Monday, August 11, 2008

Romans 8:1-3

Last night I turned in my Bible to Romans 8:1 and read to verse 3. God spoke to me as I read them.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, as an offering of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.

I was rejoicing in the knowledge that I am “covered” in Christ, and will never be condemned. But the Bible teaches that those who are not “in Christ Jesus” do await a condemnation. In Acts chapter seventeen, Paul warns of a day when God will judge the world according to His righteous standard. And in Ecclesiastes, we are told that everything we’ve done will be brought to light on the Day of Judgment. As humans “not in Christ”, we have the wrath of God abiding on us (John 3:36); a scary thought, but sobering and true.

As a child of God (John 1:12), however, I can rejoice because this condemnation will not befall me. The wrath that I have incurred, and the just punishment that I deserve, will not be meted out to me. Jesus died in my place (2Corinthians 5:21) and His righteousness was transferred to me. I took His place and He took mine. Then with my sin in His body, along with yours and all of humanities’, He died to defeat it and put an end to its hold on us. Three days later, He rose from the dead, conquering death, proving His Divinity and confirming the credibility of the message He had taught the past few years of His life on earth.

John 17:3- This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

The law of sin and death is the law that says, “Because you have sinned, you must die.” This is a law that brings death to us. The Law condemns us, because we can’t live up to its perfect standards. We need the Spirit of life, a new law that God introduces, one that says, “If you repent and trust in Christ Jesus, I will look at you and see the righteousness of Jesus and not your filthy sinful self.” What we couldn’t do God did for us. His strength is a strength that stoops to conquer.

2,000 years ago, God did the unthinkable, and became one of us. The Creator of the Universe lowered Himself to become a human, with the sole intention of dying for us in order for our hell-bound souls to be redeemed. This wasn’t a “Plan B” either. He knew before He created us which direction we would take, and from the beginning, set in motion His plan to redeem us. We live on the finished side of that plan. Jesus has already come and paid our debt. He has conquered Death, Sin, and Hell, and now we have a choice before us. We all must make our own choice because, as humans, God made us all free moral agents. We have free will and will not be forced to make a choice for God.

Deuteronomy 30:15- See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

Joshua 24:15-
Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

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