We’ve all tried to think our way out of bad habits and unhealthy thought patterns, only to find ourselves stuck with an out of control mind and off track daily life. You didn’t expect to be here. You didn’t mean to become a prisoner to the negative thoughts and patterns your thought life has built. God has something better for your life than your old ways of thinking. It’s time to decide to change your mind so God can change your life.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ROMANS 8:1-2
Did you catch the power of these verses?
Paul is not saying there is therefore now no cause for condemnation. That wouldn’t be true. You fail and I fail. You stumble and I stumble. You fall and I fall. You get off the path and so do If God were to look down from heaven and were to judge you moment by moment, he’d find plenty of cause for condemnation in you, but He doesn't. Why?
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17
The only one who had the right to condemn you came to save you!
Do you know what that means? We may stumble, we may fall, we may trip, we may make a thousand mistakes, we may sin and we do, we may get off the path, we may go astray, we may have a thousand problems, but for the believer in Jesus Christ, there is, therefore now, no condemnation because God has said it is so. You can struggle, but you’re not condemned. You can fall, but you’re not condemned. You can trip, but you’re not condemned. You can stray off the path, but you are not condemned because God has said He will not condemn those who are in Christ Jesus. How is this possible?
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4
If these things are true - AND THEY ARE - why do I still struggle? Why is it that there is this struggle inside of every believer? The answer is very simple and it is two words. The answer is indwelling sin. Remember from Romans 7:17.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Romans 7:17
But...because you are a believer in Jesus. You have another option. Your default, natural, response doesn’t have to be sin. You are no longer controlled by your old sin nature.
You and I have a choice to make as we follow Jesus: Spirit or Flesh; Obedience or Disobedience, Soft Heart or Hard Heart Toward.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5
Those who don’t know Christ have no option but to focus on the flesh and to experience all of the loss, hurt, pain, and trouble that comes with it but you however, have a choice to make.
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:7-11
This is a “win-win” situation for us. On the one hand, the perfection of Christ is credited to us. And day by day as you rely on the Holy Spirit, a new kind of life begins to emerge. Wow! That is amazing! What God demands, we couldn’t do. Therefore, what God demands, he supplies.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ROMANS 8:1-2
Did you catch the power of these verses?
- If you are a believer in Jesus...you have been fully forgiven of your sin and won’t be punished for it. NO CONDEMNATION
- If you are a believer in Jesus...you are free from guilt and shame. NO CONDEMNATION.
- If you are a believer in Jesus...you are free from the law of sin and death. NO CONDEMNATION
Paul is not saying there is therefore now no cause for condemnation. That wouldn’t be true. You fail and I fail. You stumble and I stumble. You fall and I fall. You get off the path and so do If God were to look down from heaven and were to judge you moment by moment, he’d find plenty of cause for condemnation in you, but He doesn't. Why?
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17
The only one who had the right to condemn you came to save you!
Do you know what that means? We may stumble, we may fall, we may trip, we may make a thousand mistakes, we may sin and we do, we may get off the path, we may go astray, we may have a thousand problems, but for the believer in Jesus Christ, there is, therefore now, no condemnation because God has said it is so. You can struggle, but you’re not condemned. You can fall, but you’re not condemned. You can trip, but you’re not condemned. You can stray off the path, but you are not condemned because God has said He will not condemn those who are in Christ Jesus. How is this possible?
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4
If these things are true - AND THEY ARE - why do I still struggle? Why is it that there is this struggle inside of every believer? The answer is very simple and it is two words. The answer is indwelling sin. Remember from Romans 7:17.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Romans 7:17
But...because you are a believer in Jesus. You have another option. Your default, natural, response doesn’t have to be sin. You are no longer controlled by your old sin nature.
You and I have a choice to make as we follow Jesus: Spirit or Flesh; Obedience or Disobedience, Soft Heart or Hard Heart Toward.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5
Those who don’t know Christ have no option but to focus on the flesh and to experience all of the loss, hurt, pain, and trouble that comes with it but you however, have a choice to make.
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:7-11
This is a “win-win” situation for us. On the one hand, the perfection of Christ is credited to us. And day by day as you rely on the Holy Spirit, a new kind of life begins to emerge. Wow! That is amazing! What God demands, we couldn’t do. Therefore, what God demands, he supplies.
Posted in Growth Resources