Guilt Speaks Loud… But the Blood of Jesus Speaks Louder

Let me start out by reading something to you that I thought was interesting. One day a mom came home from work to find her teenage son's room immaculate. The bed was made, the floor was clean, and a letter lay conspicuously on his pillow. With a sense of dread, she opened the envelope. Dear Mom, it is with great regret and sorrow that I write to you. I have decided to move in with my girlfriend Tiffany. I know you've never been a fan of her tattoos, motorcycle, or nor her piercings. But I have found true love with her. And guess what? We're going to have a baby. Tiffany assures me that we will be very happy together. We will live in her trailer on the south side of town, and she has enough firewood to last us all winter. Tiffany has also convinced me that smoking pot is no big deal. So we're growing some for ourselves and growing some to trade with others in the trailer park. Don't worry, Mom, I'm 15 now, and I know how to take care of myself. We'll be back to visit soon so you can get to know your new grandchild. The mom's hands began to tremble as her vision swam, crying tears. Her heart fell as she sank onto the newly made bed, her mind reeling.

And then she saw the postscript at the bottom of the page. P.S., dear Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at Carl's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card in my desk drawer. The mom stared at the final words, a stunned, relieved laugh escaping her lips. After a moment, she walked over to her son's desk, pulled out the report card, and saw the mediocre grades. She shook her head, smiled, and picked up her phone to call her son. Here's what I want you to say, what does that have to do with anything? Not much, but anyway, I. But it does tell us, no matter how bad you think it is, it could always be worse. And we gotta thank God that he helps us to get out of stuff and issues and that. Tonight, I'm gonna teach a message that I've never taught, but I've been thinking about it, and it's something I struggled with for many years after I got born again. And the title of this is Sin Conscious to Son Conscious. That so many of us are so conscious of the mistakes we made, we're making, and we're more conscious of that than we are about what God's doing in our lives. Now, we understand sin is not right, you're not supposed to sin,

but how many of y'all know we all sin and come short of the glory of God? If you don't believe that, that's only Bible. Thus said Jesus, right? I mean, so we all make mistakes, but we can't be so conscious of the mistakes we make that we forget what God's grace and mercy has done for us. And it keeps you in bondage. You're always conscious, when you're of this way, of what you do wrong and not conscious of what you do right. People that are sin conscious are never conscious of what they do right, they're always conscious of what they do wrong. Sin consciousness, as defined, is living with a guilty conscience that keeps you more aware of your sin and past failures than of Christ's forgiveness and righteousness. It's when shame, guilt, and self-condemnation speaks louder than the blood of Jesus, who we celebrated here a few moments ago, that washes our sins away. You know, we will say we're sinners saved by grace, but once you're saved by grace, you're no longer a sinner. God doesn't look at you as a sinner. He looks at you as a son or a daughter, or a saint, if you would. That's why, if you read in the Bible, it's Saint Mark, Saint John, Saint Peter, Saint Matthew, they were considered saints, not sinners. Sinners are those who have not received Jesus.

Now, do we sin as born-again believers? Absolutely. But we're no longer sinners, and so if you listen to some people talk, you're just a sinner for your whole life. What's the point of getting saved if that's all I am? And when you're sin conscious, you're more aware of what you do wrong than you are of what you do right. We're hard on ourselves, but we don't give ourselves any credit. Like, God, I did good today. That's not bragging. You know, when people give testimonies, they'll brag for 30 minutes on what they did for the devil, and then just say, God saved me. Why don't we say, well, God changed my life. God helped me come out of that stuff, whatever it was. And you realize your past is a minute ago, five minutes ago, a day ago. There's nothing you can do about five minutes ago. If you called somebody, text somebody, did something that was not good. You can't undo that, you can't change your past. The only thing we can do is walk into our future with God on our side, knowing that He's not out to get you, He's not out to hurt you. I mean, when I first got saved, you know, even before, they would say, if you do this,

you know, parents would use God as the disciplinarian. If you do this, God's gonna get you. And here's what happens, when kids do things and God doesn't get you, they're like, they lied. God is not out to get anybody. He's out to help you come to know Him so you can be on your journey to heaven and you can work through your life. Why do you think the Bible teaches that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling? That means, folks, we gotta work this thing out. Now, we're saved by grace, not by works, lest any man boast, but we are saved to do works. There's a big difference. I can't do nothing to get saved. I can't earn it, I don't deserve it, I can't be good enough, so when people tell me, well, pastor, I wanna get right with God, but I need to clean up my life, there's no way you can clean up your life on your own. Only Jesus can clean your life. And people think, well, I gotta quit cussing, I gotta quit smoking, I gotta quit carousing, whatever it is, I gotta quit drinking, and then I'll come to Jesus. You're being deceived, it's a lie, from the pit of hell, and that's what the devil does with sin consciousness. He constantly condemns you, so you always feel unworthy, you're always guilty. You're self-condemnation.

See, have you ever tried to run with a weighted vest? Sonya's sitting on the second row, she came in the place we work out at, and I said, what do you have on? She goes, a weighted vest. I said, what? How heavy is it? She said, like, I think 12, was it 12 pounds? 12 pounds, I'm like, no, no, I would never do that. She goes, pastor, I gotta get, you know, trimmer. I'm like, well, dang, that's crazy, I'm not doing that. But if you've ever ran with weighted vests or weighted ankles, it's harder to do. And so that's what sin consciousness feels like, an invisible weight of guilt, shame, and self-condemnation that whispers constantly, you're not clean, you're not worthy enough, you're not enough. And I always seem to do what is wrong. Anybody feel like that? Most of us do. And God wants to set us free. I'm gonna give you tons of scriptures today. I didn't realize how many scriptures I have in this. Just so you know what God's word says. Not Steve, not legacy, God's word. See, God's word teaches us a better way. Not denial of sin, but deliverance from its power and its accusations. Tonight I want to expose sin consciousness to show you what Jesus did about it

and give you practical steps to walk in a cleansed, conscious, and bold, holy living. That's the goal. I always pray, God, help me to help people. I don't pray for more power or more strength. I just, God, I just want a message that people can hang on to. And if even it's not for you, you say, well, I'm good with that, but it could be for somebody else, and you'll know how to share that with somebody else. Because when I first got saved, I was so sin conscious, I almost walked away from God and the church because it seemed like everything I did was wrong. When I got saved, what they told me I had to change was everything in my life. And back then, it wasn't one step at a time. You just gotta change. It's like the Nestea Plunge, right? You just gotta change, and I was so condemned because I'd go to work and I'd go to college and I would be in school, and if I said something, I said, was that sin, was that wrong? Or I think a thought, oh, man, that's wrong. Why am I thinking these thoughts? I'm saved. Well, just because you're saved doesn't mean you're sanctified. You have to, that's why you work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

God's there to help us, not hurt us. I think God looked at me when I got saved and said, that boy needs a lot of help. That's why I tell you, when you get born again, work on one or two things at a time. Don't try to work on everything all at once. It'll get overwhelming, and you won't get anything done. You know, maybe if you have a foul mouth, you know, say, hey, I gotta work on, I'm gonna start using different words. Maybe you're living with somebody that you're not married to. You can say, baby, put a ring on it, or I'm moving out. Y'all don't think I know that stuff, do ya? Martin Luther once said this, and I love this quote. When I look at myself, I don't see how I can be saved. When I look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost. Amen. Amen. Amen. Because with Christ, he saves us. He knows what he's saving you from. He knows everything you're gonna do before you do it. And he paid a price for that. You can be so conscious of sin, but that's how I lived for the first years of my life, and I used to say, God, I can't do this. Seemed like everything I do is wrong. But I never gave myself credit that I was born again. I was filled with the Holy Spirit.

I was in the church serving every service. And I did everything and everything they wanted me to do. I just jumped in. But I never thought about those things. It was always what I did wrong. I'm not worthy enough. And some of us come from that background anyway, words have just affected us. Because life and death are in the power of the tongue, and words mean something. And the sad thing is when we start believing those bad words or those negative words, when you start believing them, you begin to act like them. You're no good, you're not worthy enough. That's why a lot of people turn to drugs. They're just not worthy enough. They don't have anybody that cares for them. You're a mistake. I don't know why I had you. You ruined my life. Folks, I'm gonna say this to you. If someone said those words to you, nobody in here's a mistake. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your parents may have thought so, but God didn't say so. He said, I created you to be here. There's a gift and talent in you that you can help others.

You can do something for the kingdom. So what is sin consciousness? Again, sin consciousness is living more aware of your failure than Christ finished work. More aware of your past than God's promises. More aware of your sin than his righteousness. So here's some thoughts about what happens, some key words biblically. Sin in the Greek means missing the mark, falling short of God's standard. Condemnation out of the Greek means a guilty verdict, a penal judgment. So when you're being condemned because the Bible says, therefore there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ when you're feeling condemnation, that is not from God. And let me say something else to you. People like to accuse people of everything, especially in the church world. They accuse, they accuse us, they accuse, and can I say this? The devil's the accuser of the brethren. And if you have an issue with somebody, ask questions. Why, because that's what God did. He asked Adam, Adam, why were you hiding? Why? He said, well, he said, did you eat of that tree? And Adam, being the man he is, said, yeah, the woman gave me to eat. Man, we've been blaming women since the beginning of time. Lord, if you just gave me a better woman,

I'd be a better man. Maybe if you became a better man, you'd have a better woman, huh? I don't know, I'm meddling. When Cain killed Abel, he didn't come at him and say, Cain, you sorry dog, you killed your brother. He said to Cain, Cain, where's your brother? He goes, am I my brother's keeper? He goes, well, Cain, his blood's crying out from the ground, from the earth. But he still asked him, he knew, God knew everything. Because God wants you to know there's a difference between the devil and him. He knows everything, he doesn't have to accuse us. But isn't it the grace and mercy of God that he'll ask questions? A lot of times when I'm meditating and praying, questions will come to my mind. And sometimes my answers aren't good. And sometimes they're good. But I'm not walking around thinking, was that sin, was this sin, was I messed up, was that? I've been through that. That's why I'm teaching this, so you don't have to live there. Conscience is, from the Greek, means the inner witness that either accuses or excuses us. Righteousness, from the Greek, means right standing with God, being fully accepted. See, sin consciousness keeps you stuck under condemnation.

The gospel brings you into righteousness and cleanses your conscience. Does anybody here would say, and this is a participating church, by the way, that man, sometimes I need my conscience cleared, cleansed. Yeah, see, so many of us in this, but we don't even know what to do with it because we don't know what to call it. We just think it's normal, and it's not normal. God doesn't beat you up. He's not trying to make you look bad. He's trying to help you be better, live better, do better. Thank God that he's not trying to get us, and like, well, I messed up, I'm going to hell. No, you're not. People say all the time, well, I've messed up so much, how can God forgive me? Because you can't earn what he gives you. See, when you talk like that, you think you can earn something. We can't, and what we should do is brag on God more, but if you do, people say, well, they're prideful. Look what God did for me, and there's got to be someone in your life that you can share that without feeling bad or them making you feel bad, like, wow, you're just bragging about what God did. I'd rather you brag on what God did than brag on what the devil did. in your past life."

I mean, it's just, it's amazing how people think. See, He gave us righteousness. Second Corinthians 521, for God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God. In other words, we have right standing with God. He cleansed our conscience. He cleansed us so that we wouldn't have to be, have a bad conscience. Listen, let me go back because I missed some points. What Jesus did with our sin and our conscience, number one, He removed condemnation. Romans 8, 1, so now therefore is no condemnation, guilty verdict for those who belong to Christ Jesus. The second one, He made us new, 2 Corinthians 517, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person, a new creation. And the old life is gone and a new life has begun. Your old life is over. When I said yes to Jesus, He said, Steve, anything you ever did is gone. You're a brand new person. In fact, that means it's something that never has existed now exists. And now we become a son or daughter of the Most High. But we tend to view God like we were raised or how our parents were, people around us. But we have a Heavenly Father that just wants to help. Yeah, but Pastor, I've messed up so much and He still wants to help. All you got to do is be willing to come to Him. So He gave us righteousness, 2 Corinthians 521 again, for God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God, have right standing. He cleansed our conscience. Hebrews 9, 14, the blood of Christ will purify our consciences, our inner witness from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. Number five, He opened the way to draw near, to draw near boldly. Hebrews 10, 22, for our guilty conscience have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to

make us clean and our bodies have been washed with pure water. This virgin once said, I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the rock of ages. And when you make a mistake, when you blow it, we all sin, we come back to Christ and say, God, forgive me. And He forgives you immediately and instantly. And people say, well, I don't feel like God's forgiven me. Folks, I'm going to say it over and over again for probably the rest of my, I'm alive on the earth. Feelings aren't facts. You cannot live by your feelings. Well, I just feel so condemned that you know that's the end of me. I've done so many things in my life and repented and sometimes I'm like, God, you know, I don't feel like it. But then I have to realize you don't live by your feelings, you live by the Word of God. He says, if you repent of your sin, He'll forgive you, period. Well, I got to do penance. See so many of us were raised with penance. Say this many are fathers, that many hell marries and you'll be forgiven. That's not true. Folks, there's no biblical reference for that. I don't care where you come from. There's no biblical reference. And that's why some people, when they come to Christ, they have that in them. And so they're like, I got to do something to get right with God. You do not. You have to repent. And when you repent to God, which means change your mind, turn your life around, go a different direction.

God forgives you immediately. Immediately. And let me say it this way. He's the only one that can forgive sin. I can't forgive your sin. No man can forgive your sin. We repent to God and there's no penance talked about in the Bible. Well, you repented, but you got to do all this stuff. You got to go, you know, work at the church for 30 hours for free. No. We serve God because it's our joy to serve Him. So sin consciousness versus righteous conscious. Sin conscious, I failed so I hide from God like Adam. Righteous conscious, I failed so I run to God, my father, like the prodigal son ran home to his father. Sin consciousness, my past defines me. My mistakes define me. Righteousness conscious says my position in Christ defines me. And that's it. Colossians 2, 13 and 14. If they put it on the screen, I think they're going to. Oh, there it is. You are dead because they don't put it on that one. You are dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Hey, if you're in the back, if you could put it up on the side screens, I'd appreciate it. I don't know if they can or not. So he canceled the record against us.

Sin consciousness says I'm a slave to it. old patterns. Righteousness conscious says, I'm dead to sin and alive to God. Romans 6 11 if you would. I'm gonna have to put, oh they can't do it. So you also should consider yourself to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. That's what he says. So we need to understand it. Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. I'm dead to sin. Even though I do sin, I'm still dead to it. I'm not gonna be so conscious of what I do wrong. I'm gonna start being more conscious of what God did in me and he forgave me. So what God does with forgiven, with forgiven sin, what does he do when you ask and you repent with sin? Psalms 103 12. He has removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West. He's removed those. And you say, well how far is the East from the West? Never ending. It never stops. Micah 7 19. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean. Isaiah 43 25. I yes, I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. When you repent to God, he'll never think of what you did again. Now people say all this, they say it a lot, still to this day. You know, hey, when you forgive, you have to forget. There's no way I can forget what you did. We don't have the ability to forget. God does because he's God. But we don't, so it's it's not a scriptural thing. It sounds so holy, but it's not real. When people tell me you got to forgive and forget, and I look at the person, I remember exactly what they did. Then I would think, well I guess I didn't really forgive them. I'm gonna say that I don't mean this demeaning. Unless you have Alzheimer's or dementia, you do not have the ability to forget. But God does. So what does that mean? When you forgive, you forgive. Well what if I don't feel like it? Doesn't matter what you feel like. Did you choose to forgive? Yes I did. Then that's it. And and and when you forgive somebody, you're not gonna forget. I know kids, I know people in here they've been horrifically abused when they were younger. They're not gonna forget what that person did, and nor are they supposed to. But they can't forgive it where that person no longer controls them. Where they release it from their life and say, you're not gonna hold me in chains any longer.

Corrie ten Boom said this, and I love that I love some of these quotes, God buries our sins in the depths of the sea and then posts a sign that says no fishing allowed. But don't we still confess? Yes. Confession isn't renewing Jesus to the cross, it's applying what His cross already purchased. First John 1 9, I talk about this all the time, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What does that mean? When you confess the sins you know, He cleanses you from the sins you have no idea you did. Well how can I not know what I did? Because we don't know this whole counsel. We don't know the whole Word of God. We just don't know it. And God says if you'll just be faithful to confess the things you know, I'll take care of the things you don't even realize you did. Why? Because you're a son and a daughter of the Most High. Why? Because Jesus paid a price for your sin. So we don't walk around thinking about sin all the time or what I did wrong. We don't, we don't have to live like that. And my hope and prayer today is some of us get free from that, that are dealing with that, that we all do. A.W. Tozer said, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. So when you think about God, do you think He's mean, harsh? Those are the people that really didn't believe in Him. That's the story of the talents. The guy that got five, two, and one. The guy that got one, the other five, the guy that had five came and said, Lord look, I got five more. The other one said, God with my gifts and talents, you gave me two and I got two more. And God said, so great. The one guy with one that went and hit it said, I knew you're a harsh taskmaster. And that's how too many people in our country, in our world, think about God. Why do you think in foreign nations they always make the worst, ugliest, nastiest look at faces to depict God? Because that's how they see Him. You know why? Because they're not serving the true God. And when you're willing to give your gifts and talents to the kingdom and to God, you'll know He's a great God and He wants to bless you and help you, no matter how you feel or what you think about yourself. He's trying to help us. He wants to heal us spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. So how do you

overcome sin consciousness? Number one, are you ready? Believe the verdict, no condemnation. Romans 8 one, are they putting that up there too? So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. If you're born again, there's no condemnation. If you don't, if you're not born again, there might be a lot of condemnation. Number two, renew your mind daily. Romans 12 two, put that one up there since you can't. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. What is God's will for us? Good and pleasing and perfect. Why, because Jesus paid a high price. So you need to declare the truth, I'm a new creation. I am the righteousness of God. I am forgiven. That's what we need to say. Number three, draw near, don't drift. Hebrews 4 16, so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Dang, that's so great. Some of you are like, man, how many scriptures do you know? I don't know, got a few here.

So we come boldly to the throne of grace where we may obtain mercy in our time of need. We can't keep thinking about yesterday. We gotta start thinking about today and tomorrow. Number four, walk in the light, James 5 16. Here we go again. Because again, I'm gonna talk to my team, they're gonna put it on the side next time. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. Healed of what? Healed of all this stuff. Number five, choose holiness by the Spirit's power. Galatians 5 16. So I say, let the Holy Spirit, I'm sorry, I'm turning my back to you, but so I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. Wow. So we choose holiness by the Spirit's power. Number six, feed the new nature. Philippians 3 13 and 14. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this, how many things? One thing. Here we go. Forgetting the past. We as Christians need to focus, if you're only gonna focus on one thing, focus on this one thing, forgetting the past.

The yesterdays, the five minutes ago, whatever. The years ago, what you did way back, you gotta forget that. We've gotta learn to say, I'm not gonna live in that world anymore, I'm gonna live in the world God has for me. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Man, we gotta go forward, you can't go backwards. You have a past that was yesterday, yesterday's yesterday, you can't do anything about yesterday. I wish there was a time warp machine, real one, because I'd go back and change a lot of things, a lot. So you gotta feed the new nature. Fight back with the Word, 2 Corinthians 10, five. I love this. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. That's what we do. When I was working for UPS and I would drive my truck and I was kinda out in the country, so me and the cows half the time. On dirt roads and I would just fly down them to deliver a package. And my mind would start going crazy on me sometimes and I would literally do this for so long I did it.

In the name of Jesus, you foul thoughts, I cast you down. Steve, you know you're no good, God doesn't really love you. In the name of Jesus, I cast you down. You know you've made so many mistakes, how could you ever come to God? I cast you down. And I would practice capturing those thoughts because they were against God. Now I don't do it that much anymore, but every now and then I will. I'll be like, man, you gotta deal with this thoughts. How many of you have to deal with your thoughts? Yeah, you cast them down so you don't act on them. That was the best. You guys really got involved in that one. Yeah. Imagine your entire life recorded in a ledger. Every sin charged against you. At the cross, Jesus didn't just tear out a few pages, he canceled the whole debt. Yeah, but you don't know what I did. Doesn't matter what you did. Christ knows what you did and he's still beckoning you to come and be a son or a daughter in the kingdom. We gotta quit thinking like man because we know. People will hold things against us, but God doesn't hold things against us. We're not God. We need to become more like Him instead of trying to make Him more like us. Colossians 2 14 again, He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away

by nailing it to the cross. When Satan holds up an old page, you can say, that was nailed to the cross. My account reads paid in full. I'm not going to think on that anymore. Past grace, present holiness is what we meditate on. Freedom from sin consciousness is not permission to sin, it's power to overcome sin. Titus 2 11 and 12, the grace of God has been revealed and we are instructed to turn from godless living. We should live with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. Watchman Nee said, our old history ends with the cross. Our new history begins with the resurrection. Too many people are sitting at the cross when they need to go to the resurrection. And folks, you know, I get people talk about, you don't have enough crosses. Crosses don't make you holy. Little fishies on your car don't make you holy. Little doves on your checks don't make you holy. Honk if you love Jesus, doesn't make you holy. What makes you holy is you living for Christ each and every day, working through things and meditating on the right things and thinking on what God says to think about. That's how it works. God's not holding you hostage. He's trying to lift you up and set you free from the things that maybe our past has a hold on us. That's the God we serve. Not a mean, harsh God, a God full of grace and mercy that's willing to help us. Even when we took communion, you know, Pastor Michael got up here and said, take a moment and examine yourself. What does that mean? Judge yourself. Why do you judge yourself so God doesn't have to?

God, I know I blew this. I know I did this. I know I did that. Well, how many times do I got to repent for it? Numero uno. One time. One time. And he forgives you right then. Now, I don't know about you, but I've asked God to forgive me multiple times for the same thing. And I say, God, I know you forgave me, but man, I got to convince myself. How many know what I'm talking about? Because I don't want this sin consciousness to come back on me. The dread, the fear, the guilt, the shame. And when you have that shame, what you're saying is I'm worthless. That's what shame means is I'm worthless. I'm no good. But you are. And you get to start today. Some of you can start in a few moments and get right with God and just start this new life. But, Pastor, I backslid. Yes, you get to start it again because God doesn't hold your sins against you. He doesn't. You know, I used to think when I first got saved and they talked about the judgment seat of Christ and it would scare me a little bit. You know, just inside like, dang. And I used to think that God was going to roll the scroll with all my sins. And I'm like, man, that's going to be forever. I mean, that's where you need a Snickers, right?

You're going to be in line. We need lots of Snickers. And it wasn't what set me free was when I realized when I repent, He doesn't. There's no scroll. There's a scroll for the ones that have rejected Him. And here's the thing on the scroll. You rejected Jesus, the only Savior of the world. And because of your rejection, you go to hell. God didn't create hell for us, but a lot of people want to go there. He says broad is the way to destruction, but narrow is the way to eternal life. He says broad is the way to destruction, and many thereof find it. Narrow is the way to righteousness or eternal life, and very few find that. Why? Because too many people want to serve God their way, not His way. We want to make God more like us instead of we becoming more like Him. People may not forgive you. People may forgive you and bring it up again. When God forgives you, He never brings it up again. Thank God. He just wants to help. So we need to get to the resurrection is to quit hanging out at the cross. What He did on the cross was great, but His resurrection was greater. John 8, 10 and 11, Jesus says, where are your accusers to the woman caught in adultery? Didn't even one condemn you? No, Lord, she said. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. He didn't excuse her sin, and according to the law, she should have been stoned to death. But where was the man? The man should have been stoned to death with her.

I mean, if you commit adultery, you've got to have somebody with you. You don't get to do it by yourself. But Jesus didn't just leave her there, He said, I don't condemn you. And it's so interesting that I think in the book of Jeremiah, maybe Isaiah, I think it's Jeremiah, that Jesus, the Bible says that He, the Savior, will write the names in the sand of those who rejected Him. So here's the religious folks, the Pharisees, and religious folks are mean people. Because they're so legalistic, and they're so harsh, and if you do this, that's sin. Have you been around those people? I have. You sin. That's sin. That's sin. That's sin. I'm like, dang. I don't need the devil. I got you. So they throw this woman at Jesus' feet. He knows exactly what happened because He's God. They're ready to stone her and they begin to question Him. What does the law say to do? And then Jesus, they said, knelt in the sand, and I believe that He was writing the names of those who rejected Christ, and these people knew the Bible. I believe they looked and saw their name, Dan, Sarah, George, John, Steve. And they went, oh, my gosh. And He said, He who is without sin cast the first stone. They all dropped their rocks and walked away, and then He said, is there anybody here to condemn you? Because He didn't. Sometimes we think God condemns us and He doesn't.

He didn't condemn her, but He did say, go sin no more. So no matter what you do in life from this moment on, let's remember the words of Jesus. He doesn't condemn you. He wants to help you, but go and sin no more. See, Jesus gives pardon and power, no condemnation and no bondage. Tonight, some of you have been carrying guilt and shame. You've been living sin conscious instead of son conscious. The weight is heavy, but Jesus came to lift it off of you today. There are two groups I want to pray for tonight. First, those who have never given their life to Christ, and those who have backslid and say, I want to come home. I want to pray for you first. And then we're going to pray for believers who know they're saved, but you've been walking under guilt and condemnation. Tonight, Jesus wants to cleanse your conscience and set you free. He wants to help you and bless you. So you walk out of here with a weight lifted off and say, man, I feel lighter. I'm going to serve God in a greater way. God is truly a good God. So if you're here and you say, preacher, I've walked with God, but I walked away. Would you pray with me? I want to come home. I'm ready. Because I always felt like He was just going to beat me up and condemn me. But now I'm realizing all He wants me to do is do it right, sin no more. So I'm going to sin no more. I'm going to work at it. We're going to sin, folks, but at least we work at it. And if you're here and you've walked away from God, today is your chance to walk back to Him and to be righteous, conscious, not sin conscious.

Yeah, but will He really forgive me? Absolutely. If you come and repent, God will forgive you. So I want to pray for you. Then I want to pray for those here that have never asked Jesus to be Lord of their life. You may believe the Bible. You may believe in Jesus. You may come from different backgrounds. You may believe there's only one God, but you've never asked that one God through Jesus to come live in you by the Holy Spirit. You've never asked Him to save your life from eternal death and sin. I want to pray for those two people right now. You ready? And with every head bowed, please, no one looking around, just a moment of stillness and reverence to the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit that is beginning and has been dealing with people's hearts. You can come home today. You can get it right today. You can make Him Lord of your life today. All you have to do is be willing. If that's you, right where you're seated, I'm going to ask you to do one simple thing. First, it's so I know if I'm praying for anybody, but the most important thing is I'm going to ask you to do this to say, God, I don't care what anybody else thinks. I just want to be right with you today. If that's you, right where you're seated, and I'm going to pray with you right at your seat, you say, preacher, include me in your prayer. Are you ready? I don't care where you're sitting. I don't care what your station in life is. I don't care how important you think you are or how much money you have.

I don't care. God doesn't care either. Everybody has to come to Him this way, humbly, and recognize we need God. If that's you, right where you're seated, in Jesus' name, are you ready? With no hesitation, would you just lift your hand up and say, God, I want you in my life. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you, guys. God bless you up there. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God cares, but you'll never know how much He cares until you say yes. I'm gonna look across the top one more time ushers. I know you're thank you. God bless you, sir God bless you Thank you God bless you over here. God bless you

God cares. You just got to say yes, but pastor. I'm not worthy enough. None of us can be worthy enough We come to him humbly and he forgives our sin Because we can't earn it and you don't deserve it when you say I'm not good enough You think you can earn something with God? You can't you just have to be willing to accept the gift of salvation that he promises to those That he created you I'm gonna look across one more time in the top if you say God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you God bless you anybody else I Know the ushers are so great to help me. I'm gonna look across the bottom section one more time I'm just gonna scan it if you haven't lifted your hand and you say preacher. Okay, I'm ready You just got to submit your will to the will of God because he's the Savior of the world This church can't save you your church affiliation can never save you people say well, I'm a Catholic. I'm a Baptist I'm a Pentecostal doesn't matter if you're not born again. You're not going to make it So one more time I'm look around anybody else before I close say, okay Father in the powerful name of Jesus. I thank you for all the hands. So many were raised. I Thank you for their life up to this point that caused them to come and say yes You know everything we've done, you know, our sittings our risings, you know, how much how many hairs we have left on our heads You know everything and you still want us in your family Thank you for dying for us. Thank you for nailing our sins to the cross Thank you for paying our debt that we should pay but you paid it Thank you Lord for blessing each one in this room and especially those who lifted their hand tonight Show yourself strong to them in a way that they know God does care in Jesus name if you lifted your hand, I want you to pray this prayer loud of me right where you're seated I want you to pray loud enough for your ears to hear your voice Why because the Bible says we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. I Want everybody in here that's right with God Would you join us and support those folks so many of them so you won't be praying alone We'll all be praying with you And if you didn't lift your hand

But you should have please allow me the privilege and honor to introduce you to Jesus because he's the only one that can save your life Would you pray this with me church? Would you pray father? I choose to believe in your son Jesus and I believe he's your only son. I Believe he's the only way So today according to your words, I believe that in my heart and Now I willingly confess with my mouth Jesus be Lord of my life thank you for saving me and Thank you for forgiving me in Jesus name Amen, and amen and amen. Let's thank the Lord Now I'm gonna do one more thing and we'll go home. I Want to do one more thing. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer And last night it was so so So great that everybody prayed this but maybe you need to pray this prayer and I'm gonna invite you to pray with me and it's just a Renounce sin consciousness and and ask God to cleanse us And I believe the Holy Spirit's here to move and to help to encourage So if you say preacher I need this Pray with me, would you? Would you pray father? Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe he died for my sins and rose again Tonight I declare Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I

renounce Condemnation and receive forgiveness Righteousness and freedom I am a new creation and from this day on I will walk in freedom as a child of God in the powerful name of Jesus Amen, and amen and amen