"No Condemnation" October 31 Readings: Romans 8

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Romans 8

Background:  

All of God's Word is inspired, inerrant, God-breathed, and useful to teach, correct, and train us in righteousness. It's all God's and it's all good. But there are still certain mountaintops among the passages of God's Word. If there is a Mt. Everest in the Bible, it is Romans 8. Starting with the affirmation that there is no condemnation in Christ, through the promise that all things work for the good of those who love him, and ending with the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We could do a year of daily devotions from this passage and not exhaust its glories. Should we look at verse 1 and revel in the fact that there's no condemnation in Christ (uh...yes, we will). Should we look at verse 18 which reminds us that our present sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that awaits us, or verse 28 which promises that all things work together for good? What about verses 29-30, the glorious process of salvation, which presents even our glorification as a done deal? Then there's the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8 is great!

Daily Devotional: No Condemnation

There will be a fearful day, spoken of in Revelation, when the sinners of all time gather before the Great White Throne of God and receive their judgment; their just condemnation for all the sins they have committed. The wages of sin is death and that will be payday. Those who have died in their sins will be cast in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels to receive the punishment their sins deserve.

It is horrible to even imagine this, but the God of Heaven is holy and the day of judgment is real. But there is one bit of good news for me.

I won't be there!

Well, at least I won't be on the receiving end of the fateful words, "Depart from me, you who are cursed..." I will be standing with my Savior, already transformed into his image and with nothing facing me but an eternity of glory.

Why? Because of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:1-2 makes this absolutely clear.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

No condemnation. None. Not even a little. I face none of God's judgment against sin. And it's not because I'm not guilty. I am. In one form or another, I've broken all of God's laws. But according to this passage, the Spirit's law of life has set me free. Through Christ's death and resurrection and through the work of the Spirit in me I am forgiven - once and for all. 

I put other things ahead of God and tried to create gods to my own liking. I broke the law and I deserved death. But the law of life freed me from the law that revealed my sin and brought condemnation. No condemnation now exists. 

I have failed to take time for God and used his name in vain. But there is no condemnation for me, because of the law of life at work in me. I disobeyed my parents, walked in anger (murder of the heart), lusted (adultery of the heart), spoke lies, took what did not belong to me, and coveted what was not mine. Were I to stand before the Throne to be judged for those sins, the law would convict me and God would judge me. I would be without hope. 

But for me, there is no condemnation because Jesus Christ paid it all. The Spirit's law of life has set me free from the law that reveals my sin and would send me to death. Through Christ, there is no condemnation. Do I deserve judgment? Yes, but Jesus set me free. Could I earn heaven? No, but Jesus earned it for me? Could I defeat sin on my own? No way! But Jesus forgave me because of his finished work. 

Shall we sing the Doxology right now? 

It is the greatest truth in the world - guilty sinners are set free by the blood of Christ and face no condemnation through him. Regardless of my spiritual struggles, failures, and sins, there is no condemnation because I am in Christ - redeemed, sealed, secured, and free!

  There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's vein, 
  And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose ALL their guilty stain!

Father, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I deserved death, but in you I have life. Thank you. 

Consider God's Word:

Take time today to not only confess sin but to glory and rejoice in the fact that your sins are covered by the blood of Christ, that you bear them no more! Thank God for his saving grace through Christ.

As you read through Romans 8, write down all the great blessings you find.