Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. – Romans 8:33-34
In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a boy named Edmund is met by and succumbs to the temptation of the White Witch. He chooses to betray his family and follows her and the promise of Turkish delight and the honour he doesn’t feel he receives from his siblings. But after drawing him in with the façade of kindness, the White Witch imprisons him. He is eventually rescued by Aslan and his followers. Free though he seemed the White Witch comes to claim Edmund, saying,
“You have a traitor there, Aslan…You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill.”
The Witch’s accusation echoes Satan, who points to our weakness and sin and demands payment. And he is right. Where there is sin, the penalty is death, and we sin, all of us, even God’s children. Satan has real charges to bring against us, as the White Witch was correct in her judgement of Edmund’s sin; he really was a traitor.
The truth of our sin, and our ongoing sin, makes more wonderful the death of Christ which paid for our sin. Even more wonderful is that Christ lives, not just for Himself, but He continues at the right hand of God interceding for us. As much as Christ has already done in being our sin offering, He keeps on speaking on our behalf. The Holy Spirit intercedes in our prayers. Christ intercedes in our sin. His intercession is not simply a lawyer arguing our case well, He stands before the Judge and points to our sin which is already on His account, paid in full. There is no case to even try. The charge is accurate, but the penalty has been paid.
There are many accurate charges that can be brought against us, not only by Satan, but by other people, because we really do wrong. Sometimes, we may bring a charge against ourselves, as we recognise our sins. There are going to be real wrongs to repent of, to ask forgiveness, to make restitution, to seek for change in ourselves. But the charge will not stand because we have been justified by God and only the spotless record of Christ is on our account. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
There is no penalty for us to pay, no punishment that God will give to us. There is no need to flagellate ourselves, or to hold on to feelings of guilt or shame once we have sought forgiveness. We don’t have to fear that, sometime in the future, God will find some way to make us pay for the wrong we’ve done. Though there may be consequences for our actions, and even real restitution to be paid, God will not exact a penalty from us.
As children of God, the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin, and there is a proper place to feel remorseful over what we have done as we repent and seek forgiveness and work to restore (as far as we can) what was broken in our sin; but there is no need to keep bringing the sin up to ourselves or to feel condemned or to feel that we can’t forgive ourselves. God has justified us, we need to accept what He has done with humility and release the guilt and shame to Him. To do otherwise is really to reject what He has done, which is a kind of pride.
The Holy Spirit convicts, He never condemns. Jesus said that He came to this world to save, not to condemn (John 3:17). The conviction of the Holy Spirit is in order to lead us to repentance, to lead us to restoration and life. He will lead us towards God. Any feeling of condemnation, however, will lead us away from God, away from life and restoration. It will focus our thoughts on ourselves, which is the opposite of the love which focuses outward to others. It may lead us to feel angry at ourselves, ashamed of ourselves, sorry for ourselves, but this way lies bitterness and defeat.
In times when you are struggling with feelings of condemnation and feeling like you can’t forgive yourself, take captive your thoughts and examine them. Weigh them up against the truth of God. When you see the lies, repent of the wrong you have believed and fostered in your heart. Repent of trying to save and justify yourself. Repentance will bring you back to God and into humble reliance on Him for all things.
Take heart, He has overcome the world. He will not be overcome by any sin in your life. Though Satan, the world and even we accuse ourselves, no charge will stick to us, His chosen ones. As Aslan took Edmund’s charge to his account, so Jesus has put all our charges on His account and paid it fully, freely and forever.
Prayer focus:
- Praise God that He has paid the penalty for our sins and that no charge will stand on our account.
- Pray that we would humbly and confidently approach the throne of grace to repent when we are convicted of sin. Pray that we would not try to justify ourselves but fall to our knees in gratitude before our King who paid it all.
- Pray for those who feel stuck in feelings of condemnation and are unable to forgive themselves. Pray that the truth of God’s expansive sacrifice, His grace and His love would break upon their hearts and they would turn to God.
