Romans 8:1-14
One of scripture’s greatest promises comes from Paul’s epic letter to the Romans where, in the first verse of chapter 8 he writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” ESV
This little reassurance is big for a couple of reasons. One is that for as long as we live, we need to realize that Satan never stops trying to sell us the lie of condemnation. What do I mean by that? Well, we know that on the cross Jesus took on the burden of all our sin and forgave us. That forgiveness is unwavering and always available. To access it all we need to do is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When we do that, we accept the indwelling of His Holy Spirit within us. That Spirit is a living, viable presence within you and one of the Holy Spirit’s primary functions is to leave you feeling convicted when you sin. In other words, the Holy Spirit will set you on a guilt trip when you do something you know you shouldn’t have done.
As Christians we can then, in sense, appeal that conviction by going to Jesus in prayer, confessing that sin knowing that only Jesus can take the stain of that sin away and repent.
Repentance allows us to enlist Jesus, through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit in our fight against the temptations that can lead to sin and to help us change the way we think about sin. We become more effective at rejecting Satan.
Satan’s desire is to get us to miss out on the joy of conviction through the Holy Spirit and what that can lead to, and instead whispers lies of condemnation at us. Satan wants you to believe that even if you claim to know Jesus, your sin is so awful, so unforgivable, that there is no hope for you. And for us, being the weak flesh monsters that we are, typically condemnation makes more sense than unimaginable grace. If I’ve spent a season of my life as an unrepentant drug addict for example and I’ve brought devastation to everyone in my life and I’ve lied, robbed, and cheated to keep my addiction alive, and then by the power of Jesus Christ cried out for healing, guess what?
The people that you brought pain to in your season of sin are still going to be mad. They may reject you, tear you down, remain angry with you and guess what? You deserve it. Every bit of it. What Satan attempts to do when that’s happening is convince you that this earthly contempt runs all the way up the ladder to Heaven. And if he can sell you on that lie, chances are in no time you’ll be right back at it, doing whatever it was that brought all this pain to bear in the first place. Only this time chances are it leads to something much worse than a bunch of angry friends and relatives.
This time Satan wants you to die. And he wants you to die having rejected the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Satan wants you to die apart from Jesus and he will do everything he can to make that happen.
Paul goes on to tell us that the Holy Spirit if we have received Him humbly and sincerely sets us free from the law of sin and death.
Through Jesus, God the Father acknowledges that as good and sound and fair and reasonable as the Ten Commandments may be, we’re totally incapable of obeying them. With that, in James’ Epistle we get the stark reminder that if you break one commandment, it’s as good as breaking them all. Which means that without Jesus, one sin is enough to lead us to genuine condemnation. It’s what we would deserve in the face of our willing rebellion.
From the cross, Jesus changed the dynamic. Know Him, live for Him and through grace you get a blessing on your life that you don’t deserve and through mercy you are spared the punishment that you do deserve.
There is therefore now no condemnation…
But Satan never stops trying. And because in our guilt it’s easier to imagine Jesus rejecting us – After all everyone else has! – we can very easily fall victim to his deceptions. When that happens, when you’re back is up against that wall, think about the one sheep that wanders away from the ninety-nine. That sheep turns its back on the one offering it protection, the shepherd, and goes out into the world alone to face certain death. Satan wants you to believe that Jesus’ perspective in that situation is that losing one sheep while still holding on to ninety-nine is good enough. Fortunately, that’s not how our Savior operates. Jesus will always leave the ninety-nine to save the one crying out to Him from a place of desolation, isolation, and pain. And upon saving that one ugly, disobedient, rebellious, immoral, criminalistic, stinking sheep the angels in Heaven…rejoice!
There is no condemnation, only hope through our Savior. All we need to do is believe.