NO CONDEMNATION: ONLY SALVATION

NO CONDEMNATION: ONLY SALVATION

Therefore, there is NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. 

(Paul Romans 8:1)

     There are a whole lot of people walking around today, and they are actually Christians, who carry a sense of guilt and shame around.  Though they believe in Jesus, they feel condemned. Like all human beings such people may slip, give into temptation and sin.  Once this happens they really feel worthless.  Some even wonder if God still loves them. This can really be painful and disheartening.  After all, aren’t we who follow Christ supposed to have “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness goodness, faithfulness and self-control,” as a part of their spiritual DNA?

     Guess what?  Even the Apostle Paul struggled like this: You will notice that the scripture above says there is “therefore” NO condemnation.  Why for the therefore?  Well, the therefore means “considering what I just said.”  What had the Apostle Paul just said?  Let’s check out Romans 7:14-25

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

    It amazes me that even super Saint Paul had to struggle with sin.  It was so much so that he did not understand what he did. We don’t know what it was that he did, but we see that the things he wanted to do he sometimes just could not do.  As a matter of fact, he found himself hating what he did.  He puts the blame on the problem correctly.  He points his finger straight at the sin nature he had inherited for Adam.  I hate to tell you this; we have this same nature to deal with. At any rate, Paul said that it was the “sin living in me” that caused him to fall flat spiritually speaking. He really wanted to do well, but he kept failing and sinning.  It got to a point that he was feeling so miserable he said, “What a wretched man I am.” Then he asked the most important question of all.  “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” The answer he gave was clear: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

    Here is where the “therefore” fits in. Considering that Paul had really blown it, and considering that there is only one way to be delivered, we are NOT condemned when we turn to the only one who can deliver us!  Jesus is the one who gives us to power to NOT be condemned. Or as John says in John 3:17-18a, “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Those who believe in him are NOT CONDEMNED! Yes! Before Christ, all were guilty for our sins (crimes against God) we were guilty for breaking his law. Once Jesus came and completed his redemptive work, those who believe in him are no longer condemned.  He took our condemnation upon himself.  No wonder Paul is thanking God for delivering him from his daily struggle with sin.

   So what are you going to do, when you blow it spiritually speaking?  What are you going to do when you fall flat on your face and simply do a not so simple thing?  What if you sin?  What if the guilt and shame take you over? First remember who you are and whose you are.  Then remember what John said in 1 John 1:8-10.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Don’t think you have not ever sinned.  If you have ever broken even one of the 10 Commandments, you have sinned.  To believe we have not sinned, and claim that we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar; however, if we are really honest, and we confess our sins, God will faithfully forgive us of all our sins and cleanse our “record” from all we did.  God removes the sin virus from the hard drive of our souls. So we have no condemnation.  We do have salvation.

Now Go on out and be blessed 2day...
Especially 2day.

SoJourner