Embracing Grace: Freedom from Shame and Condemnation

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
- John 8:2-12
- Romans 8:1
- John 14:6

#### Observation Questions
1. What was the situation that led to the woman being brought before Jesus in John 8? ([06:56])
2. How did Jesus respond to the Pharisees' question about whether the woman should be stoned? ([17:44])
3. What did Jesus say to the woman after her accusers left? ([23:06])
4. According to Romans 8:1, what is the promise for those who are in Christ Jesus?

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think Jesus chose to write on the ground instead of immediately responding to the Pharisees? ([17:44])
2. What does Jesus' statement, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," reveal about His perspective on judgment and mercy? ([20:53])
3. How does the promise in Romans 8:1, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," impact a believer's understanding of their identity in Christ? ([24:25])
4. What does Jesus mean when He says, "I am the light of the world" in John 8:12, and how does this relate to the woman's experience? ([30:05])

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt condemned or judged by others. How can the story of the woman caught in adultery help you understand Jesus' response to your own mistakes? ([09:51])
2. Jesus told the woman, "Go now and leave your life of sin." What steps can you take to leave behind a specific sin or habit that has been holding you back? ([27:23])
3. Romans 8:1 states that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. How can you remind yourself of this truth when you feel overwhelmed by guilt or shame? ([24:25])
4. Jesus is described as the light of the world. In what areas of your life do you need His light to dispel darkness, and how can you invite Him into those areas? ([30:05])
5. The sermon mentioned that true freedom is found in the presence of Jesus. What practical steps can you take this week to spend more time in His presence and experience this freedom? ([28:44])
6. How can you reject the lies of the accuser, Satan, and embrace the truth of who you are in Christ? What specific scriptures or affirmations can you use to combat these lies? ([32:09])
7. Think of someone in your life who might be struggling with guilt or shame. How can you share the message of Jesus' grace and mercy with them this week? ([37:39])

Day 1: Identity in Christ Transforms
Our identity is not anchored in our past or the labels others may place upon us, but in the truth of who we are in Christ—forgiven, free, and victorious. This new identity is a powerful force, reshaping how we view ourselves and how we live our lives. It is not a mere change of perspective but a complete transformation that occurs when we accept Jesus' sacrifice and embrace the freedom He offers. This freedom is not just a concept; it is a lived experience that empowers us to overcome the voices of condemnation and to stand firm against the lies that seek to define us. In Christ, we are given a new narrative, one that speaks of hope, redemption, and a future unshackled by the chains of our past. [25:52]

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." - 1 Peter 2:9

Reflection: How does understanding your identity in Christ change the way you confront feelings of guilt and shame in your life?

Day 2: Grace Triumphs Over Judgment
The story of the woman caught in adultery is a vivid illustration of how grace overcomes the law and sin. When faced with the opportunity to condemn, Jesus chose to extend mercy, demonstrating that His grace is sufficient to cover even the deepest of sins. This act of undeserved favor is at the heart of the Gospel, offering everyone a chance to turn away from sin and begin anew. The transformative love of Jesus is not just for the woman in the story but for all who come to Him in repentance. His grace is a wellspring of hope, inviting us to leave behind our old ways and step into a life marked by His love and righteousness. [27:23]

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." - Titus 2:11-12

Reflection: In what ways have you experienced the triumph of grace over judgment in your own life, and how can you extend that same grace to others?

Day 3: Christ, Our Everlasting Light
Jesus, the light of the world, promises to illuminate our darkest places and guide us into a life filled with His presence. This promise is not just a metaphor but a tangible reality that affects every aspect of our existence. By following Jesus, we are assured that we will never have to walk in darkness again. His light penetrates the deepest shadows of our lives, offering clarity, direction, and hope. As we walk in His light, we find ourselves freed from the grip of sin and shame, able to see the path laid out before us—a path that leads to life everlasting. [30:05]

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you." - Isaiah 60:1-2

Reflection: What dark areas in your life do you need the light of Christ to shine upon, and how can you actively seek His illumination today?

Day 4: Rejecting the Accuser's Voice
Satan, the accuser, relentlessly tries to remind us of our past failures and unworthiness. Yet, we are called to reject his lies and hold fast to the truth of who we are in Christ—more than conquerors. The voice of the Good Shepherd is the one we must tune our ears to, for He speaks life, truth, and hope into our circumstances. His words are not of condemnation but of love and affirmation. As we listen to His voice and follow His lead, we find the strength to rise above the accusations and to live in the fullness of the identity He has given us. [32:09]

"And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.'" - Revelation 12:10

Reflection: What accusations do you need to reject today, and how can you replace them with the truth of God's word in your life?

Day 5: Embracing Freedom in Christ's Presence
True freedom is found in the presence of Jesus, and it is available to us at any moment. We do not have to wait or earn it; we simply need to turn to Him. In His presence, the chains of addiction, the wounds of our past, and the struggles we face are addressed with His life-changing power. This freedom is transformative, allowing us to live unencumbered by the burdens we once carried. As we draw near to Jesus, we experience the fullness of His love and the peace that comes from being in relationship with Him. [28:44]

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." - Galatians 5:1

Reflection: What chains are you holding onto that you need to lay down at the feet of Jesus, and what practical steps can you take to experience His freedom today?

I'm so glad that you're here today. Thank you, worship team. Man, that was awesome! I just really enjoyed it.

I got to tell you, you know, at the end of last year, if you were here, I was having issues with my hearing. I was trying to make it through, and there were Sundays where I could barely hear anybody talk to me. So anyway, I've got new hearing aids, and it's been an adjustment. They're a little bit bigger, and I went through all these weird settings. Technology has just improved so much since the last time I had hearing aids.

I put these in, and I went back this past week. I was like, "You know, I'm having a hard time hearing in different ways." She said, "Oh, let me do this." She did something, and these hearing aids not only have microphones that face forward, but they also have microphones that go backward. I have two microphones per ear: a forward mic and a backward mic. They amplify the backward mic, and all of a sudden, now I have surround sound! That is really cool!

So I'm sitting in the front row, and man, you guys never sounded so good! I was like, "Wow, this is amazing!" Just FYI, you can't talk behind my back anymore, okay? So, you know I'm listening. I got you right there.

Anyway, I just want to commend your singing and worship. Man, it was a powerful time of worship, and we're just glad that you're here. I know there are some watching online; it's so good to have you wherever you might be. Thank you for joining us.

We are in a message series called "Grace Undeserved," and we kicked this off last Sunday. We talked about grace, which simply means the unmerited favor or the unmerited goodness of God. It can also be said that grace is God given to you and given to me, what we do not deserve.

Last week, we started with the power of God's grace in the incredible story about the thief on the cross. Today, we're going to look at a woman in the Bible who did something really, really bad, and she got caught. She deserved condemnation, but we'll see in the story that by the grace of Jesus, he gave her mercy.

The question here, real quick, is how many of you—if you can be honest—have ever been caught doing something wrong? Raise your hand. Go ahead, raise your hand. Now, if you don't have your hands up, you know you've been caught lying. Let's be honest; we've all been caught doing something. Maybe you've been caught stealing, maybe you got caught lying, maybe you got caught cheating, or you got caught gossiping.

I remember probably one of the most embarrassing moments where I got caught and I got busted. I was a sophomore in Bible College. You know, I'm in Bible College; that's no better, right? I'm going to Bible College, and in my sophomore year, the semester was brand new. We just had a couple of classes under our belt.

I remember going to class; it was up on the fourth or fifth floor of the academic building. People were coming and going between classes, and I was on my way. I got to my floor a little early, so I had time to use the restroom. I'm in the bathroom washing my hands, and another friend of mine happened to be in there. He said, "Hey buddy, how's it going?" We're washing our hands and stuff, and it's just the two of us in the bathroom—a big bathroom, but just us two.

I said, "What are you up to? What class are you about to go to?" The guy tells me, "I'm about to go to class with Dr. So-and-so." I looked at him and said, as loud as I could in my deafness, "I think he's the most boring teacher on the planet! I mean, it's just awful! I can't stay awake in his class; it is terrible!"

I kept going on and on, and the guy finished washing his hands. He said, "Yeah, I know; he's not my favorite either." Then he apparently heard a noise and looked down, and saw that there was someone in one of the stalls. He looked at me, and I'm still talking about how terrible the teacher is, not even thinking about it.

He pointed his finger up and went like this to his mouth, and I go, "What?" He said, "Get out!" So we go out, and I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I think Dr. So-and-so is in the bathroom." I said, "No, he's not in the bathroom! How can you tell?" He said, "I can recognize your feet!"

I said, "Come on! There was nobody in there!" He said, "No, there's somebody in there!" So we walked over to the lobby area, and we kind of got our eyes looking over here, hiding. I'm getting nervous, thinking, "Man, I hope he doesn't come out these doors." Sure enough, he comes out of the bathroom, and he did not look very happy. I was like, "Oh man, I'm busted!" My voice sounds so different than anybody else's, you know?

So I tell you what I did: I said, "Oh man, I can't go back to your class!" The deadline for dropping and adding classes hadn't been met yet. I went straight down to the registrar's office and said, "I need to request a class to be dropped," because I knew I could not go back in that room with that teacher without flunking. I just knew it would be bad.

I got caught, and I got busted. We're going to look at a woman who was completely and totally busted. She was in the wrong. In fact, we're going to look at the Gospel of John, chapter 8, starting at verse 2. We're going to go verse by verse through the story this morning, and I'm going to let the power of God minister to us in a very special way.

John 8, verse 2: The Bible says, "At dawn in the morning, Jesus appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them." The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery, and they made her stand before the group.

Now, I want you to picture what's happening here. Jesus is outside in the temple courts teaching. There's a group of people—probably a small, intimate group, maybe a little bit like a life group. He's teaching the word to this group, and all of a sudden, the Pharisees come in. The Pharisees were the religious people; they hated Jesus. They were looking for any opportunity to trip Jesus up.

They showed up unannounced and brought in a woman who had been recently caught in the act of adultery. If she was just recently caught, she probably doesn't have a whole lot of clothes on. She might have a bed sheet on; she might be partly clothed, but she is totally and completely humiliated.

Now, I just think it's interesting here that the Pharisees, when it comes to adultery, it takes two. I think it's interesting that the Pharisees only dragged the woman in. I always ask when I read this, "Where's the man?" Right? Where's the man? It's almost like a double standard among the religious people. Regardless, they brought this woman in, and she's shamed completely through and through. She's guilty; she was caught in the sin.

Unfortunately, this morning, some of you have been caught doing something wrong. You know what those voices of condemnation sound like. You've been caught; you've been busted. The voices of condemnation say your life is over, your life is ruined, you're never going to live this down. It says no one's going to love you after what you did. It's the voice that says you're supposed to be a Christian; how can God forgive you for what you did? God will never use you again; you're done. It's over; you're nothing.

You see, we hear the voices of condemnation, the voices of shame, the voices of guilt. What's interesting to me is that you don't even have to be caught doing something wrong to feel shame. You don't have to be caught. In fact, sometimes shame grows more in the dark. It's the secret sins that you keep tripping yourself over. Perhaps it's a secret sexual sin that just eats you up inside. You do well for a season, and then you fail, and then you feel the guilt and the shame all inside of you.

Maybe it's not in the category of sexual sin for you. For some, it could be overspending. You buy more than you can afford, then you get the bills, and you're like, "I'll never do that again." Then a few weeks later, you're shopping in the stores, and you go shopping again, you overspend, and you feel like you're in the dark because you can't control yourself.

For some of you, it's a substance—a substance that has you. It could be something in a bottle or something in a can, or something that you shoot up, or something that you smoke. It's something very small, but it's bigger than you, and you feel dark when you go back to it again and again. You feel the shame and the guilt.

Maybe for some of you, it's your temper. You just lose it. You know, you lose it, and then you're like, "Man, I don't ever want to do that again! I don't want to unload on my husband; I don't want to unload on my wife; I don't want to unload on my kids ever again! I don't want to do that; it wasn't their fault! I just let my frustration get the best of me."

Then you do well for a few weeks, and all of a sudden, you lose it again, and you feel so bad. The guilt! Now, for some of you, it may not even be a sin. You know, you don't see yourself as a good dad or a good mom. You're on Facebook, and you start seeing all the other perfect posts—the perfect social media posts on Instagram—and how they got their house all perfect in order, and everything looks good. You're thinking, "I'm such a terrible mom! I'm such a terrible dad! I don't know how to cook; I don't know how to organize a closet! My kids always walk out with their clothes not even matching; it's awful!"

You start carrying the guilt and the shame and the condemnation on yourself. Now, for some, unfortunately—and this goes even deeper—for some of you, you didn't even do it. In fact, you were a victim. Someone who was in a position of authority or power at some point in your life took advantage of you. They abused you, and somehow Satan got it all twisted in your mind. He twisted the event where you say, "You know what? I could have avoided that; it's my fault."

You became the victim, but you blame it on yourself. You see, you must have done something to deserve this. You took what someone else did to you, and you think what they did to you is who you are: shame, condemnation, guilt.

I go back to this woman in John chapter 8. If this woman were in her shoes today, in 2024, and she got busted for doing something terrible, you would think, "My life is over!" Not entirely true, but that's what we would think; that's our first reaction.

However, in John chapter 8, when this woman is thinking, "My life is over," she's literally thinking, "My life is over; they're going to kill me for this." In those days, according to Jewish law, the sin of adultery was probably one of the top three or four sins you could commit. It was a crime punishable by death.

In fact, we see this in verse 3: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group." Look at what they said in verse 4: "Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law of Moses, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

Now, you've got to understand, the Pharisees hated Jesus. They wanted to put Jesus in a trap, and they were trying to create a catch-22. They were trying to create a win-win situation for themselves. They didn't care about this woman; they could care less what she did. They were just leveraging her to try to get to Jesus.

They thought, "Man, there's a win-win situation for us because if Jesus answers this way, you know, if Jesus answers, 'Yeah, you guys are right; we need to kill her; we need to stone her,' then Jesus would have lost his reputation as a loving and merciful God."

On the flip side of the coin, if Jesus was like, "You know, guys, let's just settle down here. Let's relax; let's not punish her; let's not kill her," then the Pharisees would have said, "Hey, Jesus condones the sin of adultery! He thinks he's better than the law of Moses!"

So, the thing going on here is that they were hoping that Jesus would get trapped one way or the other. In fact, we see this in verse 6: "They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him." But what they did not realize was that Jesus had another way to answer the question, and it's not what they thought was coming. They had no idea what was happening.

We see what happens here. Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. So, picture this: you've got this woman full of shame and guilt; she’s barely clothed. They asked Jesus, "Should we stone her?" Jesus says nothing. He gets down on his knees and starts doodling in the sand, writing in the dirt.

They kept asking the question, "So what do you think we should do, Jesus? What do you think we should do? Come on, we want an answer!"

Now, the great question that some of you are asking is, "What did he write? What did Jesus write in the sand?" To be honest with you, we're not entirely sure. A lot of scholars believe that perhaps Jesus may have been writing the Ten Commandments. Some scholars believe that maybe he was writing out the sins of the Pharisees. But we don't know.

It's interesting; I want to kind of geek out a little bit on Greek. Can y'all geek out with me? I want to do a little Greek. I'm a Greek geek, okay? Greek geek out with me for a minute.

The word that we see here in verse 6—what does Jesus write? The word "catagraphen." In fact, it's the only time in all of Scripture we see this Greek word. It's actually two words: a prefix, "K," which means "against," and the word "graphen," which means "to write down." We get the English word "graph" from this word, meaning "to write down."

So when you put those two words together, you get this word "catagraphen," which means "to write down against." Now, the word "graphen" is actually a common Greek word; you see that throughout Scripture. But "catagraphen," to write down against.

I think it's very interesting that the Greek writer John used this specific word. In other words, it means that whatever Jesus was writing down in the sand, he was writing down something against someone. We're not quite sure what it was, but perhaps Jesus was writing down the sins of those men who were accusing this woman.

In verse 7, they kept questioning him. You know, he's still on the ground, doodling, writing down whatever that is—"catagraphen," writing down against them. He straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

Alright, so get the context right. Jesus, should we go ahead and kill her? Jesus stands up and says, "If any of you have never sinned, go ahead; here's your rock; you can go first."

In verse 8, then he stooped back down and wrote on the ground again. He's writing again the second time. At this moment, I think it's very interesting that those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.

The older ones first started walking away. I believe what Jesus was doing was writing down their sins, and he started with the oldest. They were like, "Oh, oh, that's me!" and they started walking away. The young ones were still standing there, not realizing what was coming. Finally, they caught the picture, like, "Oh, how did he know that?" They started walking away, dropping the rocks, getting as far away as they could because they got caught.

Here's this woman, facing certain death, and she was all alone. Jesus says, "Where are they?" Look at verse 10: "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" Through her tears, I'm sure she said, "No one, sir."

Then Jesus said, "Then neither do I condemn you."

Now, here's what I hope you'll see this morning: hands down, without a doubt, this woman was guilty. She deserved condemnation. She was sinful; she was wrong. But because of the grace and love of Jesus—if you're taking notes—Jesus did not give her what she deserved. Instead of giving her condemnation, he gave her mercy.

Instead of condemnation, he gave her mercy. Here’s the good news: for those of you who are in the same situation, you're in the same place as this woman. You're full of shame. Perhaps you're here this morning, and you're full of guilt, full of condemnation. There is power in Romans 8:1, a verse that I would encourage you to memorize: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Let me say it again because I think maybe you didn't hear it. I want you to hear the power of this: "Therefore, there is now—not later, not after counseling, not after you complete the program—there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Even though she deserved condemnation, in God's grace, he gave her mercy. See, even though you may have done wrong and you deserve condemnation, you don't have to wear the cloak of shame, the cloak of guilt.

When the voices of shame and guilt speak into your life, when they say that you're pathetic, that you're a loser, that no one will ever love you, that you're always going to be this way, that you can't overcome it, you've tried for too long, you've failed, you'll never make it, you'll never amount to what God wants you to be, God will never love you, God can never use you, you're a failure—when you hear those voices, you need to remember this: you are not what you did.

You are not what those voices say. You are not who others say you are. You, my friend, are who Christ says you are. In Christ, Jesus says you are forgiven. In Christ, Jesus says you can be free. In Christ, you are an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of your testimony.

You see, you are not your past. You are not what somebody did to you. You are not even what you did, even if it was wrong. Because now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

In verse 11, he looked at her and declared, "I love you." He declared, "Go now and leave your life of sin." It wasn't, "Hey, no, stop being a bad girl! Don't do that again!" No, no, no. There was much more than that. That's the power—a statement of power right here. He said, "Woman, leave your life of sin. You are now free! You have overcome this! You're not in bondage anymore! You do not have to live in condemnation!"

He didn't say, "Hey, tell her she needs to go and get at least six months of counseling." He didn't do that.

You see, there are some of you right now—there are some of you here in this room, some of you watching online—you’re thinking that you're always going to be this way, that you cannot be changed, that you cannot be healed, that you are stuck. Some of you are trapped in a sin that has held you hostage for years and years.

But here's what I believe: I believe that one minute in the presence of Jesus, and everything can change. Everything can change!

You say, "Well, when can it change? When can it change?" Listen to me, listen to me. Some of you need to hear this truth: it can change right now! In the presence of Jesus, it can change right now! That which has held you hostage all these years can change right now! That addiction can be broken now by the power of Jesus!

Sure, there could be a process, but sometimes Jesus just does it now.

Now, verse 12: Jesus continues. Go back to your Bible study. Remember, the Pharisees kind of interrupted. The woman was dragged into this, and now the Pharisees left, and the woman is now just gone.

So Jesus now speaks again to the people. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

So Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He said whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. In fact, you never have to be in darkness again."

He said, when Jesus looked at her, he said, "Hey, where are your accusers?" She said, "They're not here." He said, "Then neither do I condemn you."

In that moment, if you're taking notes, in that moment, Jesus was not just the light of the world, but he became the light of her world.

See, my friend, it just got real for her. That's what I love about God. God is a personal God. Sometimes we think God is just a big God trying to control the universe and making sure everything happens. God is so focused on the wars and famines and little children that are dying in different parts of the world, and he is real.

He is just as real over in those different parts of the world as he is here today. He is real and personal with this woman right here. He said, "I'm not just the light of the world; I'm the light of your world."

You understand? God wants victory! Jesus said he could be the light in your dark places.

Now, if you do fall back, you're in Christ, and you mess up, and the voices start coming back, reminding you, "Man, you call yourself a Christian?" By the way, the Bible says in Revelation 12 that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. You know what he does all day and all night? He gets in your head, telling lies about you.

If you're in Christ, he wants you to feel like you don't matter, that in your failings, you're a loser. That's what Satan does. When you hear that, the father of lies, you say, "No, no, no! Get out of my mind! Get out of my head!"

Listen to the truth, and the truth is John 14:6, where Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

You know, there’s kind of a buzzword in the last few years. You hear it all the time in the media: "Speak your truth." Everybody's got their own truth, right? "Speak your truth; I got my truth."

At the end of the day, what is truth? What is your truth? According to John 14:6, only Jesus is your truth. He is the way; he is the truth; he is the life.

And what is true of you? What is true is that I am forgiven. What is true is that I am healed. What is true is that his power in me is greater than the power in this world.

But it's true because here is my light: darkness never wins! I can go now; I can be free! I cannot be held by what anybody did to me. I won't be held to the sin that trapped my life. I'm not held by my own guilty feelings because I know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So Jesus said to the woman, "I don't condemn you anymore. Now go!"

Don't miss it: the woman deserved condemnation according to the law, and she was guilty. In fact, we all deserve condemnation according to the law. But because of the goodness of God, Jesus does not give us what we deserve.

We deserve condemnation, but he gives us mercy. He is the light of the world. He is the light, and when we follow the light of the world, we never have to walk in darkness again.

Our heavenly Father, we ask you to help us today. There are some of us here this morning, some of us here today, that came to church with their baggage—the guilt and shame. Maybe there are some watching online who couldn't face church today because of something they did that makes them feel so dirty.

But God, I pray that if we are in Christ, they will see the victory that you give them and that they will lay claim to Romans 8:1. It is a promise that we do not have to live in condemnation, although we deserve it, but we can live in the grace and mercy of Jesus.

So God, I pray for those here today, the believers listening to the lies. Perhaps the reason why they're not serving is that they feel like they’ve been caught. They've got the guilt and the shame and the condemnation, and they don't do anything because they feel like they can't.

God, I pray that today they can experience freedom—freedom from the past—and remind themselves who they are in Christ.

Perhaps I'm talking to someone here today who says, "God, I am a Christian; I'm a follower of Christ, but I've been shackled. I have been carrying my baggage of shame and guilt, and today I want to let it go. I want to walk in the mercy and grace of Jesus."

If you're a follower of Christ and you're not where you're at, no one's looking, but I just want to pray for you. If that's you, raise your hand and say, "That's me. God, today I need Jesus to remind me of the truth that Jesus set me free, and I don't have to be guilty anymore."

Anybody like that? Some hands?

Maybe there are some of you here today who don't know Jesus. You're not in Christ. Perhaps you're not in Christ because you feel like you can't. You're here today and say, "Scott, you don't understand what I've done. I don't deserve any of it. I don't deserve God's love; I don't deserve God's forgiveness."

May I remind you of the story of the thief on the cross last week? May I remind you of the story of an adulterous woman? God loved and forgave them. I promise you, my friend, there's nothing you do—there's nothing that you've done—that God cannot forgive. He can forgive it all.

Give your life to Jesus right where you're at, and you can have a relationship with him today. Now, there's no condemnation. You can have that today. You can simply pray to Jesus right where you're sitting.

Last week, we did a salvation prayer, and about four or five people raised their hands. Maybe you're here this morning, and you say, "You know what? I need to make that decision. I want Jesus to come into my life."

He cleans you from the inside out; that's what he does. He takes you a mess. You don't have to clean up your life before Jesus comes in. Jesus wants to come into your messy life and do it now.

Here's the prayer: you pray this prayer silently in your heart. "Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. I'm messed up; I'm guilty. I deserve condemnation, but today I want to trust in you that you are the way, the truth, and the life. Come into my life, forgive me of all my sins, and be my Lord and my Savior. Cleanse me from the inside out. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins."

With heads bowed and eyes closed, I said, "God, I pray that prayer this morning. I ask Jesus to come into my life to be my Lord and Savior."

I'm not going to embarrass you; I'm not going to pull you out of the crowd. But if that's you, I just want to see who you are. Raise your hand and say, "I prayed that prayer."

I see that one hand over here. God bless you, sir.

Anybody else?

I see a hand. I see a hand.

Anyone else?

God, we thank you for today. We thank you for those who need to be freed, realizing the truth of their salvation, that they can walk in freedom and in the light.

God, we thank you for those who made the decision to step into the light for the very first time to become a Christian and a follower of Jesus. Thank you for all you've done this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.

- "You are not what you did, you are not what those voices say, you are not who others say you are, you my friend is who Christ says you are and in Christ Jesus says you are forgiven, in Christ Jesus says you can before fre, you in Christ you are an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and by the words of your testimony." [25:52] (Download | Download cropped video)

- "Woman, leave your life of sin, you are now free, you have been you have overcome this, you're not in bondage anymore, you do not have to live in condemnation." [27:23] (Download | Crop for social media)

- "Jesus said could be the light in your dark places and now if you do fall back you're in Christ and you mess up and the voices start coming back reminding you... you said no no no get out out of my mind get out of my head and listen to the truth and the truth is John 14:6 where Jesus says I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life." [32:09] (Download | Download cropped video)

- "I am forgiven, what is true is that I am healed, what is true is that his power in me is greater than the power in this world but it's true because here is my light Darkness never wins and I can go now I can be free, I cannot I won't be held HED by what anybody did to me, I won't be HED to the sin that trout my life, I'm not held HED by my own guilty feeling because what because I know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." [33:38] (Download | Crop for social media)

- "One minute in the presence of Jesus and everything can change, it can change right now, that which has held you hostage all these years can change right now, that addiction can be be broken now by the power of Jesus." [28:44] (Download | Download cropped video)