We Are Not Condemned (for Paper) April 23

We are not Condemned for paper April 20 23      Rev. Terry Goerz, Redeemer Lutheran Church

You may have read or heard of some person who has been sentenced to death for some terrible crime. It may be years before all the appeals are done and a final date is set for the execution. In the meantime the condemned person sits in jail waiting that dreaded day. Fear, anxiety, remorse, and numerous other emotions plague their minds. It is a terrible condition to be in. Sadly, though they may not be aware of it, that is the position of those who do not know Christ today. They stand condemned because of a law called sin and death. But for Christians the good news is that despite this law of sin and death, there is now no condemnation in store for us. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8: 1& 2. If we can understand the implication of this for us as Christians we can truly understand what “freedom in Christ” really means.

The law of sin and death is simple. “For the wages of sin is death”. Romans 6: 23. Sin will kill you. It has been that way since the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. They died a spiritual death the moment they sinned, and began then to die a physical death. Adam and Eve were created as eternal beings, but sin made them mortal. They and everyone since them has died or will die. The law of sin and death is simple. Sin kills us! But through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross we have been set free from that law by a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life.

The law of the Spirit of life is also simple. “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live”. Ezekiel 37: 14. The Holy Spirit put in us in our baptism overcomes death. This description of the transformation from death to life is also found in “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”. 1 Corinthians 15: 17  We are in Christ through the Holy Spirit in us, so the Holy Spirit makes us alive.

The law of sin and death does not apply to us. The higher law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. How was it possible that we could be set free from this law of sin and death? How is it possible that when we sin it does not lead to death? “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us”. Romans 8: 3, 4a.

God sent his son in the likeness of sinful man, in other words God’s son, Jesus became a human being; a man fully susceptible to all the temptations that can beset a man, and then after living a life without sin God made Jesus a sin offering in our place. The righteous condemnation that the law of sin and death required was fulfilled for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. In this way the righteous requirements of the law of sin and death were fully met. All the wrath of God for our sin was atoned for. Jesus accepted the consequences of the law of sin and death on our behalf and therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!! This central concept of our salvation is what the joy of being a Christian is all about. This is our freedom in Christ.

Christianity is the only faith in the world where our God does it all for us. In all other faiths the followers must do things to earn the favor of their deity. Christianity is unique in that our God is the one who frees us from the consequences of our sin and calls us to him with unconditional love.

There are many in our circle of acquaintances who now stand condemned by the law of sin and death because they do not have the Holy Spirit in them. We have the knowledge that can set them free from that condemnation. Let us lose our fear of sharing our faith, the simple story that Jesus accepted the consequences of the law of sin and death in our place. We, with the help of God, can set these condemned souls free from the condemnation that is in them because of the law of sin and death. They will thank us in eternity. The joy, the peace, and the love that is in us because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ can be in those condemned souls we snatch from the fire.

Blessings