Week 3 - FROM GUILTY TO INNOCENT
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How’s your memory work coming along?
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV-1984)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (she) is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
FROM ADAM TO CHRIST - Union with Christ
We were born into Adam. This means that whatever was true of Adam was true of us. But by grace through faith, we have been born again into Christ. This means that whatever is true of Jesus is now true of us. Therefore, we are no longer characterized by Adam’s sin and death but by Christ’s righteousness and life.
FROM DEATH TO LIFE - Regeneration
We were dead in Adam, but now we are alive in Christ. Because we share in Jesus’ resurrected life, we already have eternal life here and now. From our new birth, new heart and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can stop living for ourselves and start living for Jesus.
And now …
FROM GUILTY TO INNOCENT - Justification
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
Romans 8:1, 33-34 (CEB)
1 So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? It is God who acquits them. 34 Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.
The Apostle Paul originally wrote these words in Greek. In Greek, the two questions that he asks are rhetorical questions that expect and even demand a negative response. In other words, everyone knew the answer to both questions was “NO ONE!” I’ll add the intended answer to make things more clear.
Romans 8:1, 33-34
1 So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? [NO ONE!] It is God who acquits them. 34 Who is going to convict them? [NO ONE!] It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.
Have someone retell the passage in their own words.
What stands out to you in this passage?
What does this passage say about God (The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit)?
What does this passage say about people, including ourselves?
What does this passage say about the life God invites us to live?
Digging Deeper
Paul is painting the picture of a court scene in our passage. And guess who’s on trial? We are!
The Charges Against Us
Romans 8:33 (CEB)
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? [NO ONE!]
Even though no one should bring charges against us, realistically, there may be those who do. Who might bring these charges against us?
Certainly, Satan, who is called the Accuser, brings charges against us (see Revelation 12:10-11). So does our conscience or our hearts (see 1 John 3:20). Maybe our “enemies” do. Even our family and friends may.
What might these charges be?
Do you stand guilty? What is your plea?
The Judge’s Decision
Romans 8:33 (CEB)
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? [NO ONE!] It is God who acquits them.
Who’s our Judge?
How has the Judge decided in our case?
How could the Judge acquit us?
Our Savior’s Work
Romans 8:34 (CEB)
Who is going to convict them? [NO ONE!] It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.
Who’s our Savior?
Romans 8:34 (CEB)
It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised.
Romans 4:25 (NLT)
[Jesus] was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the wrath-removing-sacrifice for our sins.
What has our Savior done for us?
Not only did Jesus accept personal responsibility for our obedience to God’s law by perfectly obeying the law and His Father for us, Jesus accepted personal responsibility for our disobedience of God’s law by suffering the punishment for our sin. So Jesus lived the life we should have and then died the death we would have. After serving our death sentence as our substitute, however, Jesus arose from the dead. So Jesus identified with us and took on our sin so that we could be identified with Him and receive His righteousness by faith.
Jesus isn’t only our Savior, though. He's also our Defense Attorney.
Our Defense Attorney’s Work
1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NLT)
God’s will is for you to be holy.
1 John 2:1-2
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the wrath-removing-sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Romans 8:34 (CEB)
It is Christ Jesus who … is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.
What is God’s will for us?
How are you doing at following God’s will?
What does our Defense Attorney continue to do for us?
How can we still have the status of righteousness and innocence if we keep on sinning?
If Anybody Does Sin
John 13:1-11 (NIV)
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
Jesus isn’t just talking about physical but spiritual cleanliness. What is Jesus saying about the need to be cleansed after salvation?
As washed-ones, we only need Jesus to clean our “feet” when they get dirty.
1 John 1:7-10 (ESV)
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses (in the present continual tense meaning “keeps on cleansing“) us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
What role does confession and repentance play in the life of the Christian after God’s gracious acquittal?
Romans 8:1 (CEB)
So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Does knowing that you are no longer condemned by God make you want to sin or not want to sin? Why?
Does knowing that you are no longer condemned by God make you want to deal with ongoing sin or not? Why?
What does God’s gracious acquittal and verdict of non-condemnation mean to you personally?
Foundational Truth
Here’s the FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH we discovered today:
On our own, we are guilty sinners, who have rebelled against God’s authority and broken God’s law. We stand condemned and deserve death. Jesus, however, took personal responsibility for both our obedience to God’s law and our disobedience of God’s law. He did this by living the life we should have and dying the death we would have. Now through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, when God looks at us He sees His Son. And because Jesus is righteous, God sees us as righteous. God has acquitted us of our guilt and declared us innocent in Christ.
Theologically, this is called Justification. Through faith in Jesus Christ we are justified. It is just as if I had never sinned. It is just as if I had always obeyed. Not because I actually could, but because Jesus actually did. Praise the Lord!
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?
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