nagging you over this thing. You haven't lost the favor of the Lord. You're underestimating the efficacy of the blood. Now, just believe in the efficacy of the blood. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleansed us from all sin. If you feel you must confess that again, you may. But just believe in the efficacy of the blood. You don't have to struggle and go through some great spiritual crisis to gain the favor of the Lord again. You've got it. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And in a sudden moment, she saw it and snapped right back into position and she didn't struggle in prayer, she just gave thanks for the efficacy of the blood and walked out of there triumphant. This is one of the subtlest tricks of Satan, to come up alongside of conscience and suddenly step ahead and turn on us with accusations. And if we accept in thinking that it's the voice of conscience, it'll become an ever-increasing stream until it's an avalanche and we may go under altogether and something could happen to us like what's happened to a young lady in Japan. I was taken to see her one day, Sunday after a service, along with Corrie Ten Boom. Some of you have read after Corrie Ten Boom. Oh, I never saw such a sight. This dear missionary, under such condemnation, she seemed to have blacked out altogether. It was no longer herself and all she could see was the pit open and tearing her hair and exclaiming that there was no hope for her, she was lost. Well, there was a gathering of missionaries there at the time, 250, 300, and they prayed with the clock 24 hours for that dear girl. And she did come out of it and to peace again and yet they sent her back to South Africa. We felt that she would have had a more complete victory, only her doctor wasn't cooperating. She put it down to purely natural causes and wouldn't let people come to her to read the Word or to pray and sing or anything. It was just sickness and she was sent back to South Africa. Now, no doubt it began with this thing, this thing of condemnation, self-condemnation. Perhaps at first it may have been the voice of conscience. An elderly missionary lady told me that it was a difficulty she'd had with a friend, I don't know the nature of it. It may have begun with self-condemnation and then suddenly Satan stepped in and took over and it was the accuser of the brethren. And if you take it as the voice of conscience, well, and he'll just keep plowing in as you give more and more and more and more until something like what happened to our dear missionary sister over there in Japan might happen. Now I have here on my list four things that are, how shall I put it, a great aid, a mighty bulwark from the Word against this thing of self-condemnation. First of all, what we read in 1 John, the first chapter where this precious word I've just referred to stands out so gloriously, the seventh verse, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sins. You know that in the Greek it's in the present active tense, it's forever cleansing. You know that this was the word, is the word, which brought Francis Haverhill into a life of victory when she passed away and was called home to glory. Her Bible was opened on the casket in this word, the text by which she lived. This great spirit, you know, the author of so many of our hymns, that hymn of consecration that we sing, we have it in the Spanish, a daughter, the daughter of the mass, as it were, a father, a preacher, and truly a saint. But we read in her biography that there was a period in her Christian life when she was under a cloud. She was so unhappy because she felt she wasn't measuring up all together, something like the experience of Roman seven, to the dictates of conscience, her Christian conscience, all the blemishes of life. And, of course, they are without number, and they come to us every day for one cause or another. Loomed up so in a picture that she was failing to see all the meaning of the cross and the efficacy of the blood, and she walked under condemnation until one day, reading her New Testament in the Greek as she was wont to do, she came upon 1 John 1, 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. For a long time I've been calling the attention of our boy to this. He's still getting under condemnation. He has a very keen conscience, and he's under law, and it's really, again I say, it's not humility. It's really pride in the, well, when you shift from one gear to another, in reverse. It looks like humility, just to be condemning yourself. Oh, I haven't measured up again. Oh, I failed again. Oh, if I should only see from ourself, we should be expecting great things. Because if we allow ourselves to come under condemnation, let me refer to evil thoughts. They come to all of us, and they come continually to all of us, friends. Now, if we take our eyes off the crucified risen Lord and forget about the efficacy of the blood, we could come terribly under condemnation. You know, it's like the eye is forever washing its face. You know that. You're not conscious of it. But the eye is forever washing its face, because it's such a delicate organ, and so it is with the soul, even more delicate. Why, it's forever washing its face. If you walk in the light, there is an application of the efficacy of the blood that's going on. We're unconscious of it. And so, our communion. Now, that doesn't mean, of course, I understand. And John refers to that in his first chapter. There are some things that need to be confessed. We know that. I told a lie. Lord, forgive me. And I may have to straighten it out with my brother. That's a different thing. I'm talking about all these things that were smirches, moment by moment, just a contact with the world. You know that. I feel as though I've taken a bath in the slimmiest pool on earth. But I've just got to keep remembering that the blood is forever... And then, too, in the second place, we must refuse to think in these terms which are negative, which spring from doubt. We must think as Paul was thinking when he wrote Romans 8.1. But there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. I affirm it. Paul affirmed it. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. I think Paul was forever coming back to his position and refusing... I ran into a beautiful illustration in this book this morning. Grubb says it's like elastic. You pull it, you let go, and it snaps back into position, into place. Well, he said we're forever being drawn by the power of temptation out of position. But, you know, we could snap right back in if we were just to remember in a moment what our rightful position is, the union with Christ. And if we were just to refuse this thing which really springs from pride... Now, there are times, of course, we know when conscience is doing its rightful work and we've got to hasten to the foot of the cross and confess the thing. That's another story. But we can do that in a moment, too, and move right forward with the Lord in the life. We can do that in a moment. You can do that on the street. Lord, forgive me. Right there on the street. That's another thing. We're not talking about that right now. We're talking about this coming under condemnation by letting the old self. Now, the old self is wedded to the law. We know that. The old life needs law. We've simply got to refuse to come under law. We're not under law. We're under grace. And refuse to let law pull your finger at it. Now, law is a tremendous thing. It has its place. But as Grubb points out, it's really for the kindergarten. It's different. Law brings conviction of sin. And the law, as we read in Romans 7, brings the conviction of our helplessness without the power of the Spirit and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not under law. We're under grace. Imagine a mother being over a year. Well, now the Lord is infinite. He's not accusing us, brethren. This doesn't come from that sword. The devil likes to say we're not under the law. And in this position, there should be no self-accusation. We're free to do our work. So as this thing comes up, no, that springs from the old nature. You're a crucified thing. And I've been set free. I refuse to return to that position. We can do that. We must. Hold to our true position of oneness. Then, in the third place, of course, we must take the weapons, weapons which are not carnal but mighty, through God for the putting down of strongholds. We've got to take the weapon of the Calvary's victory. This is the subtlest machination. You know, of course, with the world, anything works in a different way. But with the Christian, ah, he gets alongside of that keen conscience. You know? What a slimy thing. He just pretends he's your conscience. Come right alongside of it. Now we need a conscience, and God has given us a conscience, and it has its function. But there's a vast difference, and then he steps beyond and turns in on you. And if you confuse the two and accept that it's the voice, often we think it's the voice of the Lord, the voice of conscience. No. Oh, then comes the flood of accusation. And one can live under constant oppression through floods of accusation. The enemy likes to accuse for everything. There you are. And here again you slipped up on this. And look at how you acted over here. And look at this and look at that. You're a liar. Get dehumanized in the holy name of Jesus. And he flees. And then you come out again from the clouds, just like when an airplane goes through a storm. He is the accuser. And this thing can become so tormenting, friends, that it can lead to the insane asylum. There are people in the insane asylum who should not be there. And they get to believing that they've committed the sin against the Lord, for which there's no forgiveness, just by listening to the voice of the accuser. He doesn't begin at that point. Of course, he begins, but as he gains ground, more and more and more the moment will come and he'll be committed to sin again. But we know he's not interested in getting his rights with the Lord at all. He pretends to be interested in getting his rights, you know, your sins. He's the power of lies. He's interested in getting us all turned in on ourselves, looking away from ourselves. And he can get the Christian to look away from his Savior at himself. Let me say that good self. You know, that's really the meaning of the Roman self. What was Paul doing? He was looking at himself. You run through Romans 7 and that's all you find is self. There's nothing there but self. But it was his good self. But there is no such thing as a good self, you know. Oh, I, if I only could. I would. I struggle. I pray. I do. Oh, I must. I. Oh, if I could only fulfill the law. I will be a great swelled-up Pharisee. Oh, the Lord will never let you get in. That's not the function of the law, to sanctify. I'm referring to my Chinese friend again. In his chapter on Romans 7, he so beautifully illustrates it. Telling about a group of young men who were out at a camp. At a camp. He was there. Some Bible camp. And they were swimming. A lake there. And one of the young men was drowning. And there was an expert swimmer standing there. And they were all looking to him to plunge in and save this man. And he didn't move. Until finally this man was going down for the last time. And then he plunged in and simply snatched him out. And they came to him. Why did you wait so long? Oh, he said, I. He had to come to the end of it. We've both gone down. Fortunately, he said, of our own resources. And are willing to rest like babes in his arms. And just let him move within us. And just let him who is the law giver, as Grubb puts it, be the law keeper. For as he carries you in his arms, why, he fulfills these things through you. But if you are passionate, you cooperate with the Holy Spirit. And he fulfills these things through you. I say we must take the weapon of the Calvary victory. And refuse what does not come to us by the cross. Now sometimes, you know, it's a little confusing. You don't know, well, what are these for? You can test it out very quickly. If it's of the Lord, it won't pass away. If it's of the devil, it'll pass away when you take a stand and say, now what does not come to me by a Calvary, I refuse. I silence the enemy. In the holy name of Jesus. You know, he was silenced at Calvary, as we read in Revelation, the twelfth chapter, where we are told that he deceived the whole world. He was cast out, that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, which deceiveth the whole world. That's not the verse I'm looking for, where we are told, ah, the tenth. And I heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God. Notice this. He doesn't only accuse us to ourselves, before us, to our own consciences. He, who accused them before God day and night. Well now, we know that the Lord could only silence him on righteous grounds. He wasn't, he couldn't silence him by a divine fire, because of his sovereignty and his authority as the living God. No, he couldn't. But he silenced him only through the shedding of his most precious blood, putting them away. That's the way he silenced the devil. Now what more have you got to say about this sinner? He believes in me and I pour his sins on him. And cast out, of course. Now that's the only way the Lord could silence him. He couldn't silence him on the grounds of just power and omnipotence and sovereignty by means of a divine fire. No, because God doesn't work that way. And now in view of that fact, we can silence him. The Lord God stopped his mouth. There is Calvary. And that belongs to you. That's yours. He didn't need it in heaven. He won that victory as a man. In that victory you were. That's you. That's for you. Now enjoy it. How? Well, every time the devil tries to get you under condemnation. Rise up again. Oh, this thing is so common. I think I referred to a young man in Japan. I was going to mention his name at the ministry. Who called me a pirate after one of these wars. He accused and gives a command of the Holy Name of Jesus. There won't be this gnawing toothache all day long. And so he began taking hold. I received a letter from him some time back. Legends are changing. Of course, if the devil could knock out a missionary with that sort of thing, you see. Just moving up alongside a cousin. Lovely. Just cripple him and knock him out. But we have weapons, friends. They're here in the world. Of course, they're very humbling. There's the point. They're very humbling. We find them in the cross. Where the Lord Jesus not only put away our sin, but I went. The accuser of the brethren. On strictly righteous grounds. Moral grounds. Absolutely satisfying to God. To man. The devil himself has got to recognize it in all hearts. We read that Luther, the reformer in the castle there where he undertook the translation of the Scripture, went through great conflict with the devil. Modern biographers don't like this. Oh, they like Luther, you know. All the world knows how great he was. But they can't understand this thing, you know. It doesn't fit into modern theology. They make light of it, you know. They laugh about it. They don't like this in Luther's life. What does this mean? They point out a place in a wall. On a wall where a great black blotch Luther threw the inkwell at the devil. What does this mean? Well, you know, it means surprises. This man was the spearhead of a new day for the world. It means surprises that the devil mobilized his forces and struck there again and again and again to try and defeat this man. The more advanced your position is in Christ, the more you're going to draw enemy fire, brethren. So if you're looking for an easy time of a drop all this, it's insane. We're soldiers. And we wrestle not with flesh and blood, Paul says. And it comes at the end of the Ephesian letter where you have the church and the heavenly places. But against principalities and against the darkness of this world, with its spirits in heaven, it seems the world itself is enveloped by this thing and finds it day by day. The devil will contest every inch of ground the Christian can gain. But he's in a city full. And the weakest Christian can rise up and command him. That's the lovely thing about it all. Actually command him. Tuck off. Even as the Savior. For the Christian, he's the Savior. And he shares his authority. And that's the meaning of strange passages that we find there in the gospel. Did you say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and doubt not in your heart. Well, now, what does that mean? Yet doubt not in your heart that what you say shall be done, shall. What does that mean? Mountain of satanic oppression. We've got to speak up. We've got to release the glorious cowards. The enemy flees. I say, referring again to Luther, on one occasion, so the story reads, history the devil put before him, the story of all his sins, as though they were written on the walls of the south. He loves to do this, you know, rake up the whole patch and pour it in. Who would accept that sort of thing? No one. But it's a lie. It doesn't exist. It was washed away in the blood of the Lamb. He had no right to rake up these things. And so Luther rose up and said, yes, yes, these are my sins. And now right, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses him. The devil fled. And that's what the Lord said to dear Amy Carmichael. Many of you know the story of her wonderful life there in India, the founder of the Downward Fellowship, and those last years, 20, of suffering through arthritis and much oppression. Why should that have been? This great saint. Well, the Lord used those closing years. She ministered to insurables and hospitals all over the world. And the Lord said to her after a mental depression, look at Calvary. By the merits of my blood, all is well. Hallelujah. Now you can look and look and look and journey from Shanghai to San Francisco and look into all the books and into all nature and into all the flowers and into all the stars. You'll never find any relief. Ah, but when you look at Calvary, then you know that by the merits of the Redeemer's most precious blood. So if we've been having a hard time of it, been going under because of the accusation of the enemy, let it resolve. Never to take anything from that source. Walk alone in the armor of light, take the shield of faith wherewith we may. Well, it comes to me in the Spanish, apagar todos los dardos del fuego. Quench all the fiery darkness. Holy Father, we're so thankful that we have him. He's just a perfect savior. Oh, it's so wonderful what we read in Revelation 12. That there on a cross he silenced the devil forever. And oh, with what an effective weapon, Father. Why, he didn't deny our sin. That would not have availed. He couldn't just cast the devil out of court because of omnipotence. There was our sin. No. Through the shedding of his most precious blood, he put it away. And oh, what a glow to Satan. What a glow to his entire kingdom. Now, Father, enable us, we pray, to stand on redemption and to absolutely refuse this whole business of self-condemnation. If there are things in our lives, Father, that need to be straightened out, well, we know that can be done very quickly because of the efficacy of the blood. Others tell us if we confess our sins, thou art faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, from that point on, we can go on rejoicing, Father, overcoming the prince of darkness and all his subtle machinations in the blessed name which is above every name, the name of Jesus, our Savior and our Lord. Amen. Amen.