Satan is a Judo expert
distinguishing between good and evil
WEEK 2 — CONVICTION VS CONDEMNATION, Part 1
FOCUS:
Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death – Romans 8:1,2.
God is not the only spiritual force in the universe. We have an enemy who is intelligent, organized, powerful, ruthless and experienced. The primary battlefield where we must face him and learn to stand against his attacks is in our mind. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Corinthians when he describes the Christian life in this way:
For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
I’m fond of saying that Satan is a Judo expert, because he is. I learned a little bit of Judo when I was a boy from my older brother John. I understand that the way it works is you pull your opponent in the direction he is already moving. If you are a Judo expert, being small is not such a disadvantage, because you use your opponent’s own energy and momentum to defeat him.
During John’s high school years, he had a friend who took Judo lessons. He would come over to our house. John and his friend would take an old mattress out in the backyard, place a scrap of carpet over the mattress and use it as a practice mat. John’s friend would throw him, and then John would throw me. I didn’t have anybody to throw. My dog wouldn’t cooperate.
I learned that in Judo, unlike boxing, you use your opponent’s energy in order to defeat him. If I’m taking a swing at a Judo expert, he doesn’t have to block my punch; instead, he will add to my momentum and throw me off balance, and I will fall. If I lunge at a Judo expert, he will help me along and send me flying through the air. That’s how a person of small stature who knows Judo can whip the daylights out of big people who are strong and forceful but don’t know Judo. Little boys find Judo training very inviting.
Satan uses a similar tactic in spiritual warfare. He throws us off balance. He will detect the direction we’re moving and will encourage us to go too far in that direction. We have a tendency toward extremes that shows up in all kinds of ways.
We need to recognize the ways Satan deceives people and throws us off balance. During my decades of ministry, I have noticed five major areas of inner conflict, which are very common among believers. Satan seeks to confuse us about these five areas. Each of these areas has a balancing counterpart. The first area is the difference between conviction and condemnation. In Romans 8:1, 2 we read:
Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
How much condemnation is there for a believer? None whatsoever!
However, if we look in John 16, we find that one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin.
[Jesus said,] It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged — John 16:7-11.
What Satan does is to confuse and deceive us about the difference between conviction and condemnation. When I sin, the Holy Spirit says to me: “Jim, that was wrong of you. You messed up. You should not have done that; you need to repent. God doesn’t want you behaving that way. He wants you to obey Him.” The Holy Spirit gives specific and clear instruction on what I can do to change. Not only that, the Holy Spirit places His own power to change within me. I am not alone in defeating the enemy.
On the other hand, this is the voice of condemnation: “Jim, you messed up. That was wrong of you, and it’s just like you. You’re never going to get it right. There’s no point in even trying. You might as well hang it up. God could never love anybody like you. God could never use anybody like you. You might as well just admit it to yourself. Christianity doesn’t work for you. You might as well do whatever you want to do, because there’s no way you’re ever going to break free. How many times have you told yourself you’d never do that again? Well, you’ve done it again. Just give up. You’ll never, ever get it right.”
Condemnation also attacks my identity. Instead of simply saying, “You did wrong;” condemnation says, “You are a terrible person.” Satan does not want me to know the difference between conviction and condemnation, and most of us don’t discern the difference when it is happening to us personally. An easy way to recognize conviction is to remember that conviction always offers hope. The Holy Spirit says, “You messed up, and you need to change. Here’s how.”
The call to repentance is something most of us have been conditioned to think of as a negative thing. Repentance is actually a marvelous thing. When God says to us, “Repent,” He is saying, “You don’t have to stay the way you are. I love you too much to let you continue in your foolish behavior.”
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting a different result. When we think we are trapped in a sinful lifestyle, we feel condemned. We may really want to be different, but we become convinced that we can’t change. Satan is the one who wants us to believe we can’t change.
Practically speaking, it is similar to my desire to lose weight. This is how it works: I want to lose some weight. I talk about wanting to lose weight, and I am sincere; but, at supper tonight I ate bread, pasta and dessert. I reasoned with myself before I ate the dessert: “Well, I might as well eat dessert. I already had a brownie as a snack before dinner.” If Satan can get me to feel like I’ve already blown it spiritually, like I’m too far gone, there’s no hope for me, this is my family history, this is just my personality, this is me, then I’m stuck. I feel condemned. When I feel condemnation, I want to run and hide from the presence of God.
What did Adam and Eve do when God came looking for them in the Garden after they had eaten the forbidden fruit? They ran and hid.
Trying to hide from the omniscient God? The God who knows all things?Sees all things? Is this a good idea?
The psalmist says,
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, Lord — Psalm 139:4.”
God already knows everything about us. Why in the world do we think we can hide from him?
I don’t remember when I first began to recognize a peculiar thing adults do to make kids crazy. I remember it happened to me. When children are very small, a fun loving adult makes them think that by covering their eyes, they disappear from sight. When the child covers his face, this adult asks, “Where is Johnny? Where did Johnny go?”
Finally, Johnny puts his hands down and hears the gleeful response, “Oh, there he is. There’s Johnny.”
Johnny thinks he disappeared, and now he’s back. Misleading innocent children may seem amusing, but isn’t it sad when someone never moves beyond this stage? How stupid would it be for an adult to think he can disappear from sight by covering his eyes?
Yet, there are adults who think that if they don’t acknowledge God, God can’t see them. If they ignore the truth, the truth doesn’t apply to them. The fact is God already knows everything about us. He loves us anyway. But, he loves us enough to confront, convict, correct, discipline and call us to repentance. If we don’t know the difference between conviction and condemnation, we’re going to fall off balance in one direction or the other.
Let’s suppose I really believe no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus. When the Holy Spirit comes to convict me of sin and says, “Jim that was wrong of you,” because I am convinced that no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, I can use this verse as grounds to “tune out” the voice of the Holy Spirit. I can tell myself: “There is no condemnation! I will not receive this condemnation. The blood of Jesus Christ justifies me. Because of His grace, I am made free. I am not going to listen to this.”
How tragic. Everything I just told myself is true, especially about the blood of Jesus Christ. Justification is by grace through faith. This is absolutely true. I am free. I am loved, … but I still need to change. I need the convicting work of the Holy Spirit to call me to repentance. I need to change, because God doesn’t want me doing bad things. He loves me. God is not a killjoy. He comes so that we can have joy inexpressible and full of glory.
You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls — I Peter 1:5-9.
If we think sin is the path to joy, we are going down a blind alley. The reason God says, “Don’t do that,” is because he loves us.
The President of a Christian college had to resign. Apparently, the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation teamed up with local police to investigate why someone using his laptop computer was soliciting sex from a thirteen-year-old girl, and asking that child, who had given her age to him, to meet him at a motel. He had to resign his position at the college. His life and his family’s lives tragically changed.
How did he get in this place? When the Holy Spirit comes to convict, if our response is to say, “no condemnation,” we will harden our hearts against the work of the Holy Spirit, and we will get into deeper and deeper trouble. Satan is delighted to hurl us in the direction we are already going.
What’s the flip side? Suppose I don’t want to be insensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit. I am determined never to turn a deaf ear to him. I have a passion for holiness. I want to be sensitive to God. My sincere prayer is, “If there’s anything in my life that doesn’t belong, Lord, I want you to reveal it. I want you to expose it. I want to change. Show me, Lord. I’m ready to lay it all down.”
What does Satan do to a person like this? He says, “That was wrong of you. How dare you think that? How dare you have such a thought?”
When the enemy begins to heap on the condemnation, what is this person tempted to do? She is tempted to respond, “Oh, that’s right. Oh God, have mercy on me. How can I call myself a Christian when I would speak that way? If I really loved God, I wouldn’t have such feelings and thoughts. Oh God, maybe I’m not really saved.”
What is this person doing? She is listening to Satan who has offered no hope, just condemnation: “How dare you sing hymns? How dare you walk into church smiling at people as if everything’s all right? You have no business hanging out with Christians, as if you’re one of them. Look at what you’ve done. Think about the many times God has extended His grace to you, and you just trample it. You are nothing but a hypocrite. You need to give up.”
This is not the work of the Holy Spirit. This is not conviction. This is condemnation. A person who doesn’t discern the difference between conviction and condemnation may become smug and self-righteous, lazy about holiness, sinning all the more “that grace may multiply.”
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life — Romans 6:1-4 .
More often, a person who doesn’t discern the difference between conviction and condemnation feels defeated, depressed and despairing: “Oh God, I’ve tried. I’ve really tried. I just can’t do it. I still missed my time alone with you today. I didn’t even read my Bible at all. I still failed to share my faith with my coworker. God I just can’t do it. I give up.”
Chuck Swindoll says there are three stages to the Christian life:
Stage 1: “This is easy!”
Stage 2: “This is hard!”
Stage 3: “This is impossible!”
After we’ve been through stage three, we’re ready to start living the Christian life. The fact is that it is only by grace we are saved. But when God saves us, he doesn’t just forgive us, he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In order to cooperate in the process of sanctification, we must learn to discern the difference between conviction, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, and condemnation, which is an attack of the enemy. One of the titles given to Satan is the accuser of the brethren.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Messiah
have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers
has been thrown out:
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night — Revelation 12:10.
We need to realize that Satan knows how to quote Scripture; he knows how to come robed as an angel of light, and whether he’s telling you, “no condemnation, no condemnation,” when the Holy Spirit is trying to convict of sin, or whether he’s heaping on the guilt and hopelessness, he’s still the enemy.
…Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
How did Jesus respond to the tempter?
“It is written:
Man must not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”
Did the devil get the message and leave him alone?
Then the Devil took Him to the holy city, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
He will give His angels orders concerning you,
and they will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”
What was Jesus’ response to this mocking attack from the enemy?
Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”
Did the enemy accept this confident reply from the Messiah?
Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to Him, “I will give You all these things if You will fall down and worship me.”
What did Jesus say?
“Go away, Satan! For it is written:
Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only Him.”
Did the devil obey Jesus’ command to go away?
Then the Devil left Him, and immediately angels came and began to serve Him — Matthew 4:1-11.
Satan, may be a Judo expert and he may be able to push and pull us off balance, but he must obey Jesus.
… Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth — Matthew 28:18.
However, we must remember,
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light — 2 Corinthians 11:14.
This is why we must learn to discern the difference between conviction, the work of the Holy Spirit, and condemnation, the attack of the enemy. How can we tell the difference?
Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus – Romans 8:1.
Christians can and must change our behavior. We were brought out of the dark in order to live in the light.
This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil — John 3:19
God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves — Colossians 1:13.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
According to Pastor Chuck Swindoll, we’re ready to start our life in Christ when we understand that the Christian life is _______________________? What does Swindle mean by this?
What is the primary battlefield where we must face the enemy and learn to stand against his attacks?
What does “the Judo expert” use in order to defeat you?
What was Jesus’ primary weapon in defeating Satan?
How important is it to read, study and memorize scripture in defeating the enemy?
Who condemns us? What does this sound like?
Who brings conviction? What does this sound like?
How do you take every thought captive to obey Christ?
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Do you ever accept the enemy’s condemnation?
Do you ever reject the Holy Spirit’s conviction?
Have you ever been guilty of verbally condemning others?
Are you ever guilty of steering those you love away from conviction?
Do you make Bible study a priority in your life?
Do you use your knowledge of scripture to counteract the attacks of the enemy?
Ask Jim Wood a question @ pastorwood.org
