1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 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,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
My fellow Christian, I want to encourage you. We have been given a great heritage and look forwards to a grand inheritance. When you accepted Christ and let Him be Lord of your life, He renewed and cleansed you and made you new again, for Jesus came to make all things new. However, all too often in our lives, we get burdened down by the struggles that we go through, either external or internal to us, and I will confess and agree that sometimes it is hard to feel worthy of Christ, to come to Him and worship in His presence. Let me again encourage you to stop thinking that, for it stems from the enemy himself. When we look at Romans 8, direct your attention to two vital words... "no condemnation". In Christ there is no condemnation. Let's look to some other passages of scripture:
Psalm 65:3
When we were overwhelmed by sins, he forgave our transgressions.
Psalm 103:12
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We have been freed! Christ has liberated us and declared us as Holy and set apart for Him. If we live in the mentality that Christ cannot use us for anything because we are sinners, or because we have recently sinned, thats a lie. If we live under the condemnation of the past, if we keep our eyes fixated on a mistake that we believe makes us unworthy, we keep ourselves from experiencing God and His perfect love. The lie that is perpetuated that we are somehow "blocked" because we sinned is a lie from Satan to keep us feeling sorry for ourselves and focused on ourselves, and NOT on Christ, where His children should always focus. As children of the light and of God, we are to walk the path of life with God, and trample underfoot Satan, who is the father of lies, who's only goal for eternity is to trip up, tear down, rip into and try to throw out all of God's children. Satan has all his forces against us, he is desperate for us to fail in following the great commission, desperate for us to not follow the great commission and follow after Christ and spread the truth of His word unto the world. We need to realize that many of the reasons and excuses that we make for not serving God or living for Him are lies that our enemy has planned and schemed to make us not effective. We must realize that our enemy IS real, and that he IS out to destroy and harm us and to make us fall. Here in America it is easy to fall into the habit of thinking that the enemy is not real because we have it so easy, because we have never faced persecution that forces us to rely on Christ, because we have never had to take authority over Satan in our town, or our church... or out lives. That is a lie my friends that Satan has started and that has blinded most of American evangelical "converts". In a survey, 90% of Americans said they were Christians. You do the math and look at how we live and you decide if 90% of Americans are Christians. Satan is on the attack, and now more then ever, because he has a grip on our culture and he has invaded my generation like never before. Here is an excerpt which sums up our generation in a very precise terms:
The culture we live in is a fast paced, sexually driven, emotionally unstable, socially self-destructive, personally irresponsible, ultimately degrading culture. What was once shunned is not looked upon in great light, and anyone that dares to challenge it is deemed as a threat to society.
This culture is one that is not conducive for real men to appear. Men of resolve, courage, boldness... the list could go on. What this culture is breed for is one that releases only weak fickle men that know nothing of true manliness. This culture deems it appropriate that men remain boys, for men are a force to be reckoned with. Men are able to change the world. Man are able to stand in unstable times. Men are able to lead. Men are able to be men.
THAT is the generation that we are in! Satan has been such an effective enemy that he has almost taken a "christian" nation and caused it to fall... and still have it call itself christian! He IS the father of lies! But he is also defeated! At Calvary, Jesus defeated Satan, Jesus took the keys of sin and death, ground their power into dust, set free the captives, and eternally rescued man and bound Satan. He set us free! He has chosen to use us! Don't believe the lies of the enemy, remembering always that
2 Corinthians 12:9
His grace is sufficient for you, for His power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore we will boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on us.
Folks, the fact that we have sinned should take no one by suprise, Christian or not, but how we look at our sins is all the difference. If we choose to view them through the eyes that we are sinful, terrible, unworthy people, then it stands to reason that we will be weak, pitiful, sinful christians. But, it we choose to look instead at the power of the Cross, of Christ, of the Blood of the Lamb of God, then there is a difference! We focus on His love, freedom, power and atonement. With that view in mind, it stands to reason that we should have no fear charging the very gates of hell. When we look at ourselves as conquerors, as children that have been granted the power to take on and subdue the powers of darkness, we should get excited! We should jump at the opportunity to fight with God! When we change our view point, we see that we wrestle against power of darkness, against power that have already been defeated! Oh my friends, my fellow Christians, my fellow WARRIORS, its time we arise and take hold of the freedom that we have been granted! It is time that we rise up and focus on grace and not the law or our sins. Christ paid for them and subdued them so that we could be free! If Christ has truly freed us... Then let us live like it!
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