There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
Rom 8:1
Of all the glorious thoughts contained in Scripture, I don’t know if any surpass the glory of this verse! What a thought that man–who was made from dust and sinned against his holy Creator Who gave him life thereby falling short of the glory of God–could stand before God uncondemned! “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou my God shouldst die for me!” As if the thought that wasn’t glorious enough, the Lord adds a three-letter word in this verse that makes all the difference: “now”!
There are men that would teach you that is not the case, dear soul. They would say you can’t stand before the Lord even now uncondemned and eternally justified. You must do something more than simply believe in the Lord Jesus. You must add to His work with your own works to obtain such a gift, but doesn’t that negate the fact that it is indeed a gift?!! Paul dealt with this very point in Rom 4:1-5. Just listen:
“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness…”
Oh precious thought! When I agree with God that I can do nothing to earn His favor but that He alone could pay that debt that rendered me acceptable before Him, He gets all the glory as it should be! Christ upon the cross was a sacrifice sufficient enough to purge me from all my sins (1 Jn 1:7)! As the old hymn says:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
How can we not sing when such a gift is ours! May a song rise in our hearts today in praise to our Redeemer! He has done what we could never do! The law stood against us and condemned us because we could not keep that which was required for us to be acceptable before God by our own works. But, thank God with me this morning that Col 2:14 reminds us Jesus Christ has “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Jamie