{"id":5812,"date":"2022-08-01T14:12:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T04:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/?p=5812"},"modified":"2022-08-01T14:12:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T04:12:13","slug":"tuesday-2-august-2022-no-condemnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/tuesday-2-august-2022-no-condemnation\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday 2 August, 2022 – No Condemnation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, therefore, condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus \u2013 Romans 8:1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemned<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemned. It\u2019s not a word I often use, especially not as a descriptor for myself. My mind throws up pictures of convicts being led away in chains, of prisoners in dark dungeons, and weirdly also of derelict houses. They are not pictures I would like applied to my life. This is for people I don\u2019t know, who have done things I would never do, who are in situations that are nothing like my own. It\u2019s a word that should be applied to people who have had rough lives, who have made bad choices, and who delight in evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that is not how Paul applies this word. This is the right term, the legal term, for the state of all humanity, from which I am not excluded (see especially Rom 1-3). There is a heavy weight of finality and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be thinking that this is a depressing beginning, and it absolutely is. But we cannot fully appreciate the heights of what God has done in Christ, through the Spirit without looking at the depths of our sin and depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to look, isn\u2019t it? It is easier to make excuses, to deflect, to rationalise. I can say this with absolute certainty because I do it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you take the time to pause here before continuing on. Take the time to bring the things you\u2019ve tried to hide or rationalise away to God and repent. There may be people you need to speak to or habits and activities that need to be changed, but don\u2019t shy away from bringing these things to God because you don\u2019t want to face what follows. Bring them to God and walk with Him from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have noticed that the verse printed above has a strange word order. It\u2019s a bit awkward, isn\u2019t it? This is the word order in the original Greek and you\u2019ll see that the first word is \u2018No\u2019. Its position at the beginning of the sentence intensifies its meaning. In English, it\u2019s hard to translate its full effect, but it is saying that there is no condemnation, past, present or future. It is not just that we have moved out of a condemned state, and there is the possibility that we could enter it again; it is that the state of condemnation has been obliterated. It no longer exists for those who are in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No condemnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the sins from which you repented moments ago did not bring you under condemnation. When you are in Christ, all your sins, all the just penalty for your sins, is covered, paid already through Jesus\u2019 life, death and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we are in Christ, we can be absolutely and completely secure in our saving relationship with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why repent? Why draw attention to our sins? Why bother to grow in holiness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is only in a completely secure relationship that we can be free to see (and to be shown) the depths of all the ways in which we are destroying ourselves and others, and displeasing God. It is only here where we can grow what is healthy and cut away what is dead without any overshadowing though that we need to hide, lest we be rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a gift to be treated lightly. Perhaps this is a way that we might show whether we are in Christ. Do you feel the weightiness of what God has done in your salvation? Does this spur you towards knowing Him and growing in His ways?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know your heart has grown cold towards God, that other priorities in life have crowded out and dampened your love of Him, ask Him to rekindle your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are not sure whether you are in Christ, and you would like to take that step, ask God to come into your heart and forgive your sins, and please reach out to a leader who can help you on this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has done everything for us so that, rather than face the condemnation we deserve, we are instead welcomed into a full, blessed, life-giving relationship with Him which will know no end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer focus:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n