<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ABC Prayer Crusade

Glenn Coon

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

2-Enamored With Jesus

3-Jesus Prepares You

4-Jesus, The Argument

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

6-Witnessing for Jesus

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

9-Jesus Loves

10-Jesus the Magnet

When I was a little boy at home, we lived in the middle of New York state up on a hill, three quarters a mile high. When the winter came, the snow drifts were very deep and they completely covered the road down that hill. And so the farmers conceived the idea of cutting down small trees, trimming them out and making them into stakes. They'd put one stake on one side of the road between the road in the ditch and they'd put another stake on the other side of the road between the road and the ditch and so on. Down the road were these stakes rapidly. The snow completely covered the road. There was no way by which we had known where the road was except these stakes. I've thought many times since then of how Jesus drove stakes to keep us from going to extremes. And I want to share with you two of those stakes they're found in John the eighth chapter and the 11th verse. It is a story of a woman who was brought to Jesus, taken in adultery. You remember the story? These people who brought her were hounding the steps of Jesus, hoping to find something by which they could condemn him. And instead of telling them that they could throw stones at her and thus taking the civil law into their own hands, he said, whoever view is without fault, without sin, you, you cast the first stone and you remember the rest of the story and they all slunk away. Then he turned to the woman and he said, woman, where are your accusers? Does no man condemn you? And she was still wondering who might be throwing the first stone? And she dared to look up and she said, no, man, Lord. And then he drove a stake. Neither, neither do I condemn you that that's steak one. And then he drove another steak. Go, sin. No more between these two stakes is the way. And Jesus says, I am the way. In other words, as you and I seek to win men from the path of evil, we're not to win them by condemning them. Neither do I condemn you? Neither are we to sympathize with them as though they had not sinned, but rather to say there's power in the Lord Jesus so you can go and sin no more. I found in my ministry that it's a tremendous temptation for professed Christians who would be soul winners to overlook either one of those stakes. Oh, so many of us condemn somebody because he's, he's a sinner. And then others get so excited to think that somebody is condemning when Jesus didn't condemn that the rest of us are liable to go to the other extreme and start citing with a sinner as though he as though he was being persecuted as though he were in the right. You see, we're not to tell a sinner that he's right. Neither are we to enter upon this philosophy of condemnation between the two Stakes is Jesus, I'm the way, the truth and the life. He doesn't say, you're not a sinner, but he said, I'll give you the power to go and sin no more. That's Jesus. And friends, we should pray earnestly that in our conversation with every individual who has fallen by the way, who is under heavy load of sin, that we will not point fingers of condemnation. Neither will we say, look, people are persecuting you. No, no, no. We're to say, yes, we understand you've sinned. But Jesus has said, go sin no more. And Christ in you is the hope of glory. Many years ago, I decided to teach laws of soul-winning to congregations of which I was pastor. And as I did so, I recognize the Holy Spirit being poured out. You know, my friends, the Lord wants us to learn divine principles. He doesn't want us to try to win souls from the angle of emotion. You see, like the drunkard that was hailed in court. And the judge said to him, oh, why? Why did you get drunk? He said, well, I drank because it seemed to be the only thing to do at the time. Emotion, emotion. Many of us think if I can bear down and condemn somebody, well, I don't know what principle is involved, but it seems the only thing to do. At the time, I was teaching my fellow church members some of these tremendous principles of soul winning. And you know what? I wasn't putting them into practice with my own daughter. And one day the Lord caught up with me. You know, isn't the Lord good, isn't he? And he said something like this, not inaudible voice, but through the Holy Spirit, my son, how about practicing in your home, the principles that you're teaching to your congregation? Oh, what do you mean, Lord? Well, here you're condemning your daughter. You are creating a gulf between yourself and her. Jesus didn't condemn, but you are condemning. Now, Jesus had a better way of doing it for John three 17 says, God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And here you seem to have forgotten that John three 16 is followed immediately by John three 17. God soul loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed that the name should not perish, but have everlasting life. And immediately following God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world. Why do you condemn your daughter? And then you tell, and you teach and you instruct your flock not to condemn. Oh, I said, Lord, I'm so sorry. I don't know. I don't know what to do. Well, do what you've been teaching your flock to do. Come to me and ask me to give you my spirit and my Holy Spirit will give you love, joy, peace, long suffering, not condemnation. Oh, I said, Lord, if you'll come to my rescue and I claim to promise, I claim to promise, the Bible says, if any of you like wisdom, let him ask of God. I said, Lord, I'm so full of emotion regarding my own daughter that it seems that the wisdom can't seep through to me. But Lord, I ask you to give me wisdom. James one, five. That's the A of prayer. Lord, I believe you're giving me this wisdom. That's the B of prayer. Mark 1124. Lord, I thank you. I am now receiving the gift of wisdom because the gift is in the promise. Just like a seed contains the tree. Luke eight 11, and now Lord, you are giving me wisdom no longer to condemn my daughter. And my wife and I were in the kitchen and our daughter was in the front room. And you know, it's a wonderful kind and gracious, the Lord is to us. And I know it didn't spring from my heart except as Jesus entered because we were a little concerned over the standards of our daughter with the boys. You know, as I was in the kitchen, I said to my wife, honey doesn't want to have high standards. Her name was Juanita, our daughter. I would no more have said that than a, than anything in this world because I didn't believe she did have but Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I thought, what in the world have I said? And then the Lord helped me just having planted that one seed to talk about something else. That night a boyfriend came to see our daughter. My wife and I had retired. They were standing on the front steps. There was no moon that night, but there was a little light over the front steps and that did the best it could. And as they chatted, he held her hand and they looked in each other's faces. And as he was ready to leave, he made a gesture to kiss her wrist. Can you imagine that obnoxious thing? Can you imagine such horribly low standards for a boy to kiss a girl's wrist? And as he made the gesture to kiss her wrist, she tightened her wrist. She said, no, my standards don't permit it A dare or two later, when she shared with us what had happened, I was almost beside myself with joy. Can it be when we stop condemning that the Holy Spirit will come in and he will take over in this person's life, we're not merely claiming the promise for wisdom. We're claiming the promise. I will save your children, but for God to save the one for whom we're praying, we must say, Lord, keep me from this horrible devilish condemning attitude. What do you say? Amen. I found that it is one thing to teach these principles, friends. It's another thing to put them into practice. I wanna share with you another hard lesson that I learned as a pastor. I was pastor of a district of churches, three churches, about 18 miles from where I lived was one of the churches where there was a, an academy. And one morning, maybe a seven, maybe nine o'clock or nine 30 in the morning, I received a telephone call from the manager of this academy, the business manager. And he was almost breathless. Pastor, could you come over immediately? I'm in trouble. I said, yes. I jumped in my car and went just as fast as I dared to. And when I came in the academy, I asked where he was, they said, he's up in a certain room. You go up a couple flights of stairs to the first, to the second floor, and there you'll find him. When I came up to the second floor and walked in the room, I saw he was talking with a woman and the woman's eyes were like serpent eyes. And her tongue was like an ad's tongue brother. Was it sharp? Was she eloquent? She was giving him the tongue lashing of his life, brother, how she spewed out. And right away I knew that she was not using the right method. She did not have the right spirit. So I partook of the same spirit. And I turned to him and I said, brother, if I were you, I wouldn't even stay in this room with that woman. What was I doing? I was condemning her and he was greatly relieved. And he started following my instruction and he and I walked out of the room. As we started down the two flights of stairs, I got about halfway down the first flight and praise the Lord. The Lord caught up with me again. My son, you've made a terrible mistake. God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world. You condemn that woman even though you are worthy of condemnation, that's not your business. And the thing struck me so clearly and so forcibly that I turned to him right there is we're halfway down the first flight. I said, brother, I gave you poor counsel. I have made a mistake. We should go back. You know, it seemed like he was then reaching out to take two steps at a time going down. He said, I think you gave me good counsel and I'm on my way down. I said, brother, he was on down. Now I said, brother, let's go back. I must apologize to this lady. He turned back and he said, if you return, you're going to return alone. I said to myself, Coon, if you hadn't said that one sentence up until then, it was between him and her, you are safe. But the moment you condemn that woman, it ceased to be between him and her, and it was between you and her. Oh, I said, Lord, why did I ever do it? And the Lord's Holy Spirit said, you've done it. Now there's one thing for you to do. You go on up the next flight of back up the flight of stairs and you confess to this woman you apologize for having condemned her. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him should be what be saved. I said, dear Lord, I dread going back. I know how she treated that man. Now what in the world will she do to me? Don't mind son, what she does to you. You go back and make wrongs, right? So I went back up the flight of stairs, walked into the room, and of all things she'd left the room. I said to one of the students, can you tell me where Mrs so-and-so is? They said, she want two more flights on up. And I could feel a sense, the Holy Spirit saying to me, you go on up too. I said, Lord, I've already come up one flight. Do I have to go up two more flights? Go on up, son. God sent Son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Go on up and apologize. I'm going to admit friends that the hardest two flights of stairs I've ever made in my life were those two flights. And I kept saying, why on earth didn't I keep my big mouth closed? One sentence has done all of this to me. Son, go on up. I said, oh Lord, you'll have to help me because I somehow I don't. The face of that woman is so savage, it seems I can't face her, but it is God that work isth in you both to willing and to do of his good pleasure. I went on up, walked in the room, and there she was staring at me like a serpent. I said, sister, I've come up to apologize. I shouldn't have condemned you. Will you forgive me for condemning you? And you realize just what she wanted. Oh, did you ever see a cat play with a mouse that she didn't really want to kill? You know, just a little bite here, a little wound here. And then the mic mouse starts and the cat just, oh, the cat is so graceful. And she comes and picks on the mouse again. I was the mouse. And she said, how sorry are you? I said, I'm very sorry. Are you sure? I said, yes. And you know, the Lord was hearing my prayer. I said, you know, sister, I had no business condemning you. You have some great burden on your heart, and I should have come in to help you with a burden. But instead of helping you to lift the burden, I made the burden greater. Will you forgive me? Are you real sure? How sorry are you? And man, that nose was like a a pitchfork tin, and the mouth, oh my was so agile, the tongue. I said, I'm terribly sorry. I said, you know, would you mind if we had kneel it together and pray? And I'm going to ask God to forgive me. In fact, I've already asked him, and I'm gonna ask the Lord if he'll lift your heavy burden. I don't know what it is, sister, but whatever it is, I'm gonna ask him to undertake and lift your burden. Well, if you're really sorry, she said, I said, I'm very sorry. As I knelt and began to pray for the woman whom I had been condemning friends, the Holy Spirit just filled that room. I have never felt more blessed, perhaps more than a few times in my entire life than I felt blessed as I was praying for that woman. And I found my heart breaking up and my voice was almost choked with tears. And as I concluded my prayer, I was in for the surprise of my life. She began to pray. And this is what she prayed. Dear Lord, I want to confess to you now and apologize to the pastor for the terrible thing that I have done. She said, the faculty said that the chil, the young people should not go to a certain party on a certain night. And I thought, I'll show them. So she said, I gave a little note to my daughter. I wrote a little note and she dropped it on purpose where the business manager would see it inviting the students to the party that night. And I did it. So to really zero in on him, and when he picked it up and he said, you wrote that note? She said, no, I didn't. And she said, Lord, she didn't write it. I wrote it and I wrote it for one express purpose to stir up trouble in the school. And she said, dear Lord, will you forgive me? I'm terribly sorry for the sin that I've committed. It was not a thing in my heart except downright rebe. And the woman cried out to God and sobbed out her repentance. I said, oh Lord, thank you. You've taught me a lesson. God drove a steak. Neither do I condemn you. He drove another steak. Go sin. No more between those two stakes. Is Jesus Christ the way? Oh, I said, Lord, I'm so grateful that you're teaching me friends. Let me say this tonight at this hour, if any of you have made some high and holy resolutions and you haven't carried them out, you've stumbled. Remember, God forgives. I know because He's forgiven me. Now, there's another way to handle it. Whenever you and I are are tempted to condemn somebody, think of something to commend. It doesn't mean that we're gonna tell 'em they're outta sin, but it means that we'll commend something in them that is commendable. Let me give you illustration. A lady came to Dr. George W. Crane years ago and she said, Dr. Crane, I've come to you for counsel. She said, my husband is in love with another woman and I wanna hurt him, and I've come to ask you how to hurt him. He said, well, what do you have in mind as to how to hurt him? She said, I have in mind divorcing him. He said, well, that wouldn't hurt him if he's in love with somebody else. That's what he'd like. Oh, she said, oh. He said, if you really wanna hurt him, make him fall in love with you, then divorce him and it'll hurt him. Oh, she said, goody goody doctor, but how can I do that? He said, give him three Centre compliments a day, and in six months he'll be madly in love with you. Then come back and I'll show you the steps to take to hurt him. Oh, she said, wonderful, but what is there in him I can command? So he coached her. He said, does he dress well? Oh yes. She said, stunningly. She said, why don't you tell him he has a pretty tie? She said, oh, I thought he'd get the big head. The other woman's telling him that, how about you? Oh, is he a good provider? Oh, she says he's a fabulous provider. How about you telling him that? That's two. Is he? Is he good looking? Oh, she said, she said, he's a handsome brute. You tell him he's handsome, but don't tell him he's brute. Those are the first three. And give him three since they must be sincere compliments every day. Come back in in six months and I'll, I'll guide you in the next step. She's good. Six months later, she came back. She said, Dr. Crane, I did what you suggested. I gave him compliments, but in every case, they were sincere. I gave him three a day. She said, my husband is so deeply in love with me. Dr. Crane said, now if you divorce him, it'll hurt him. She said, Dr. Crane, I don't wanna divorce him now. I love him too. God sent not his son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Do you know that's what God wants you and me to do, Christ in you, the hope of glory and Christ's attitude in us, his spirit in us brings others the hope of glory. We're saying, I don't condemn you, but I know of a power that is willing to come into your life so you'll never have to fall into that sin again. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I can never in this world represent that kind of a Christ unless we look up into his face and we say, dear Lord, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. But you have said that you will come and live in my life. I ask you to do it. I believe you're doing it. So I'll have no attitude of condemnation toward anyone. I'll love everyone and lead them to that tremendous power of the Holy Spirit that they may be. Be victors in Jesus Christ. Shall we pray? Dear Lord, in heaven, I'm so grateful That The times when I've stumbled in condemning people, you'll forgiven. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

Back to Menu

Series

Path to the Heart

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

Parent Series

Sponsor

Other Teachings in Series

1-Jesus Only

26m

2-Enamored With Jesus

27m

3-Jesus Prepares You

27m

4-Jesus, The Argument

33m

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

26m

6-Witnessing for Jesus

27m

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

27m

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

26m

9-Jesus Loves

27m

10-Jesus the Magnet

25m

Sound Doctrine