Condemnation

The third arsenal in Satan’s devices is condemnation. Again, we could call this deception because it is a perverted view of the truth, which makes it a lie, but condemnation needs to be discussed separately. Condemnation is a most powerful tool and is often used to beat down Christians, neutralizing their effectiveness.

Condemnation is Satan using the sins of the believer to accuse the believer of unworthiness before God. He will tempt the believer, often telling the tempted that he can sin and God will understand. He will often remind the believer that he or she is under grace. Should the Christian sin, then the Satan will jump on the Christian, shaming him and trying to convince the believer that God will not love them the same. He often tries to imitate the Holy Spirit, convicting of sin. But his conviction is really condemnation. The way to counteract condemnation is to agree that the sin is wrong and run to the cross from which a constant river of mercy flows.

The Bible tells Christians that God no longer condemns them. They will never come under the penalty of sin because Jesus already suffered it. Yes, you and I are sometimes guilty of sin, but to believe the devil that God condemns us and finds us less acceptable is to violate the very spirit of the cross. It is to say the blood of Jesus does not provide an ongoing robe of righteousness and that our performance must be added to insure right standing with God. Nothing could be more blasphemous to the Savior and the death He died.