W e ' r e m o r e t h a n j u s t a C h u r c h . . . W e ' r e a F A M I L Y !
"Condemnation, Conviction, Conversion:
Establishing God's Perspective on Love"
Pastor Chad Carter
Excerpts from Pastor Carter's message on "God Loves
Everybody Sunday," February 18, 2007 @ Family
Harvest Church
Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13, and 1 John 4, as this morning we explore together the subject of love. While there are a number of Scriptures we will be looking at together this morning to get into this subject, but I want us to come away from this message this morning, having the mind of Christ regarding this biblical truth.
As born-again, blood bought, sanctified, Spirit-filled children of the Most High God, we do not look to the world to define for us matters of Spirit-led living. We understand that as children of God, we are citizens of a kingdom who’s dynamics and principles are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive to everything in the kingdom we came out of. In other words, everything in the Kingdom of God operates by principles which are the opposite of the fleshly and materially governed world in which we live.
In this worldly kingdom, the way to get ahead is to grab for the gusto and fight and claw your way up the ladder of success, stepping on everyone and everything that gets in your way. In this kingdom you’re now a part of, the way to get ahead and receive promotion is to lower yourself and become the servant of all - - for according to Scripture, he that wishes to be exalted must first be abased.
In the kingdom of God, he that is first shall be last and he that is last shall be first… In the kingdom of God, to receive is not to grab for what you can get… In the kingdom of God, to receive means that first you must give, for to he that gives it shall be given, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over…
Therefore, it only stands to reason that if we want a true, biblical perspective of the love of God, we cannot take the world’s definition into account in order to determine what we believe. If we are to truly base our lives and principles on God’s definition of love, we must turn to the pages of the Word of God to discover just exactly what it was created to be.
In the world, love means many different things. The world, which is gripped and clutched and possessed by the hands of the evil enemy of God, Satan himself, defines love through sinful interpretations they have created which satisfy the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
Love, in this modern-day, post-Christian society, is nothing more than perverted sexual acts which seek to gratify the personal desires of a world gone mad and driven into the depths of degradation.
seeks to define it, is nothing
seems to be the driving force
missed the importance of the
real definition of love. It’s not
just movie stars that have
nothing more than an act of
personal self-gratification.
It’s not just Hollywood that has desensitized our young people to interpret love as sexual promiscuity and the giving in to personal desires and lusts of the flesh… Unfortunately, the Church has done its fair share of desensitization… the Church has done its fair share in indoctrinating our young people to believe a lie.
Unfortunately, no longer must we look to the world for an example of sin… no longer must we look to the world for an example of the effect of sin on society… No longer must we look to Hollywood to give the bad example of the wrong definition of love by which we may teach our children to steer clear! Now, if we want a good example to show our children of how the true, biblical love of God has been abandoned and lust has been exalted into it’s place, we need only point our finger into many of the pulpits of America today!
It used to be that if we wanted to give our young people an example of the effects of adultery, or the effects of divorce, or the detrimental effect on the family that a false and incorrect interpretation of love can cause, we would open the newspaper and show them what is going on… Now if we want to give them a lesson on adultery, or fornication, or homosexuality, or child molestation, all we have to do is show them a picture of church leaders in America.
We have more playboys in our pulpits than prophets! We have too many fakes and frauds running around masquerading themselves as men of God and projecting from themselves the same amount of filth, if not moreso, than some of the popular icons of our day… You go into some church’s today, and you can’t tell if it’s Brittany Spears or Brother so-and-so up there on the platform gyrating around like some pervert. You go into some churches today thinking you’re going to hear a message on the love of God, and you hear a message on love alright, but it’s a promotion of free-love, not the love of God!
You think you’re safe sitting in the pew with your children under the teaching of Bishop so-and-so, but what you don’t know is that he divorced his wife one minute and ran of with a bleached-blonde from the congregation the next. What you don’t know is that he’s on his second or third wife as it is and is trying to stand up there and instruct you and your family how to have a successful marriage and a happy home life???? …Give me a Pentecostal break!
You think you’re safe sitting under someone, but what you don’t know is that the church government which ordained that one is ok with having bishops who are womanizers, or child molesters, and they don’t think one thing about promoting them and putting them up in front of you to teach you the Word of God.
I’m saying all that to tell you this… the world embraces everything that is unholy. The world embraces everything that is ungodly. The world embraces everything that is contrary to the truth of God’s Word. And it’s sad, but true, that, unfortunately, a whole whole lot of the world has crept into the church to the point that you have to be Holy Ghost filled and operate in the gift of discerning of spirits to be able to safeguard yourself from the lie of the enemy that seeks to perpetrate itself as the truth!
Oh, let me say that again… so much of the world has crept into the church that you have to let the Holy Ghost lead you at every step before you can trust them and safeguard yourself from the lie of the enemy that seeks to perpetrate itself as the truth.
Jesus gave explicit warning in Matthew 7:15, to “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” The Apostle Peter gave similar warning in 1 Peter 3:3, “that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,”
What did he say they would walk after? Their own lusts! What did he call those who walk after their own lusts? …Scoffers. Scoffers is a poor translation. That actual translation of the word scoffers in this verse, is “false teachers.” If I were you, I’d write that down there in 1 Peter 3:3, and don’t say I’ve never taught you anything... 1 Peter 3:3, scoffers is translated “false teachers.”
This is further supported in 2 Timothy 4:3, when Paul said to Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;" What kind of an ungodly mess are we facing in the church of America today?
Paul said they would heap unto themselves what? …TEACHERS. WHY? …Because of their lusts. I didn’t make this up. You can’t just read the Bible, you have to read the Bible. They were nothing more than hirelings!!! I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but aren’t you glad you’ve got more than a hireling around here? Nobody can ever accuse me of being such. I’ve never been in this thing to win friends and influence people. I’ve never been in this thing to win a popularity contest. I’m surely not in this thing to make an easy buck… I’m in this thing because I’m a man of God and I know I am and I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – it ALONE is the power of God unto salvation and I will shout it from the rooftops. If that blesses your socks off, praise the Lord! If that passes judgment on your sin and sets you back on your heels a bit, I’ll praise the Lord anyway! He called me, He equipped me, He anointed me, and as long as I’m doing what He called me to do – AND THAT’S PREACH THE TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD – then I’ll declare it in power and authority, close the Book, walk off the platform and care less what you or anybody else thinks about it! Glory to God!
Now, we’re here today to discuss a subject in that form and fashion – from the truth of God’s Word. We’re here today, to discuss the subject of God’s love.
So much of the world’s hatred… so much of the world’s bitterness has crept into the church that it seems we now face a mishmash of false doctrine that is incorrect on one hand, and incorrect on the other. In other words, we find ourselves facing religious factions in ditches on both sides of the road. One misrepresents the love of God so terribly bad that it excuses, and in fact, embraces sin in the name of love, while the other faction thinks they alone are loved while everyone else is hated by God.
I’m here today to shine the spotlight of truth on the subject, and I ask again… What kind of an ungodly mess are we facing in the church of America today? Today, we are not going to take the approach of the world in finding our definition for love. Today, we are not going to take the approach of false teachers like the one protested against me outside our church one Sunday morning a few months ago, and again today, who teaches a false doctrine that says God hates people and only loves him and those who are like-minded with him. You, sir, are a LIAR! And I will prove that today from the Word of God. Today, we take our definition of love from the only source we are permitted as believers to take it… from the Word of God.
Now, there are specific questions which we are going to seek to answer from the Word of God this morning. They are these:
Are you still in 1 Corinthians 13? Then let’s answer the first question… “What is Love?” In the King James Version we find the word charity used in place of love, but the accurate translation from the original language is “love.” In keeping with using that word, I am reading this morning from the New King James Version. 1 Corinthians 13 reads…
The Greatest Gift
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have
become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is
not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,
thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there
are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For
we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has
come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a
mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as
I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I want to read this same portion of Scripture from The Message Bible:
The Way of Love
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing
but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his
mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a
mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I
own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love,
I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm
bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues
will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and
what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our
incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any
infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it
all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows
us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us
toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love
extravagantly. But the best of the three is love.
We answer question number two, “Who is Love?”, from two verses of Scripture. In 1 John 4:8, we find that “God is love.” Again in 1 John 4:16, we are told that “God is love.” That alone should settle the question of WHO love is. Simply put, God is love.
The third question we answer this morning is “Why must we, as followers of Christ, love?” In 1 John 4:19, we find the answer:
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
This Chapter of the Bible ALONE, is more than enough foundation for us to declare today, with boldness and assurance, that our God is not a God of hatred, but a God of love, a God of mercy, grace, goodness, and forgiveness. Why do we love? Because He first loved us! Why does He love us? Because GOD IS LOVE. …And THAT, my dear misguided scoffer on the street corner is the Word of God!
I want to talk to you this morning about Three-C’s. These three C’s are: Condemnation, Conviction, and Conversion.
Condemnation – to receive a sentence or guilty verdict; the punishment for a wrong that was committed; the weighty responsibility and feeling of regret that comes upon you when you realize you are guilty of the charges against you. Condemnation is what you experience when there is no hope of escape. No hope of redemption… No hope of forgiveness… No hope of a way out. Condemnation leaves you facing a guilty verdict and sentences your soul to hell for eternity, and provides no possibility of parole.
Conviction – in the spiritual sense, conviction begins with condemnation. Conviction, like condemnation, recognizes and acknowledges that you have done wrong. Conviction sees the charges against you and does not ignore the fact that they are there.
The difference between condemnation and conviction, however, is that condemnation, ALONE, gives no hope of escape. Condemnation alone provides no hope of redemption, no hope of forgiveness… Condemnation alone provides, in and of itself, no hope of a way out. Conviction, on the other hand, embraces all of that, but ads an ingredient to the equation… Conviction adds the ingredient of the Holy Spirit, who not just brings to light your sins, but points you to the remedy for them!
Oh, aren’t you glad that there is an ingredient to conviction that Condemnation missed! Aren’t you glad this morning there’s an ingredient in conviction that cancels out the condemnation! Aren’t you glad this morning that when the reality of the sin you have committed begins to settle in and you begin to feel condemned for what you have done to wedge a great distance between you and your Creator, the Holy Ghost is able to step in and bring you, in the place of your condemnation to a place of conviction, whereby you have an opportunity to repent and forsake those things you have done which would cause you to be condemned! Somebody that knows that gentle, leading, still, small voice of the Holy Ghost shout, “praise the Lord for conviction!”
Some people look at conviction and say, “well that’s something I don’t want to feel. I don’t want to feel conviction, for if I feel conviction that means I’ve done something wrong, and if I’ve done something wrong, that means I’ll have to make it right, and if I have to make it right, that means everyone else is going to know I did something wrong. I don’t want people to think I’m a sinner… I don’t want anything to do with that conviction stuff.” Let me tell you this morning, you better be thanking God that you are in a place by which you can feel the convicting power of His Spirit! Let me tell you this morning, I WANT to be in a place where I feel convicted! WHY? Because I want to make it to heaven, and if I expect to make it there, it means I have to be right in my relationship with God every single day of the living world. If I have done something to offend the blessed Holy Spirit… If I have done anything to force a wedge between me and my relationship with my blessed Lord, the lover of my soul, I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT! I want to get it right! I want to get it under the blood! I want to get it taken care of, without delay!
I thank God for the conviction of the Holy Ghost! And if He brings something to light for me that I need to get under the blood, I don’t care if there’s one of you, or a thousand of you that keep your seat in the pew and look down your nose at me, I’ll stand alone in the altar and plead my case of conviction to the Lord, and I’ll turn and go back to my seat assured in my heart and in my spirit that I am right before God and no man can keep me out of heaven!
You see, condemnation tells you, “you’ve messed up! There is no hope of forgiveness for the sins you’ve committed. There is no hope of redemption…” Condemnation tells you that “regardless of everything else, you have committed sins too numerous and sins too great for God to forgive you.” Condemnation tells you, “turn and go your way because you are a sinner and you are going to hell!” Condemnation tells you, “God hates you and you cannot be forgiven!” Condemnation tells you that “your fate is sealed, your eternity is determined, and YOU… YOU FILTHY STINKING SINNER, YOU… get away from us holy folks cause we are going to heaven and you are going to burn in the eternal flames of hell.”
But conviction takes you beyond the lie of condemnation and helps you to realize, there is forgiveness… there is grace… there is mercy available in the blood of Jesus Christ! Conviction takes you beyond a place of brokenness and despair into a place of hope and healing. Conviction takes you beyond a place of weeping in the pew without the possibility of hope, to a place in the altar, no longer weeping tears of condemnation and judgment, but weeping tears of joy in the fact that God loves you enough to rescue you from the pit you have been living in!
Conviction take you beyond a place of crying and sobbing without relief… it takes you beyond a place of eyes swollen from sobbing in the sloppy, swampy sludge of sin to a place of looking through tears of joy into a bright and hope-filled future in Christ as you remember the words of the old song… “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me… I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now….” Though my eyes are filled with tears… I’m no longer blinded by sin and the suffering from my sin… “I once was blind, but now I see!”
Conviction takes you from a place of condemnation in which you realize your separation from God and the agony of life without him, to the place of being able to declare… “I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in, and then a little light from heaven filled my soul… it bathed my heart in love and wrote my name above, for just a little talk with Jesus made me whole.”
How many saved folk in the House are thankful that you have had a little talk with Jesus? How many of you are thankful that in the moment of condemnation, the Holy Ghost shined His light of love and redemption upon you, and instead of staying bound in the condemnation of your sin, you were pulled into a place of conviction? How many of you are thankful that instead of facing death and despair and defeat, you repented of your sins in the place of conviction and found life everlasting! Oh, somebody that’s born again and living a life free and separated from sin ought to be shouting right now, because YOU are the recipient of the reward of saying yes to Jesus in the moment of conviction! Shout somebody, shout!
That takes us to the third C this morning. Condemnation of the sinner alone, provides no hope of escape; no hope of forgiveness; no hope of redemption. But Conviction provides the sinner with the opportunity to repent and forsake their sin; it gives the sinner the hope of redemption… It gives the sinner the hope of escape from the sin that has them bound. …And when the sinner steps out of condemnation and into conviction, they can then find themselves facing the reality of conversion.
Conversion – rate of exchange, or switch. In conversion, you take who you are as a sinful person, and exchange your life of lack… your life of despair… your life of defeat… your life of sin, and exchange it for a new life in Jesus Christ. Old things will pass away and all things become new.
In John 8, they brought to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery. They threw her in the dirt in front of him and were getting ready to stone her for her sins… They started tempting Jesus, saying “doesn’t the law require her execution?” And Jesus said in verse 7:
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”
By verse 9, the Scripture declares that all those who heard it were “convicted in their own conscience” to the point that they dropped their stones and departed in shame! In verse 10, Jesus stopped writing in the dirt, stood up and looked her in the face and said, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” She answered, “No man, Lord.” And in verse 11 of the 8th Chapter of John, Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
Oh this lady was a sinner, yes! This lady was condemned to death, yes! But when this lady met Jesus, her condemnation became conviction, and her conviction turned to conversion when Jesus declared that condemnation could no longer hold her bound!
In John Chapter 4, Jesus had to make an emergency detour through Samaria… it wasn’t on the travel schedule of He and the disciples, but Jesus was compelled to go through Samaria. When He did, He stopped at the well where are woman then came to draw water… After a few short minutes spent with Jesus, in which He exposed the sins of her life, she tasted of the fountain of living water which He offered and went running back into the city to tell all about it! She ran back into town yelling, “Come and see this man who told me all my sins!”
The fact that she was able to declare such a thing tells us she was not bound by the condemnation of her sins, but she experienced conviction of them as Christ exposed them. She accepted his offer for a drink of living water from which she would never thirst again, and as a result left condemnation behind, conviction behind, and stepped into conversion… an exchange of her sinful life for the righteousness and holiness of His!
A few weeks ago, I preached to you from Psalm 23:6, from the Lord’s promise to those that are in Him… “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
As I preached a few weeks ago, about your two best friends, goodness and mercy that would follow you all the days of your life, what was the root cause, the root source, the root reason of WHY God gave goodness and mercy to you? Because of his love for you! Both words in the KJV are derivatives of an original word meaning LOVE. Some translations, including The Message, the NIV, the NLT, and the AMP all translate it as love. Bearing that in mind, listen to what the Word of God says in Romans 2:4, that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance…
If goodness and mercy are all wrapped up in the single quality of God’s love, we can understand Romans 2:4 even better… When we read that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, we understand that it is because of his LOVE for us that He does not leave us in a place of condemnation, but brings us to a place of conviction through the Holy Spirit (no man comes to the Father except the Spirit draws him). And when the Holy Ghost gets us into a place of conviction we can then identify our sin, but also recognize the hope of escape from it through conversion – or the exchanging of our sinful life for His sinless life.
It is the Love of God extended to you today that is calling your name and bringing you out of the hopeless realm of condemnation, into a place of conviction through which you may experience conversion and receive eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Now those of you who are finding hope in the fact you are not left alone, condemned to hell in your sins may be asking a question indicative of the ultimate reason for this service today… “If it’s true, Pastor, that God loves me, and I am not automatically condemned to hell without the hope of salvation in this life, then what about those on Town Square holding up signs that says God hates me? What about those who protested outside your church holding up signs calling you names and saying you’re the liar? What about their message, Pastor.”
EXCUSE ME WHILE I ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO SPEAK MY DEFENSE. MY ANSWER IS NOT MY OWN, IT IS THE ANSWER OF GOD ALMGHTY THROUGH HIS INERRANT AND INFALLIBLE WORD: 1 JOHN, CHAPTER 4 IN THE MESSAGE DECLARES…
Anyone who knows God understands …and listens. The person who has nothing to
do with God will, of course, not listen... This is another test for telling the Spirit of
Truth from the spirit of deception.
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love…since love comes from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The
person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God
is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love
for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the
kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage
they've done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each
other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply
within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live
in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at
home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing
in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed
love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of
judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we
love. He loved us first.
20-21 If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or
sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see,
how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is
blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
My answer to those who seek to teach and preach and protest with a message only of wrath and judgment? ...Your message is only a partial truth. And a partial truth is a whole lie. …Your message is very heavy on condemnation, but devoid of the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, there can be no conviction. And if there is no conviction, there can be no conversion. And if you have no genuine conversion to testify of your message, your message is wrong.
They sure tell people about how sinful they are… their message reeks of the ingredient of condemnation, but what they forget to tell people is the truth of Romans 8:1, “1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…”
God is a God of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and favor. He’s a God of hope, healing and deliverance. Yes, He is a just God, holy and righteous and no sin shall enter heaven. But if they’re not in hell yet, they still have a chance of redemption.
Yes, friends, the truth of the word of God is this: God is a God of love, and His love for the sinner is just as great as His love for the saint. For those of who are now saved, were not always, and Romans 5:8 declares… “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Nothing will change the fact that God loves all mankind. Nothing will separate man from the love of God. The Message declares in Romans 8:
Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's
love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not
homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed
in Scripture: … None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely
convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or
tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get
between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced
(or loved) us.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright © Pastor Chad Carter • Family Harvest Church Global Ministries
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