Join us in a transformative discussion on the non-condemning nature of Christ, emphasizing his ultimate sacrifice and resurrection as a testament to our salvation. Learn how Paul connects these themes to historical events in Israel, offering a universal message of hope and redemption. Whether you’re struggling with personal doubts or seeking spiritual renewal, this episode encourages a refreshing look at the life and teachings of Jesus as documented in the Gospels.
00:13:30 Connecting Israel’s History to Today’s World
SPEAKER 01 :
So now in this outstanding passage, Romans chapter 8, verses 31 to 39, you know the passage that says, if God is for us, who can be against us? Paul now asks, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Well, now, I mentioned the other day that Paul clearly had the prophecies or rather the prophets in mind, especially the book of Ezekiel, when writing this passage, because the book of Ezekiel talks about the terrible judgments coming upon Israel through Babylon, famine and nakedness and the sword and all that. And yet, at the same time, God says, I am for you. Amazing. And Paul concludes from this that the judgments upon Israel are not for damnation, but for correction, to awaken them, to, as he said, to devastate you that you may know that I am the Lord. But now Paul is mixing that message. revelation or understanding he has of the book of Ezekiel with the fact of the life of Christ that he is contemporary with. I mean, remember, Paul was, well, I presume about 10 years younger than Jesus and may well have met Jesus and talked to him in Jerusalem. It’s quite possible. We have no proof, of course, of this in the Bible, but it would be hard to imagine that such an intense scholar of Scripture would avoid meeting Jesus at one point or another. So then, with the prophecies in mind that God brings the judgments to reveal that God is the Lord and not to finally condemn, then Paul has all the incredible enlightenment of Jesus. He talks with Peter. He talks with the other apostles. He learns all about what Jesus did and said. And so he concludes, who is he to condemn? You see, Jesus did not come to condemn. And if you belong to a church or have developed an attitude or an idea that Jesus is condemning you and pointing his finger at you, well, I’m telling you, reject those thoughts, reject that idea, because Jesus came into the world to be light. I am the light of the world. No one who believes in me will walk in darkness. I am the way and the truth and the life. When you look at the heart of Jesus and hear his words and then see those words confirmed by the incredible things he did, feeding 5,000 people on one occasion, 7,000 on another, raising the dead, healing the sick, preaching the good news of the kingdom, telling the poor that they are blessed. I mean, these are words that are like refreshing water on a desert. They are just so blessed and wonderful. And you have to ask yourself when you read carefully the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then also John, you have to ask yourself, how could anybody say what this man said unless he really was who he said he was? I mean, either he was a nutcase or a deceiver, or he was the true Son of God come to the world. And if you’ve sort of forgotten the centrality of the gospel, if in some way you have the realization of God’s gift to the world, Jesus has faded from your mind, I strongly urge you to start to read again the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Spend a half an hour in the morning or 15 minutes or you need a half an hour, I suppose. And just read through them because you will be brought to the place where that soldier standing by the cross was. And he said, no man spoke like this man. Jesus either had to be mad, or he was who he said he was. And how do we know that he was who he said he was? Because of what his life testified to, because of how he lived it out. He wasn’t a maniac. He didn’t do crazy things. He did wonderful things for the healing of the world. And so, you see, if you get into doubt about your salvation, or you haven’t overcome all your sins yet, or you’re still indulging in addictions, and you’ve been a Christian a long time, and you think to yourself, can God still accept me? You look to Jesus. You look to Him. You ponder him. No man ever existed like Jesus. And you look at his words, and he says that I have not spoken my own words. My words are from my Father who told me to say them. This is our Jesus who is revealing the heart of God. And so you may say, Lord God, I’m sorry, I’m frightened. I don’t come to you, but I can come to your Son, and he will convince me that it’s okay to come to you. Talk to Jesus. Have conversations with him. Tell him all about your problems. Tell him that you have no desire to repent. Yes, you can even tell him that. Lord God, I love my sins so much I have no desire to turn from them. Jesus, help me. Keep walking with me. Keep talking with me. You see, Jesus talked with sinners. He walked with them. He didn’t come into a perfect world. He didn’t wait until the nations of the world had shaped up before he came to visit them. He came to visit them in their blackest hour, in the time of the Roman Empire, when there was such brutality and cruelty. You can tell Jesus everything, and Jesus will not forsake you. He will be with you. He will be your light. That’s how it works. So Paul says then, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. And you see what Paul is saying by this statement, Christ who died. That is Christ who sacrificed himself for our sins. Christ who took the judgment of all our wrongdoing upon himself. He doesn’t condemn. How could he possibly condemn if he took our judgment upon himself and died and took the punishment for it? This is why you have a clear road to Jesus. You have a clear access to him, and he has an absolutely clear access to the Father. So, once again, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and, furthermore, is also risen. What’s the significance of saying he’s risen? Because the resurrection of Jesus means our resurrection. It also means the beginning of a new life. It also means the beginning of eternal life. It means that death is not the end for us, that resurrection will come. that God will not leave our body in Sheol, in the grave, but He will show us the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That’s Psalm 16. And so, you see, you and I need to take a strong hold of the belief that Jesus has not only sacrificed himself for our sins, but brought justification to us by his resurrection. When he rose from the dead, it proved that everything he said and did was justified, was right, was right on the nail. and that that resurrection is our justification. That is to say that you and I are not destined for hell or death. We are destined for eternal life because Christ rose from the dead. You and I believe that. We must take a hold of it all again. I may be saying things that are very familiar to you. You’ve heard them for years. But in another way, you haven’t heard them at all, have you? You’ve heard them and your eyes have glazed over, or you’ve heard them and you’ve fallen asleep in the process mentally. What we need to do is to hear them afresh. Jesus is alive, he rose from the dead, and he is the new resurrection for all humanity. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. What’s that all about? It means that Jesus Christ, as the Son of Man, that is, representing man, living on behalf of mankind, is now at the right hand of God. This means that humanity has already entered the throne room of the Father. Fallen humanity has entered, and yet it has been redeemed by the resurrected Christ. The fact that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father is a symbolic statement by Paul and the whole message of the gospel that humanity is as good as having arrived in the kingdom. Jesus has gone ahead of us on our behalf. Your destiny is sure, based upon his arrival at the right hand of the Father, and he’s interceding for us, not in the sense of pleading his blood to a reluctant father, but in the sense of bringing all our needs before the Father. Of course the Father knows those needs, but we need the assurance that we have an intercessor so that we can be assured that all our thoughts and groanings and moanings and troubles and trials… are brought before God. Jesus has brought them before God. You see why Paul is so absolutely positive in this passage, if God is for us, who can be against us? And look what he says in the next verse, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now here Paul is going back to his book of Ezekiel, because he is astonished to find there that in spite of all the judgment upon Israel that brought terrible suffering and death, God was not against Israel but for Israel. God promised he would raise all Israel from the dead, Ezekiel 37. And God also promised that he would make an atonement for them and forgive them for all that they have ever done. That’s Ezekiel 16. And remember that all that God did for Israel, he is going to do for the world, because Israel is a type of the whole world. As goes Israel, so goes the world. For the Messiah, which was the Messiah for Israel, is the Messiah for the whole world. Do you see it? And so Paul goes back to this great truth and to the reality and the history of Israel and his own people and realizes that tribulation, this is verse 35, and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and the sword and peril, all of these troubles which Israel went through do not separate us from God. And so if trouble is coming into your life, especially trouble from your own sins, where you’ve maybe ruined your own life, Those troubles do not mean that you are separated from God. You lift your heart up to God and say, “‘Father, I know it feels so weird to say this, but I thank you for the troubles, and especially the troubles I brought upon myself, because you are teaching me that this life is not worth it. You are teaching me that salvation and eternal life are the most precious thing I could possibly have, and I thank you for taking me through my troubles.’ because by them and through them I have come to know my Savior Jesus Christ. That’s the truth. And this is what you get from these verses. So put your head and your mind in these verses and believe. Thank you. K-L-T-T-A-M-670 in the Denver and Colorado and surrounding states areas at 10 o’clock in the evening, repeated at 4 in the morning. 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