WHICH COURT DO YOU LIVE IN; THE COURT OF CONSCIENCE OR THE COURT OF GOD?
“If our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and knows all things” 1 John 2:20.
Who declares someone to be guilty makes all the difference in the world. Famous criminal cases have occurred in which the defendant was considered guilty by overwhelming public sentiment when, in fact, that person was innocent because the duly authorized judge ruled him to be so. A million people can call a person a felon, but only when a judge convicts him of a felony does the label mean anything. This principle is crucial in understanding one’s legal standing before God. God and God alone is the final Judge of the state of one’s soul. If God declares a person to be innocent then the many voices that shout “guilty” mean nothing at all. For Christians who are apt to listen to voices that have no authority over them this is good news indeed. Paul in fighting the error of listening to the wrong voice asks the question, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?” His answer is clear, “It is God who justifies.” In other words it makes no difference who condemns the Christian, God is the final Judge and His word alone matters. Paul goes on to ask, “Who is he who condemns?” And again his answer is clear, “It is Christ who died and is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us.” In other words, if the Judge who has the ability to condemn you is the same Judge who is pleading for your innocence, than you have absolutely no cause for worry. To say it another way, if the Son (the Judge) sets you free you are most truly free. No rogue bailiff, no popular poll, no personal adversary can alter what has been already decreed by the high and mighty court. This declaration of innocence by God is called the doctrine of justification. The benefits of this truth are manifold. Properly understood it brings peace, confirms sonship, instills hope and creates people who are generally happy and holy. And when that person stumbles he immediately looks to God’s decree of innocence and is safe.
Living in the right courtroom is the key to a happy and holy Christian life.
But there is another courtroom that all too many Christians live in that offers a completely different verdict than what is rendered in the courtroom of God. It is the courtroom of conscience. Now conscience is the inner voice that judges all of life according to a legal standard. It operates strictly on what it perceives to be right or wrong. Christians have enlightened consciences. Due to the illumination of the Spirit they are more sensitive to things moral and feel more deeply their daily failures. When the courtroom of conscience comes to their door wishing to make an arrest, many Christians allow themselves to be dragged into that courtroom where they hear the ringing decree, “Guilty, guilty, guilty!” In this court there is no grace and no amnesty. Worse yet, there is nothing one can do the change the decree of guilt. Sin is sin and it must be punished and the punishment is eternal. And so the Christian who enters this courtroom finds himself filled with anxiety, fear, depression, and despair. He walks about with a bowed head, believing that he is that unforgiven sinner who has committed the unpardonable sin. Worse yet, he continually questions his own salvation and has no peace. This leads to a whole plethora of bad attitudes that stunt his Christian growth. He has hopped on the endless merry-go-round of guilt.
The maturity of a Christian can easily be discerned by what court he lives in. If he is constantly listening to the decree of the court of conscience, there will be nothing but “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” Living in this courtroom is like living in a fiery furnace. It is a slow death that renders him useless for the cause of truth. The healthy Christian, however, lives in the courtroom of God’s justifying grace. He continually removes to that court in his daily Christian experience and daily receives new infusions of the blood of Christ which cleanses him from all sin. For the cause of God he is energetic and useful.
Dear Christian, do you feel you can’t escape the condemnation of your own conscience? Then run to the court of God where your case has already been adjudicated by the One who knows all things, Run to the courtroom where 2000 years ago a Judge heard your case and condemned the One who stood in your place. And if He was sentenced to death, then you, my friend, will never be sentenced. God cannot punish the same offense twice.
But you, Christian, if you stay in the court of conscience you will hear nothing but the sentence of guilty. And may I whisper something in your ear? You need not listen to the verdict of that court, it is out of your jurisdiction. You, my dear Christian friend, are no longer under law but under grace.
And so in the court of God every Christian has been declared innocent. But you must find that courtroom. All too easily do you know the whereabouts of the courtroom of conscience. You have visited it often. But God’s courtroom is often hard to find. Then hear me well. Go down the hall of life and find the room marked GRACE and there look for a Judge who is smiling at you with a pleasant face. He will take you in His arms. He has long ago forgiven you. Stay there and may you never leave.