Sunday, April 7, 2013
Led by Eric Gintert
John 8:12-38
- Pharisees are the religious people.
- Jesus made them mad and they wanted to kill Him.
- Sin is anything contrary to the Word of God.
- To not do what God has said to do is just as much a sin as to do something God said not to do.
- Those who do not believe in Jesus will die in their sins. Sin doesn't send a person to hell, unbelief sends a person to hell.
- Do you have a heart belief or a mind belief?
- The Pharisees had an intellectual belief system.
What have you been made free from?
In the final judgment, all people will be judged either from the Lamb's book of Life or the books of works (Revelation 20:12-15). Even those who profess to believe in Jesus (but only with a mind belief) will come before Jesus with a their wonderful works, but will not be accepted into the kingdom (Matthew 7:21-23).We need to remember that land of bondage that God has brought us out (Deuteronomy 15:15). Just as the Children of Israel were in bondage to Egypt... so were we once in the bondage of Sin.
Jesus, the unblemished lamb, was our passover. His blood freed us from death (Deuteronomy 12:12). The pharisees didn't understand that Jesus would make them free from sin.. give them forgiveness.
The Children of Israel missed out on the experience of freedom because of their murmuring and disputing. They thought it would be better to go back to Egypt. They missed out on a lot of joy... if only they would simply remember the bondage they were brought from.
Do you believe that He has forgiven you?
Do you believe it when you're up on the mountain with the Lord, but the moment you sin... do you loose the joy of His forgiveness? Do you grab a shovel, dig a hole, and stay in it until you feel like it's okay to go talk to God again? Or do you rise back up as the just man in Proverbs 24:16 and start over, continuing on with Him?If you believe that you have been forgiven, why do you go back to the bondage of sin?
Romans 6:20-23
- As the servant of sin, you don't care about righteousness or sinning against your Heavenly Father.
- We are now ashamed of those sins that we are now free from... now we have joy in the eternal life of Jesus.
- The wages of sin is death.
- Everyone is a servant, whether to sin or to God.
To say that Jesus died for our sins means that He died for ALL our sins... past, present, and future! Why then to we think that we cannot go back to Him after we have sinned? He already died for it!
Revelation 12:1-6
The woman represents all those who need to be free (not those who deny Jesus existence or who have no problem with sin). Those who see their sins and want to be freed from the bondage of it. There is a wilderness prepared for those people!
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
He did the work through grace, but we must receive it by faith! Not based on any good works... it is the gift of God!
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16
The reason we can enter boldly to the throne of grace is because, through His forgiveness, we have no fear of condemnation.
Jesus is not judging us based on our good or evil works... He is looking to see if the blood is applied to our hearts and see if our name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life!
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