Romans 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? 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.
One of the most common traits of the human sin nature is to gossip and
condemn one another. The Bible calls it wicked sin. James 5:9 warns against
judging others because God is the only Judge, and because we must give
account to Him (see also Romans 14:10-12). Condemning others is a serious
matter to God, for in so doing a person only heaps judgment upon them self
for being a judge rather than a doer of God's Law.
Most people are self-righteous critics, scorners, hypocrites, and gossipers who will be sorry in eternity...
James 4:11-12, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
Who art thou that judgest another? God asks this question. What gives anyone a right to point fingers and speak harshly and with condemnation against another human being, for we are all filthy sinners in God's sight...
Psalms 14:2, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
Did you read what God said in Psalm 14:2... THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER BECOME FILTHY!!!
Psalms:12:2, “They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.”
Psalms:15:3, “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.”
Psalms:28:3, “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
Psalms:31:11, “I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.”
As you have read in the preceding Scriptures, God does not take lightly those who gossip and criticize others for their sins. Many people have a double-heart, speaking kindly in your face while knifing you in the back when speaking behind your back with others. A gossiper does much damage and is like terminal cancer in a family, church, neighborhood, company, et cetera. Gossip is synonymous with hatred.
Proverb 10:12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”
Sadly, and sinfully, gossip and tearing other people down is a cheap form of entertainment for many people. Some people are so enamored with criticizing and attacking other people that it is all they do. Such people thrive on malicious hatred and destroying other people's reputations, without which they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. They've been negative and critical for so long of others that it is who they've become. It is wickedness!
God hates when anyone soweth discord (Proverb 6:16-19). Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace-makers...” (Matthew 5:9). Gossip never makes peace, it only stirs anger and resentment. Gossip destroys people's lives faster than anything else. Gossip is in many ways worse than actually killing a person, because they have to suffer the consequences of your evil speaking. A dead person cannot feel emotional pain caused by someone gossiping and tearing that person down. Nearly everyone who gossips has some justifiable reason in their own mind for doing so, but God knows everyone's heart and will judge accordingly. James 5:9 tells us not to condemn others, because God is the only Judge.
Most people don't hate a person for the reasons they think in their own mind; but rather, they use those reasons in an attempt to justify hatred without a cause for a person.
For example: A critic will rarely admit that they are hateful because they are jealous. Instead they will look for an excuse, some rumor they heard or something which has nothing to do with the real cause of their own hatred. The truth is that they are not right with God in their heart, and so they seek for reasons to blame another person for hating and hurting them. The human heart is desperately evil and deceitfully wicked above all else the Bible says (Jeremiah 17:9).
David killed Uriah after stealing his wife in
an adulterous affair, to cover-up an unintended pregnancy. David was
condemned by others for the rest of his life. David speaks of his pain
throughout the Psalms, mentioning the word
“enemy” and “enemies” over one hundred times throughout the Psalms. David
said he suffered pain daily in his heart...
Psalms 13:1, “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?”
There is no hurt so bad as to suffer emotional pain continually in one's heart. This is why many people commit suicide, that is, to make the pain go away. In Psalm 51:4 David realized that people would condemn him to his grave; but God had forgiven Him. And so David says, “Against Thee, THEE ONLY, have I sinned.”
Hebrews 10:19 tells us to sprinkle any evil conscience with the blood of Jesus, so to speak, because there is no condemnation to those who have been forgiven in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1,34). Jesus sacrificed His body at Calvary; He died, was buried, and arose 3 days later; then Christ ascended into Heaven on our behalf to appear in the presence of the Father, applying His literal, physical, blood to the mercy seat in the heavenly Holy Place (Hebrews 9:12, 24).
Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 4:15-16 teach that Christ is our heavenly High Priest Who interceded for us. The price for sin has been paid, ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME. It is because of the precious blood that Christ shed and applied to the mercy seat in Heaven that we can be saved. The work of atonement of the high priest in the Old Testament was a shadow of good things to come, that is, of Jesus Christ Who would once and for all time wash away men's sins with His blood. Jesus came to earth as the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God; to seek and to save that which was lost, i.e., you and me (Luke 19:10). Amen and amen! We are saved by the precious blood of Jesus and nothing else!
Job also suffered, physically and emotionally...
Job 12:4, “I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.”
Job was ridiculed and scorned for his faith and upright life. When calamity overtook Job, his so-called friends behaved worse than enemies, degrading and false accusing Job. Job was deeply hurt, cut to the soul by their cancerous words...
Psalms 15:1-3, “LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.”
Hear again we read where the Bible forbids backbiting others with our TONGUE. God gave us those teeth in our mouth as bars to encage our wicked tongue, set on fire of Hell James 3:6 says...
James 3:6, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
The Bible calls the human tongue “A WORLD OF INIQUITY.” Most people read the Bible and the things they read never set in firmly. This is why James 1:22 warns against being a HEARER but not a DOER of the Word of God. Jesus warned us in Luke 8:18 to TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR. In other words, God is saying to us... are you really listening? Most people hear, but they don't really hear. You can teach the same simple plan of salvation to 10 people and half of them will walk away dumbfounded, blind as can be to the truth of the Gospel, because of a wicked heart of unbelief.
I used to often think that if we could just get the Gospel out to all corners of the earth, many more people would get saved; but I learned that it doesn't work that way. Most people resent the truth and avoid it like the Black Plague. Most men run from the truth, hiding behind any excuses they can find in the secular mainstream newsmedia, the manure-spreading newspaper, liberal authors, heathen philosophers, the bogus lies of Evolution, et cetera.
The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is the god of this evil world and deliberately blinds the MINDS of unbelievers to hinder them from coming to Christ for true salvation. Romans 10:9 teaches that salvation is of the HEART. One can argue with a person's mind all day and they'll resist the truth all the way to the fires of Hell beneath. It is only when a person repents toward God in their heart that salvation happens, and their sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus.
Every Christian believer has a right to enter into God's presence in prayer, only because of the precious blood of Jesus. Oh what a privilege that we neglect when we don't pray as we should each and every day! ...
Hebrews 10:19, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Volumes of books could be written concerning the forgiven that is in Christ Jesus and the peace of knowing that there is NO CONDEMNATION to those who are saved. One of my favorite Verses in the holy Bible is Romans 8:34, which is our main text verse,
Romans 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? 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."
There are numerous wonderful Biblical doctrines mentioned in this one Scripture—Jesus died, Jesus arose, Jesus ascended into Heaven, Jesus is seated on the right-hand of the Father, Jesus is our heavenly High Priest that maketh intercession for us round-the-clock; therefore, no human being has a right to condemn a Christian believer, for Jesus Christ represents us in every way, watching over us, recording everything that people do and say to and about us, so they will be held accountable on Judgment Day, as will we all for every word that comes out of our mouth (Matthew 12:36; 2nd Corinthians 5:9-11; Romans 14:10-12; 1st Thessalonians 4:6).
The Apostle Paul said he really didn't place any weight upon what men judged of Him, because Paul knew that only God was his Judge...
1st Corinthians 4:3-5, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
Paul had killed Christian while he was unsaved. Paul was a powerful weapon used of the Devil against the Church before he received Christ. When Paul became a Christian, the early Christians feared that it wasn't genuine and that Paul would kill them. They were scared to death of Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus). I have no doubt that many people continually brought up Saul's past sins, trying to discredit him and discourage him; but Paul knew that God had forgiven him and was his only Judge. In 1st Corinthians 4:3-5, Paul said HE THAT JUDGETH ME IS THE LORD.
This cruel and evil world will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. It matters not how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep going for God. Don't quit! Look to Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:1-5; Philippians 2:4-5, 21) and realize that all men must one day stand account before God. Don't be vindictive as the wicked; but rather, do good to your enemies and let God sort them out in eternity (Romans 12:18-21).
Jesus plainly taught that with the same judgment by which men judge others, by that same judgment they shall be judged (Matthew 7:2). Jesus follows in Matthew 7:3-5 to warn about trying to remove the toothpick from other's lives, while overlooking the BEAM in your own life. Those who point fingers are the biggest sinners Jesus taught (which is the exact opposite of what nearly everyone thinks).
When you gossip and put someone else down because they have sinned (or you hear an unsubstantiated rumor that someone sinned are are sinning by spreading it further); either way, you are the bigger sinner because you've minimized your own sinfulness in the eyes of God. For if you truly realized your own sinfulness, you'd refrain from speaking evil of other sinners and look to your own skeleton closet.
James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
In other words, those who condemn others and are hypocritical gossipers will get theirs on Judgment Day, because God will be very harsh on them as they were harsh on others. God hates a proud look and sowing discord (Proverbs 6:16-19).
Proverb 8:13, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”
The act of gossiping, slandering, pointing fingers, condemning, speaking evil, and focusing on another's sins is rooted in sinful pride. Many people love to focus on other people's sins, while totally overlooking their own.
The wicked love their sins and don't even try to live right (John 3:20)—while condemning the Christian who stumbles in his or her way even once (Proverb 29:27). The wicked hate the righteous, because they know in their hearts that they are sinning against God (John 7:7; 15:19). So they hate and despise those who are good (2nd Timothy 3:3). A man can indulge in all manner of sins and his co-workers won't say a word of condemnation; but just let a man of God mess up once and all the hypocrites come out of the woodwork to condemn.
Human nature is like a bucket of crabs, pulling each other down when one manages to crawl above the rest to escape. Humans shoot each other when anyone rises above the rest in any way, whether in popularity, financial wealth, having a strong family, or enjoying prosperity. Life is about people hurting people, sad to say, but true nonetheless. It's because men and women don't love Jesus Christ.
If you are talented, men will say malign things about you. If you have a beautiful wife, men will be jealous of you and hate you for that reason alone. If you are a beautiful woman, other women will hate you for it. If you have a big home, people will hate you for it. If you sing pretty, people will hate you for having a lovely voice. If you win something, you will be hated. if you stand for God, people will hate you for that too. If you have anything nice, even though you worked hard and sacrificed to obtain it, many people will hate you for it because of their evil jealous and covetous heart.
You're going to be hated for merely breathing my friend, so why not give your life to God and stop trying to please the human race. You'll never please humans. I don't care where you go on this earth, people are people are people. And people are sinners! The Apostle Paul helped others, but he served Christ alone while doing so. I love God and want to help others spiritually in the Lord as much as possible, but at a distance. People are dangerous! I'd rather be in a lion's cage with a tamer, where at least I am safe from people. Jesus promised in John 16:22 that when He returns NO MAN will ever rob us of our joy again. People will ruin your day, condemn you, conspire against you, hurt you, steal from you, deceive you. Listen to what God said...
Job 12:16, “With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.”
The deceived and the deceiver are God's. All men will die one day, and the spirit which God gave will return to Him for judgment (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Hebrews 10:31 says that it is a FEARFUL THING to fall into the hands of the living God. Judgment Day is fast approaching for all men (Hebrews 9:27). Are you ready to meet your Maker? Are you laboring for Christ? ... Or are you plowing down others, condemning others for their sins while minimizing your own; and living a self-righteous, self-centered, and heathen life? There's a lot of condemnation going on everywhere in the world, and God will recompense each sinner for their deeds (Romans 12:19).
The question is will you be ACCEPTED of Him on Judgment Day (2nd Corinthians 5:9)? I speak this to believers. Will God be pleased with your life here on earth, or will you face the TERROR OF THE LORD instead (2nd Corinthians 5:11)?
Are you even saved (Revelation 20:11-15)? Many churchgoers falsely THINK they are Christians, but are not. This is evidenced in Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Did you read what Jesus said... MANY will seek to enter, and shall not be able. Wow! What a statement!!! That should make you think. This is a startling Biblical truth. The Bible teaches that MANY people will think they are going to Heaven, but will be denied and turned away instead. Will that be you in eternity? Matthew 7:13-14 and Matthew 7:21-23 confirm this truth. Religion is the worst thing that ever happened to this world. Salvation is NOT found in any religion; but rather, in a Person—The Lord Jesus Christ! You need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
