This podcast takes a closer look at the verse following John 3:16 which we are all familiar with and know so well. But in this next verse is a picture of God that is just amazing. If you want to be free from guilt and shame then this one is for you. Catch a glimpse of a God that did not come to judge or condemn but to save. Learn the importance of trusting His heart rather than your own. There is so much Good News. Come and enjoy the journey.
SHOW NOTES
No Condemnation from God.
John 3:16–21 (NLT) “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Condemnation or negative judgment or experiencing guilt is a soul-destroying experience. Condemnation comes from various sources: Ourselves, others and Satan. We find it difficult to forgive ourselves for our failures and so experience many negative thoughts. This delights the evil one who is the accuser of our hearts. When we condemn others, we are doing the evil one’s work for him.
If we must point out wrong in others it can only be done when there are tears in our eyes rather than gravel in our voices. Then we might be doing the will of God. Does the Holy Spirit condemn us? The work of the Holy Spirit is a continuation of Jesus’ work of comforting/inspiring us beyond our sinfulness! Jesus promised another comforter, not another accuser. This heavenly work is to inspire kinder ways of thinking and feeling about ourselves and others.
To condemn means to make a negative judgment. God does not condemn. He does justify which is a positive judgment (Romans 3:24). Justify or set us right with God means to declare one innocent of the charges, To be declared righteous is even better. A newborn baby is innocent but not yet righteous or unrighteous. God is in the “declaring righteous” business. Here are some scriptures which confirm this claim.
Zechariah 3:1-5 (NLT) Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.”
3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel.
4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”
5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by.
John 3:17-18 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn (negatively judge) the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned (but justified or declared innocent), but whoever does not believe stands condemned (judged guilty in their own eyes) already because he has not believed in the name (character) of God’s one and only Son.
John 12:47 As for the person that hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge (condemn) him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.
Romans 3:23-24 NLT For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight (Justified). He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty (consequences) for our sins.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
This judgment is self-condemnation as witnessed to by the death of Judas the disciple, every suicide, and the self-condemnation of sinners in reaction to the Second Coming (Revelation 6:15-17).
Romans 8:31–39 (NLT) What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. (He has justified us!)
34 Who then will condemn us? No one (In the kingdom of heaven)—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. (Against the devil, against our own self-hatred and guilt and shame.)
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)
37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Except our own arrogant unbelief.)
1 John 3:19-24 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
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