Services | Who Are Condemned

Bulletin

Hymn # 254 “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”

SCRIPTURE READING – Psalm 98
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Prudence Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Raise a Hallelujah”
“Great Are You Lord”
“Overcome”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Who Are Condemned?”

“Way Maker”
“Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”

Sermon Notes
Romans 8:1 Now those in Jesus are not condemned
John 3:14 – 18 Those who do not believe in Jesus are condemned already, it is not the rejection of Jesus

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

You've probably heard it said, or maybe you've even said it yourself, "Don't judge me." Someone says that usually because they're pretty sure that the outcome of that judgment is negative, that for some reason that they didn't act or say the right things and don't want to hear that condemnation. The Scripture is going to talk about two different types of people, those who are judged and those who aren't. Let me listen to how to be on one group or the other. Is one in which I try to take scriptures that are bite-sized, something that you can easily memorize, so that when you are dealing with life, that these scriptures will come to memory and you will defeat the liar.

And so we take a look at like last week, said that the righteous man shall live by faith.

Simple verse to remember, one that should have an impact on our lives because when we decide how we should live rather than living by codes and decrees, we live by faith in God.

One is similar, it's a very short verse, one that you should be able to memorize, one that should have an impact on your life. And then I use other scriptures to say, "See, I just didn't pull this out," that it is consistent. So in essence, two or three witnesses confirm it. And so if you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to Romans chapter 8 verse 1.

And it says this, "Therefore," I'm going to stop right there, "therefore" is a very important statement because it's therefore.

What Paul has been saying is that he starts off at that the righteous man shall live by faith, and then he goes through the first part of the book of Romans and says that we are all sinners, whether we are Gentiles or whether we are Jews, we all have been sinners, that we all fall short of the glory of God, that God demonstrated his love towards us and that while we're yet sinners, he died for us, and that we might be saved through faith, which is something that he gives, it's a gift of God. So he's gone through and given an explanation of the faith, and I encourage you to read those things so I said, but based on all of that, "therefore there is now," I want you to notice it's present, it's not something that we have to, I wonder what's going to happen, I wonder am I going to measure up, it is now, there is now no condemnation.

You see, we don't have to wonder all of our lives whether God is going to condemn us for what we've done or what we've said or who we are, because in Christ there is no condemnation which is present.

That's very, so many people live a life of fear, but the Scriptures tell us that when God forgives, God forgives and forgets, he casts our sins as far as the east is from the west. He says, "I will remember them no more."

It's Satan who keeps bringing up these lies and whatever to keep us in bondage, but presently

there is no condemnation, but it's not no condemnation for everyone, it's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You see, if you're in Christ Jesus, there's now no condemnation, and he doesn't say that for those who aren't in Christ Jesus. So it's the promise that we have that we are not condemned, but that we have this assurance presently.

All too often you'll hear people say, "Don't judge me."

And usually when they say, "Don't judge me," it's because they've failed to live up to some standard.

They haven't been the friend that they should have been, or they haven't been the employer, whatever. They use that as a defense and attack. You don't have the authority to judge me.

But usually people don't say, "Don't judge me," when they're pretty sure that they are innocent.

Go through a trial.

There is that uncertainty because you're not sure all the evidence that needs to be presented will get placed, and then the triafact will actually interpret that evidence properly. And so when that, but you're assured that you are an innocent person, but when the judgment is rendered not guilty, then there's that relief.

But in our lives, there should not be that anxiety because the Scriptures have told us that if we are in Christ Jesus, we are not condemned.

Now in case you aren't sure of that, I'm going to quote Jesus. So if you'll turn to the Gospel of John chapter 3, and we'll start with verse 14. This is Jesus speaking and speaking to Nicodemus.

And he says this, "As Moses lifted up the serpent into wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." So he's telling Nicodemus by what measure that he must.

And he says, "So that whoever believes will in him have eternal life." So Jesus is going to use an Old Testament event to show what it's about. And so in the Old Testament, because the children of Israel had rebelled and done some unholy things, there were serpents in the wilderness, and they bit the people, and the people were dying.

And God said, "I want you to build a bronze serpent on a pole, lift it up." And everybody who looks at the serpent will live.

Now let me tell you, there's no healing in the bronze serpent.

It was believing that God said, "If you look, you'll be healed." So it's a matter of faith. And Jesus is saying, "Just as there is no quote unquote healing in the serpent, but there is reality, healing in my sacrifice." And if you believe in him that he was sacrificed for you, you will have eternal life.

And then the scripture that the world knows at least the address of not the contents, John 3, 16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." So he's giving that assurance, he's going, "It was God who loved you, and it's God who sent me to be that offering, so that if you believe that the Father sent the Son, and that the Son died for your sins, and was raised again, that you won't perish, but you will have eternal life."

And we stop there.

But I want you to see that there's greater truth if we continue on.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

You see, Jesus didn't come to condemn us. Jesus didn't come to judge us. He came that we might be saved because we are already condemned because as Romans had talked about, we have all sinned. If you were a Jew, you sinned because you failed to live up to the law. If you were a Gentile, you sinned because you failed to live up to your own conscience.

That you then decided to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

So we find ourselves in this place. But Jesus didn't come to condemn us or to judge us.

He who believes in him is not judged.

That is exactly what Paul just said.

If you are in Christ Jesus, you are not condemned. You are not judged.

Which is awesome.

I don't have to say, "Don't judge me because your judgment is going to be faulty anyway."

The one that I need to be worried about whether he judged me or not is God.

And if I believe in his Son, I am not judged.

But be careful because we tend to forget the next part of that verse.

He who does not believe has been judged already.

This is what this verse says.

That if you don't believe, you've already been judged.

But that's not what people teach us.

There are a whole lot of pastors and others who will say, "It's the rejection of Jesus that sends you to hell." That is not what the Scriptures say.

The Scripture says it's your lack of faith in Jesus that judges you.

Otherwise it would be unloving for us to do what Jesus told us to do. Jesus told us to be his witnesses, to present the gospel that they might come to faith.

And so what the world, what misunderstanding Scripture says, "Oh, if I present that to you and you reject Jesus, then you go to hell."

Again, then why would we send any missionaries to the Watusis or the Pygmies or anybody else?

Because the mere fact of sending them then makes them accountable. But that is not what the Scripture says. The Scripture says if you don't believe in Jesus, you have been judged.

It's not that you rejected Jesus and now you're judged. You are judged already. So we need to be passionate in our evangelism, sharing the gospel because it's not their rejection but it's their lack of faith.

So when we share the gospel and they reject it, they're not rejecting us, they're rejecting him. But you've not sent them to hell, that's where they were going already.

So why are we so fearful to talk about the gospel?

Because they're already judged.

Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

We need to live a life that is free from guilt and shame because that is why Jesus died, that we might be his brothers and sisters, that we might be the redeemed, that we might be children of God, that we might receive an eternal life through him.

It is that that we should, that is the hope that we have, that it is eternal life. It is not life, death, life, it is eternal life. That is what he gives us. And we are free and so it's not like, "Oh, I messed up the day, maybe I don't have eternal life, oh, I'm on the right course today, so I'm okay, oh, I messed up." No, no, we are free from that guilt.

He died for all of our sin, past, present, and future.

That is how awesome the God that we serve is.

Knowing all of those things, knowing exactly who we are, exactly how unfaithful we will be, he still gives us eternal life if we simply have faith in his son.

A perfect example in the Old Testament is David.

David is given as an example of a man after God's own heart.

And this man after God's own heart covets, lusts, commits adultery, lies, murders, and yet he is still a child of God. In God's relationship with him, God corrected him, God caused things to happen in his life to cause him to turn back to God. But David never lost that eternal life because it's not David that kept David, it is not you who keeps you, it is the son of God who keeps you in his love and his mercy and his forgiveness.

There is now presently no condemnation.

Now if you are in Christ Jesus, you are not judged.

And yet we as Christians can have the press faces, "Oh, woe is me, I didn't win the lottery today, nobody likes me.

I only have 83 friends on Facebook and somebody just unfriended me, they'll know why, but they hurt my feelings."

When the truth is, God loves you, God continues to love you, and God will always love you. And because having placed our faith in his son, we are not judged.

Doesn't matter how many friends we have, what a friend we have in Jesus.

Doesn't matter what other people think and how they judge us, because the true judge has decided not to judge us.

But when we are accused, Jesus says, "It is my blood that covered that sin." Jesus is our advocate.

So you see, I'm not pulling a scripture out and saying, "Oh, well, you know, it says there, maybe in other places, throughout the scriptures, it says over and over and over again, we're not judged, we're not condemned.

Not so for those who aren't in Christ Jesus, which should give us all the more motivation to let the world know that if they don't want to be judged.

So the next time somebody says, "Don't judge me," say, "I wasn't.

Let me know, let me tell you how you will never be judged again."

They might be ready to listen, because they thought using that term, "You can't judge me," then makes you back off. You say, "No, let's agree.

Let me tell you how you will never be judged. Let me tell you how you will never be condemned.

Believe in the Son that the Father sent, and you won't be judged, and you won't be condemned."

So, that verse, and easy to remember, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Easy verse to remember.

Easy verse to apply to our hearts and our minds that when we are attacked and saying, "What a lousy Christian I am. What a lousy pastor. What a lousy this and that." I'm going to say, "Jesus is in the hair to judge me.

He's here to make me more like him, and we're still on that path."

Here's hope.

Here's truth.

Here's life.

A little verse that can change the trajectory of people's lives.

I hope it changes yours and mine and those who you're around, and all God's people said.