The Declaration Of Dependence

0:00:01 - Speaker 1
Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Well, guess what?

0:00:11 - Speaker 2
God wants to be with you, god likes you, god loves you. I don't know how else to say it. He died for you. He rose again from the dead for you and for any man, woman, boy or girl who puts their trust in Him. There should never again be the cloud of condemnation suspended over your life.

0:00:30 - Speaker 1
You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs.

0:00:59 - Speaker 2
Number one. Mark it down if you would, you guys, it's this. The declaration of dependence is that there's now this absolute freedom that's available to us. Now I'm going to really lay it down to you guys, because I have to. I'm very excited about this portion of Scripture because it transformed my life personally when he says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We all start with this right here, right now. It's because that, coming out of this condemnation, there's a great weight that is lifted. Mark that down that our declaration is from condemnation and it's weight.

Condemnation is and I'm going to give you the definition of it here from the Bible in a moment Condemnation is this overwhelming sense of hopelessness that there's no hope for you. There's no hope and you can't find the answer and you're struggling and you know what's wrong but you can't fix it. There's no place to go and there's a big weight. Condemnation is a great weight that weighs upon so many people today and people choose how to deal with it. Listen up, everybody. The reason why there's drug addiction, the reason why there are these personality issues and violence and drunkenness and the pursuit of materialism think of it. All of these pursuits literally come back to one single point of the human soul, and that is that there's something wrong Somewhere along the route. There's something wrong that somebody realized I got to find an answer for my life. And they go on the pursuit of money, they go on the pursuit of power or drugs or sex or violence or whatever it is, and they're empty. And this is universal, no matter where you're at in the nation or in the world. It's the language of the soul. The Bible says our souls are separated from God and we're wandering without God and we know that what we're doing is wrong. And the condemnation comes the word, as we'll see here. Condemnation, and I'm gonna ask you a question, so get ready, it's gonna be a trick. Question Condemnation this is the Greek meaning to the word to be under the sentence of.

I talked to a young man two weeks ago and he said Pastor, I want you to pray for me, watch this. I want you to pray for me. I committed some crimes and I got arrested and there's a court hearing, there's a trial, all this. Well, now I'm gonna go be my sentence in this coming. But during that time I realized I'm too young to ruin my life and he said I started watching your messages online. Then I started coming to the church, I gave my life to Christ and now I'm ready to face the judgment. He said I'm gonna go, I'm guilty, but now I'm a new creation. But I'm still responsible for the things I did to people. So I'm gonna go to jail and I'm gonna find out for how long, but I'm new. God has forgiven me. I'm going in there. I pray God uses me. You know what's happened. He was condemned, but Christ set him free. You and I were condemned in our sins, but Christ has listen. I trust Christ has set you free.

Watch this, this man, this young man. Every unbeliever and I, you certainly once had this issue to be under the sentence of, to be pronounced guilty, to be worthy of all penalties, all judgments, all liens, all warrants, all ordinances against you, resulting in condemnation to bring you what? To the place where there's no hope of being delivered. Now, this guy. In a sense, it doesn't exactly apply, because he's been forgiven in heaven. This young man is free. Are you with me? And inside? He's free, but he's going, or he's in jail and into prison. His body will not be walking the streets of LA anymore, but he's free sounds like a contradiction. But listen, you can be walking the streets of LA and think you're completely free, but inside you're completely imprisoned by guilt and by condemnation and by shame. But the grand declaration is this there is therefore now these are emphatics in the Greek language. It's an announcement. Paul the apostle is you can almost see him jumping with glee there is therefore now. He's so excited about the announcement. Listen, this is a message of hope today. But I want to make sure you have it, that you have hope. Don't say you're a good person, you're not going to have it. Listen, I'm going to tell you a little story here, real quick.

Condemnation, the world, when it's condemned. When an individual is experiencing the condemnation and they don't respond to it, they harden their heart against it until they don't feel it anymore. And then they live life thinking. Watch this. They live life thinking. They're okay, but you're the problem. You know what's happened to them. In fact, if you know somebody who's very religious, but they're good, you're the problem. You're talking about a person who does not understand any longer the sense of condemnation that this world heaps upon them. They've hardened their heart. You say, jack, you've seen, you can be a religious person with a hardened heart? Yeah, totally, completely. But as we've mentioned in previous studies, when you look into the word of God, that word of God looks inside of you and reveals who you are and it causes you to either harden your heart or to melt your heart. So I'm gonna ask you this question it's a trick question Tell me the difference of feelings between condemnation and conviction.

I've studied this for 46 years in my own life. Number one condemnation is the sense of heaviness, guilt and busted condemnation, conviction is heavy guilt. Conviction, condemnation. I'm in trouble. I'm convicted what I did was wrong and it needs to be reckoned with. What I'm submitting to you is this the feelings are exactly the same Condemnation, conviction. You say wait a minute, pastor Jack. They have different. Wait, no, no, no, watch, watch.

When a believer is convicted, that sense of heaviness is weighing upon the believer. I'm talking to you, don't look at me like that. I'm talking to you. When you and I sin, we displease God as a child of God, our names are written down in heaven. We're going to heaven. He's our God, we're His child. But when we sin, we break fellowship with God and there's a sense of big heaviness, guilt, shame.

I just want you to know. It's the will of God that you experienced that literally for the duration of seconds. Did you know that? See, what do you mean by that? If you have a bad thought, look at me. Right now I could be. Look at me. Look, you would never think. Look at him. He's having a bad thought. You're judging me from the outside. Look, I look so angelic, hands lifted, praying. Isn't that like holy? My mind could be a thousand miles away from my outward appearance. If I'm a Christian, god will say what are you doing? Jack, knock it off. Bad thought, that is not approved. And then I say Lord, you are so right, I'm busted. God, please forgive me. That's exactly what put you on the cross. I'm so sorry.

Jesus, and the Bible says in 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All right, so that's what the believer does. So when you sin, christian, you don't plan on it, but when you do, that's how you deal with it. And so, look, that weight should only be on you for seconds. Don't let it sit there. Don't let it. Don't let get away. Get it done.

The nonbeliever. The condemnation is there and either A they wind up groping, as it were, searching for an answer, and they find Christ, or they harden their heart against it. Today, you and I live in a world that has hardened their heart against God, hardened their heart against conviction and against condemnation. And so the world that's hardened looks and says you're the problem, you're the issue, it's that group, it's this government, it's that person, it's that thing. And they do not see, they cannot see that they themselves are completely without feelings. And that is manifested by justification self-justification, not biblical justification and that weighs on them.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 91, verse 14, because listen to this, this is God speaking to you. I trust as a believer. In fact, you should mark up your Bibles, always mark up your Bibles, and I'm going to show you how in a moment. This is kind of fun. So, in your Bible you should do this because he, jack, put in your name, sue, or whatever your name is, because you, you've said, because he has said his love upon me, you want to love God. Therefore, I will deliver him. This is God talking. Do you like that kind of talk? I like it. I will set him on high because he has known my name.

My dear friends, listen, I'm a bumbling nincompoop, but verse 14, that's me, is it you? You should be able to say today that's me, I love him. Only the believer can experience this Verse 15, he shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. Aren't you glad about that? I will deliver him and honor him With long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. That's an awesome verse. That's my verse. I'll let you have it, but it's my verse. And you should have in your Bible your name written next to that passage and say well, it's my verse as well.

Condemnation will lift from you. The Christian should never be walking around in the sense of condemnation. Oh, I'm never good enough to please God. Oh, I think I've upset him. Oh, I don't know how. You know, I know God is supposed to love me. You ever feel like that.

Well, god has to love me. He's God. He said he loves everybody, but basically what you're saying is God has to love me, but I don't think he likes me. Well, guess what God wants to be with you. God likes you, god loves you. I don't know how else to say it. He died for you. He rose again from the dead. For you, and for any man, woman, boy or girl who puts their trust in him, there should never again be the cloud of condemnation suspended over your life.

Now, if you're not a Christian, you should be worried sick. And if you're worried sick, you should thank God that you care enough about your own soul to cry out to him, because God helped the man or woman who is so callous, who says things like I'm fine, I don't need any of this God stuff, I'm better than most people. You're past feeling, and that's a tragedy. In Proverbs, chapter 28, verse 13, the Bible says he who covers his sins will not prosper. So well, nobody knows. God knows, yeah, but nothing's ever happened to me. Just wait, he loves you. He's not gonna let you continue like that.

Are you flirting around with the secretary? Are you flirting around with the boss? Is it the neighbor? Is it the husband's wife? She's something or the wife's neighbor? What's going on? What is God telling you right now? You say, pastor, who told you? Nobody told me. Is it the money? They won't know, they won't miss it. Little decimal point here or there.

Listen, god knows he loves you and listen. If he loves you and he does, if you can hear him and I hope that's the case you feel a little bit of a sting right now and I highly recommend you talk to him about it. Don't talk to anybody else about it. Talk to him about it. Go to him about it, because here's what will happen he will forgive you If you bury it. Look at this verse. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Happy is the man who is always reverent or mindful of God, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Listen the Bible. God is so kind. I'm talking just to the believer right now. If the believer doesn't take it to God, if in that 30 seconds you're convicted, it's the best. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't understand. I live pretty good life.

So get in your car. If you have any doubts, get in your car, go, drive right now to LAX or downtown LA. That ought to bring out the flesh. If you think you're so saintly, I dare you. Drive to LAX, circle around it and come back and see if your temper is not touched.

And listen when you cross the line and God says Jack, for a sake, in that instant, lord, forgive me in Jesus' name it doesn't have to go any further, but if you bury it and bury it, and bury it, you know what God says in the book of Numbers. He says if you don't forsake it, I'm gonna shout it. Jesus, by the way, referred to that in the gospels. He says if you everything that you do, if it's not covered by the blood of Christ, he said I'm gonna someday shout it from the rooftop. The Bible says be sure of this if you don't forsake your sin, it will call you out. You know how people get caught, exactly what God said would happen. So nobody knows. Next thing you know there's a big red sign with a finger on it and a point right over your head.

Why would he do that? He loves you, he wants you to go to heaven. And the Christian? He wants you to be forgiven because you are going to heaven. He wants to have that communication open and then listen.

Conviction itself. We learned that from conviction. After it takes hold. Conviction is a beautiful thing. One of the scariest things ever is if you can commit some crime against God in thought or deed and have no feelings about it. Oh my goodness, that would be the worst thing in the world. But the sad thing is the people who feel that don't know that it's the worst thing in the world Because they can't feel it.

We look at a world right now that we're coping and trying to do our best with a culture of self-mutilation. Not sure if you're aware of this, but how many young people today, because of pain and sorrow and abuse, are self-mutilating? They're cutting up their torsos, they're cutting their inner thighs, they're cutting their buttocks with razor blades, they're cutting their arms. Why? Because they'll tell you, I had my life taken from me by some way, shape or form, and I lost all contact with myself. And this feeling is the only thing I can feel. It allows me to have some sort of say about my life. It makes no sense unless you feel so lost, and that happens because of man's soul. And God changes our lives, he transforms us, he gets us out of that. Just that act alone and that burden and that pain and the conviction of it all upon your life should tell you that God is real. We talked about darkness recently, but we would never know darkness unless we knew what light was. Run to, the hope Run to him.