Are you living with the freedom that God has given you or is something holding you back? Find out today on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
The reason that you live for God is out of extreme gratitude. Not because you're trying to earn your way into heaven, but because you have heaven, not because you're trying to earn your way out of condemnation. Because there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Not a hint of condemnation, no condemnation.
Welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Today, we're beginning the final part of a message titled No Condemnation and Discovering the fullness of the freedom Christ has won for us. Now, if you missed any of the first segments of our lesson, remember you, you can always catch up anytime through our podcast. Just go to your favorite podcast app and search for bold
steps with doctor Mark Jobe. All right. Right now let's join pastor Mark as he continues explaining how God delivered us from the eternal condemnation of our sins.
Let me give you a little story that may illustrate this. Say you're going through college and you're an 18 year old and you're going to a private college, and it's super pricey and you think you can make it. So you're really studying hard, but then you're working a bunch of jobs on the weekend. And so you're studying hard, but working, working, working the late hours of the evening.
And your mother sees it and she's a single mom that's just worked herself, gets up early hours in the morning, works overtime trying to manage a lot, sacrificed a lot. And she calls you up and she says, honey, I have seen how hard you're struggling and how in debt you're getting, and I've decided I want to pay all four years of college myself for you. Everything so that you owe nothing. So that girl, as a freshman in college, feels this incredible gratitude to her mother for paying off
her a bill that she couldn't pay. She's been working and working and getting more and more in debt and couldn't do it on her own. And her mother has just paid off her complete debt, so now she owes nothing. What do you think is the response of this girl? Oh, great. I don't know anything. On the evenings I'm going to party. I'm going to get D's. I don't care, I'm not paying for it. Mom's paying for it. I know she worked. I know she sacrificed. I don't really care. It's paid for.
I can party, or is it mom? You sacrifice so much for me. I want to get A's on my assignments now. I want to go over. I want to do the best I can. Because you have paid a price that I couldn't pay. And now, in gratitude, I want to do the best that I can. Not because I owe. Because I love you and appreciate what you've done for me. Do you see where I'm going with this? Come on. Do you see where I'm going with this? The work of Jesus Christ has paid a debt that
you could not pay. You are washed past, present and future. You are not condemned. You can't earn it. You can't deserve it. The reason that you live for God is not to squeeze your way into heaven. Gates. If you are in Christ. The heaven's gates are open wide. You can't earn it. You can't deserve it because the price
has been paid fully 100% for you. You are not condemned. Listen, the reason that you live for God is out of extreme gratitude for Jesus, the Christ that paid a price that you could not pay, that on your own you
would be condemned. And so you love him and live for him and follow him and do what he wants to do, not because you're trying to earn his favor, but because you have his favor, not because you're trying to earn your way into heaven, but because you have heaven, not because you're trying to earn your way out of condemnation. Because there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Not a hint of condemnation. No condemnation. Your motivation is not a motivation of I hope I make it.
Your motivation is a motivation is I know I've made it and so I live for the one who's paid the price fully for me. So he goes on in this passage to say, yeah, there's no condemnation. So you need to have your mind governed by the spirit. Just because you're not condemned doesn't mean you don't live like you're not condemned, because there's a battle in our mind. Some of you have been set free drastically, fully and completely. Yet you live as a condemned person. You're joyless. You're striving.
Always feel like you're not measuring up to God. Always worried about your stance before God. Never fully feeling accepted before God. Always wondering if he's mad at you or judging you, or ready to punish you. You have a joyless Christianity because you have not understood the full implications of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it means
to live under no condemnation. And so the Apostle Paul reminds us that those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those that live according to the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile towards God. It doesn't submit to the law of God, nor can it. Those who are in
the realm of the flesh cannot please God. So there's a battle within our minds. If you're driven by the flesh or you're driven by the spirit, you can be very religious, but incredibly, incredibly and fully dominated by the flesh. Some of the most fleshly people I've run into are religious people. That are full of pride and self righteousness, and think they're earning their way to God when they
are so condemned. And Jesus said it in a parable where he compared a a real bad sinner to a religious person, and the religious person was saying, I'm glad I'm not like those people. God, aren't you glad you have me on your team? And the sinner was in the back saying, I'm so broken over my sin. And Jesus said, who do you think God was pleased with? Just because you're religious doesn't mean you're walking in the spirit. The spirit gives you power to overcome the flesh and
what it means to be spirit led. I don't have time to get fully into it, because I want to wrap it up with my last point that there's no condemnation to the power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you. Verse nine you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. Can I say this? If you are in Christ, there is no condemnation. But
if you're not in Christ, you are condemned. See, it's not that we're not guilty. It's that if we're in Christ, we're not guilty. But we are very guilty. Outside of Christ, there's huge condemnation to those that are in In Christ if you try to take it on your own. If you are not in Christ, you feel the full, powerful force of the effect of the judgment of God upon your life. There's nothing that can take away that judgment except Christ.
So very helpful. We'll get to the final part of today's message in just a moment. You're listening to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe, and we want to take a moment to tell you how much we appreciate when we get to hear from our listeners. Mark.
We love hearing from our listeners. Wayne. And we get a steady stream of prayer requests, of testimonies of questions. And we love interacting. And and I want you to know that we read all those we pray for people on a regular basis. And so thank you for trusting us with your questions and your prayer requests. If you want to leave a testimony. A question of any kind. You can go to bold Steps and tell us what's
on your heart. Or you can also give us a call and leave a message on a recorded line by dialing (312) 329-2011. Again, that's (312) 329-2011.
And don't be shy about it. We'd love to hear from you.
Absolutely.
All right, here's a note we received from a listener. It says, my name is Anna. I've been listening to your program for the past six months. I serve as a music leader at a local church in North Carolina. Since being introduced to Bold steps via radio, I've been encouraged to the point of tears to continue to press on with what God has called me to within ministry God has used. And so timely, I might add, Pastor
Mark's messages to speak to me. I'm thankful for this ministry and pray that it continues to bless those who hear. Keep spreading the good news, she says with all caps and exclamation points.
Anna, thank you for encouraging us. And you know, I believe that the worship ministry is such a vital, important and may God give you the ability to continue to lead people into the presence of God.
Once again, our website is Bold steps.org. Or give us a call and leave that message on a recorded line (312) 329-2011. All right, let's return to the final part of our message. No condemnation. Here's pastor Mark.
And let me tell you what happens when you're in Christ and how you come to Christ. You don't become religious. That's that doesn't make you in Christ. You can attend New Life Community Church since you were a baby. And it doesn't mean you're a Christian. Pastor, you're scaring me. Yeah. Hey. Walking into McDonald's since you were a little kid doesn't make you a hamburger either. You know, it may make you chubby, but not a hamburger. Um, coming to church
doesn't make you a Christian. It just means that you hang around Christians. It just means that you learn a Christian culture. It just means you learn the songs. You have a Bible, you know where to sit. You become comfortable around Christians. Just because you're a janitor at the university doesn't mean you're smart. Hello? You're just hanging around smart people, you know, they have doctorate degrees. Just because
you're in this building doesn't make you a Christian. What makes you a Christian is if you've come to a point in your life that you know that you're condemned, that you know that judgment is on you, that you know that you cannot save yourself, that you realize how much you need a Savior, and you bow your knee and you say, Jesus, you are the only way, the only Savior. I surrender my life to you. I choose to follow you. And in faith accept your forgiveness upon
my life. I repent of where I'm going and choose to follow you. And the Bible says we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. And if you've experienced that, if you've known that, if that is truly what is inside of you. Then. What it does for you is it makes you want to glorify him. It says, but if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because
of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness. And the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is now living in you. What? Yeah. The spirit. The capital s spirit who rose Jesus from the dead. That same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that overcame death, that lives inside of you. This incredible, sanctifying spirit of God. Listen, you say, well, I'm a Christian, but I don't have the spirit. Impossible. It's an oxymoron. You cannot be a
Christian without the spirit. What makes you a Christian is the spirit. If someone comes to you and says, oh, you're a Christian, but you don't have the Holy Spirit, they're wrong. They may be talking about other things, but you cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that gives you the power to be sanctified, the Holy Spirit that comes in you, that rose Jesus
from the dead, that applies salvation to your life. It's God's power inside of you, sanctifying and changing you and making you new, that lives in you. And let me close with this. Listen, let me close with this. If you're in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation inside of you. So what happens when you realize that God is not condemning you? Let me. Let me close with these three things. When you know that you're not condemned, then, number one,
you stop condemning yourself. Listen to me. If God has not condemned you, what right in the world do you have to condemn yourself? If God says there's not a hint, a trace, a shadow of condemnation over you because Jesus has fully, completely, absolutely, 100% taken it upon himself in the most crazy, world changing act that could ever have happened. And if he took his sin and condemned sin and declared upon you, you are free. There is no condemnation.
If you're in Christ Jesus, then how dare you condemn yourself? How dare you drag up the past and label it on you and say, I can't stand before God because of my past? How dare you condemned what God has declared! there is no condemnation over. Stop condemning yourself. If God has called you blessed, stop cursing what God has blessed. Number two if there's no condemnation, you stop focusing on condemning others. Hello. Condemn. People want other people to be condemned.
If you're condemned, you want other people to condemn. It's like misery loves company. I'm condemned. I'm going to condemn you too. I feel bad, I'm going to make you feel bad. I feel judged. I'm going to make you feel judged. Listen, you say, well, pastor, why aren't you out on the street with a turn or burn T-shirt flagging people down? Turn or burn? I'm not condemned. You are. Why don't you hold up signs and say, turn or burn. You're going to hell. Are people condemned? Yes, but I'm
going to tell you something. I have been so washed free and so non condemned that my goal is not to tell people how condemned they are. My goal is to point to the person that condemns them. I want to show them Jesus. I want to point to Jesus. I'll point to Jesus all day long. I'll point to Jesus all day long and saying, he's the one. He's got to save you. Come to Christ. The gospel is
good news that wipes away our condemnation. Now, people sometimes have to understand that they're condemned before they want their condemnation wiped away. But I want to talk about the one who set me free. I want to declare the goodness of the one who's cleansed me. I want to worship him and say, see? Have a world. See, man, these people really love God. What is it about these crazy Christians that love God and have so much joy
in their life? I want to point to Jesus, not focus my entire time on telling people how condemned they are. And then lastly, number three, you stop letting the enemy when you know you're not condemned. When God has said you're condemnation free, there's no condemnation upon you. And let me tell you something you stop letting the enemy condemn you. Some of you listen to the voice of the enemy more than you. Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The enemy tells you how bad you were, and you were. The enemy tells you how much you deserve judgment. And you do. The enemy reminds you of who you were. But can I tell you something you need to say? Yeah, that's true, I was I do I deserve it? Yeah, that's all true. But guess what? That is who I was before I was in Christ Jesus. But now that I'm in Christ, there's no condemnation. Now that I'm in Christ Jesus, there's not a hint of condemnation upon my life.
And I stand in a place of no condemnation in Christ Jesus. That's the new reality. No condemnation, no condemnation in Christ Jesus. That's your position.
That is reason for celebration.
Mark and Wayne, you know, there's so many people that have been trying to pay for their salvation through good works or trying to be good enough for God without realizing that that brings condemnation upon us because we can never pay so high of a price. It has to be paid for us. And so I want to talk to you today that maybe you have been under condemnation. You know how far you are from God. You know that your sin is constantly knocking at the door, and
you're failing over and over, and you feel ashamed. You feel condemned. You know, you fall short. And let me tell you, you do. I had a man come up to me after service recently and he said, you know, I feel like I fall short. I feel like my sin is heavy. He said, I feel like I probably deserve hell. And I looked at him with compassion and I said, friend, you do deserve hell.
So do I.
And so do I. But the good news is this the good news is that Jesus came and it's all about Jesus. Not about you, not about your works, not about what you can do. It's about what Jesus has done. That's the good news, is that when we come to Christ and surrender to him and say, Lord, I accept what you have done for me and I surrender my life to you. I ask you to be Lord of my life. Then the condemnation is is taken from us, and a new life is begun. And maybe you've been
thinking about that decision. But today, as I spoke, it became clear to you. If that's you, I want you to pause wherever you're at right now. If you're driving your car, I want you just to just to take a moment. If you're in your kitchen, if you're listening somehow at the gym or wherever you're at, I want you to pause because maybe the Holy Spirit is saying, this is your moment. And so I want to lead you in a prayer. There's no magic prayer that saves you,
but I can lead you in a prayer. If this is the desire of your heart, and I believe a simple decision with profound faith can change our life. So pray with me. Dear father, I know that I'm condemned. I know that I've sinned against Your Holiness. There's nothing that I can do to save myself. And so today, I receive Jesus Christ as my only Lord and Savior. I turn from the way that I've been living. I repent, and I embrace the way of Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit.
Change me from the inside out. Today I choose to be your follower. In Jesus name. Amen. Listen, if you've made that decision and it's been sincere from your heart, then I believe that your life is going to change radically from today on. And we want to help you change. We want to help you get started in your new life, in God. And so we've provided some resources available to you just to get you started. And Wayne, if someone wants to get those resources, how would they access them?
Sure. We can help guide you in this important decision, go to boldsystems.org, hit the connect tab and then click on my next step in Faith. There's a video there from Mark and other free materials that can set you on course to follow Christ with your life. You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Thank you for that. By the way, Mark. And today's message was titled No Condemnation.
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