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, it is one mountain peak after the other. We could do a year of daily devotions from this passage and not exhaust its glories, but we will settle for doing one week - seven days.
Each day this week you will be asked to read this same chapter, Romans 8. The link takes you to Bible Gateway where the passage is displayed in the ESV, but you can change that daily. Read it in different versions. Read some commentaries about it if you have them. Our goal this week is to feast on one chapter, Romans 8. Next Monday we will start a new reading program - CREATION TO CHRIST - but this week you are reading, meditating, and examining in depth the highest peak of God's word.
Devotional
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 into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels to receive the punishment their sins deserve.
This is a thought so horrible we try to avoid thinking about it and we spend much time trying to justify ourselves, explain away our sin, rationalize it, or in some way make it seem less than it is. But the. The God of Heaven is holy and the day of judgment is real. Every man and woman, boy and girl on earth is a sinner and stands under condemnation for that sin. The judgment is coming!
But for me there is some very good news. 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. No condemnation! None! 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!
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.
Think and Pray
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.
Read through Romans 8 two or three times, and even outloud if you are alone and able. Let the words sink in. If you were keying on 7 high points this week from this passage, what would they be?
Read through Romans 8 two or three times, and even outloud if you are alone and able. Let the words sink in. If you were keying on 7 high points this week from this passage, what would they be?
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