No Condemnation

No Condemnation

"There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

I've met them. You've met them. It might be you. Are you bogged down with unnecessary guilt because of sin that has already been paid for by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross?

Have you confessed that sin, claiming 1 John 1:9, but find yourself still stuck wondering if He really forgave you?

Here are some questions from Dr. Jerry Bridges book, The Bookends of the Christian Life, for you to ask yourself to determine if you are suffering from persistent guilt:

1. Am I painfully preoccupied with a habitual sin?
2. Am I discouraged or depressed by my failure to measure up?
3. Do I frequently experience anxiety that something's about to go wrong?
4. Does it appear God can use others but not me?
5. Is there something in my past that I just can't seem to get over?
6. Do I fear that my past will come back to haunt me?
7. Do my difficult circumstances seem like God's judgment for my sin?
8. Do I steer clear of intimate relationships or small group discussions?
9. When I sin, do I get a vague sense that somehow there'll be a price to pay?
10. Do I seldom think of the cross.

Dr. Bridges says that "persistent guild sometime incapacitates a believer ... We must go back to the cross -- only the life and death of Christ offers a legitimate path to freedom from a guilty conscience -- legitimate because it was a real, lived-in-the-flesh, finished righteousness, applies to us FOREVER."

Charles Wesley penned these words in his powerful hymn, AND CAN IT BE?

NO CONDEMNATION now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine;
Alive in Him, my living head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love! how can it be!
That thou my God, shouldst die for me?

Rejoice today that IN CHRIST there is NO CONDEMNATION! -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 3: Judges 19-21; Luke 7:31-50

Great quote: Never put a question mark where God puts a period. Lyle Petty