Sermon by Nik Godshall: How To Defeat Condemnation
Sermon notes
How does God feel about me after I fail? After I sin?
- Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin,[c he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Condemnation vs. Conviction
- con·demn: to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation; to pronounce guilty; to adjudge unfit for use or consumption
- con·vic·tion: a strong persuasion or belief the state of being convinced; the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth; the state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth
1. Salvation must be seen through the “Now-Not Yet” Principle.
(a) We are not yet enjoying everything that it means.
(b) Time machine effect – which reality is real? A star has disappeared but the light is still there. We are living in two realities. We have to engage in the “now” and the “not yet.” Your life is like starlight: You may be burned out, but your light is still shining.
- 1 John 3:1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
“What we will be has not yet appeared.”
- Heavenly perspective: Now we are children of God
- Earthen Perspective: It has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
- Galatians 5:16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.
2. In a way, Christians live in two realities.
- We are forgiven, justified, and part of God’s royal family (2 Cor 5:21, Eph 2:6)
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
3. Your sin has no power over your new life in Christ. Your sin cannot make you God’s enemy anymore (1John 2:1)
- 1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
- God’s response to your sin is no longer anger, but advocacy. God does not withdraw from you. Jesus stands and speaks for you to our Father Creator. God is for you, not against you.
4. The hope of eternal life produces purity. (1 John 3:3)
- 1 John 3:3 And all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.
