Conviction vs. Condemnation

I was listening to a podcast yesterday from National Community Church in DC.  Mark Batterson was speaking on Romans 8:1 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..”

He made an excellent distinction between conviction and condemnation in regards to our sin.  When we sin, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin, which should lead to confession and then forgiveness. Conviction is a good thing as it brings us to the place of coming to God so He can take away our sin.

Condemnation occurs when we have confessed sin, but still carry the guilt for it.  Satan will remind us of our sin and will attempt to weigh us down with guilt that we shouldn’t carry.  Once we have been convicted of our sin, turned to God to forgive us, He doesn’t condemn us.  That’s the point of Romans 8:1. Once Jesus has forgiven us, we are no longer condemned.

Batterson had a simple equation he used.  Sin – Grace = Guilt.  Sin + Grace = Gratitude.  Thought that was a good reminder.

Bob Goff at National Community Church

I’m in the process of reading Bob Goff’s book Love Does. Still have a few more chapters to go, but it is an excellent read (more on that in a later post.)

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is National Community Church, led by Mark Batterson. They recently had Bob Goff as a guest speaker. His message is full of such energy, great stories and challenge, you should take a look at it.