there is now no condemnation

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SERIES: UNFAILING

SESSION TWO, WINTER 2017

THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION There is one reality we can stand upon because it never wavers or fails. That one thing is what God has promised. Isaiah 40.8: The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE UNFAILING Joshua 23.14: You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 2 Corinthians 1.19,20: The Son of God, Christ Jesus … was never a blend of yes and no. With him it was and is “Yes!” He is the “yes” pronounced upon every one of God’s promises.

THE MAN WHO STANDS ON THE PROMISES OF GOD WILL NEVER FAIL Matthew 7.24-25: Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Promise 1: You Can Be Forgiven and Start Over Because There is No Condemnation for those who are in Christ God promised that he would create a new covenant with the coming of Christ. The Old Covenant was based on the law. The New Covenant would be based on ________. The Old Covenant was written on stone tablets. The New Covenant would be written on the __________ of his people. With the new covenant came a promise. Jeremiah 31.34: I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. The promise was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Romans 8.1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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1. SOME PEOPLE DON’T FEEL GUILTY. Romans 3.23: All have sinned and fallen short. Romans 6.23: The wages of sin is death. Just because we do not have the ______________ feelings of guilt, does not change the objective reality that every one of us is guilty before a holy God. If you don’t ever feel guilty, it’s not because your life is working so well; it’s because your ______________ is working so poorly. 2. SOME PEOPLE CAN’T GET FREE OF GUILT. A. _____________ Abuse B. Growing up in a Dysfunctional, ______________ Family Because parents are “God figures” to children, we tend to remake God into the ________ of our parents. If a parent is always critical and never satisfied, it’s easy for a child to grow into an adult who thinks that nothing he or she does is ever good enough to please God. C. _______________ Perfectionism is an attempt to control our environment and convince ourselves and others that we are deserving of respect, love and happiness. If your sense of worth is derived from being perfect, and you never are, you constantly live with feelings of ___________. When we think that a relationship with God is about meriting his approval instead of being his son, how can we ever feel we’ve done enough to be accepted when we know we have fallen short? D. ___________ Warfare Satan has three primary ways of attacking us. 1. _____________ 2. _____________ 3. _____________ The Greek word for devil (diabolos) means “slanderer” or “___________.” Revelation 12.10: … Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. Zechariah 3.1: He showed me … the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

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Your adversary, Satan, wants you to feel condemned when you sin and ___________ of God’s love when you’re tempted. The last thing he wants is for you to go to God for the grace you need to feel forgiven and free. E. We’ve done wrong and we can’t ____________ that God has forgiven us. You are who _______ says you are. God promises that in Christ you are forgiven, accepted and loved as a son. Romans 8.1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Once you put real, saving faith in Christ, your status before God changes. You change from guilty to forgiven, from sinner to son, from condemned to _______________.

CONDEMNATION VS. CONVICTION: Conviction says you failed Condemnation says you are a __________. Conviction says you sinned. Condemnation says you’re worthless because of your sin. Conviction says you can make this right and do better. Condemnation says you’ll never ___________. Conviction says those whom God loves he disciplines. Condemnation says God couldn’t possibly _______ you. The Holy Spirit will convict you, but he will never condemn you. So when you hear a condemning voice within your spirit, you can be sure that it’s not the voice of God.

THIS PROMISE IS GIVEN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS IN THE SCRIPTURES Isaiah 1.18: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Psalm 103.10,12 : He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ... As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Jeremiah 31.34: I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

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1 John 1.9: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins sincerely, it would be unfaithful and unjust of God not to forgive us. Not unfaithful to us, but to ___________. If he failed to forgive us, the Father would be telling the Son, “What you did on the cross was _______________. Something else must be added to the sacrifice you made.” And he would never do that. But, that’s exactly what we’re saying if we don’t receive the forgiveness paid for us by the death of Jesus. Christ was crucified for you so you could quit crucifying yourself.

Spring Mission Trip to Honduras: March 16-19. You can register on the church website under “Missions.”

The Woodlands United Methodist Church www.thewoodlandsumc.org